Risk scorecard
Each area is scored 0 (clean) to 10 (worst). Higher means more risk.
Regulation
7/10 · HighA Bank of Russia warning entry names the exact domain and operating company, and the only licence is an offshore Comoros registration whose published term ended in April 2025.
Identity & transparency
7/10 · HighThe licensed entity on the register and the operating entity on the site carry different names, and control sits with an individual in Armenia behind a Comoros address, though entity, number and address are disclosed.
Withdrawals & conduct
6/10 · HighA recurring fund-access pattern across two platforms with amounts and dates attached, but no confirmed systematic freeze and a substantial group of clients report being paid.
Reputation
8/10 · CriticalTrustpilot withheld the score for a guidelines breach and removed fake reviews, 49 per cent of 288 reviews sit at one star, and a central bank listing sits alongside them.
Website claims
7/10 · HighAdvertises licence T2023236 as current although its published term has run out, markets over 25 years of experience for a company licensed in 2023, and publishes no link to verify the licence.
Operational history
6/10 · HighGenuine 1998 brand and a domain registered in 2002 running continuously under one name, offset by a 2025 change of control and two Comoros companies that cannot be dated.
Who they are
A quick desk file on the company behind the brand.
- Brand: Alpari, trading since 1998 and one of the older names in retail forex.
- Legal entity: Parlance Trading Ltd, named on the website as the operator. The licence register still records the holder as Alpari (Comoros) Ltd under the same company number.
- Registered: Bonovo Road, Fomboni, Island of Moheli, Comoros Union. Company number HY00423015.
- Website: alpari.com, registered on 16 October 2002 and last changed on 14 July 2025.
- Only licence: Mwali International Services Authority number T2023236, an offshore Comoros registration.
- Control: the licence record names Arman Grigoryan of Yerevan, Armenia as both chief executive and ultimate beneficial owner.
- Offers: forex, metals, commodities, indices, stocks and crypto CFDs, plus PAMM investing, on its own platform.
- Not accepted: residents of the USA, Japan, Canada, North Korea, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Myanmar, India, Azerbaijan, Syria, Sudan and Cuba.
- Age claim: the site markets over 25 years of experience and a 1998 founding date.
Regulation
Who really oversees this broker, and what each licence is worth to you.
Proof of regulation on an official register: Yes
We confirmed this broker on a genuine regulator’s register.
Licences the broker publishes
Mwali International Services Authority
Found by our investigation (1) — the broker does not list these on its own site
National Bank of the Republic of Belarus
Found by us — not listed by the broker
Why we reached this verdict
How the evidence adds up.
Four things drive the rating, and the first one carries most of the weight.
- A national regulator names this exact operation. The Bank of Russia publishes a list of entities where it has detected signs of illegal activity in the financial market. The entry headed Alpari Limited, Parlance Trading Ltd records signs of an illegal professional securities market participant. Its website field lists alpari.com, www.alpari.com and trade.alpari.com among roughly 180 addresses. The entry dates from 1 June 2021 and was last updated on 4 September 2026. Both the domain and the company named on the broker own site match, so there is no question of this describing a different firm.
- The only licence has run past its published term. The Mwali licence verification record for T2023236 gives a date of issue of 12 April 2023 and a licence end date of 12 April 2025. The site continues to advertise the number as current. The register list still flags the entry active, so the two parts of the register do not agree with each other.
- The licensed company and the operating company are not the same name. The register records Alpari (Comoros) Ltd. The website says Alpari is the trading name of Parlance Trading Ltd. Both use company number HY00423015, and the brand changed hands in 2025, so this looks like a transfer the register has not caught up with rather than a borrowed licence. It still means the client cannot match the company taking the money to the company on the licence.
- Clients report money not coming back. Trustpilot has withheld the score for alpari.com because of a guidelines breach and states it removed a number of fake reviews. Of 288 reviews, 49 per cent sit at one star, with withdrawals stuck for weeks and withdrawal buttons disappearing among the recurring themes. Complaint records elsewhere carry the same mechanism with figures attached, including 2,600 dollars requested and not received after four rounds of document requests, a four-week withdrawal delay, and a deposit that never reached the trading account.
Set against that, the licence is real and the register itself ties it to alpari.com, which rules out the clone pattern. The domain has run continuously under one brand for nearly 24 years. That is why this is not rated a confirmed scam.
One limit on the age figure is worth stating plainly. The Mwali registrar publishes licence records rather than a searchable company register, so neither Comoros company can be dated. The operating history therefore rests on the domain alone and should be read as an upper bound. The brand is old, but the company holding client funds was licensed in 2023 and came under new ownership in 2025.
Evidence ledger
Every finding, with its source and how strongly it points.
E1The Bank of Russia list of entities with detected signs of illegal activity in the financial market carries an entry headed Alpari Limited, Parlance Trading Ltd, recording signs of an illegal professional securities market participant. Its website field lists alpari.com, www.alpari.com and trade.alpari.com among roughly 180 addresses, alongside an address at Suite 305, Griffith Corporate Centre, Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Dated 1 June 2021, last updated 4 September 2026.
Hard proofBank of RussiaE2The Mwali licence verification record for T2023236 names the holder as Alpari (Comoros) Ltd, company number HY00423015, with a date of issue of 12 April 2023 and a licence end date of 12 April 2025. It names Arman Grigoryan of Yerevan, Armenia as chief executive and ultimate beneficial owner, and gives the website as alpari.com. The record itself is dated 2 December 2024.
E3Alpari own site states that Alpari is the trading name of Parlance Trading Ltd, registered at Bonovo Road, Fomboni, Island of Moheli under number HY00423015 and licensed by the Mwali International Services Authority under number T2023236. It advertises the licence as current, names a different company from the one on the register, and provides no link to the register to verify it.
StrongAlpari websiteE4Entry 38 on the Mwali register of authorised brokerage companies records Alpari (Comoros) Ltd, licence T2023236, dated 12 April 2023, status active, with the website field linking to alpari.com. The register itself ties the licence to the domain under investigation, which rules out the pattern of a firm wearing another company credentials.
E5The Trustpilot page for alpari.com carries 288 reviews with the company rating withheld because of a breach of Trustpilot guidelines, and a notice that a number of fake reviews were removed. The distribution is 22 per cent five star, 6 per cent four star, 14 per cent three star, 9 per cent two star and 49 per cent one star. Dominant one-star themes are withdrawals held for weeks, withdrawal options disappearing after verification, account restrictions imposed straight after a deposit, and platform execution problems.
StrongTrustpilotE6A published complaint records a withdrawal of 2,600 dollars requested and not received, with support citing a payment channel problem and asking repeatedly for bank documents that were supplied four times. The same complaint index lists further fund-access cases against the brand, including a four-week withdrawal delay and a deposit that never reached the trading account.
StrongBrokersViewE7Registry records show alpari.com was created on 16 October 2002 and last changed on 14 July 2025, giving nearly 24 years of continuous registration under one brand. The July 2025 change lines up with the transfer of the brand to its current operator.
ModerateVerisign RDAPE8Alpari was founded in Kazan in December 1998. Alpari (UK) Limited was fined 140,000 pounds in May 2010 over anti-money-laundering systems and controls, and entered special administration on 19 January 2015 after the Swiss franc shock. Alpari (US) LLC lost its National Futures Association membership in April 2015, the Cyprus entity renounced its authorisation in December 2012, and the Bank of Russia annulled the Russian forex dealer licence with effect from 27 January 2019. Every mainstream licence the brand once held has since gone.
ModerateWikipediaE9The about page markets a founding date of 24 December 1998 and more than a quarter century of experience, while the company that currently contracts with clients holds a licence issued in April 2023 and took over the brand in 2025.
ModerateAlpari website
The other side
The strongest case in this broker’s favour.
The case for Alpari deserves a fair hearing, and parts of it are strong.
- This is not a fake. The Mwali register lists licence T2023236 against the website alpari.com. A scam wearing someone else copied credentials does not appear on the issuer own register pointing back at its own domain.
- The history is real. Alpari was founded in Kazan in December 1998 and became one of the largest retail forex brands in the world. The domain dates to 2002. The 1998 claim is not invented.
- The Bank of Russia listing is about permission, not theft. It records signs of an unlicensed securities market participant. Alpari lost its Russian forex dealer licence in 2019, when the central bank annulled the licences of several major brokers at once. Any offshore firm still reaching Russian residents after that lands on this list. It is not a finding of fraud.
- Plenty of clients are paid. Around 28 per cent of the Trustpilot reviews sit at four or five stars, and a large share of the negative feedback is about spreads, platform glitches and support quality rather than missing money. Those are product complaints, and we have not counted them against fund safety.
- The complaints are not a freeze. They run thinly from 2022 to 2026 rather than spiking in one window. An exit scam has a start date, and this pattern does not have one.
- Disclosure is present. The site names a legal entity, a company number, a registered address and a restricted-country list. Boiler rooms usually do not.
What the steelman cannot do is explain away a regulator naming the exact domain and the exact company, or a licence whose published term expired seventeen months ago while still being advertised.
What would change this
What we would need to see to revise the verdict.
Concrete things that would move this rating, in either direction.
- The Bank of Russia removing alpari.com and Parlance Trading Ltd from its list of entities with signs of illegal financial-market activity. That single change would remove the heaviest item and push the rating toward high risk rather than likely scam.
- The Mwali register publishing a renewed licence record for T2023236 with a current end date, and the holder name updated to match the company named on the website.
- Alpari publishing a direct verification link from its licence number to the register entry, which it does not do today.
- Authorisation from a mainstream regulator, or readmission to an independent dispute-resolution scheme after the 2024 exit, giving clients somewhere to escalate.
- Trustpilot restoring the company score after the guidelines breach is resolved, alongside a clear fall in withdrawal complaints over two or three quarters.
- Going the other way: any regulator warning that names deposits taken and not returned, a demand for an extra payment before funds are released, or a withdrawal suspension notice on the site would push this to a confirmed rating quickly.
Check it yourself
Official registers and warning lists. Verify every claim first-hand.
Mwali International Services Authority licence verification, T2023236
The licence record itself, showing the holder name, company number and the licence term.
Mwali register of authorised brokerage companies
The full list, where entry 38 links the licence to alpari.com.
Bank of Russia, entities with signs of illegal financial-market activity
The warning entry naming Parlance Trading Ltd and alpari.com.
Alpari reviews on Trustpilot
Per-domain review page, including the notice that the rating is withheld.
Frequently asked questions
Quick answers about this broker’s safety.
Is Alpari a scam?
We rate it a likely scam risk at 70 per cent. The Bank of Russia lists alpari.com and its operator Parlance Trading Ltd as showing signs of illegal financial-market activity, and the only licence advertised is an offshore Comoros registration whose published term ended in April 2025. That said, the licence is genuine and the brand has traded since 1998, so this is not a fake broker built overnight.
Is Alpari a fraud?
No court or regulator has found Alpari guilty of fraud, and we do not make that claim. What exists on the record is a Bank of Russia listing for signs of an illegal professional securities market participant, plus client reports of withdrawals not arriving. We assess the risk of losing money here as high, but that is our assessment rather than a legal finding.
Is Alpari regulated?
Only by the Mwali International Services Authority in the Comoros, under licence T2023236. That is an offshore registrar rather than a functioning supervisor, and the Comoros central bank has publicly disavowed its licences. Alpari holds no authorisation from any mainstream regulator today.
Can I withdraw my money from Alpari?
Many clients do withdraw successfully, but a recurring group does not. Complaint records describe withdrawals stuck for weeks, repeated document requests, and withdrawal options disappearing from the account. If you trade here, withdraw in small test amounts and keep records of every request.
Is my money safe with Alpari?
There is no compensation scheme, no ombudsman and no deposit protection behind a Comoros registration. Alpari also left the independent dispute-resolution body it belonged to in early 2024, so there is no external adjudicator left. If the firm does not pay, there is no practical route to force it.
Who owns Alpari?
The Mwali licence record names Arman Grigoryan of Yerevan, Armenia as chief executive and ultimate beneficial owner. The brand left the Exinity group in 2025 and the trademark and domain moved to Parlance Trading Ltd. The founder of the original 1998 business is no longer behind the operation.
How old is Alpari?
The brand dates to December 1998 and the alpari.com domain was registered on 16 October 2002, so roughly 24 years of continuous web presence. The company that currently holds client money is much newer, licensed in 2023 and under new ownership since 2025. Neither Comoros company can be dated, so the age figure is an upper bound.
What is a MISA licence worth?
Very little. The Mwali International Services Authority is a registrar on an autonomous Comoros island, not a supervisor with enforcement powers, and the Comoros central bank has said its licences have no legal effect. It imposes no meaningful capital requirement and offers clients no compensation if funds go missing.
Why does the Alpari licence show an expiry date that has passed?
The Mwali verification record for T2023236 gives a term of 12 April 2023 to 12 April 2025. That end date is now in the past, while the register list still flags the entry as active and the website still advertises the number as current. The two parts of the register disagree, and the broker has not published anything to resolve it.
Is Alpari a clone of another broker?
No. The Mwali register lists licence T2023236 with alpari.com as the licensed website, so the registration belongs to this operation rather than being copied from another firm. The identity problem here is different: the licence names Alpari (Comoros) Ltd while the site names Parlance Trading Ltd.
Why was Alpari UK shut down?
Alpari (UK) Limited went into special administration on 19 January 2015, days after the Swiss franc de-peg wiped out its capital. That was a market event that also damaged other regulated brokers, not a fraud. It is separate from today operation, which has no UK presence and does not accept UK residents.
What should I check before depositing with any broker?
Search the licence number on the regulator own register and confirm the entity name, the website and the licence end date all match the firm you are dealing with. Check whether a compensation scheme or ombudsman covers you. Then read the one-star reviews for the word withdrawal, because that is where the real risk shows up first.
What we recommend
The practical takeaway from everything above.
Treat Alpari as a high-risk offshore venue and size any exposure accordingly.
- Do not deposit money you cannot afford to lose entirely. A Comoros registration carries no compensation scheme, no ombudsman and no realistic route to recover funds.
- If you already hold a balance, withdraw in small test amounts first and keep every ticket number, timestamp and screenshot.
- Check the Mwali licence record yourself before funding an account, and note the end date printed on it.
- Be aware that the company named on the licence is not the company named on the website, so a claim may have to be pursued against an entity you did not knowingly contract with.
- If a withdrawal is refused and you are then asked to pay a tax, fee or verification charge to release it, stop and pay nothing. That request has no legitimate form.
- Residents of Russia should note the Bank of Russia has listed this operation. Traders elsewhere should weigh that a central bank reached that view about this exact website.
- If you have lost money, report it to your national financial regulator and to your card issuer or bank, and avoid any firm that contacts you offering to recover funds for an upfront fee.
This is an independent assessment of risk, not a legal ruling. Scores and verdicts follow the Wikilix broker-safety methodology and can change as new evidence appears. Review scores are treated with caution when a broker’s reviews look manipulated. Last reviewed September 9, 2026. If any detail here is out of date or incorrect, or you represent this broker, please contact us.