Worked example
Practising on IronFX's numbers
This is an exercise sheet, not a review. We are going to take three things that IronFX 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
IronFX 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. IronFX 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.
- Live FixedThe entry rung. Whatever the published spread applies to, it is almost always this one — so this is the rung your arithmetic above describes.
- Live FloatingA 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.
- STP/ECNA 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: Live Fixed, Live Floating, STP/ECN. Platforms listed: MT4, 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 IronFX's lines, each with a plain reading.
| Regulator | Entity on the register | Number | What that means for a beginner |
|---|---|---|---|
| FCA · United Kingdom | Notesco UK Limited | 585561 | a top-tier regulator: compensation scheme, capital rules and a public register you can search yourself |
| CySEC · Cyprus | Notesco Financial Services Limited (reg. 260651) | 125/10 | a mid-tier regulator: real supervision and a register, usually with a smaller or capped compensation scheme |
| Bermuda registration cited in IronFX terms of business · Bermuda | Notesco Limited (Bermuda reg. 51491) | not verified | an offshore registration: a company exists and pays a fee, but expect little practical recourse from that entity |
| FSC British Virgin Islands · British Virgin Islands | Notesco (BVI) Limited | 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 Notesco UK Limited. 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. 2 lines are offshore registrations; treat those as a company address rather than as supervision. We could not confirm a licence number on 2 lines, which is exactly the kind of gap you should close yourself on the regulator's own register before depositing.
The record behind these numbers
- IronFX is a trade name of the Notesco group; the UK arm, Notesco UK Limited, appears on the FCA register with firm reference number 585561.
- The Cyprus arm, Notesco Financial Services Limited (formerly IronFX Limited), holds CySEC licence 125/10.
- CySEC published a decision on 27 November 2015 recording a settlement with IronFX Global Ltd (https://www.cysec.gov.cy/en-GB/public-info/decisions/76109/).
- CySEC published a further settlement decision concerning Notesco Financial Services Ltd on 2 April 2024, in respect of a board decision dated 29 January 2024 (https://www.cysec.gov.cy/en-GB/public-info/decisions/96700/).
- The group also uses Bermuda and British Virgin Islands entities for non-EU clients, as stated in IronFX's own terms of business and site footers.
What we could not verify
The following are unconfirmed and are deliberately left blank rather than estimated: founded; spreadEurusd; segregatedFunds; negativeBalanceProtection; publiclyListed; BVI FSC licence number for Notesco (BVI) Limited; settlement amounts in the CySEC decisions (decision texts not read in full); negative balance protection. 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.