A forex broker connects you to the currency market, quotes prices, executes orders, manages margin, holds your balance, and produces the statements you need for records and tax. The label covers very different business models, from agency style routing to internal dealing desks, from tightly regulated firms in major jurisdictions to offshore brands that accept clients from almost anywhere. Picking well is less about marketing claims and more about boring checks around licensing, costs you actually pay, execution behavior at your trading hours, and whether withdrawals land when they should. When a broker gets those parts right, it fades into the background and your process takes center stage; when it doesn’t, even a good strategy leaks money and time.

What a forex broker actually does

A broker aggregates prices from liquidity providers, adds a markup or charges commission, and turns your clicks into trades while enforcing risk limits on your account. Orders can be internalized by a market maker or passed through to external liquidity on STP/ECN lines; the three-letter label matters less than whether fills are consistent and fair. Behind the screen the firm runs KYC and AML checks, keeps client money in segregated accounts where rules require it, operates risk engines that call margin and stop out positions during spikes, and reconciles every trade and cash movement to produce daily and monthly statements. Your experience rises or falls on a few basics: clean price construction, stable platforms, fast acceptance, straightforward funding and withdrawals, and support that solves problems without hedging.

Regulation and why the legal entity matters

Licensing shapes how client money is treated, how marketing is policed, and what you can expect if a dispute escalates. A brand can run multiple entities; one may sit under a strong regulator with strict client-money rules while another sits in a light-touch center mainly to offer higher leverage. Read the account agreement and match the legal name on your statements to a public register. If a firm can’t point you to its entry or the permissions do not cover contracts you plan to trade, pause. Solid regulation doesn’t make losses impossible, but it lowers the odds of outright misconduct and gives you a path when withdrawals stall or terms change without notice.

Execution models without the buzzwords

Market makers quote their own book and can smooth thin moments if they keep depth; pass-through models route into a pool and can shine when external liquidity is rich. Either model can work. What you measure is slippage distribution, reject rates, and spreads at your hours. If positive slippage never appears while negative slippage is a routine, pricing is likely skewed. If spreads look tight on the home page but widen exactly when you trade, your real cost is not what you thought. The only way to know is to collect your own fills for a few weeks and compare them to a reference feed.

Costs you actually pay

Headline spreads and commissions are the visible part. The quiet lines that decide P&L are swaps for overnight holds, conversion charges when base currency differs from your funding currency, deposit and withdrawal fees, inactivity fees, and the slippage you hand over when books are thin or platforms hesitate. Swaps matter most to swing and position styles; conversion costs add up if you fund in one currency and trade pairs that settle in another; withdrawal fees and delays turn into real friction if you move cash often. Price a typical month of your trading—pairs, size, hold time—and compare net cost per million across candidates using your own data, not marketing grids.

Platforms, APIs, and stability under load

Most brokers offer MT4 or MT5, some add cTrader or a proprietary web stack, and a growing set connect to TradingView. The skin is less important than stability at busy opens, data prints, and roll. Order tickets should support stop, limit, stop-limit, and bracket logic, with server-side protection for cases where your connection drops. If you automate, check API throttles, order rate limits, and how partial fills and rejections are reported. Mobile should let you adjust stops and close with the same authority as desktop, because the edit you need most often happens when you’re away from the desk.

Accounts, leverage, and margin behavior

Standard accounts bake markup into spreads; raw or “ECN” accounts charge commission with tighter displayed spreads. One is not always cheaper; it depends on your style. Leverage caps vary by region. The headline ratio matters less than how margin is recalculated during volatility, at size thresholds, or around news. Read the stop-out level and whether the broker changes margin or switches symbols to close-only mode during events. Guaranteed stop features, where offered, add a premium but cap gap risk on selected products and can be worth it for news-heavy pairs.

Deposits, withdrawals, and operational hygiene

Good brokers make funding boring. Deposits land fast, withdrawals return to the same method and name, and timelines match what the site states. Name mismatches and sudden changes in devices or locations are classic triggers for manual reviews; keep your profile consistent and verify the path you intend to use before you size up. Run a full cycle early—deposit a small amount, place tiny trades, withdraw part of it—and save screenshots of every hop. If support is vague or pushes you to switch channels at cash-out time, that’s your signal to move on.

Research, education, and the signal-to-noise problem

Calendars, basic research notes, and platform walkthroughs are useful when they help you plan your week and avoid avoidable errors. Hype and generic trade “ideas” are not. The best broker content clarifies product rules, event times, and risk framing rather than nudging oversized trades. If you rely on education, prefer material that makes you independent and gives clear numbers over glossy promises.

Regional realities you should factor in

Rules differ across the UK, EU, US, Australia, and many other regions. Some places cap leverage and mandate negative balance protection; others allow higher leverage but rely more on contract law than investor schemes. Tax treatment of swaps, conversion gains, and interest on idle cash also varies. If you plan to hold across sessions or fund in a non-USD currency, pick a base currency and funding rail that reduce conversions and keep your admin clean. Local rails also matter for speed and cost of withdrawals.

A plain selection workflow you can finish this month

Build a shortlist of brokers that accept your residency under a license you trust and offer the pairs and base currencies you care about. Open two live accounts at tiny size—one standard, one raw if available. Trade your plan for two to four weeks and log spread, commission, swap, slippage, rejects, and any platform wobble at your hours. Trigger at least one withdrawal on each. Keep the account that gives the lower net cost and fewer headaches, or keep both if they each win in different conditions. Close the rest. This simple trial beats guesswork and review hunting.

Red flags that deserve a hard no

A broker can’t show a current license entry for the entity on your statements. Prices lag obvious public references by a mile. Positive slippage never appears. Withdrawals drift into “compliance review” for days without a clear reason. Funding must go to an unrelated beneficiary. Support dodges direct questions about margin policy or order handling. Any single item here is enough to walk.

Risk rules that make brokers almost invisible

Decide risk per trade and a daily stop that logs you out. Use server-side stops on anything with gap risk. Keep a small float at the broker and withdraw profits on a schedule so operational risk never scales in step with a good month. If you automate, log every request and response with timestamps so disputes take hours, not weeks. Good habits turn the broker from a factor into plumbing.

Where to continue your research

For brand comparisons, feature checks, and ongoing education built around real trading rather than slogans, see Forex.ke . Use resources like that to shortlist candidates, then confirm everything with your own live tests before you commit real size.