Worked example
Practising on iFOREX's numbers
This is an exercise sheet, not a review. We are going to take three things that iFOREX 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
iFOREX 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. iFOREX 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.
- VIPA 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.
- 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: Standard, VIP, Demo. Platforms listed: iFOREX web platform, iFOREX app, MT4 (regional offerings).
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 iFOREX's lines, each with a plain reading.
| Regulator | Entity on the register | Number | What that means for a beginner |
|---|---|---|---|
| CySEC · Cyprus | iCFD Limited | 143/11 | a mid-tier regulator: real supervision and a register, usually with a smaller or capped compensation scheme |
| BVI FSC · British Virgin Islands | Formula Investment House Ltd | not verified | 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. 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
- iFOREX Europe is the trading name of iCFD Limited, licensed and regulated by CySEC under licence # 143/11 (own protection-and-security page and legal page).
- The CySEC register entry (id 37660) lists ICFD Ltd, licence number 143/11, telephone +357 25 204 600, e-mail info@iforex.eu, with approved trade name iFOREX Europe.
- The iFOREX Group's non-EU services are provided by Formula Investment House Ltd, an investment firm licensed and supervised by the BVI Financial Services Commission (own legal page).
- The iFOREX brand dates its founding to 1996 (own app-store and about-page materials).
- The iforex.com legal page directs EEA visitors to iFOREX Europe (iCFD Ltd), which operates under EU regulations and product intervention rules.
What we could not verify
The following are unconfirmed and are deliberately left blank rather than estimated: minDeposit not verified on an own account-spec page; maxLeverage not verified on an own spec page; spreadEurusd not verified; segregatedFunds not verified in own legal text; negativeBalanceProtection not verified in own legal text; BVI licence number for Formula Investment House Ltd not stated on the legal page; accountTypes naming (Standard/VIP) not verified on an own spec table. 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
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.