I agree with you. 
But obviously it does mean that they decided to avoid proper regulation, and as a potential customer, planning to deposit money there, it would be very unwise indeed not to wonder why! 
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I concur; there was a time when U. S. Brokers provided high leverage. Does this mean they were fraudulent brokers for doing so?
I assume that because they were under regulation, it was considered acceptable to the pro-regulators here.
Brokers bypassing regulations to offer higher leverage to traders who wouldnât have access to it in their own countries, is not an issue for me, as long as they honor withdrawals 
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Iâm neither pro regulator nor anti regulator but arenât you at all worried that finding out whether or not they honor withdrawals, if theyâre not regulated, means relying on second-hand internet information, and that unregulated brokers pay people to post nice things about them online, and have SEO and PR departments to âpromote the good and conceal the badâ, and that a lot of the âinformationâ about them youâll find is from affiliate and promotional sites?
Whereas if theyâre properly regulated, and you verify that for yourself before sending them your money, at least if some or most or all of the online âinformationâ turns out to be misinformation, thereâll be someone with objectivity, power and control whoâs able to take your side if youâve been dishonestly treated?
That must surely make you feel a little more confident, @SmallPaul ?
We agree, there.
Everyone agrees, there! It looks like thereâs rarely been a thread here with such uniformity of opinion about the question originally asked! 
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If I wasnât getting my withdrawals, the first place I would talk about it is on the thread Going offshore to escape the CFTC, where Iâve been participating for over ten years. My choice of brokers has been trustworthy for more than a decade.
Your decisions in life are essential for your well-being. If working with regulated brokers makes you feel more at ease, then feel free to choose them.
do your own due diligence and be happy 
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Honestly, I cannot agree to this! Do you believe Oanda is a regulated broker or do you consider that a fraud scammer with no regulation, and therefore, a non-trustworthy broker?
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Definitely! its always a red flag for me when I see crypto only. Legit brokers usually give at least two of the standard options: bank transfers, credit cards, Skrill, Neteller, PayPal etc. But, yet, verify their regulation. Thatâs always a top priority.
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Thatâs the part everyone agrees on. 
But to imagine that a CFD broker is legitimate simply because it can take credit card payments is - to put it very politely - as naive as you can get, in this context. 
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Sure, I agreeâthis is just one of the green flags I look for. Here are a few others that are just as essential:
- Check the website: Are all links working properly? Are there large sections of text posted as images (a red flag). Also, test their customer serviceâIâve personally called the listed phone numbers, sent emails, and chatted with the chatbot to see if theyâre responsive and real.
- Look for legal documents: Make sure the broker provides clear access to terms and conditions, privacy policies, and other mandatory legal documents.
- Research trader feedback and broker review websites: Check review platforms like wikifx, fairforexreviews, forexbrokers, and others to see what real users and experts are saying.
- Test the platform: Download the trading platform and open a demo account to verify that everything is functioning as it should. Legit brokers usually offer MT4 and/or MT5, and sometimes their own proprietary platform. If there is no demo account option, thatâs a huge red flag.
- Verify licenses: Reputable brokers usually provide direct links to their regulatory licenses so traders can verify them easily.
- Transparency is key: Trustworthy brokers are open about their deposit and withdrawal policies, including fees, processing times, and minimum/maximum limits.
- Check the company background: Do a quick search on the company name, registration number, and location. See if there are any red flags like past warnings or regulatory actions.
- Lastly, look for real company presence: Does the broker have active social media profiles, verified business listings, or real office locations you can trace? An empty digital footprint is often a red flag.
Iâve learned my lesson the hard way and got scammed during my first month of trading, so now I make sure everything checks out before I deposit a single dime.
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I look at it this way: the three brokers that I (and others with more experience) consider to be probably the worst and most dishonest in the world, can all take credit-card payments. No surprise there.
I wonât name them, because I know all three of them pay people, here and in other forums, to defend and recommend them. Of course, because thatâs one of really few ways they can get the naĂŻve new customers they continually need, to replace all those who leave. The point that many fraudsters can and do accept credit-card payments doesnât depend on identifying individuals anyway: itâs just common sense.
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Having payment options doesnât mean the broker is reliable; in todayâs time, anyone can have that, IMO. I have never been scammed just by bad funding methods.
I have traded with many brokers, some giving fewer payment methods, others have a plethora of options like fxview and ic. Better to have some research before selecting any.
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As pointed out above, the unanimity in all this threadâs responses does speak highly of the forum.
Thereâs a kind of concealed point, here, as well, thatâs worth mentioning, since the threadâs still active (though I certainly wouldnât have put money on that!!).
One of the things that can sometimes stop Visa and Mastercard from doing business with any kind of financial institution is a history of adverse regulatory rulings from well-recognised regulators. That obviously isnât helpful in this context, though, because the dishonest brokers are the exact ones who decided not to be regulated by anyone who might ever rule against them, so there canât be any of those, kind of âby definitionâ.
And then, if ever asked, those brokers will say to the most naĂŻve potential customers (the exact ones they want!) âWe had to do that so we could offer the high leverage our customers wantâ. And there are even a few people who will even believe it!
But most of the people you see saying anything similar, in forums and online in general, are being paid to say it. And this really IS worth knowing. It absolutely isnât Babypipsâ fault at all, and itâs probably impossible for them reliably to prevent it, but I know there are quite a few paid posters here. Just as in every other forex forum, of course.
So, when you see someone recommending some specific high-leverage (i.e. unregulated) broker, be suspicious. Be very suspicious! 
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From my experience, brokers that are regulated in multiple big jurisdictions but also have an offshore arm for more advanced traders can still be okayâthough you have to understand the protections might not be as strong on that offshore side. But if a broker is only registered offshore with no proper regulation anywhere else, thatâs a hard pass for me. Without solid oversight, youâre really exposing yourself to unnecessary risk.
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Offshore arms are not âfor more experienced tradersâ.
Youâve bought into the âso we can offer our customers the higher leverage they wantâ myth. 
More experienced traders are not the ones using higher leverage (exactly the opposite!).
Very few âexperienced tradersâ would be trading CFDâs at all. The profitable ones all switch to futures and nobody switches back!
Thomas, seriously, the main point youâre missing is that theyâre not âbrokers that are regulated in multiple big jurisdictions but also have an offshore armâ. Those are two different, separate companies. Please stop encouraging people to think of them as two different parts of the same company. One is properly regulated and safe to use. The other isnât. And thatâs the important point.
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Totally fair points. To be clear, Iâm not advocating that beginners go offshoreâfar from it. I just meant that some regulated brokers do have offshore arms that offer different terms, but that doesnât mean theyâre the same company or equally safe.
Also, youâre right that experienced traders = high leverage is mostly a myth. In fact, most professional traders use lower effective leverage and focus more on risk management. But for those who qualify, even regulated entities (under ESMA, FCA, or ASIC, for example) can offer higher leverage to pro clients without going offshore after due assessment.
Also, statistically, 74â89% of retail CFD traders lose money, especially when using excessive leverage (ESMA data). So yeah, promoting offshore just for higher leverage is dangerous and misleading.
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Thatâs per quarter!! (Because thatâs how theyâre legally obliged to report the figures.) Theyâre different people each quarter. Almost nobodyâs profitable over a year.
The profitable 11-26% per quarter are almost all people who have done one trade during the 3 months. Theyâre not active traders.
The proportion of active traders of CFDâs who are profitable over a year is under 1%. Thatâs according to evidence given to the British parliament in 2024 by the director of the FCA. (And theyâre widely regarded as the regulator of the worldâs best and most ethical/proper brokers: the figure elsewhere, and especially among high-leverage brokers, will obviously be even lower).
But weâre straying far from the threadâs point, here, which was simply that ability to take deposits by credit-card clearly isnât evidence that any broker is trustworthy. About which, thankfully, every single respondent agreed.
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For a lot of people, and especially for beginners who most need the help and advice, itâs very difficult. Mostly because counterparties are allowed to call themselves âbrokersâ.
I think most beginners imagine theyâre actually brokers. I certainly did when I started 
Thanks to Babypips Pipsology School for explaining so clearly that theyâre your counterparty even when theyâre STP or ECN or whatever other initials they use to con people.
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