How the BrokerBazaar Score is calculated
A 0-100 number built only from evidence we can check ourselves. Fixed rules, published weights, every source named, every date shown.
Method version 1 · Last updated 22 October 2026
Deterministic math
The score is computed by fixed backend rules. AI only writes the plain-English summary and never changes a number.
Missing data is N/A, not zero
An unknown signal lowers Data Confidence. It never drags the score down, so a small regulated broker is not punished for having no traffic data.
Nothing is for sale
Claiming a profile, advertising or a membership has no effect. The only way up is more evidence.
The formula
Five signals, each scored 0-100 from evidence, combined with weights that always add up to 100%.
score = round(regulation × 0.34 + transparency × 0.20 + reputation × 0.20 + domain history × 0.16 + digital presence × 0.10)
Regulatory warning override. If a regulator that licenses the broker issues a warning, the score is capped at 40 and the risk level is set to High until the matter is resolved, no matter how strong the other signals are. Warnings from countries where the broker holds no licence are common for global brokers, so all of them together lower the score by at most 5 points.
Verified Disclosure bonus (+10). Pro members earn up to 10 extra points on the headline score, but only when all three conditions are met at once:
- the profile is 100% complete (legal entity, registered address, contact, website, disclosures and costs all published),
- our team has independently verified the entity or licence on the regulator's register, and
- there is no active regulatory warning.
Pro membership on its own adds nothing, no sub-score is changed, and the bonus is shown separately on the profile so readers can always see the evidence-only score underneath.
The five signals, rule by rule
Each signal is clamped to 0-100. These are the exact point values the engine applies.
Regulation
34% of the scoreThe heaviest signal. Only licences we can check on a regulator's public register earn full credit.
- +35 for any stated regulation, +10 more when two or more regulators are listed
- +15 per licence we can check on a register (capped at +30)
- +5 per regulated regional entity (capped at +10)
- +5 once verification has started, +10 when our team has verified the entity or licence
- -30 per official regulatory warning (up to -60)
Transparency
20% of the scoreWhether the basic facts a client needs are published and easy to find.
- +25 legal entity name published
- +20 registered address published
- +15 working phone number or support email
- +15 public website
- +10 terms and risk disclosures available
- +15 trading costs (spreads or commission) disclosed
Reputation
20% of the scorePublic review ratings on independent platforms. Our editorial rating only fills the gap when public reviews are missing.
- Up to 60 points from the average public review rating (out of 5)
- +6 at 100 or more reviews, +6 more at 1,000 or more
- +4 per additional trusted review platform (capped at +12)
- The editorial 0-10 rating contributes only the share not already covered by public reviews
Domain & History
16% of the scoreHow long the broker has operated on its current domain, read from public registry and archive records.
- Base 20, then +15 at 1 year, +20 at 3 years, +15 at 5 years, +10 at 10 years of domain age
- +10 when the site is served over HTTPS
- +5 when archived history goes back 3 years, +5 more at 8 years
- If neither domain age nor archive history is available the signal is set to a neutral 40 and Data Confidence drops instead
Digital Presence
10% of the scoreIndependent web-footprint data. Deliberately the smallest slice so marketing spend cannot move the score.
- Base 30, plus the average of the available bands for monthly visits, domain authority and referring domains
- +5 when traffic grew 10% or more over six months, -8 when it fell 25% or more
- +5 for a public website
A worked example
Illustrative figures for a fictional broker, so you can follow the arithmetic yourself.
| Signal | Sub-score | Weight | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regulation | 85 | 34% | 28.9 |
| Transparency | 100 | 20% | 20.0 |
| Reputation | 72 | 20% | 14.4 |
| Domain & History | 90 | 16% | 14.4 |
| Digital Presence | 55 | 10% | 5.5 |
| BrokerBazaar Score (rounded) | 83 / 100 | ||
Score bands and risk level
The band word shown next to every score, and how the risk level is derived.
Bands
- Excellent Verification90+
- Strong80+
- Good70+
- Moderate60+
- Elevated Attention50+
- High Attention35+
- Serious Risk Indicatorsbelow 35
Risk level
- Any official regulatory warningHigh
- Score 80 and aboveLow
- Score 65 to 79Moderate
- Score 50 to 64Elevated
- Score below 50High
A risk level is a research signal about available evidence. It is not an allegation of wrongdoing and not a prediction of a broker's future conduct.
Data Confidence (0-100)
Shown next to every score. It measures how much independent evidence backed the number, not how good the broker is.
Confidence starts at 40 and rises with each source we could actually check. A high score with low confidence means “promising, but not yet verified”. A verified licence plus domain, archive and public review data takes confidence into the 90s.
- +15a licence checked on a regulator's register (+6 if regulation is only stated)
- +8our team has verified the entity or licence
- +12domain registration date known (domain registry)
- +8first archived web capture known (web archive)
- +5legal entity name published
- +6public review rating available
- +6monthly visits or domain authority available
- +4referring domains or backlinks available
Data sources and how often we re-check
Every broker report lists which of these sources were consulted and what each returned, with the date of the check.
| Source | What we read | Re-checked |
|---|---|---|
| Regulator public registers | Licence numbers, regulated entities and official warnings. Checked by our team against the register link on each profile. | On every broker change to regulation, when a regulator publishes a notice, and during periodic reviews |
| Domain registry (RDAP) | Registration date, age, registrar and expiry of the broker's primary domain. | Every score refresh |
| Web archive (Wayback Machine) | Year of the earliest archived snapshot of the broker's website. | Every score refresh |
| HTTPS check | Whether the website is reachable over a secure connection. | Every score refresh |
| Ahrefs | Domain authority, backlinks, referring domains and organic traffic. | Every score refresh, when connected |
| Similarweb | Estimated monthly visits and six-month traffic trend. | Every score refresh, when connected |
| Trustpilot | Public review count and average rating. | Every score refresh, when connected |
| Broker disclosures and manual evidence | Legal entity, address, contacts, costs and documents from the profile. Manual evidence reviewed by our team always overrides an automatic lookup. | Whenever the broker or our team updates the profile |
Update cadence
- A score is generated when a broker is listed and re-generated automatically whenever the evidence it reads changes: regulation, regional entities, verification status, legal entity, address, contacts, website or disclosed costs.
- Automatic sources (domain registry, web archive, HTTPS, web data, public reviews) are re-pulled on every refresh, and directory-wide refreshes run on a regular cycle.
- Every report shows its “last checked” date. If a date looks old, the evidence has not changed since, or we have not yet re-pulled it. Either way the date is never hidden.
- When the method itself changes, this page's version number and date change, and all brokers are re-scored under the new rules together so scores stay comparable.
What the score is, and is not
The BrokerBazaar Score measures what can be independently verified about a broker. It is a research tool, not a recommendation, an endorsement or financial advice, and it says nothing about future conduct. Where a claim cannot be matched to independent evidence we say it “could not be independently verified”; we never assert that it is false. It sits alongside, and is separate from, our 0-10 Editorial Rating described on the main methodology page.
See the breakdown, sources and last-checked date on any broker profile.