Worked example
Practising on TIOmarkets's numbers
This is an exercise sheet, not a review. We are going to take three things that TIOmarkets 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
TIOmarkets 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. TIOmarkets 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.
- StarterThe 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: Starter, VIP, Demo. 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 TIOmarkets's lines, each with a plain reading.
| Regulator | Entity on the register | Number | What that means for a beginner |
|---|---|---|---|
| FCA · United Kingdom | Tio Markets UK Limited (company number 06592025) | 488900 | a top-tier regulator: compensation scheme, capital rules and a public register you can search yourself |
| FSA Seychelles · Seychelles | TRADE I.O Ltd (Seychelles company 810608-1) | SD167 | an offshore registration: a company exists and pays a fee, but expect little practical recourse from that entity |
| MISA (Mwali International Services Authority, Comoros) · Union of the Comoros | TIO Markets Ltd | T2023224 | an offshore registration: a company exists and pays a fee, but expect little practical recourse from that entity |
| None (SVG company registration only) · Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | TIO Markets Ltd (registration 24986 IBC 2018) | 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 Tio Markets UK Limited (company number 06592025). 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. 3 lines are offshore registrations; 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
- Tio Markets UK Limited (England and Wales company 06592025) is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under firm reference number 488900 and accepts UK-resident clients only.
- The group's own licence table lists TRADE I.O Ltd under Seychelles FSA securities dealer licence SD167 and TIO Markets Ltd under Mwali (MISA) licence T2023224.
- TIOmarkets' legal documentation page also names TIO Markets Ltd, registered in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines under number 24986 IBC 2018; SVG does not regulate forex or CFD trading.
- The British Columbia Securities Commission added TIO Markets Ltd, doing business as TIOmarkets, to its Investment Caution List in 2022, stating the firm is not registered to trade in or advise on securities or derivatives in BC (https://www.bcsc.bc.ca/enforcement/early-intervention/investment-caution-list/2022/tio-markets-ltd).
- TIOmarkets states it launched in 2019 and that UK clients hold segregated funds with FSCS protection up to GBP 85,000 per eligible client.
What we could not verify
The following are unconfirmed and are deliberately left blank rather than estimated: minimum deposit; maximum leverage; EUR/USD spread; exact account tier names; negative balance protection. 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.