Worked example
Practising on FXCM's numbers
This is an exercise sheet, not a review. We are going to take three things that FXCM publishes — a spread, a ladder of account types and a list of licences — and turn each of them into something you can do arithmetic with. By the end you should be able to repeat the whole exercise on any firm you come across, which is the actual skill being taught.
The figures we are working from
Nothing below is our estimate. Where a firm has not published something, or we could not read it on a source we trust, the box says so instead of guessing — a habit worth copying when you build your own broker notes.
Exercise one — turn the spread into money
The spread is the gap between the price you can buy at and the price you can sell at, and you pay it the instant you enter. FXCM publishes 1.3 pips on EUR/USD. On its own that number means nothing. Here is how it becomes money.
Compare this broker's 1.3 pip EUR/USD figure against the "from" number in its own advertising.
Now do it without us
Take the spread of any other firm on the practice index, run the same four steps, and write both figures down — per lot and per micro. When you can do that in your head you have stopped shopping on marketing copy and started shopping on cost. The pip value calculator will check your working on pairs where the pip is not a flat ten dollars.
Exercise two — read the account ladder
Account tiers are a pricing structure dressed as a status ladder. FXCM offers 3 rungs. Read them as a question — what does each rung ask of me, and what does it give back? — rather than as a set of prizes to climb towards.
- StandardThe entry rung. Whatever the published spread applies to, it is almost always this one — so this is the rung your arithmetic above describes.
- Active TraderA higher rung usually trades a tighter spread for a commission, a larger deposit, or a status test. Convert both pricing models to money per lot before you decide either is cheaper.
- ProfessionalA higher rung usually trades a tighter spread for a commission, a larger deposit, or a status test. Convert both pricing models to money per lot before you decide either is cheaper.
Account names as published: Standard, Active Trader, Professional. Platforms listed: Trading Station, MT4, TradingView, Capitalise.ai, Mobile apps.
Exercise three — what this licence list means for you
A long licence list is not automatically a good sign. What matters to a beginner is a narrower question: which entity would hold my money, and who supervises that entity? Those are often not the same as the impressive name at the top of the list. Here are FXCM's lines, each with a plain reading.
| Regulator | Entity on the register | Number | What that means for a beginner |
|---|---|---|---|
| FCA · UK | Stratos Markets Limited (trading as FXCM) | 217689 | a top-tier regulator: compensation scheme, capital rules and a public register you can search yourself |
| CySEC · Cyprus | Stratos Europe Limited (trading as FXCM) | 392/20 | a mid-tier regulator: real supervision and a register, usually with a smaller or capped compensation scheme |
| ASIC · Australia | Stratos Trading Pty. Limited (trading as FXCM) | AFSL 309763 | a top-tier regulator: compensation scheme, capital rules and a public register you can search yourself |
| None (unregulated offshore entity) · Offshore | Stratos Global LLC | not verified | an offshore registration: a company exists and pays a fee, but expect little practical recourse from that entity |
2 of these lines are top-tier — held by Stratos Markets Limited (trading as FXCM), Stratos Trading Pty. Limited (trading as FXCM). If you are onboarded to a different entity than those, the protections attached to the top-tier line are not yours, however prominently the regulator's initials appear in the marketing. 1 line is offshore registration; treat those as a company address rather than as supervision. We could not confirm a licence number on 1 line, which is exactly the kind of gap you should close yourself on the regulator's own register before depositing.
The record behind these numbers
- FXCM has operated as a forex and CFD broker since 1999.
- The Stratos Group, FXCM's parent, is headquartered at 110 Bishopsgate, London.
- Stratos Markets Limited is authorised by the FCA under firm reference number 217689.
- FXCM advertises average EUR/USD spreads of 1.3 pips on its standard offering.
- FXCM states that Stratos Global LLC is not subject to the regulatory oversight that applies to its FCA, ASIC and FSCA entities.
What we could not verify
The following are unconfirmed and are deliberately left blank rather than estimated: Minimum deposit ($50) is from third-party sources, not confirmed on an FXCM page in this research; FSCA South Africa entity name and licence number; public listing status. Confidence in this file overall: medium. When you build your own notes on a firm, keep a list like this one — the gaps are more useful than the figures, because they tell you what to go and check.
Run the same exercise on another firm
PipMentor does not rank brokers, does not award badges and does not tell you where to open an account. This page exists so the arithmetic you learn in the curriculum has real numbers to bite on.