Regulators are government or quasi-government bodies that license financial intermediaries and supervise their activities. For a trader, the regulator is a formal guarantee that the broker must follow certain rules: segregation of client funds, capital requirements, reporting transparency, complaint-handling procedures.
Jurisdictions differ in strictness. Tier 1 is the «gold standard»: FCA (UK), ASIC (Australia), MAS (Singapore) and similar. Tier 2 covers solid regional regulators like CySEC (Cyprus) and DFSA (UAE). Tier 3 covers offshore regulators with minimal requirements (Seychelles, Bahamas, Belize, Mauritius, BVI); most international brokers serve clients outside EU, UK and Australia through these.
Below are the regulators of brokers featured on fxgnosis:
