About CompareForexBrokers Australia

How we test brokers

Every broker review on this site is built on the same testing rubric, applied uniformly across the 32-broker shortlist. I would start on the methodology page for the full breakdown, and it is the page that explains what matters most for you before you weigh any individual score. The headline points:

• We have opened a live account with our own money at 28 of the 32 brokers we score, all in Australian dollars except eToro’s
• Spreads are sampled across multiple sessions and account types (Standard vs RAW/Razor)
• Execution speed is measured ping-to-server and order-acknowledgement latency
• Platforms are tested on the broker’s actual live offering, not the demo
• AFSL numbers and AFCA membership are verified against ASIC’s Professional Registers Search and the AFCA register
• Negative balance protection, 50% margin close-out and segregated client funds are confirmed against each broker’s published PDS

A new broker faces the same rubric on day one as a broker going through an annual re-rating, so you can expect consistency across every re-rating and you can rely on the framework staying fixed, which is the part I would want settled before you compare any two brokers. The numbers move year-to-year; the scoring framework does not. We only cover brokers that hold an ASIC AFSL, so offshore-only brokers never make the list.

Editorial independence

This is the section that matters most for trust. The short version:

• Rankings are the output of the scoring methodology. Not a sales decision.
• Some brokers have an affiliate relationship with us. Those relationships are disclosed in full on the advertiser disclosure page.
• An affiliate relationship doesn’t get a broker a better ranking. Brokers we don’t have an affiliate relationship with sit on the shortlist alongside brokers we do.
• David Levy reviews every published page before it goes live. AFSL numbers, spread claims and regulatory references are checked against primary sources every time.
• The “Last updated” date stamp at the top of every page is the actual date of the most recent edit, not a perpetually-rolling marketing date.

When a published claim turns out to be wrong, we update the page and re-date it, and I would want the correction trail to be that visible. You can find the full editorial framework on the why trust us page, and you can see the correction record there rather than taking our word for it.

ASIC, AFCA and the regulatory context

We operate under the same regulatory framework as the brokers we cover.

• ASIC (Australian Securities and Investments Commission) is the primary regulator. Every broker on our shortlist holds an Australian Financial Services Licence. Our own Authorised Representative number is 001274082, authorising general product information about CFDs and forex.
• AFCA (Australian Financial Complaints Authority) is the no-cost external dispute resolution scheme. Every ASIC broker on our shortlist is an AFCA member. We’re not an AFCA member ourselves because we don’t hold client money or place trades. Trader disputes go to the broker, who is the AFSL holder.
• AUSTRAC handles anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism financing reporting. All brokers on our list are AUSTRAC-registered reporting entities.
• ATO (Australian Taxation Office) treats retail forex and CFD trading as a trading activity under TR 2005/15 for most retail traders, with profits taxed as assessable income. We aren’t licensed to give tax advice. Speak to a registered tax agent.

ASIC’s Product Intervention Order has been in force since 29 March 2021, and the regulator extended it in 2022 to 23 May 2027. It caps retail leverage at 30:1 on majors, 20:1 on minors and gold, 10:1 on other commodities, 5:1 on share CFDs and 2:1 on cryptocurrency CFDs. Negative balance protection is mandatory, cash bonuses are banned, and margin close-out triggers at 50% of initial margin. I would read the full breakdown on our leverage education page before choosing a broker, and I would focus on the leverage cap that applies to the instrument you actually trade, because that cap is what determines your worst-case margin.

Pages in this section

The about cluster covers eight topics, and each one is linked from the footer and surfaces in the page list above.

• Justin Grossbard, lead author bio, trading background, credentials, sameAs links to LinkedIn, X, Forbes Council and other publications.
• Noam Korbl, co-founder; leads the education and trading-strategy content and runs the live spread, commission and execution testing.
• David Levy, Head of Content, responsible for editorial accuracy, broker data verification and the fact-check on every published page.
• Why trust us, editorial standards, fact-checking process, AFS Representative arrangement and how affiliate income is kept out of rankings.
• Methodology, the scoring rubric used on every broker review, the testing process, and how spread/commission claims are verified.
• Advertiser disclosure, full list of brokers we have an affiliate relationship with, and the firewall between affiliate income and editorial decisions.
• Disclaimers, the risk disclosures and general-information caveats that apply to every page on the site.
• Contact, email, postal address (Caulfield North, Victoria), and the timeframe to expect a response.

Get in touch

The fastest way to reach us is the contact page, and it is the right starting point whether you’re flagging a correction to published content, a broker representative requesting a review update, or just sending general feedback, and it is the route I would use for anything that needs a paper trail. We typically respond within two business days, so you will know when to expect a reply and can follow up if you hear nothing.

We don’t take personal financial advice questions, because we’re not licensed to give them. When you need product-specific advice about whether a particular broker, account type or trade is right for your circumstances and your financial position, the right person to talk to is a registered financial adviser or, for tax-specific questions, a registered tax agent.