FBS review

Spread from

0.7 pips

EUR/USD spread

1.1 pips typical

GBP/USD spread

Dynamic

Commission

$0 on standard current offering

All-in cost, EUR/USD

Approx. 1.1 pips typical

Spread type

Floating

Overnight swap

Both: swaps may be charged or credited

Inactivity fee

No standard inactivity fee prominently advertised

Deposit fee

From $0

Withdrawal fee

From $0; payment-provider charges may apply

Currency conversion

Method/account dependent

Cost is where brokers in the same regulatory bracket actually differ.

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.

Markets

Forex, Stocks, Indices, Metals, Energies, Cryptocurrencies

Currency pairs

70+

Total instruments

550+

Crypto CFDs

Yes

Maximum leverage

1:3000

Execution model

Market execution

Execution speed

From 0.01 seconds

Order types

Market, limit, stop, stop-loss, take-profit, trailing stop and MetaTrader pending orders

Servers

Global trading infrastructure

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.

Platforms

MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, FBS App

Own platform

Yes, FBS mobile trading functionality

Mobile app

Proprietary plus MT4/MT5

Browser trading

Yes

Automated trading

Yes

Copy trading

Not a core feature of the current global offering

Indicators

MT4/MT5 indicator libraries and custom indicators

Third-party tools

MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5

API access

No standard retail API prominently offered

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.

Regulated by

Financial Services Commission, Belize

Regulator tier

Tier 3 / Offshore

Register entry

Belize FSC register

Client money segregated

Yes

Held at

Multiple Tier-1 banks; individual banks not disclosed

Negative balance protection

Yes

Compensation scheme

None

Audited by

Not prominently disclosed

Not available to

USA, EU, UK, Israel, India, Iran, Myanmar and additional restricted jurisdictions

Across a hundred brokers, the licence is what separates the field fastest.

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.

Minimum deposit

$5

Account types

Standard/live trading, Swap-Free, Demo

Account currencies

Entity/account dependent

Islamic account

Yes, Swap-Free

Demo account

Yes

Professional account

No conventional regulatory professional classification on global entity

Minimum trade size

0.01 lots

Time to open

Typically a few minutes, subject to verification

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.

Deposit methods

Bank transfer, Visa/Mastercard, Skrill, Neteller and extensive regional payment methods

Withdrawal methods

Bank transfer, cards, e-wallets and local methods

Deposit time

Many electronic methods instant

Withdrawal time

Instant automated withdrawals available on supported methods

Local payment methods

Extensive, with 200+ global/local methods

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.

Support hours

24/7

Contact channels

Live chat, email, callback, Help Centre

Languages

Multilingual

Telephone

+501 611 0594; +357 22 010970

Email

support@fbs.com

Live chat response

Under 1 minute advertised

Education

Extensive: courses, tutorials, webinars, trading guides and educational articles

Research

Market analysis, trading ideas, news and technical/fundamental commentary

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.

Legal entity

FBS Markets Inc.

Company number

000001317

Headquarters

Belize City, Belize

Founded

2009

Publicly listed

No

Parent company

Independent / FBS group

Employees

500+

Also trades as

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.