By
Elena Novak
Senior Forex & CFD Markets Analyst
Coverage
Elena spent seven years on a bank FX desk before moving into broker due diligence, and it shows in how she reads a broker's terms: she checks the regulator's own public register before trusting a "licensed" badge, reads the execution policy for how a market maker actually fills retail orders, and treats a headline-tight spread as the start of the question, not the answer.
For ForxZen she leads broker and market coverage — regulation tiering, typical trading cost, leverage and margin mechanics, and the risk-management maths every trader needs before sizing a position. She writes in a steady, unhyped tone and is explicit whenever a figure is illustrative rather than a live, verified number.
Elena Novak writes and reviews for ForxZen in line with our Editorial Policy.
Reviews by Elena Novak
- Spread
- 0.6 pips
- Min. deposit
- $100
- Max. leverage
- 1:30 (retail) / 1:500 (pro)
- Execution
- ECN
Dual Tier-1 licensing, raw ECN spreads, and a leverage cap that actually follows the regulator's retail rules.
- Spread
- 0.8 pips
- Min. deposit
- $200
- Max. leverage
- 1:30 (retail)
- Execution
- STP
An EU-regulated STP broker with a straightforward fee schedule and a long, uneventful track record.
- Spread
- 0.4 pips
- Min. deposit
- $500
- Max. leverage
- 1:30 (retail)
- Execution
- ECN
The tightest sample spread on this desk, paired with dual Tier-1 regulation — at the cost of a $500 entry point.
- Spread
- 1.1 pips
- Min. deposit
- $50
- Max. leverage
- 1:500
- Execution
- STP
A genuinely regulated mid-tier broker — solid oversight, but a materially wider spread and much higher leverage ceiling than the Tier-1 names above.
- Spread
- 0.7 pips
- Min. deposit
- $250
- Max. leverage
- 1:30 (retail)
- Execution
- ECN
A single-jurisdiction FCA broker — narrower regulatory footprint than the dual-licensed names, but a clean record and transparent ECN pricing.
- Spread
- 1.3 pips
- Min. deposit
- $100
- Max. leverage
- 1:400
- Execution
- STP
A licensed but lightly-supervised jurisdiction, wider spreads, and a leverage ceiling most Tier-1 regulators would not permit for retail clients.
- Spread
- 1.8 pips
- Min. deposit
- $10
- Max. leverage
- 1:2000
- Execution
- MM
Business registration in an offshore jurisdiction, not genuine financial regulation — extreme leverage and a dealing-desk model with no disclosed conflict-of-interest policy.
- Spread
- 2.4 pips
- Min. deposit
- $5
- Max. leverage
- 1:3000
- Execution
- MM
No verifiable regulator, the widest spread in this sample, and the highest leverage ceiling — the profile our methodology is specifically designed to flag.