Worked example
Practising on Windsor Brokers's numbers
This is an exercise sheet, not a review. We are going to take three things that Windsor 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
Windsor 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. Windsor Brokers 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.
- PrimeThe entry rung. Whatever the published spread applies to, it is almost always this one — so this is the rung your arithmetic above describes.
- ZeroA 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: Prime, Zero, 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 Windsor Brokers's lines, each with a plain reading.
| Regulator | Entity on the register | Number | What that means for a beginner |
|---|---|---|---|
| CySEC · Cyprus | WB Trade EU Ltd | 030/04 | a mid-tier regulator: real supervision and a register, usually with a smaller or capped compensation scheme |
| FSA Seychelles · Seychelles | Windsor Brokers International Ltd | not verified | an offshore registration: a company exists and pays a fee, but expect little practical recourse from that entity |
| CMA Kenya · Kenya | Windsor Markets (Kenya) Limited | 156 | a mid-tier regulator: real supervision and a register, usually with a smaller or capped compensation scheme |
| Jordan Securities Commission (JSC) · Jordan | Seldon Investments (Jordan) Ltd | not verified | a mid-tier regulator: real supervision and a register, usually with a smaller or capped compensation scheme |
| FSC British Virgin Islands · British Virgin Islands | Windsor Global Markets 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. 2 lines are offshore registrations; treat those as a company address rather than as supervision. We could not confirm a licence number on 3 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
- The CySEC register lists WB Trade EU Ltd under licence number 030/04 with company registration number 119081.
- Windsor Brokers' own company page states the group was established in 1988.
- Windsor Markets (Kenya) Limited appears on the Capital Markets Authority of Kenya licensee list under licence number 156.
- Seldon Investments (Jordan) Ltd is described on Windsor's legal page as regulated by the Jordan Securities Commission and registered with the Companies Control Department under number 1265.
- The group's non-EEA clients are served by Windsor Brokers International Ltd, which is listed on the Seychelles FSA capital markets register.
What we could not verify
The following are unconfirmed and are deliberately left blank rather than estimated: Seychelles FSA licence number for Windsor Brokers International Ltd — not stated on the broker's own page or the FSA entry; JSC licence number — the number 1265 shown is a company registration, not a licence number; BVI FSC licence number; minDeposit and spreadEurusd — account-type page did not render figures; segregated client funds; 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.