Worked example
Practising on FXOpen's numbers
This is an exercise sheet, not a review. We are going to take three things that FXOpen 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
FXOpen does not publish a EUR/USD spread we were able to verify, so there is no honest arithmetic to do on this page. Do not substitute a number you read on a comparison site: an unverified spread quietly becomes an unverified cost, and then an unverified plan. Use one of the other examples on the practice index for this exercise and come back to this file for the account ladder below.
Exercise two — read the account ladder
Account tiers are a pricing structure dressed as a status ladder. FXOpen offers 2 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.
- ECNThe entry rung. Whatever the published spread applies to, it is almost always this one — so this is the rung your arithmetic above describes.
- DemoA 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: ECN, Demo. Platforms listed: MT4, MT5, TickTrader, TradingView.
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 FXOpen's lines, each with a plain reading.
| Regulator | Entity on the register | Number | What that means for a beginner |
|---|---|---|---|
| FCA · United Kingdom | FXOpen Ltd (FXOpen UK) | 579202 | a top-tier regulator: compensation scheme, capital rules and a public register you can search yourself |
| CySEC · Cyprus | FXOpen EU Ltd | 194/13 | a mid-tier regulator: real supervision and a register, usually with a smaller or capped compensation scheme |
| None disclosed (Nevis company registration No. C 42235) · Saint Kitts and Nevis | FXOpen Markets Limited (FXOpen INT) | not verified | an offshore registration: a company exists and pays a fee, but expect little practical recourse from that entity |
1 of these line is top-tier — held by FXOpen Ltd (FXOpen UK). 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
- FXOpen UK is a trading name of FXOpen Ltd, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under firm reference number 579202.
- FXOpen EU Ltd holds CySEC licence 194/13 and operates under a cross-border passport.
- FXOpen INT is a trading name of FXOpen Markets Limited, a company registered in Nevis under company number C 42235, with no regulator named on the site.
- ASIC cancelled the Australian financial services licence of FXOpen AU Pty Ltd in 2024, stating the firm failed to comply with core licensee obligations (https://www.asic.gov.au/about-asic/news-centre/find-a-media-release/2024-releases/24-194mr-asic-cancels-afs-licence-of-retail-otc-derivative-issuer-fxopen-au/).
- FXOpen's UK site states that 60% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with the provider.
What we could not verify
The following are unconfirmed and are deliberately left blank rather than estimated: minimum deposit; maximum leverage; EUR/USD spread; segregated funds; negative balance protection; full account type list. Confidence in this file overall: high. 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.