FBS Review: Licences, Leverage and Trading Costs

Advantages and Drawbacks at a Glance

FBS’s published terms for the first quarter of 2026 give a reasonably clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses here. A starting balance of 300 dollars comfortably clears the account minimum, and what decides the outcome is the cost of trading the major currency pairs and gold, the way deposits and withdrawals are handled, and what the firm publishes about its support desk.

Advantages

• A very low minimum deposit, from just 5 dollars on the standard account, which puts trading within reach of most budgets
• More than 550 instruments to trade, covering 72 currency pairs, 474 CFD shares, 11 indices, 11 commodities and 5 digital currencies
• Licences from respectable regulators, the European CySEC and the Australian ASIC among them
• High leverage, reaching 1:3000 for clients of the international entity in Belize
• A swap-free Islamic account available to Muslim traders
• No inactivity fee and no deposit charge from the firm’s own side
• More than 200 payment methods, covering traders across a wide range of countries

Drawbacks

• Clients in the Middle East and North Africa are served through the Belize entity (FSC) rather than the entities supervised by the stricter CySEC or ASIC, which leaves the firm owing them fewer obligations
• The standard-account spread runs higher than at direct competitors such as Exness and IC Markets on the major pairs
• Leverage as high as 1:3000 can be a serious trap for a beginner who does not understand risk management
• The Islamic account has to be activated by hand through the support desk, rather than automatically as at some competitors
• The digital-currency list is short, at 5 currencies only, next to brokers offering dozens

Taken together, FBS suits traders who want to start with a small sum, high leverage and decent instrument coverage. It is a weaker fit for anyone chasing the tightest possible spread, strict European regulation, or a wide range of digital currencies.

Company Information

FBS was founded in 2009 and began life as an international forex broker aimed at emerging markets. Over more than 17 years in the brokerage industry it has grown into one of the largest brokers in the world by client count, claiming to serve more than 27 million traders in more than 150 countries.

On the company information published as at February 2026, FBS operates through several legal entities spread across jurisdictions. The principal one is FBS Markets Inc, registered in Belize; Tradestone Ltd serves European clients from Cyprus; and Intelligent Financial Markets Pty Ltd serves Australian clients. That spread of entities lets the firm operate under several different regulatory regimes.

The figure of 27 million clients sounds large, and it is. It is worth being clear, though, that it covers every account registered since the firm was founded rather than the number of traders active now. Announcing a cumulative registration count is common practice across the brokerage industry. Even so, the number does reflect wide brand reach, particularly in South East Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.

Is FBS a scam? Arabic-language search returns the question constantly, and the documentary answer is no: the licences exist, they are set out in the next section, and the operating record runs past 17 years. What that does not mean is that the firm has no drawbacks, or that trading here is safe. Around seventy-two per cent (72%) of retail accounts lose money on contracts for difference, which is roughly where the industry sits as a whole. The guide to avoiding trading scams sets out how to check a brokerage independently.

Reasons to Consider FBS

A handful of features explain why FBS attracts the following it does. None of them makes it right for every trader, but for certain profiles in the Arab region they add up to a real case.

Starting with very little capital: a minimum deposit of just 5 dollars makes FBS one of the easiest brokers to get into. That helps anyone at the start of learning the basics of trading who wants to try live trading with sums that carry no real financial weight. On the broker’s published processing times, a card deposit of 10 dollars reaches the account instantly.

Wide instrument coverage: with more than 550 instruments, FBS offers a genuinely broad spread: 72 currency pairs, 474 CFD shares, 11 global indices and 11 commodities. The share count in particular, at 474 CFD shares, runs ahead of many direct competitors and gives a trader room to assemble a diversified portfolio through contracts for difference.

Very high leverage: for clients of the international entity in Belize, leverage reaches 1:3000, among the highest available anywhere. That allows positions far larger than the account balance. Using leverage at that level without a deep grasp of risk management is strongly inadvisable. On the broker’s own published terms the ceiling adjusts automatically with the account balance: the larger the balance, the lower the maximum leverage.

More than 200 payment methods: that many routes makes depositing and withdrawing feasible for most traders wherever they live. The options include Visa and Mastercard cards, e-wallets such as Skrill and Neteller, bank transfers, digital currencies and a long list of regional payment systems.

Several platforms: FBS offers MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 alongside its own FBS Trader app. The choice lets each trader settle on the platform that suits their style and level of experience.

Licences and Regulation

Licensing is where this review has to be most careful. Each licence number the firm publishes can be looked up on the register of the authority that issued it, and as at February 2026 FBS holds three, from regulators of markedly different strictness. What matters for a trader in the Arab region is which entity actually takes the account: the two strongest authorities here (CySEC and ASIC) cover only European and Australian clients, so traders in the Middle East and North Africa deal in the main with the Belize entity, FBS Markets Inc, supervised by the FSC.

Is FBS genuinely licensed? Yes, and it can be confirmed independently. The Cypriot CySEC register (cysec.gov.cy) returns Tradestone Ltd against number 331/17. The ASIC licence, number 426359, can be confirmed the same way on the Australian ASIC website. For more on licensing in the trading industry and how to check it, see the detailed guide.

What does that mean in practice? It means trading, in all likelihood, through the Belize entity (FSC licence 000102/6). The FSC in Belize is far less demanding than the Cypriot CySEC or the Australian ASIC on client-money segregation, on conduct requirements, on statutory compensation arrangements and on the leverage ceiling it permits. That does not necessarily make the firm untrustworthy, but the obligations binding the entity that holds the account are lighter than they would be under a first-tier regime. Reading the guide to checking a broker’s licence before opening any account is time well spent.

Under the CySEC regime the European entity is subject to requirements covering client-money segregation and negative balance protection, and it participates in the investor compensation fund (ICF), whose ceiling is set at 20,000 euros. Leverage there is capped at 1:30. The international entity is bound by none of those requirements, and in exchange it offers far higher leverage.

It is only fair to note that FBS is not unusual in this. Nearly every large international broker routes Arab-region clients to an offshore entity rather than a European one, precisely because European rules cap leverage and restrict how a broker may market itself.

Opening an Account and Verification

On the account-opening process as the broker sets it out as at February 2026, registration is quick and straightforward; the firm puts the first stage at under 3 minutes. It asks for an email address, a telephone number, a country of residence and a password, followed by a few basic questions about trading experience and income.

Identity verification (KYC) is the step that calls for more patience. The firm asks for proof of identity, by passport or national identity card, and proof of address, by a recent utility bill or bank statement. No target turnaround is published for approval, and none is measured here. Competitors such as Exness state shorter verification windows, though the range across the industry is wide.

FBS allows a deposit and trading after the first registration step, with withdrawals restricted until verification is complete. Completing verification before depositing anything substantial is the sensible order of events, and it heads off delays on the way out.

For a general walk-through of what opening an account involves, the guide to opening a trading account covers it step by step across different brokers.

In brief, the steps are:

• Go to the FBS site and supply an email address, a telephone number and a country of residence
• Choose an account type (Standard or Cent)
• Upload the verification documents: proof of identity plus proof of address
• Deposit and pick a platform (MT4, MT5 or the FBS app)

Account Types

FBS offers several account types covering different levels of experience and different styles of trading. On the broker’s published terms the options depend on which regulated entity holds the account: the international entity in Belize offers Standard and Cent accounts, and the European entity under CySEC offers Standard and Cent as well, but at lower leverage. The table below summarises each type.

The standard account (Standard): the core and most widely held account at FBS. It carries a floating spread from 0.7 pips on the major pairs with no separate commission, and a minimum deposit of just 5 dollars. It suits most traders, beginners and intermediates included. On the broker’s published pricing the spread on EURUSD sits between 1.0 and 1.4 pips during active trading hours.

The Cent account: built for beginners who want to trade in very small size. The balance is denominated in cents (100 cents to 1 dollar), which allows miniature positions with almost nothing at risk. The initial deposit required is one dollar. The account works well as a middle step between a demo and a full live account.

The Islamic account: a swap-free option is available on the Standard and Cent accounts. Activating it means contacting the support team, selecting it when the account is created, or switching it on from the account settings in the personal area. No activation turnaround is published, and none is measured here. It is worth noting that FBS may charge a fixed fee on positions held for more than two days on some instruments; that fee is not interest but a flat administrative charge, set by the instrument and the direction of the position. Trading exotic pairs (Exotic) may also attract a weekly commission in place of the swap. That is less generous than brokers such as Exness, which impose no substitute charge at all on an Islamic account.

Fees and Trading Costs

Cost is what compounds over a trading career, so it deserves the closest look. The figures below come from the spread schedule this broker publishes, quoted at the London open, the New York open and the overlap between the two, and are set beside three main competitors: Exness, XM and eToro.

Spreads

On the pricing published through February 2026, the FBS standard-account spread is at its tightest during the London and New York overlap, between 3 and 7 in the evening Riyadh time, and widens noticeably through the Asian session and other thin-liquidity periods. The same schedule shows it widening sharply around major economic releases and at the Monday open.

What follows is the approximate average spread on the commission-free standard account for the busiest instruments, with three competitors alongside. The numbers are approximations, taken from schedules published over the first quarter of 2026 and from independent data providers.

As the table shows, the FBS standard-account spread sits in the middle of the field. It beats XM on most instruments and comes close to Exness on some pairs, but runs a little wider on pairs such as USDJPY and USDCHF. Against eToro, FBS is better on gold and on GBPUSD but wider on USDJPY. Overall the spread is acceptable for a commission-free standard account.

Commissions

The Standard and Cent accounts charge no commission on currency pairs, metals, indices or commodities, and the cost sits entirely in the spread. There is one important exception: trading CFD shares attracts a commission of seven tenths of one per cent (0.7%) of the trade value for the round turn. On a position of 1,000 dollars in Apple, that works out at 7 dollars in commission. The rate runs higher than at some competitors that specialise in CFD shares.

Overnight Financing (Swaps)

Overnight financing applies to positions still open after the daily close. To take an example from the broker’s published rates, the long swap on EURUSD stood at around minus 5.46 dollars per standard lot and the short swap at around plus 0.61 dollars. On Wednesdays the swap is charged three times over, to cover the weekend. Those rates move with prevailing interest rates and are updated periodically.

On Islamic accounts no overnight financing is charged, though as noted above a flat administrative fee may apply to positions held for more than two days.

Deposit and Withdrawal Fees

FBS charges nothing of its own on deposits. On withdrawals, the payment provider may levy a fee: a Skrill withdrawal, for instance, carries a charge of about one per cent (1%) plus 0.32 dollars, imposed by Skrill itself rather than by FBS. A bank transfer is free from FBS’s side, though the receiving bank may deduct a fee of its own.

Inactivity Fees

An obvious plus at FBS: there is no inactivity fee at all. A dormant account loses nothing whether it sits for a month or for a year. Compare eToro, which deducts 10 dollars a month once 12 months pass without a login.

Overall Assessment of Fees

Overall the FBS fee structure is simple and direct on currency accounts. The standard-account spread is acceptable without being the lowest on the market, and the absence of inactivity and deposit fees is a genuine plus. The main weakness is the CFD share commission, seven tenths of one per cent (0.7%), which can bite hard on an actively traded share portfolio.

Desktop Trading Platforms

FBS offers a range of platforms, from the familiar industry standards through to the firm’s own application.

MetaTrader 4 (MT4): the most widely used platform in forex, and still available to clients of the international entity in Belize. It supports automated trading through expert advisors (Expert Advisors) and carries a broad set of technical indicators and charting tools. Platform stability on MT4 with FBS is not assessed here. One point to note: MT4 is not available to clients of the European (CySEC) or Australian (ASIC) entities.

MetaTrader 5 (MT5): the newer generation of MetaTrader, and the platform available across every entity. It adds more timeframes (21 against 9 on MT4), depth of market (DOM), a built-in economic calendar and support for a wider set of instruments. All 550+ instruments FBS lists can be traded on MT5.

MetaTrader WebTrader: the browser version of MT5, running with nothing to install. It suits quick trading from any computer, but it lacks some of the advanced features, automated trading and custom indicators among them.

The guide to trading platforms weighs the strengths and weaknesses of each in more detail.

On the MT5 build FBS offered as at February 2026, charting and interface behaviour are those of the platform itself rather than a broker-modified version. Load speed, responsiveness and execution latency are not assessed here.

Mobile Trading Apps

In an era of trading from a phone, FBS offers an app of its own called FBS Trading Broker, alongside the official MetaTrader apps. The description of the FBS app below refers to the Android release as at February 2026.

The FBS app on Google Play carries a rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars from more than 99 thousand reviews. It runs on Android 5.0 and above and on iOS 12.0 and above. The FBS Trader app took the best mobile trading platform award at the Smart Vision Investment Expo in 2020.

The interface is uncluttered and the navigation straightforward enough. Arabic is supported, positions can be opened and closed from the handset, charts followed, and deposits and withdrawals handled without going to the website. Execution speed inside the app is not assessed here.

There are negatives too. Advanced price alerts are only thinly supported, and biometric authentication, whether fingerprint or face recognition, is absent altogether, which raises a question about security next to the apps of brokers such as Exness and eToro.

The official MT4 and MT5 apps from MetaQuotes are on both stores as well, and can be used in place of the proprietary FBS app. They handle trading and charts but carry none of the FBS account-management functions.

Anyone weighing one broker’s app against another’s can consult the guide to the best trading apps.

Available Trading Instruments

FBS lists more than 550 instruments for trading as contracts for difference (CFDs). What is available in each class is set out in the broker’s own product schedule for the MT5 platform, and the breadth of it counts among FBS’s stronger points against some competing brokers.

The clearest strength in the FBS line-up is the CFD share count, at 474 shares. That runs well ahead of brokers such as Exness, at around 100 shares, and comes close to what a firm like eToro offers. It makes FBS a reasonable choice for anyone who wants exposure to global company shares through contracts for difference.

Set against that, the digital-currency list is very short, at 5 coins, next to what competitors carry. If trading digital assets is a priority, other brokers offer a far wider range.

Gold (XAUUSD) is among the most popular instruments with Arabic-speaking traders, and the spread on it at FBS is relatively competitive. Anyone drawn to the precious metals can work through the guide to trading gold for the basics of that market.

One point worth noting: the instrument count can differ between MT4 and MT5, and between the regulated entities. The MT5 platform carries the full range, while MT4 may restrict what is available.

Order Execution

Execution speed is one of the things FBS advertises most prominently: it states fills from 0.01 seconds. No fill-time figure is measured here, so that number stands as the broker’s own claim rather than a verified result. The published policy applies to the major currency pairs during active trading hours.

On slippage (Slippage), no slippage rate is measured here and the broker publishes none of its own, so no figure is quoted. Slippage of any consequence tends to appear in volatile conditions around economic releases rather than in ordinary trading.

The margin call level (Margin Call) at FBS is forty per cent (40%), and the stop-out level (Stop Out) is twenty per cent (20%). Positions begin closing automatically once the margin level falls to 20% of the margin required. Negative balance protection is in place, which means an account cannot lose more than the amount held in it.

The order types available include immediate market orders, pending orders (Buy Limit, Sell Limit, Buy Stop, Sell Stop), stop-loss and take-profit, and advanced types such as a Trailing Stop. Order size runs from 0.01 lots to 500 lots.

Deposit Methods

FBS lists a very wide range of deposit methods, more than 200 of them, which is among the highest counts in the brokerage industry. That breadth reflects a deliberate strategy of targeting many markets at once.

On the broker’s published processing times, a card deposit of 50 dollars reaches the trading account almost immediately, and the deposit flow inside the FBS personal area is direct and clearly laid out.

Every deposit route is free of charge from FBS’s own side. The payment provider may still levy a fee, though, and a conversion charge can apply where the deposit currency differs from the account currency.

On the published processing times, a Visa card and the e-wallets are the fastest and most convenient routes in. Some banks in the Arab region decline the first attempt for security reasons, in which case the bank has to be contacted to enable international transactions.

Withdrawal Methods

The withdrawal routes at FBS mirror the deposit routes almost exactly. A request is made from the personal area on the website or from the app, and the process the broker documents is a direct one.

Can money be withdrawn from FBS, and what about the FBS withdrawal problems people report? This is one of the most frequently asked questions in Arabic-language search. On the terms the firm published in the first quarter of 2026, a withdrawal is requested from the personal area or in the app and returns through the route used to fund the account, with e-wallets such as Skrill the quickest and a bank transfer the slowest. No withdrawal has been requested or timed here, so the published times below stand unverified.

FBS states that it processes withdrawal requests within 48 hours at most on its own side. Anything beyond that depends on the payment provider and the receiving bank. On the published times, Skrill is the quickest of the routes.

The complaints that appear in Arabic-language forums and on sites such as WikiFX about withdrawals from FBS range from processing delays to refused requests. Some concern accounts where identity verification was never completed, or where bonus terms were breached. Reading the terms of service carefully matters here, particularly the parts covering promotions and bonuses, which can carry complicated withdrawal conditions.

Four precautions follow from that: complete identity verification before depositing any large sum, keep deposits and withdrawals on the same payment route, retain a record of every transaction, and decline any deposit bonus without first reading its conditions in full.

Customer Support

What the firm publishes about its support desk as of February 2026 is set out below. No channel was contacted for this review; the response times in the table are the broker’s own figures and are not verified here.

Live Chat: live chat is offered in Arabic. The broker publishes no target response time for it, and the desk was not contacted for this review, so neither queue length nor the depth of the answers is assessed here.

Email: an address is published for written enquiries and replies come in Arabic. No target response time is published for it, and none is measured here.

Telephone: FBS does not clearly offer direct telephone support in most regions, which is a weakness against several competitors.

The standard of the Arabic-language desk at FBS is acceptable without being among the best in the industry. Against Exness, which advertises fast and detailed support in Arabic, FBS publishes no response-time target at all. The help centre on the website does carry articles translated into Arabic covering the basic common questions.

Research and Educational Material

The educational and research material FBS publishes covers the basics reasonably well and is aimed squarely at beginner and intermediate traders.

Educational content: the FBS website carries an education section with lessons on forex fundamentals, technical and fundamental analysis, and risk management. Some of it is available in Arabic. The material suits a beginner who needs the basic concepts, but it does not go deep enough for an advanced trader.

Seminars and events: FBS runs educational webinars (Webinars) and trading competitions on a regular schedule. Those can help with interactive learning, but they are no substitute for systematic study in depth.

Daily analysis: FBS publishes daily market commentary covering the significant price moves and economic events. On the output published through February 2026, it appears on a reasonably regular schedule but tends towards the superficial rather than the deep.

The economic calendar: available on the website, listing upcoming economic events with market expectations. A basic but useful tool for anyone trading around economic news.

Taken as a whole, this is a serviceable starting point for a beginner rather than a strength of the broker. Real depth on financial analysis and its tools has to come from specialist sources; what FBS provides will not carry a trader far past the fundamentals.

Fund Safety and Safeguards

Fund safety is among the most important factors in choosing a broker, the more so in a market this risky. The safeguards FBS published as at February 2026 work in layers that differ substantially depending on which entity holds the account.

Client money segregation: FBS states that client funds are held in accounts kept separate from the company’s operating money. How closely that separation is supervised differs fundamentally between entities: the CySEC entity is subject to strict oversight of segregation, while the Belize entity (FSC) is considerably less demanding. A trader in the Arab region dealing with the Belize entity should be aware of the difference.

Negative balance protection: FBS provides negative balance protection on every account, which means an account cannot lose more than the amount held in it, however violent the market move. That matters especially where leverage runs as high as 1:3000.

Compensation arrangements: the Tradestone Ltd entity, authorised by CySEC, participates in the investor compensation fund (ICF), whose ceiling is set at 20,000 euros in the event of the firm’s insolvency. That entity serves European Union clients only. The Australian ASIC entity operates a comparable arrangement for clients in Australia. The Belize entity, which serves most clients in the Arab region, has no equivalent statutory scheme behind it.

The Trustpilot picture: FBS holds a rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot, from more than 8,800 reviews. Sixty-eight per cent (68%) of those are five-star and ten per cent (10%) are one-star, which points to a satisfied majority alongside a visible minority who are not. The main complaints on Trustpilot and on platforms such as WikiFX concern withdrawals and the handling of bonuses.

In summary on fund safety: FBS has an operating record stretching more than 17 years and holds substantial licences. A trader in the Arab region should nonetheless understand that the account sits with the Belize entity, whose regulatory obligations are lighter than those of the European ones. The complaint rate on international review platforms also runs higher than at some larger competitors, which argues for caution and for starting small.

The Verdict

On the terms FBS published for the first quarter of 2026, this is an acceptable broker offering a reasonable trading experience, with some clear strengths and some important reservations to weigh.

Who FBS suits:

• Traders who want to start with a very small sum (5 dollars)
• Anyone after a wide range of CFD shares (474 of them)
• Traders who want high leverage and fully understand the risks that come with it
• Anyone who needs a wide choice of payment routes (more than 200)

Who it might not suit:

• Anyone chasing the tightest possible spread on the major currency pairs
• Anyone who wants to trade under a strict European or Australian regime
• Anyone interested in a varied digital-currency line-up, given 5 currencies only
• Anyone who wants an automatic Islamic account with no substitute administration charge
• Anyone who needs fast, detailed Arabic-language support around the clock

Dealing with the common worries:

On the question “is FBS a scam or a fraud?”, which recurs in Arabic-language search, the documentary answer is no. The firm has operated since 2009, holds licences from substantial regulators including CySEC and ASIC, and has a wide client base. That does not mean every experience with it will be a good one. The complaint rate on forums and review platforms runs higher than at some large competitors, particularly on bonus administration and the withdrawal conditions attached to it. Declining any deposit bonus without reading its terms in full is the safer course.

As for “is FBS haram?”, that is a religious question beyond the scope of a financial review. What can be said is that FBS offers an Islamic account free of overnight swap interest, but that it may levy a substitute administrative charge on positions held for more than two days. Whether that account satisfies Sharia requirements calls for specialist scholarly advice.

On “FBS withdrawal problems”, no withdrawal has been attempted here, so nothing is asserted about how a request would go in practice. The volume of complaints online does indicate that some traders have run into real difficulty. Completing identity verification in full before any large deposit, and steering clear of complicated promotions, are the obvious precautions.

On “is FBS banned in Saudi Arabia?”, there is no official statement from the Saudi Capital Market Authority (CMA) prohibiting trading with FBS specifically. It should be said, though, that FBS is not licensed by the Saudi CMA, which means a Saudi trader carries the whole of the responsibility for the choice. For more on telling a trustworthy firm from a fraudulent one, see the guide to fraud in the trading market.

No headline figure is published in this review; the rating shown for this broker comes from the weights set out in the rating methodology. On the substance: an acceptable operator that suits beginners and small accounts, with good instrument coverage and CFD shares in particular. The reservations that matter are the regime that actually applies to clients in the Arab region, the Belize entity, a complaint volume that runs relatively high against the largest competitors, and the administrative charges attached to the Islamic account. The broker reviews page is worth visiting to compare it against options such as Exness or XM before deciding.

Related reviews on this site: Amana Capital and Libertex.