Trading Business ReviewIndependent audits of brokers, prop firms and exchanges, with intelligence, reviews and interviews for the people who run and use them.https://tradingbusinessreview.com/IG review 2026: a FTSE 100 broker with deep markets and smooth payments, held back by costs and its platformhttps://tradingbusinessreview.com/broker-reviews/ig-review/https://tradingbusinessreview.com/broker-reviews/ig-review/IG offers spread betting, CFDs and share dealing through its own platform, MT4, ProRealTime and TradingView, from three FCA-authorised UK companies.Fri, 02 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTXM review 2026: a $5 entry point, and two very different sets of protectionshttps://tradingbusinessreview.com/broker-reviews/xm-review/https://tradingbusinessreview.com/broker-reviews/xm-review/XM makes it cheap to start and offers MT4, MT5 and its own app. Which XM company you sign up with decides your leverage, your bonuses and your safety net.Fri, 02 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTESMA puts perpetual futures on notice: if it works like a CFD, it is regulated like onehttps://tradingbusinessreview.com/market-intelligence/esma-perpetual-futures-cfd-rules/https://tradingbusinessreview.com/market-intelligence/esma-perpetual-futures-cfd-rules/A February 2026 statement tells firms that the commercial name of a leveraged derivative is irrelevant. What matters is whether it meets the definition of a CFD, and most perpetuals likely do.Fri, 02 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTEurope's CFD rules, explained: leverage caps, margin close-out and the risk warninghttps://tradingbusinessreview.com/market-intelligence/eu-cfd-rules-explained/https://tradingbusinessreview.com/market-intelligence/eu-cfd-rules-explained/Since 2018, every EU broker selling CFDs to retail clients has worked within the same five rules. Here is what each one does, with a worked example of the margin close-out.Fri, 02 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTHow to verify a broker's licence in five minuteshttps://tradingbusinessreview.com/market-intelligence/how-to-verify-a-broker-licence/https://tradingbusinessreview.com/market-intelligence/how-to-verify-a-broker-licence/A licence number on a website proves nothing on its own. Six checks, all on regulators' own registers, separate a regulated firm from a clone of one.Fri, 02 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTWhat investor compensation actually covers, and what it does nothttps://tradingbusinessreview.com/market-intelligence/investor-compensation-schemes-explained/https://tradingbusinessreview.com/market-intelligence/investor-compensation-schemes-explained/The UK's FSCS and Cyprus's ICF protect clients when a firm fails. Neither covers trading losses, and the limits differ by a factor of four.Fri, 02 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTMiCA's transition is over. What changed on 1 July 2026https://tradingbusinessreview.com/market-intelligence/mica-transitional-period-ended/https://tradingbusinessreview.com/market-intelligence/mica-transitional-period-ended/The grandfathering window for crypto-asset service providers has closed across the EU. Unauthorised firms must wind down, and the protections clients get now depend on exactly which legal entity they deal with.Fri, 02 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTThe My Forex Funds case collapsed. The questions it raised about prop firms did nothttps://tradingbusinessreview.com/market-intelligence/my-forex-funds-cftc-case-prop-firms/https://tradingbusinessreview.com/market-intelligence/my-forex-funds-cftc-case-prop-firms/The CFTC's fraud case against one of the largest prop firms ended in dismissal and sanctions against the regulator. The structural issues it put on the record still define how the industry is judged.Fri, 02 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT