FBS Review

FBS at a Glance

About FBS

FBS has been trading for around 17 years, through at least one full market cycle. Longevity guarantees nothing on its own, but a firm that came through 2008 and 2015 has been tested in a way a recent entrant has not.

The contracting entity is FBS Markets Inc.. This is the company you would actually have a relationship with, and it is worth checking that it is the same one named on the licence you are relying on: large brokers commonly operate several, and they are not equally protected.

Part of Independent / FBS group. A parent adds resources, but the protections that apply to you are the ones attached to the entity that holds your account, not to the group.

Regulation and Safety

FBS lists its regulation as Financial Services Commission, Belize.

Client money is held separately from the firm's own money, at Multiple Tier-1 banks; individual banks not disclosed. That separation is what makes your balance recoverable if the company fails, rather than part of the pool its creditors divide up.

Negative balance protection applies, so a losing position cannot take the account below zero and leave you owing the broker money.

No compensation scheme covers this entity. If the firm fails owing you money there is no statutory fund to claim against, and what you get back depends entirely on what administrators recover.

Trading Costs

Spreads from 0.7 pips suggest an all-in account, where the broker's fee is built into the price rather than charged separately. There is usually no commission on top, which makes the cost easier to predict.

Quoted spreads are best-case figures on the most liquid pair, in normal conditions. What you actually pay widens around news and at the session open.

FBS lists a minimum deposit of $5. Treat it as the cost of opening an account, not the cost of trading one - position sizing on a small balance is what tends to cause damage.

Spreads and Commissions

Compare the round-trip cost at your size with the profit and loss calculator. The lesson on spreads, commissions and financing explains how to add them up.

Account Types

A short account range, which usually means less to get wrong - the pricing you are shown is close to the pricing you get.

Base currencies: Entity/account dependent. Holding the account in the currency you fund it with avoids a conversion charge on every deposit and withdrawal - a cost that never shows up in a spread comparison.

The smallest position is 0.01 lots. For anyone starting carefully this matters more than the minimum deposit, because it sets the least you can put at risk on a single trade.

A demo account is available. Worth using for the platform rather than the results: fills are simulated, so it tells you how the software behaves but very little about execution.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit at FBS is $5. The sensible starting deposit is the one that lets you size positions at one percent risk with a realistic stop, which the position size calculator works out.

Trading Platforms

MetaTrader 4 remains the most widely supported platform for expert advisors. If you rely on an existing EA, this is usually the deciding factor.

MetaTrader 5 handles more asset classes and order types than MT4, but expert advisors are not compatible between the two - an MT4 EA will not run on it.

• MetaTrader 4: The most widely offered forex platform, with a vast library of indicators and expert advisors written in MQL4.
• MetaTrader 5: MetaQuotes' current platform: more timeframes and order types than MT4, depth of market, a built-in economic calendar, a multi-threaded strategy tester and support for exchange-traded markets..

Markets

Leverage up to 1:3000 is available on this entity. High leverage does not increase your expected return - it increases position size for the same deposit, and shortens the move needed to close you out.

FBS covers forex, stocks, indices, metals, energies, cryptocurrencies. A wider range matters less than depth in the instruments you actually trade.

Funding options: bank transfer, visa/mastercard, skrill, neteller and extensive regional payment methods. Check withdrawal routes as well as deposit ones - they are often not the same, and the difference only becomes apparent when you try to take money out.

Forex Pairs

FBS offers 70+ currency pairs. Other markets on offer: forex, stocks, indices, metals, energies, cryptocurrencies.

Leverage

Maximum leverage is 1:3000. Retail leverage is capped at 1:30 on major pairs under FCA, ESMA and ASIC rules and higher leverage is available only from entities outside those regulators. The lesson on leverage explains why the number you can use is rarely the number you should.

Execution

Deposits and Withdrawals

Withdrawals are stated at Instant automated withdrawals available on supported methods, against Many electronic methods instant for deposits. A gap between the two is normal and not in itself a warning sign - identity checks are a legal obligation, not obstruction. What is worth noticing is a withdrawal that keeps meeting new conditions after those checks are done.

Withdrawal routes: bank transfer, cards, e-wallets and local methods. Money is usually returned by the route it arrived on, so the deposit method you pick is in effect the withdrawal method you are picking too.

Customer Support

Support runs 24/7. Round-the-clock cover matters more than it sounds: a position held over a weekend or through an unexpected halt is exactly when you need somebody to answer.

Reachable by live chat, email, callback, help centre. A published telephone number is the one channel that is hard to fake and hard to ignore, so whether there is one says more than the number of channels does.

Languages: Multilingual. Being able to raise a complaint in your own language is worth more than it appears, because complaints are where precision matters most.

Education: extensive: courses, tutorials, webinars, trading guides and educational articles. Treat broker-published material as an introduction rather than as advice - it is produced by a firm whose revenue rises when you trade more.

Education and Research

FBS offers Extensive: courses, tutorials, webinars, trading guides and educational articles. Research: Market analysis, trading ideas, news and technical/fundamental commentary. Whatever a broker provides, the courses on this site cover the fundamentals independently of any broker.

Demo Account

FBS offers a free demo account. Use it to test the platform, the spreads at your trading hours and the order types you rely on before depositing; the lesson on demo and live accounts explains what a demo can and cannot tell you.

Key Strengths

• A minimum deposit of $5, accessible for a first account.
• A free demo account to test before depositing.
• A choice of platforms: MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5.

Important Considerations

• No regulatory licence could be confirmed.
• Entity matters: the protections described here apply only to the licensed company named in your client agreement.
• One or more safety items is flagged in the regulation section above.

Who Is FBS Suitable For?

FBS suits experienced traders who accept offshore regulation, and beginners with small starting deposits. The considerations section below lists what to check first.

Frequently Asked Questions

Trading forex and CFDs carries a high risk of losing money. Figures are the broker's published terms at the last check and can change. We may earn a commission when you open an account through a link. Affiliate disclosure.