#1
Marex Group
RegulatedUnited KingdomEst. 2005FCA
Regulation
License
Spread
91.3Score
These ten brokers hold the highest WIKILIX scores among the 277 we track that carry at least one tier-1 licence. A tier-1 licence means the firm answers to a top-rung national regulator, the FCA in Britain, ASIC in Australia, the SFC in Hong Kong, the NFA in the United States and their peers. Marex leads at 91.3, and the tenth name still scores 82.2, so under nine points separate the whole table.
| # | Broker | Score | Tier-1 regulators | Opened |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marex | 91.3 | FCA, SFC, NFA | 2005 |
| 2 | Jefferies | 89.0 | FCA, CIRO | 1962 |
| 3 | T. Rowe Price | 87.9 | FCA, SFC, FINRA, MAS, CIRO | 1937 |
| 4 | StoneX | 85.7 | FCA, SFC | 1924 |
| 5 | ED&F Man | 85.3 | FCA, SFC, NFA | 2012 |
| 6 | Ebury | 84.8 | FCA, ASIC, SFC, AMF | 2009 |
| 7 | ADMIS | 84.4 | FCA, SFC | 2008 |
| 8 | Hantec Markets | 83.1 | FCA, ASIC | 2009 |
| 9 | Trading.com | 82.4 | FCA | 2015 |
| 10 | Paxos | 82.2 | FCA, MAS, NFA | 2012 |
What sits behind the tier-1 label
Regulators are not equal, and WIKILIX sorts them into four tiers. Tier-1 is the top rung: the eight authorities represented here, the FCA, ASIC, SFC, NFA, MAS, CIRO, FINRA and France's AMF, each audit a firm's capital and require client money to be held apart from the company's own. They can also suspend or withdraw an authorisation. The order on this page is the WIKILIX score, highest first. That score reflects a firm's regulatory standing, the tier of the licences it holds and how long it has operated, as we record them. It does not price a spread, clock an execution or rate customer service, so a high score is not a promise of cheap or fast trading.
What this ranking does not tell you
Two gaps are worth naming. It says nothing about trading costs or execution speed, because those sit outside what the score reads. And a tier-1 licence in London or Sydney does not mean the firm will take you on: whether a broker accepts clients from your country is set by its own terms, not by anything on this list. Several names here are institutional houses. Marex and ED&F Man deal mainly with professional counterparties, and a retail trader may never open an account with either.
Why a second tier-1 licence matters
Nine of these ten answer to more than one tier-1 regulator, and the exception, Trading.com, still pairs its FCA authorisation with a European one. T. Rowe Price answers to five of them: the FCA, SFC, FINRA, MAS and Canada's CIRO. A firm cleared in several leading jurisdictions has passed several separate capital and conduct reviews, which is harder to arrange than a single registration. The catch is that those licences describe a group, while the account you open sits under one subsidiary and one of them. Read which entity is on your contract, and confirm it on that regulator's own register before you deposit.
The pool these ten come from runs deep on history. Its oldest member, Bank of Scotland, was chartered in 1695; HSBC dates to 1865 and Geneva's Pictet to 1805. Half of the 277 score above roughly 66, so the ten here sit well clear of the middle. Familiar retail names are in the pool but below the line: IG scores 69.5 and Saxo 61.3, both with clean records, simply lower than the leaders today. Seven of the ten opened before 2010, and only Trading.com arrived after 2012.
Before you rely on a tier-1 badge
- Read which entity holds the tier-1 licence. A group can advertise an FCA number covering a UK arm while onboarding you through an offshore one.
- Match the licence to the service. A firm's top-rung authorisation may cover institutional dealing, not the retail account you want to open.
- Check the regulator's own register, such as the FCA's Financial Services Register, for the firm's current status and permitted activities.
- Weigh the opening date. StoneX trading since 1924 and Trading.com since 2015 carry very different track records under the same badge.
10brokers on this list
Researched & ranked by the Wikilix team
- #2
Jefferies Financial Group
RegulatedUnited StatesEst. 1962FCA
RegulationLicenseSpread89.0Score - #3
T. Rowe Price Group, Inc
RegulatedUnited StatesEst. 1937SFCRegulationLicenseSpread87.9Score - #4
StoneX Group Inc.
RegulatedUnited StatesEst. 1924FCARegulationLicenseSpread85.7Score - #5
ED&F Man Capital Markets
RegulatedUnited KingdomEst. 2012SFC
RegulationLicenseSpread85.3Score - #6
Ebury Partners Markets Ltd
RegulatedUnited KingdomEst. 2009FCA
RegulationLicenseSpread84.8Score - #7
ADMIS Singapore Pte. Limited
RegulatedHong KongEst. 2008FCARegulationLicenseSpread84.4Score - #8
Hantec Markets Limited
RegulatedUnited KingdomEst. 2009FCARegulationLicenseSpread83.1Score - #9
Trading.com Markets UK Limited
RegulatedUnited KingdomEst. 2015FCA
RegulationLicenseSpread82.4Score - #10
Paxos Trust Company, LLC
RegulatedUnited StatesEst. 2012SEC
RegulationLicenseSpread82.2Score
This is the score order on the day the page was built, not a fixed ranking. Scores are refreshed on a regular cycle, and a firm that gains or loses a licence, or picks up a status warning, can move or fall off the list as its record changes. The ten names above are rechecked against each regulator's public register on the same schedule as the rest of the site.
For the single-authority view, WIKILIX keeps a separate top ten for each of the tier-1 regulators these firms hold, including ASIC, SFC, SEC, NFA and MAS. The CySEC list shows how the tier-2 picture compares.
Whichever list you start from, confirm a licence on the regulator's own register before you deposit. A record here reflects what WIKILIX holds today, and the registers are the primary source.
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently asked questions
Answers from the Wikilix research team about this ranking.
Most Popular Questions
Both qualify for the pool and both carry a clean record, but the list is ranked strictly by the WIKILIX score, and today they score below the leaders. IG sits at 69.5 and Exness at 63.0, against 82.2 for the tenth name here. A different measure, such as trading cost, could reorder them, but this page uses the score.
It means more than one top-rung regulator has reviewed the firm's capital and conduct, which is harder to arrange than a single registration. Nine of these ten answer to two or more tier-1 authorities. It is not a guarantee: the licences cover a group, while your account sits under one subsidiary, so confirm which entity holds your money.
StoneX has the earliest recorded start on the list, trading since 1924. T. Rowe Price follows from 1937 and Jefferies from 1962. Seven of the ten opened before 2010. Across the wider pool the history runs further still, back to Bank of Scotland in 1695.
This list is built from where each firm is licensed and headquartered, not from where it accepts clients. A tier-1 licence in London or New York does not tell you whether the broker will onboard someone in South Africa, Canada or anywhere else. That is set by each broker's own terms, so check them directly before you apply.
All ten. Every broker on this list holds a licence from the UK Financial Conduct Authority, and nine of them pair it with at least one other tier-1 authority. T. Rowe Price answers to five top-rung regulators in total. An FCA entry can still cover only one group company, so check which entity is named before you rely on it.
A tier-1 regulator is a top-rung national authority that audits a broker's capital, requires client money to be kept separate and can withdraw a licence. The tier-1 authorities behind this list include the FCA, ASIC, SFC, NFA, MAS, CIRO, FINRA and France's AMF. WIKILIX sorts every regulator into four tiers, and tier-1 is the strictest.
Marex holds the top score at 91.3. It is a London-based group licensed by the FCA in Britain, the SFC in Hong Kong and the NFA in the United States. The ranking is ordered by the WIKILIX score alone, so Marex sits first because it scores highest, not because of any paid placement.
WIKILIX tracks 277 brokers that hold at least one tier-1 licence and score 60 or higher. This page shows the ten with the highest overall score. The other 267 are not excluded for any fault; they simply score lower, and many appear on the single-regulator rankings for the FCA, ASIC, SFC and others.