Worked example
Practising on ThinkMarkets's numbers
This is an exercise sheet, not a review. We are going to take three things that ThinkMarkets 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
ThinkMarkets 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. ThinkMarkets 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.
- StandardThe entry rung. Whatever the published spread applies to, it is almost always this one — so this is the rung your arithmetic above describes.
- ThinkZeroA 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, ThinkZero. Platforms listed: ThinkTrader, MT4, MT5, 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 ThinkMarkets's lines, each with a plain reading.
| Regulator | Entity on the register | Number | What that means for a beginner |
|---|---|---|---|
| ASIC · Australia | TF Global Markets (Aust) Pty Ltd | AFSL 424700 | a top-tier regulator: compensation scheme, capital rules and a public register you can search yourself |
| FCA · United Kingdom | TF Global Markets (UK) Limited | 629628 | a top-tier regulator: compensation scheme, capital rules and a public register you can search yourself |
| CySEC · Cyprus | ThinkMarkets (EU) Ltd | 215/13 | a mid-tier regulator: real supervision and a register, usually with a smaller or capped compensation scheme |
| FSA Seychelles · Seychelles | ThinkMarkets Group (Seychelles entity) | 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 TF Global Markets (Aust) Pty Ltd, TF Global Markets (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. 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
- ThinkMarkets states it holds 10 licences globally, including ASIC, FCA, CySEC, FSCA, CIMA and the Seychelles FSA.
- The Australian entity advertises no minimum deposit, segregated client money and negative balance protection in line with ASIC rules.
- The broker advertises access to up to 4,000 instruments at group level and 2,000 for Australian clients.
- Established in 2010, with offices listed in Australia, Asia, Europe, the UK, UAE and South Africa.
What we could not verify
The following are unconfirmed and are deliberately left blank rather than estimated: Seychelles FSA licence number; CIMA and FSCA licence numbers; typical EUR/USD spread on the ThinkZero account; typical EUR/USD spread (source only gave an advertised 'from 0.0' raw-account figure). 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.