Independent broker researchIssue 020Vol. IV
020Vol. IVMay 19, 2026
— independent broker research —
About

Independent broker research, sourced and named.

InvestorTrip is an independent publication covering online brokers for retail investors. We document brokers from public sources first, write named bylines under verified credentials, and publish Editorial Notices when a broker's regulator claim diverges from what the register shows.

Reviewed byMarcus JamesEditorial Director
Brokers in catalogue
99
reviews published
Editorial notices
20
across 6 categories
Best-of guides
10
data-driven rankings
Articles
79
explainers and guides
Mission

What we do

InvestorTrip publishes independent reviews, comparisons, and investigations of online brokers serving retail investors. We are not a broker, not a financial advisor, and not a licensed entity — we are an information service.

  • Review individual brokers based on regulatory standing, fees, platforms, and operational track record.
  • Compare brokers within categories (best-for-beginners, best-for-forex, etc.).
  • Publish investigative findings about brokers misrepresenting regulators, holding revoked licences, or matching documented scam patterns.
  • Maintain free trader tools — for example our cost-of-trading calculator.
  • Educate retail investors on how to evaluate brokers themselves.
Boundaries

What we don't do

  • We do not provide financial advice. We do not tell anyone what to buy, sell, or trade.
  • We do not currently hold affiliate or referral relationships with any broker reviewed on this site. (Editorial Policy v1.1 §9; current state.)
  • We do not accept payment in exchange for editorial ratings, rankings, or favorable coverage. Paid sponsored content is accepted under separate, disclosed terms — see §9. We do not accept "review packages" or "preferred review tiers" from brokers. If a broker offers any of these, the offer itself becomes a publishable fact under our Expose criteria.
  • We do not publish content we cannot independently source. No "allegedly" / "reportedly" framings to prop up Tier-2 claims; we drop the claim instead.
  • We do not invent credentials. No CFA, CFP, Series 7, or other regulated credentials are attributed to any author unless the credential is verifiable and on file.
  • We do not use AI-generated headshots in place of real photos of authors.
Authorship

The people behind the bylines

InvestorTrip content is written by named members of the editorial team. As of this version, the team is 10 analysts and editors, each with a verified bio, real photo, and a list of credentials we can demonstrate on file. Every broker review on the site carries a named author byline linking to that person's profile.

Per Editorial Policy v1.0 §2, individual authors retain personal byline credit on the content they produce, while editorial responsibility for published claims rests with InvestorTrip as an entity — authors write under the protection of editorial review processes, source verification requirements, and our public methodology.

Meet the 10-person editorial team →
How we work

Five editorial pillars

Every piece of content on InvestorTrip is evaluated against five pillars before publication. These are the operating rules — not aspirational principles.

  • Broker review evidence

    Every claim about a broker must be sourced. We document the broker's claimed regulators, cross-reference them against public registers, and surface any divergence in a dated Editorial Notice on the review page.

  • Ranking methodology visibility

    Rankings reference our public methodology. We do not publish proprietary scoring formulas we cannot explain; we do not invent version histories we do not have.

  • Cost and fee transparency

    Fee data comes from broker sources or — where we have it — our verified testing. When we don't have a number, the field stays empty rather than being filled with industry averages.

  • Regulation and account context

    Regulatory status must be current and tier-appropriate. We classify regulators by tier and explain what each licence does (and does not) protect.

  • Data limitations shown honestly

    When we don't know something, we say so. Sparse-data sections on broker pages render "not yet documented" rather than being hidden.

Disclosure

How InvestorTrip makes money

Current state. InvestorTrip does not hold affiliate or referral agreements with any broker reviewed on this site at the time of this page. We do not receive commissions for sign-ups, deposits, or trading volume.

If this changes. If we ever enter into affiliate or referral agreements, the fact will be disclosed on every affected page in the byline area, an /advertising-disclosure page will list every affiliate broker, and scoring/ranking will remain identical for affiliate and non-affiliate brokers. Methodology is the same regardless of commercial relationship.

Reader feedback

How to contact us

For corrections — particularly to regulator-related claims — the most useful messages carry a Tier-1 source URL (regulator register or press release) and the exact sentence on the page you believe is inaccurate. We aim to acknowledge corrections messages within 48 hours and to apply confirmed corrections within 24 hours.