FM Intelligence reviewed every retail FX and CFD complaint the Financial Commission adjudicated in 2025. Of 1,468 disputes, an independent panel of 18 experts did not find the broker at fault in 94.8% of cases.

That outcome rarely reaches the places these disputes begin. A delayed withdrawal on Reddit or a one-star "they stole my money" review can circulate for weeks, while the resolution that follows draws little notice.

Read the full FM Intelligence analysis on the DataLab portal.

What 1,468 Adjudicated Disputes Reveal

The Financial Commission is an external dispute resolution body for the online trading industry, a voluntary route that a growing list of brokers has signed up to over the past year. FM Intelligence built its study on the body's full 2025 caseload.

The money points the same way. Traders sought a combined $21.4 million across all filings, and the Commission awarded $496,304, according to FM Intelligence. The median amount in dispute was $397.50, so more than half of all complaints involved less than $400.

Withdrawal delays, the grievance most likely to go viral, were the largest single category at 558 cases. The panel resolved 92.8% of them in the broker's favor, attributing most to compliance Compliance In finance, banking, investing, and insurance compliance refers to following the rules or orders set down by the government regulatory authority, either as providing a service or processing a transaction. Compliance concerning finance would also be a state of being following established guidelines or specifications. This designation can also encompass efforts to ensure that organizations are abiding by both industry regulations and government legislation. Understanding ComplianceCompliance is a In finance, banking, investing, and insurance compliance refers to following the rules or orders set down by the government regulatory authority, either as providing a service or processing a transaction. Compliance concerning finance would also be a state of being following established guidelines or specifications. This designation can also encompass efforts to ensure that organizations are abiding by both industry regulations and government legislation. Understanding ComplianceCompliance is a Read this Term checks, bank processing, or bonus conditions rather than misconduct.

"I think the numbers in the analysis speak for themselves," Nikolai Isayev, the COO of the Financial Commision, told FinanceMagnates.com. "Since 2013 we have taken an objective approach to dispute resolution that protects both parties that make up our vast FX/CFD online trading industry."

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Accountability Runs in Both Directions

The figures are not a clean bill of health, and FM Intelligence does not present them as one. In 76 cases the committee found genuine broker fault and awarded the traders $414,189, the outcomes that keep the 94.8% from looking one-sided.

The data also catches abuse moving the other way. The Financial Commission blacklisted 87 clients in 2025 for deliberate misconduct, much of it built on exploiting negative balance protection, the safeguard ESMA mandated so retail traders cannot lose more than their deposit.

One finding cuts against the obvious. Brokers holding Tier 1 licenses from the FCA, CySEC CySEC The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) is a financial regulatory authority of Cyprus. CySEC is one of the key watchdog authorities for brokerages in Europe, whose financial regulations and operations comply with the European MiFID financial harmonization law.Founded in 2001, CySEC is instrumental in providing licensing and registration for forex brokers and previously binary options providers.CySEC is responsible for a variety of different functions, which includes the supervision The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) is a financial regulatory authority of Cyprus. CySEC is one of the key watchdog authorities for brokerages in Europe, whose financial regulations and operations comply with the European MiFID financial harmonization law.Founded in 2001, CySEC is instrumental in providing licensing and registration for forex brokers and previously binary options providers.CySEC is responsible for a variety of different functions, which includes the supervision Read this Term, or ASIC recorded a higher fault rate than their offshore peers, not a lower one. The full piece explains why.

A Complaint Curve Shaped by Gold

Complaint volume built through the second half of the year and topped out in December, tracking the run in gold, which set record highs in the fourth quarter on central bank buying and safe-haven demand.

As filings hit their annual peak, the broker-fault rate dropped to its low, one case out of 201 in December.

The full study maps where the complaints came from, led by India at a quarter of all filings, breaks down how fast cases closed, and lays out the methodology and its limits, including that these numbers cover Financial Commission members who volunteer for adjudication, not the whole market.

The data does not prove brokers behave well. It shows that, under independent review, most complaints did not establish fault, a smaller share did, and the Commission paid traders when the evidence backed them.

See the full data, charts, and case studies on the FM Intelligence DataLab portal.