Frequently Asked Questions
Short answers with a link to the page that gives the full one.
About the site
Is ForexBrokers101 free?
Yes. Every course, lesson, quiz, glossary term, guide and calculator is free with no account. The site is funded by affiliate commissions when readers open accounts or buy evaluations through tracked links. Read more.
Do I need an account to track progress?
No. Progress is stored in your browser. Marking lessons complete and resuming where you left off works without signing up, and it stays on the device you used. Read more.
Where does the broker data come from?
From a research database shared across our sites, maintained from regulators' registers and each broker's published terms, with the date of the last check on each profile. Read more.
Is ForexBrokers101 affiliated with any broker or prop firm?
No. It is independent of every provider it covers. Provider names and logos are used to identify the companies concerned. Read more.
Learning forex
Where should a complete beginner start?
Course 1, Forex Foundations, then Course 2 on brokers and Course 5 on leverage, margin and risk. Those three cover what you need before opening any account. Read more.
How long does the curriculum take?
Around 120 lessons of ten to fifteen minutes each. Most people complete a course in a week or two and the full curriculum in two to three months alongside demo trading. Read more.
What is a pip?
The standard unit of price movement: the fourth decimal place on most pairs and the second on yen pairs. A move from 1.1000 to 1.1001 is one pip. Read more.
What is leverage?
The ability to control a position larger than your deposit. At 1:30, 1,000 dollars of margin controls a 30,000-dollar position, and profit and loss are calculated on the full position. Read more.
How much should I risk per trade?
One percent of the account is the conventional figure for a beginner and two percent the upper limit. The position size calculator turns that into a lot size. Read more.
Brokers
How do I check whether a broker is regulated?
Find the legal entity in the client agreement, look it up on the regulator's own register, and confirm the name, licence number, status and website match. The regulator pages link to every register. Read more.
What is the difference between a market maker and an ECN broker?
A market maker takes the other side of your trades and earns the spread and unhedged client losses; an ECN matches your orders with other participants and charges a commission on a raw spread. Read more.
Which broker is best for beginners?
One regulated by a tier-one authority, with a free demo and a minimum deposit you can afford. Our beginners ranking applies exactly those tests. Read more.
Prop trading
What is a prop firm challenge?
A paid evaluation on a simulated account: reach a profit target without breaching daily and maximum loss limits and the firm gives you a funded account with a profit split. Read more.
Is prop trading real money?
Your fee is real and your payouts are real. The funded account is usually simulated: the firm pays your share of its profit from its own funds. Read more.
What is the difference between static and trailing drawdown?
Static drawdown is measured from the starting balance and never moves; trailing drawdown follows your highest balance or equity, so profit raises the floor. Trailing is much harder. Read more.
Which prop firm is best?
It depends on your method: static or trailing drawdown, weekend and news rules, platform and payout terms. Our prop-firm ranking weights transparency and payout record above price. Read more.