5 Best SEC Regulated Forex Brokers for 2023

A SEC forex broker refers to a forex (Foreign Exchange) brokerage firm which is regulated and authorized by the United States authority called Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The SEC was founded in 1933 and is one of, if not the most, respected, and well-known financial sector regulatory body in the US.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is active in overseeing many aspects of the financial sector, focusing on the stock market.

They are in fact, one of 4 key market regulators in the United States. The others are the CFTC, NFA, and FINRA. As such though, a broker must register with the SEC particularly if they are offering any stock brokerage services to traders.

To rank the best SEC-regulated brokers, we looked at the following elements:

• A valid SEC license
• Other protections and security offered
• Minimum deposit to begin investing
• Overall broker quality

What are the best SEC forex brokers?

Below is our curated list of the best forex brokers regulated by the SEC, with details and information about the regulation, the features, and the characteristics.

How does the SEC work?

Now that you have taken a look at the very best SEC forex brokers, let’s examine the role of the SEC from the perspective of you as a forex trader, a little more closely.

As mentioned, the SEC is active throughout the financial industry in the United States, focusing especially on the stock market. The SEC does not oversee brokers only, but every company listed on the stock exchange is also overseen by the SEC for compliance.

The main functions and primary roles of the SEC are as follows:

• Protecting the investors
• Applying federal laws
• Stock market oversight

Any company that wishes to list and trade its stock publically must also have approval and regulation from the SEC. All of this is really aimed at protecting you as a trader and investor.

What are the characteristics and benefits of SEC?

Generally speaking, the SEC is one of the foremost regulatory bodies in the United States. To that end, the regulatory conditions in the US for brokers are typically very strict. This can be very good for you as a trader since only the best forex brokers will pursue this regulation due to the level of cost and difficulty involved.

SEC regulation really helps to filter out any untrustworthy brokers from the system and ensure maximum protection for you as a forex and stock trader.

What are the prohibitions with SEC?

The only major prohibition from a forex trading standpoint with the SEC is that CFDs cannot be offered for trading. This is a rule which goes across all of the US regulatory bodies and not just the SEC. So, no trading CFDs in the US.

Differences between SEC-regulated and SEC licensed brokers

The difference between a broker being SEC-regulated, or SEC licensed is related to process. A fully regulated broker is one that goes through the entire process of getting regulated by a body within that country . This can be costly, and time consuming on the brokers’ side.

A broker that is licensed, has not gone through this full regulation process, but is still allowed to offer trading services within that country. This may happen due to various reciprocal agreements that are in place between major regulators around the world.

Within the US, this situation can occur with the NFA, and CFTC regulated brokers, but the SEC is a stand alone regulator. This means that any broker wanting to be regulated by the SEC must complete the entire process first.

How to check if a broker is SEC-regulated

There are a couple of easy ways for you to check and verify SEC broker regulation. The first is you can go to the SEC official website to check the regulation directly. You can also check by following this link to Brokercheck (powered by FINRA) as another alternative.

In any case, to complete this check you will need to know the business name of your broker. This can generally be found at the bottom of their homepage.

How does SEC intervene in case of financial abuse?

As mentioned, the SEC has some very stringent regulations for brokers, and broad powers to report and punish these brokers. They have the ability to report any illegal act to the US court, they can also ban particular brokers from the country and fine them.

The SEC is very active and recently exercised this power in fining ICOBox $16 million for offering unregistered securities. They are almost always involved in high-level cases of fraud against some of the biggest names in global business.

How SEC can help you

There are a variety of ways that SEC regulation, and choosing an SEC-regulated broker can help you. If you feel that a broker is engaged in unfair practices, false advertising, or other activities that are not permitted under their regulations, then you can directly contact the SEC Official Website.

This is also the case if you feel you have been the victim of any type of fraud while trading in the US.