About CompareForexBrokers Australia

Who we are

CompareForexBrokers Australia is an Australia-only forex and CFD broker comparison site. We cover the 30 ASIC-regulated brokers active in the AU retail market, score them on a consistent methodology, and publish in-depth reviews, comparison guides and education content for Australian traders.

The site is run by Justin Grossbard, Co-Founder and Strategic Head of Research, with David Levy as Head of Content and final fact-checker on every published page. Justin has been trading forex since 1998 and is based in Melbourne. He’s an AFS Authorised Representative (No. 001274082) of Bardin Capital Pty Ltd (AFSL 247858), which is the regulatory arrangement that lets us publish general product information about CFDs and forex to Australian readers.

We’re not licensed to give personal financial advice. Everything on the site is general information, framed for the ASIC retail context, with a clear disclosure on every page that says exactly that.

What we cover

Four content clusters sit underneath this site. Each one is designed to answer a different question a retail Australian trader might bring.

• Broker reviews, full reviews of every ASIC-regulated broker offering CFDs and forex to AU retail clients. AFSL numbers verified against ASIC Connect. Spread and execution claims cross-checked against our own live-account testing.
• Guides, ranked best-of lists across the most common AU trader questions: best broker overall, beginners, ECN accounts, lowest spreads, lowest commissions, demo accounts, fixed-spread brokers.
• Platforms, deep coverage of every major platform AU brokers offer: MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView, plus proprietary platforms like CMC’s Next Generation and IG’s web platform.
• Education, foundations and strategy content for retail traders working under ASIC’s Product Intervention Order: leverage, margin, stop-loss, drawdown, chart patterns, signals, hedging and more.

How we test brokers

Every broker review on this site is built on the same testing rubric, applied uniformly across the 30-broker shortlist. The methodology page has the full breakdown. The headline points:

• We open a live AUD-denominated account at every broker we score
• Spreads are sampled across multiple sessions and account types (Standard vs RAW/Razor)
• Execution speed is measured ping-to-server and order-acknowledgement latency
• Platforms are tested on the broker’s actual live offering, not the demo
• AFSL numbers and AFCA membership are verified against ASIC Connect and the AFCA register
• Negative balance protection, 50% margin close-out and segregated client funds are confirmed against each broker’s published PDS

We use the same rubric on day one for a new broker and on day one of an annual re-rating. The numbers move year-to-year, the scoring framework doesn’t.

Editorial independence

This is the section that matters most for trust. The short version:

• Rankings are the output of the scoring methodology. Not a sales decision.
• Some brokers have an affiliate relationship with us. Those relationships are disclosed in full on the advertiser disclosure page.
• An affiliate relationship doesn’t get a broker a better ranking. Brokers we don’t have an affiliate relationship with sit on the shortlist alongside brokers we do.
• David Levy reviews every published page before it goes live. AFSL numbers, spread claims and regulatory references are checked against primary sources every time.
• The “Last updated” date stamp at the top of every page is the actual date of the most recent edit, not a perpetually-rolling marketing date.

If a published claim turns out to be wrong, we update the page and re-date it. The full editorial framework is on the why trust us page.

ASIC, AFCA and the regulatory context

We operate under the same regulatory framework as the brokers we cover.

• ASIC (Australian Securities and Investments Commission) is the primary regulator. Every broker on our shortlist holds an Australian Financial Services Licence. Our own Authorised Representative number is 001274082, authorising general product information about CFDs and forex.
• AFCA (Australian Financial Complaints Authority) is the no-cost external dispute resolution scheme. Every ASIC broker on our shortlist is an AFCA member. We’re not an AFCA member ourselves because we don’t hold client money or place trades. Trader disputes go to the broker, who is the AFSL holder.
• AUSTRAC handles anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism financing reporting. All brokers on our list are AUSTRAC-registered reporting entities.
• ATO (Australian Taxation Office) treats retail forex and CFD trading as a trading activity under TR 2005/15 for most retail traders, with profits taxed as assessable income. We aren’t licensed to give tax advice. Speak to a registered tax agent.

The Product Intervention Order (in force since 29 March 2021, made permanent) caps retail leverage at 30:1 on majors, 20:1 on minors and gold, 10:1 on other commodities, 5:1 on share CFDs and 2:1 on cryptocurrency CFDs. Negative balance protection is mandatory. Cash bonuses are banned. Margin close-out triggers at 50% of initial margin. The full breakdown is on our leverage education page.

Pages in this section

The about cluster covers six topics. Each one is linked from the footer and surfaces in the page list above.

• Justin Grossbard, lead author bio, trading background, credentials, sameAs links to LinkedIn, X, Forbes Council and other publications.
• Why trust us, editorial standards, fact-checking process, AFS Representative arrangement and how affiliate income is kept out of rankings.
• Methodology, the scoring rubric used on every broker review, the testing process, and how spread/commission claims are verified.
• Advertiser disclosure, full list of brokers we have an affiliate relationship with, and the firewall between affiliate income and editorial decisions.
• Disclaimers, the risk disclosures and general-information caveats that apply to every page on the site.
• Contact, email, postal address (Caulfield North, Victoria), and the timeframe to expect a response.

Get in touch

The fastest way to reach us is the contact page. For corrections to published content, broker representatives requesting a review update, or general feedback, that’s the right starting point. We typically respond within two business days.

We don’t take personal financial advice questions because we’re not licensed to give them. If you need product-specific advice about whether a particular broker, account type or trade is right for your circumstances, the right person to talk to is a registered financial adviser or, for tax-specific questions, a registered tax agent.