How to start a forex brokerage
Starting a forex brokerage means putting eight layers in place: company and licence, business model, trading platform, liquidity and a bridge, CRM, payments, risk and compliance. This guide walks through each one in the order most brokers set them up.
The eight layers of a brokerage
In the order most brokers set them up. Each depends on the one before, so changing an early decision late is expensive.
- 01
Company, jurisdiction and licence
Choose where to incorporate and which regulator, if any, will license you. It decides your capital requirements, which clients you can take, how you must disclose your execution model and which banks and payment providers will work with you. Get advice before anything else: the other layers depend on it.
- 02
Business model
Decide how you will handle client risk: pass trades to LPs (A-book), keep them in house (B-book) or a hybrid of both. It shapes your liquidity needs, your risk tooling and what your licence must allow.
- 03
Trading platform
MetaTrader 5 and 4 remain the most common choice for retail FX and CFDs, licensed from the platform vendor or rented through a white label provider. cTrader, Match-Trader and web platforms are alternatives. Check what your liquidity and bridge options support before you commit.
- 04
Liquidity providers and the bridge
Sign with one or more liquidity providers, then connect them to your platform. With one LP and one platform, an LP gateway may do. Add a second LP, a second platform or your own spreads and you need a liquidity bridge in the middle.
- 05
CRM, client area and back office
Onboarding and KYC, the client portal, trading accounts, IB and affiliate tracking, and reporting. It must talk to your platform and your payments, so integration matters more than feature lists.
- 06
Payments
Card, bank transfer, local methods and crypto for deposits and withdrawals. Brokerage is a high risk category for payment providers, so line up more than one and expect underwriting to take time.
- 07
Risk management
Exposure per symbol, coverage of the house book, toxic flow detection and alerts. Even a pure A-book broker needs to see what is open and where.
- 08
Legal documents and compliance
Client agreement, risk disclosures, order execution policy, privacy policy and AML procedures, kept in line with your licence and your actual execution model.
One group, the full stack
XiroLink is part of the Brokeret group, based in Dubai and Indonesia. Its companies cover several of the layers above, so a new broker can deal with one group instead of eight vendors.
Brokeret provides software development services for corporate clients only. It is not a broker and does not hold client funds.
Launch checklist
Three checkpoints that catch most launch delays.
Before you sign anything
Jurisdiction chosen, company formed, licence path agreed and a bank and payment providers who will onboard you.
Before you connect liquidity
Execution model decided, LP agreements signed, symbol list and trading hours agreed, fixed IPs allow-listed.
Before the first client
Platform groups and spreads set, prices checked on every symbol, alerts tested, legal documents published, deposits and withdrawals tested end to end.
Next: compare what a bridge costs, see when an MT5 gateway is enough, or read how FIX connections to LPs work.
Keep reading
Prop firm price feeds
Where challenge servers get prices, what goes wrong and what to check.
Read the guideWhat is a liquidity bridge
How a bridge connects LPs to MT4, MT5 and FIX platforms, and how to choose one.
Read the guideLiquidity bridge vs MT5 gateway
When a gateway is enough, when you need a bridge, and how they work together.
Read the guideStarting a brokerage
What technology does a forex broker need?
A trading platform, liquidity providers and usually a liquidity bridge, a CRM and client area, payment processing, and risk management, all on top of a company and licence that fit your business model.
What should I set up first?
The jurisdiction and company. Your licence decides which clients you can take, how you must run your execution model and which banks and payment providers will work with you, and every technology choice follows from that.
Do I need a liquidity bridge to start?
Not always. With one LP and one platform, an LP supplied gateway can be enough. Most brokers add a bridge when they add a second LP, a second platform or their own spreads per client group.
White label or my own MetaTrader licence?
A white label is faster and cheaper to start but depends on the provider. Your own licence costs more and takes longer but gives you full control. Many brokers start white label and move later.
Can the Brokeret group help with the whole setup?
Brokeret group companies cover company formation, brokerage technology, payments, legal documents, risk management and the liquidity bridge. Tell us what you are building and we will point you to the right teams.
Building a new brokerage?
Tell us what you are setting up. We will show you where XiroLink fits and introduce the Brokeret teams for the rest.