Starting a forex and CFD brokerage is one of the most rewarding projects in financial services, and one of the most demanding. You need a legal structure, the right licences, banking, liquidity, a trading platform, a back office and a way to win clients. This guide walks through each step in the order most new brokers tackle them.
1. Define your business model
Before anything else, decide who your clients are and how you will earn. Retail traders, professional clients and introducing broker networks all need different conditions. Decide which markets you will offer (forex, metals, indices, commodities, stocks, crypto) and whether you will earn mainly from commission per lot, marked-up spreads, or both.
Your execution model matters just as much. Many new brokers choose STP / ECN execution, passing client orders straight to liquidity providers, because it keeps market risk off the balance sheet and lets revenue come from commissions and markups.
2. Choose a jurisdiction and get licensed
Licensing is usually the longest step. Requirements differ widely between jurisdictions in capital, local staff, reporting and client-money rules. Work with a specialist lawyer or compliance consultant early: the jurisdiction you choose shapes your banking options, the clients you can accept and the leverage you can offer.
3. Arrange banking and payments
You will need corporate accounts, segregated client-money accounts where the rules require them, and payment providers for card, bank transfer and local payment methods. Payment partners will review your licence and compliance setup, so plan this in parallel with licensing.
4. Connect to liquidity
Liquidity providers supply the prices you stream to clients and execute your clients’ orders. Options include prime-of-prime providers, banks, ECNs and, for crypto, exchanges. Many brokers connect more than one provider so they can aggregate the best price and keep a backup if one feed fails.
5. Choose your trading platform
The platform is what your clients see every day and what your team runs the business on. Look beyond the client terminal: you need a back office for dealing and administration, servers for quotes, matching and history, and APIs to connect your CRM and payment flow. Check whether hosting, price feeds and a liquidity bridge are included or sold separately, and whether there are limits on client accounts.
Altus Trader includes Desktop, Web, Android and iOS terminals, a dealer / manager desk, an admin console, Quote, Matching and History servers, and Trading, Manager and Admin APIs, with native connectivity to your liquidity providers. See the platform pages for details.
6. Set up your back office and CRM
Your back office covers client onboarding, identity verification, deposits and withdrawals, reporting and support. Most brokers use a CRM connected to the trading platform through its APIs, so client accounts, balances and trading activity stay in sync.
7. Configure groups, symbols and risk
Before launch, set up client groups with their currency, leverage, margin call and stop-out levels, and configure every symbol’s contract size, margin, swaps and trading sessions. Test the full order flow end to end with your liquidity provider before real clients trade.
8. Launch and grow
With the essentials in place, focus on acquisition and retention: partner programmes for introducing brokers, copy trading so successful traders attract followers, education content and responsive support.
Next step
If you are planning a brokerage, book a demo and we will show you Altus Trader running with your symbols.
This article is general information, not legal, regulatory or financial advice. Requirements differ by jurisdiction; take professional advice before launching.