Learn · Stage 3: Choose a broker safely · guide 1 of 5
What is a broker? A beginner's guide to trading accounts
A broker is the company that holds your trading account and passes your orders to the market. When you press Buy or Sell in MT4 or MT5, the order goes to your broker. Your money sits with the broker — not with MetaTrader, and not with an education provider.
Why you need one: private individuals cannot trade directly on the big currency, gold or index markets. A broker gives you access, prices, a trading platform and an account that holds your funds.
Demo and live accounts:
- a demo account uses virtual money — ideal for learning, with nothing to lose;
- a live account uses real money — profits, losses and costs are all real.
Practise on a demo first. Opening a demo with a broker does not mean you must ever open a live account with them.
What to check before choosing (the next guides explain each one):
- Regulation: is the exact company licensed by a financial regulator, and may it accept clients from your country?
- Costs: spreads, commissions and overnight fees.
- Leverage and margin: how much you can control with a small deposit — and how fast losses can grow.
- Deposits and withdrawals: methods, fees and how long a withdrawal takes.
- Platform: does it offer MT4 or MT5 on your computer and your phone?
- Markets: currencies, gold, indices and others — you only need the ones you plan to learn.
- Support: can you reach a real person in a language you understand?
- Protections: for example, negative balance protection (see the costs guide).
Comparing brokers on your own — a simple checklist:
- write down the legal company name and licence number shown on the website;
- check both on the regulator's official register — see How to check if a broker is regulated;
- read the account terms: fees, leverage and withdrawal rules;
- open a demo and test the platform, the spreads and the support;
- look the company up on regulators' warning lists;
- never decide because of a bonus, a promise of profit or pressure to act quickly.
These guides do not recommend or rank any broker and contain no paid or affiliate links. They are general education, not personal financial advice.
Continue in the course: the Foundation Course — start free, 14 days, no card
Trading involves significant risk of loss. Practise on a demo account first. Holy Trading Science provides education, not financial advice.