WE SCORED TWENTY CFD BROKERS. THE ENTITY YOU SIGN WITH MATTERS MORE THAN THE SPREAD.
Every CFD broker advertises tight spreads. Almost none lead with which legal entity you actually open with, and that single detail decides what protection sits behind your funds. We scored twenty brokers on regulation and fund safety first, pricing second, because that is the order in which those facts matter. One cleared every bar.
ULTIMA MARKETS
Ultima Markets publishes client fund insurance of up to US$1,000,000 per account through Willis Towers Watson, free and automatically applied, alongside Financial Commission membership and negative balance protection, with raw spreads from 0.0 pips and execution under 20ms on MT4 and MT5. That is our route for FX, metals, energies and indices. Earlier versions of this note also carried TMGM as a Bitcoin CFD route; that partnership did not go ahead, so it is gone from here rather than left as a stale badge.
- $1,000,000 ULTIMA · WTW INSURANCE PER ACCOUNT
- <20ms ULTIMA · PUBLISHED EXECUTION
- 4.3★ / 881 ULTIMA · TRUSTPILOT REVIEWS
- 0.0 PIPS ULTIMA · RAW SPREAD FLOOR
WHAT YOU GET WITH THEM
- $1M
ULTIMA · INSURED PER ACCOUNT
Willis Towers Watson cover in the event of insolvency, free and automatic, as published by Ultima Markets. Financial Commission membership adds up to EUR 20,000 per case, and negative balance protection resets any negative balance to zero.
- FSC
THE ENTITY YOU OPEN WITH
Ultima Markets Ltd, FSC Mauritius GB 23201593, which is where all clients are onboarded today and is set by your country rather than chosen.
- 0.0
RAW SPREAD FLOOR, PIPS
Ultima ECN from 0.0 at $5 per lot round turn, or Standard from 1.0 pip with no commission.
- <20ms
ULTIMA EXECUTION
Ultima's published figure across all four live account types, on MT4, MT5, WebTrader and the mobile apps, with 70+ currency pairs and 250+ CFD instruments.
- $50
ULTIMA MINIMUM DEPOSIT
On every account type. Leverage of up to 1:2000 is available to eligible clients only, which is far above what tier-one regulators permit, so treat it as a risk setting rather than a feature.
- 4.3★
ULTIMA · TRUSTPILOT REVIEWS
Plus WikiFX, which carries more weight across Asia. We link both rather than summarising them.
HOW WE SCORED IT
- 30%
FUND SAFETY
Segregation, negative balance protection, and whether a real insurance policy or compensation scheme covers your specific entity.
- 25%
REGULATORY TIER
Licence on a public register, per entity, checked by us. A group licence means nothing if your account sits with the offshore arm.
- 20%
EXECUTION QUALITY
Raw spread floor, commission per lot, slippage on news, and whether the venue publishes execution figures at all.
- 15%
ENTITY TRANSPARENCY
How clearly the site tells you which entity you are signing with before you deposit. This is where most of the industry fails.
- 10%
PUBLIC RECORD
Review aggregates, regulator warnings, and complaint patterns over time.
THE COMPARISON
| BROKER | ENTITY YOU OPEN WITH | FUND PROTECTION | SPREAD FLOOR | MIN DEPOSIT | VERDICT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ULTIMA MARKETS | Ultima Markets Ltd · FSC GB 23201593 | $1M per account (WTW), as published | 0.0 pips (ECN) | $50 | SELECTED |
| NINETEEN OTHERS | Offshore only, or unverifiable | Segregation claimed, unevidenced | Advertised, not delivered | Varies | Rejected |
WHAT CHANGED OUR SCORE
Three things we would rather say out loud than let you discover. First, Ultima Markets onboards all clients under its Mauritius FSC entity today, and the entity is determined by your country of residence rather than chosen: the FCA-authorised UK entity is real but still in development and not accepting UK clients, so no FSCS position can be stated for it yet and it does not apply to the account you open today, and Ultima no longer holds the CySEC licence it previously held. The Willis Towers Watson insurance they publish applies to every client either way, which is unusual and to their credit. Second, leverage up to 1:2000 for eligible clients and first-deposit bonuses up to 150% exist on that entity precisely because tier-one regulators do not permit them; the bonus percentage and cap depend on your country, several countries are excluded, and full terms sit with the broker. Third, TMGM appeared in earlier versions of this note as a Bitcoin CFD route; that partnership did not go ahead, so it is gone from here and from the signup rather than left as an unconfirmed badge. Nobody paid us to leave any of this out.
WHAT GOT FIRMS REJECTED
GROUP LICENCE, OFFSHORE ACCOUNT
Nine brokers advertise a tier-one licence, then route international sign-ups to an offshore entity with no scheme and no insurance. Legal, common, and the single biggest trap in retail FX.
REGULATOR THAT DOES NOT REGULATE FX
Five firms cited registrations from bodies that do not license forex activity. A company registration is not a licence.
SPREADS THAT ONLY EXIST AT REST
Four brokers' advertised floors held in quiet hours and vanished on every release we sampled.
We check the register quarterly. If the entity's standing changes, this page changes with it.
The method is public because we are paid.
We take a commission from the partners we selected. That is exactly why the axes, the weights, the table and the rejections are published in full, and why the paragraph above exists.
Educational market analysis, not investment advice. Trading involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for everyone.