Worked example
Practising on Gulf Brokers's numbers
This is an exercise sheet, not a review. We are going to take three things that Gulf Brokers 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
Gulf Brokers 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. Gulf Brokers offers 7 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.
- Level 1The entry rung. Whatever the published spread applies to, it is almost always this one — so this is the rung your arithmetic above describes.
- Level 2A 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.
- Level 3A 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.
- Level 4A 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.
- Level 5A 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.
- Level 6A 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.
- Level 7A 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: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, Level 4, Level 5, Level 6, Level 7. Platforms listed: MT5.
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 Gulf Brokers's lines, each with a plain reading.
| Regulator | Entity on the register | Number | What that means for a beginner |
|---|---|---|---|
| FSA Seychelles · Seychelles | Octrado Ltd (formerly Gulf Brokers Ltd) | SD013 | an offshore registration: a company exists and pays a fee, but expect little practical recourse from that entity |
No top-tier line appears on this file. That does not make the firm illegitimate, but it does mean the compensation-scheme and capital-rule protections a beginner usually assumes are present are not evidenced here. 1 line is offshore registration; treat those as a company address rather than as supervision.
The record behind these numbers
- Gulf Brokers Ltd states it is regulated as a Securities Dealer by the Financial Services Authority of Seychelles under licence number SD013 in accordance with the Seychelles Securities Act 2007.
- A related company, Gulf Brokers DMCC, is based in Dubai; the retail client-facing licence disclosed on the website is the Seychelles one.
- The Seychelles FSA securities dealer licence is an offshore authorisation and does not carry FCA, ASIC or CFTC/NFA-level investor protections.
- The FSA Seychelles register lists the SD013 securities-dealer licensee as 'Octrado Ltd' with trade names Alpho and Octrado and websites alpho.com, gulfbrokers.com and octrado.com; the Gulf Brokers brand now operates as Octrado (https://fsaseychelles.sc/regulated-entities/capital-markets).
- Octrado's Client Agreement (clause 1.3) gives the company's registered address as Office 2, Suite C2, Orion Mall, Palm Street Avenue, Victoria, Mahé, Seychelles (https://octrado.com/document/client_agreement).
- Octrado's current account structure is seven deposit-tiered levels from USD 1,000 (Level 1) to USD 1,000,000 (Level 7), all with leverage up to 1:500 (https://octrado.com/en/trading-levels).
What we could not verify
The following are unconfirmed and are deliberately left blank rather than estimated: founding year; headquarters; UAE licence number for Gulf Brokers DMCC; minimum deposit; maximum leverage; EUR/USD spread; account types; segregated funds; negative balance protection; founded — no primary source gives a founding year; the broker's own homepage states only 'over 9 years of market expertise'.; spreadEurusd — the current Octrado site publishes no typical EURUSD spread; the pre-rebrand Gulf Brokers account page advertised only 'Lowest spread from 0.0125' (a premium-account raw floor).; minDeposit — recorded as USD 1,000 (Level 1 entry) from the current Octrado account page; the pre-rebrand Gulf Brokers account structure (Silver/Gold/Platinum/Diamond from USD 20,000) differs, reflecting the rebrand.. 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
pipdojo.com 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.