If they do not hold a proper license, segregated account is just a gimmick. So first, make sure they are having a good financial license.

2nd. Funds must go to the licensed company segregated bank account. Do not bank in to any 3rd party bank accounts and also beware when they request you to bank in to an account under different country where they hold their license.

So if they ask you to bank in to some other accounts, then you should know the answer whether they are genuine or not.

Be very careful and stay alert!

last time i started with USD300... trade 0.01 lot only.

I want to start with AvaTrade there is good education platform. I have some questions, can you help me? Should I start with automated trading platforms or better to choose between MetaTrader 4 or AvaTradeGo platforms? What tips can you share for beginners? Thanks

Ive seen ptfx listed for quite sometime in this thread as scam but my friend have been withdrawing money consistently. How to tell if it is a scam?

Thank u fr responding.
Mia. They r using mt4 platform fr trading  but instead of delivering real time trading they  give us only the report of result frm the trading in which they reason to prevent copy trade frm unofficial users.(this has been quite a bother)
Wht is ur view point bout this?
Ive attached a file related

Pyramid scheme also able to withdraw money consistently until they shut it off.

Remember JJPTR?

Hi crixalisrox,

Thanks for checking with us.

The membership is open for traditional gold dealers, not for investment purpose. Any investment firm involved deposit taking in Hong Kong must regulated by Hong Kong FSC. The membership is not a financial license. They will use the membership as a tool to gain investors confident.

We wouldn't touch it unless it is regulated by Hong Kong SFC.

Anyone using XM?

Hello @DrFX,  my friend is currently working at Pentagon Business Centre at Hampshire Place Jalan Ampang. She applied for Ast. Manager position from Indeed.com. The f'up thing is she went for IV and said that her jobscope suddenly change to being IB for company called starling gold based in HK. I told her that that company is a fraud but she didn't believe me. After went for training for 2 weeks she tried to convinced me to invest USD10K. She said the company never had loss of their investors money and had no problems with BNM which i believe is BS!  She seems to be hypnotized with what the company had fed her and now she is awaiting for her personal loan of RM40K to approve. Need your advice on what should I do and I hope people that have been scammed by this company could reply to this post as well. Thanks

I think ptfx has been listed on this thread for quite some time and still running. And why is ptfx a scam? Im not saying im right but why? They dont use new money to pay off old members. You select traders of your choice and they perform differently.

How do you know they dont use new money to pay off old members?

No idea, do you? What made it into the list in the first place?

How To Check Is the Forex Broker Genuine   Or Scam

What sort of trader would not like the assistance of a broker that he can rely on? Most new traders struggle to find a genuine forex broker who is transparent and provides a great forex trading experience. There are several reasons for this, but one of the major reasons is the mindset of the traders themselves. As most new traders are lured into the forex game through a fake forex broker as an easy way to make money, they have a wrong image about the forex market and hence do not know how to get long term success. Most of us know that forex is one of the most volatile markets in the world, and due to its floating nature, the prices of the currencies cannot be predicted. But the question of how to identify weather a forex broker is genuine or not depends on several factors. You can also check the various internet websites like forexstars and other to get reviews about the various forex brokers. Here are some ways how you can check the authenticity of a forex broker.
MAKE SURE THE FOREX BROKER IS WELL REGULATED
Only trade or invest with top tier licensed brokers/banks who are under tier 1 and 2 licenses for highest protection. For example, in the event of a Swiss broker/bank bankruptcy, traders and investors are given up to CHF100k capital protection.

Tier 1 licenses under: US NFA, UK FCA, SWISS FINMA, JAPAN FSA, SINGAPORE MAS.
Tier 2 licenses under: European financial regulators, Australia ASIC, Canada IIROC.

AVOID UNREGULATED BROKERS OR OFFSHORE REGULATED BROKERS (Vanuatu, Seychelles, St. Vincent, Belize, Indonesia etc)

Traders and investors can check with their corresponding regulatory agencies that check the credibility of the forex brokers. They include the National Futures Association (NFA) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in the United States, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) in the United Kingdom, Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC), Swiss Federal Banking Commission (SFBC) and FINMA, Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFIN) in Germany and Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) in France.
Analyze the Website
We all know that in this age of peerless internet technology, coming across fake content is totally possible and one must first check the website first for a clear picture of the reviews. Some websites are meant not for the viewers but an organization’s attempt at getting more affiliates. In such cases you have to judge for yourself whether the reviews are real or are posted through automated software to get more viewers.

Check the Comment Box
Some sites are highly moderated along with the viewer’s comments that appear on the website due to the fear of spam. If a website allows regular users to comment on their posts that is a great sign of openness. But if your comment doesn’t appear immediately on the website and is stuck in the moderation phase forever, you certainly do not want to waste a lot of time reading your reviews on such a website. Several times unanswered comment boxes also indicate the website’s poor activity.

Only Promote Genuine Reviews
There are several websites that post a review and also refer the viewer to a broker’s website as several broker’s pay the sites to promote themselves. While there is nothing wrong in referrals, the viewers must also use their full discretion when it comes to judging whether the reviews are genuine or not. Try to avoid websites that also provide a referral link in a review that also redirects the user to the broker’s webpage.

Transparency Is A Must
The best way to know whether your forex broker is a fake one or not, is to look for his list of clients. While several fake brokers might tell you that it is against the law to disclose such information, the reality is the total opposite and no genuine broker would be afraid to share the list of his clients. Genuine brokers use their network of traders more as their work portfolio and you can always judge the authenticity of a broker through the profiles of the various clients and traders that he deals with. More transparency in a broker’s activities will instill more faith in the clients.

Look At How The Broker Works
While this would be like judging a book from its cover, forex brokers can be judged based on how they deal with their clients. If the forex broker holds each client’s funds in a segregated account approved by the traders, then it is quiet likely that you’re working with a genuine broker. Make sure that the broker has a valid proof of operating under a government regulation.

Check the Broker’s Portfolio
After you have checked how the broker works and the long list of his client’s, you still need to see if the clients are earning regular profits or not. Doing a short background check on how the various traders are performing with a particular broker is one of the best ways to know a broker’s authenticity. Forex is a highly fluctuating market and to ensure profits one requires having a really keen eye and a really honest forex broker.

Forex trading is a risky business and requires a lot of experience and skills, to earn profits over a long term period. Hence it is highly important that the new traders must check the genuineness of a broker to experience a non-stressful forex trading environment.

Indication of SCAMs:
1. FIX RETURN (SCAM)
2. Unregulated or offshore regulated brokers (Potential SCAM)
3. Lucrative upfront commission (SCAM)
4. No live trading view via platform (Potential SCAM)
5. Fix exchange rate for deposit and withdrawal (SCAM)
6. Cash payment or local deposit (SCAM) unless through regulated payment gateway.
7. Lock up period (Potential SCAM)

Any FX companies matched at least 2 of above indications, it is a potential SCAM. If matched 3 of the above indications, then it is definitely a SCAM!
List of Genuine Forex Brokers
1. Forex.com (Gain Capital)
2. FXpro
3. IG
4. Oanda
5. Interactive Brokers
6. Dukascopy
7. LCG
8. LMAX
9. FXCM
10. Saxobank
11. Admiral Markets
12. ThinkMarkets
13. EasyForex
14. HY Markets
15. ADS Securities
16. FXDD
17. ATC Brokers
18. City Index
19. ActivTrades
20. IC Markets
21. Synergy FX
22. Swissquote Bank
23. CMS Forex
24. AxiTrader
25. Aetos
26. NicoFX
27. Tickmill
28. AVATRADE
29. Exness
30. eToro
31. Plus500
32. Pepperstone
33. Global Prime
34. FXTM
35. MaxFX
36. Mex Exchange
37. Trade.com
38.
39.
40.

List of SCAM Forex Brokers !ALERT!
1. LiteForex
2. GSM Financial Group
3. RCFX
4. Maxim Trader
5. ODFX
6. GM Trader (TriumphFX)
7. WFX
8. Eu Trading Group EUTG (NewTradeFX)
9. IBS
10. FXUnited
11. YouTradeFX (EUTG)
12. UFXMarkets
13. GVF
14. TP Eagles
15. Efzinitus
16. IGOFX
17. Vortex Assets and VFX Premium (Eu Trading Group)
18. KBFX
19. JJPTR
20. SFX Markets
21. FXMAC
22. Nordhill Capital
23. Otex World
24. ikoFX
25. FXcoliseum
26. FXCitizen
27. Capital Foster Advisor
28. IIB International Broker
29. PTFX
30. Falconaire
31. HotForex
32. Xtrade
33. iiinvestments
34. Exia International Group
35. MYS CAPITAL (SFX Markets)
36. Zurich Prime
37. VenusFX
38. WMS Capital
39. MXC Forex
40. ECM
41. Sentratama Investor Future
42. Midasama (Pruton Capital)
43. FG GLOBAL ENRICH (White Label of Fullerton Markets)
44. FCMIS
45. ODIN Management (odincapital.com)
46. BlueMax Capital
47. Questra
48. Atlantic Global Asset Management
49. FXPrimus
50. OctaFX
51. AccentForex
52. Financial.org
53. OTM Capital
54. MG Falconer (TP Eagle)
55.
56.

List of Suspicious Forex Companies (Potential SCAM!)

1.
2.
3.

In case you have invested or trading with any of the scam brokers above, try your very best to withdraw your money back ASAP. If you can't take out your money, file a report or complaint to your local regulator. In most cases, it does not help as scam brokers do not hold any licenses and end up regulators unable to trace them.

Feel free to share your experiences with any other brokers and allow us to add on to above lists.

Based on all the information we provided, i hope it helps new FX investors or traders to differentiate and identify real/scam FX.

We welcome everyone who required due diligence or advise to check the genuineness of a FX brokers. After all, it's FOC.

Moderator, please do not move this topic to join with general Forex spread as it will served as a WARNING to those new to Forex. Thank you.

I mean anyone with any kind of basic idea of how to invest in share market will be smart enough to know how to distinguish between genuine brokers and fake brokers.
Having said that, this post is just an excellent way to let beginner investor know as to how to find nice brokers in this world where people cheat to make money.
Kudos on the post!

Hi, anyone heard of Windsor broker before? I think it's real right? TQ