FBS review

Our rating

FBS scores 6.1 out of 10 on our table. That figure is an average of six things we assess, and it hides the shape of the broker: its strongest area is costs at 9.0, its weakest is education at 1.9. Whether that gap matters depends entirely on which of the six you were going to use.

Regulation and safety6.9/10

FBS lists its authorisations as Financial Services Commission, Belize. Those are offshore authorisations. Offshore licensing is not a synonym for dishonest, but it does mean lighter reporting, higher permitted leverage and, usually, no compensation scheme - the trade is protection for flexibility.

The licence that matters to you is the one held by the entity that opens your account, and at a multi-entity broker that is decided by your country of residence. Its registration can be checked directly on the Belize FSC register. It is a two-minute check and it is the only way to confirm that the firm taking your deposit is the firm named on the website.

Client money is held separately from the firm's own funds, with Multiple Tier-1 banks - so that if the business fails, client balances are not part of what its creditors can reach. Negative balance protection applies, so a gap through your stop cannot leave you owing the broker money.

FBS does not accept clients from USA, EU, UK, Israel, India, Iran, Myanmar and additional restricted jurisdictions. Restriction lists move, so confirm your own country before you spend time on an application.

What it costs to trade9.0/10

FBS advertises spreads from 0.7 pips. There is no separate commission on its standard pricing, so the whole of the broker's charge sits inside that spread - one number to think about, and no arithmetic at the end of the month. Put the two together and a EUR/USD round turn works out at approx. 1.1 pips typical, which is the figure worth comparing against other brokers.

An advertised minimum is the best price a broker has ever quoted, not the price you will get. On our record its measured average on EUR/USD is 1.1 pips typical, and dynamic on GBP/USD. Spreads are floating, so they move with liquidity and widen around releases and the daily rollover.

Positions held overnight accrue a financing charge, which is irrelevant to a day trader and compounds for anyone holding for weeks. Currency conversion applies where your account and the instrument use different currencies, which is a charge worth avoiding by funding in the currency you actually trade.

There is no inactivity fee, so an account can sit funded and untouched without being eroded.

Platforms and tools8.3/10

FBS runs MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, FBS App. Both MetaTrader versions are available, which matters more than it sounds: an expert advisor written for MT4 will not run on MT5, so a trader arriving with existing software needs the specific version it was written for.

Automation is supported: yes. There is no public retail API, so automation has to go through the platform rather than around it. Copy trading is available through not a core feature of the current global offering, which is the alternative to writing rules yourself.

Charting runs to MT4/MT5 indicator libraries and custom indicators. Additional tools include MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5. On mobile: proprietary plus MT4/MT5.

Markets, leverage and execution7.6/10

FBS covers Forex, Stocks, Indices, Metals, Energies, Cryptocurrencies. That comes to 550+ instruments in total. On the currency side specifically it lists 70+ pairs. Breadth is worth less than depth in the markets you actually trade - a hundred instruments priced well beats a thousand you will never open.

Leverage runs to 1:3000 on the entity that offers most. That does not improve your expected return; it lowers the deposit a given position requires, and shortens the move needed to close you out. Whatever the headline, the number that governs your position is the margin requirement on the specific instrument - it is always lower on shares and crypto than on major currency pairs.

Execution is market execution, routing orders to external liquidity rather than pricing them internally. Measured speed is from 0.01 seconds. Its servers sit in global trading infrastructure, which is what determines latency more than any software choice.

Order types available: market, limit, stop, stop-loss, take-profit, trailing stop and MetaTrader pending orders. Stops and limits are table stakes; what separates platforms is whether the ones you rely on are there and how quickly they can be modified once a position is open.

Accounts

Account types run to standard/live trading, Swap-Free, Demo. The minimum deposit is $5. The smallest position it will take is 0.01 lots, which is what actually governs how precisely you can size risk on a small account.

A demo account is available, which is the cheapest way to find out whether the platform suits you. Swap-free Islamic accounts are offered. Opening takes typically a few minutes, subject to verification.

Accounts can be denominated in Entity/account dependent. Funding in the currency you trade removes a conversion charge from every position, which is a small saving repeated indefinitely.

Deposits and withdrawals

Deposits can be made by bank transfer, Visa/Mastercard, Skrill, Neteller and extensive regional payment methods. They clear in many electronic methods instant.

Withdrawals go out by bank transfer, cards, e-wallets and local methods. Expect instant automated withdrawals available on supported methods. Check the withdrawal routes rather than the deposit ones. They are frequently not the same list, anti-money-laundering rules usually require funds to return the way they came, and the difference only becomes apparent at the point you want your money back.

Local payment methods include extensive, with 200+ global/local methods - which matters more than it looks if you are outside the broker's home market, since an international wire is slow and expensive compared with a domestic transfer.

Support and education2.9/10

Support runs 24/7. That is worth more than it sounds on a leveraged account: markets gap at inconvenient hours, and a position you cannot get help with is a position you carry until somebody answers. You can reach them by live chat, email, callback, Help Centre. Live chat typically answers in under 1 minute advertised. Support is offered in multilingual.

Its education is substantial - courses, tutorials, webinars, trading guides and educational articles - which is the difference between a broker that will teach you and one that will simply take the deposit. Research output covers market analysis, trading ideas, news and technical/fundamental commentary.

The company behind the brand

The company behind the brand is FBS Markets Inc., registered as 000001317. It operates from Belize City, Belize. It has been trading since 2009, so there is about 17 years of record to look at.

It sits within Independent / FBS group. It is privately held, so its finances are not published the way a listed group's are. Headcount is in the 500+ range.

You may also see it under FBS. Brands and legal entities rarely map one to one in this industry, and the name on the website is not always the name on the client agreement.