In the rapidly evolving world of online trading, navigating the maze of brokers and trading platforms can be a daunting task for both seasoned traders and newcomers alike. Enter Stéphane Bottine, the mind behind TrustedBrokers.com, a platform changing the way traders choose their brokers. With a rich background in finance, economics, and digital marketing, Bottine saw an opportunity to create a unique service that addresses the critical needs of traders in a constantly changing market.
In this insightful interview, Bottine delves into the origins of TrustedBrokers, the strategies employed to maintain impartiality and accuracy in broker reviews, and the platform’s response to the dynamic trends in online trading. He also sheds light on the challenges of keeping information relevant, the importance of building trust with users, and the future of online trading platforms. Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur in the trading industry or a trader seeking guidance, this interview offers valuable perspectives and advice from a seasoned expert in the field.
Origin of TrustedBrokers
SBS – What inspired you to start TrustedBrokers, and what gap did you see in the market that your platform addresses?
Stéphane – I’ve always had a personal interest in finance and economics, having studied at the London School of Economics and spent the early years of my career in investment banking. However, I was also attracted to the Internet because of the level playing field it provides entrepreneurs. This prompted me to pivot away from banking into digital marketing.
It was my first digital marketing role with a broadband comparison service that inspired me to create TrustedBrokers.com. We initially launched as ForexBrokersAZ.com but rebranded in the years that followed as our brokers expanded beyond Forex.
At the time, no other comparison service let traders compare brokers at the account level. I felt this was a shortcoming, as brokers typically offer very different accounts and trading conditions for new and experienced traders.
Impartiality and Accuracy in Reviews
SBS – How do you ensure the impartiality and accuracy of your broker comparisons and reviews?
Stéphane – The impartiality and accuracy of the reviews published on our service are top of mind because this is what we’re about as a comparison service. The reviews are our own and reflect our personal experience of trading through the brokers we work with. We grade our brokers across 18 different criteria to ensure our ratings are objective, and we also compare brokers to rank them appropriately.
Evaluating Trading Platforms
SBS – What criteria do you use to evaluate and rank different trading platforms and brokers?
Stéphane – The 18 criteria I alluded to above fall into the following five categories: 1) the range and depth of financial instruments available to traders, 2) the trading environment, 3) deposit and withdrawal methods and any associated fees, 4) investor protections, and 5) the quality and availability of their customer service. We assign a star rating to each category and fold these category-level ratings into an overall star rating.
This makes it possible for traders to rank brokers in aggregate and across dimensions that matter most to them. For example, traders who care most about investor protection are able to hone in on brokers with the highest ratings in this category. It’s important for us to open our ratings up in this manner because it builds trust with our users and helps traders find the right broker for them.
Updating Information
SBS – Can you discuss the challenges involved in maintaining up-to-date and relevant information on your platform?
Stéphane – Keeping information accurate and up-to-date is relatively straightforward because we shy away from publishing information that changes by the minute, such as spreads. Instead, we tend to focus on our brokers’ range of markets, platforms, accounts, and licences.
When it comes to the first three, the brokers we work the closest with reach out to us about important changes to their service. We’re also subscribed to their newsletters through our trading accounts. Finally, we also fact-check our reviews on a quarterly basis.
When it comes to broker licences, we monitor the validity of broker licences in near real-time. Specifically, we get an alert within minutes of a broker licence being revoked and can take action after that, typically by updating their review. It isn’t uncommon for brokers to be regulated in different jurisdictions and change regulators over time.
Adapting to Regulatory Changes
SBS – How do TrustedBrokers adapt to the rapidly changing regulations in the forex and trading industry?
Stéphane – We’re in regular contact with our partner brokers’ compliance teams to ensure that our content complies with regulations in the Forex and trading industry. However, changes have been relatively infrequent since 2018, when financial regulators in the European Union and the UK placed restrictions on CFD and binary options.
Building Trust and Credibility
SBS – What strategies do you employ to build trust and credibility with your users?
Stéphane – We’re transparent about who we are, and how we rate brokers. The star ratings we publish make it possible for users to make their own comparisons based on the criteria that matter the most to them. We also encourage direct feedback, by linking to our review page on TrustPilot and sharing our contact details on our “About Us” page.
User Feedback and Complaints
SBS – How do you handle user feedback and complaints about brokers listed on your platform?
Stéphane – It may come as a surprise, but no one has ever reported problems with the brokers listed on our service, in over 10 years. I like to think this is because we choose who we work with carefully, and only partner with “trusted brokers,” if you forgive the pun!
That said, when we experience less than satisfactory service or trading conditions, we reflect this in our ratings and commentary. It wouldn’t be right to call out brokers here, but we do rate some as low as 2/5 across certain categories.
Trends in Online Trading
SBS – What are the key trends you currently see in online trading, and how is your platform responding to these trends?
Stéphane – We’re seeing new trading platforms like TradingView gain traction, taking market share away from MetaTrader, which has been the dominant player since the turn of the century. This prompted us to publish a step-by-step walkthrough of a popular broker compatible with TradingView.
We’re also seeing increased competition around fees and trading conditions that’s benefiting new traders. Most brokers tend to reserve their best trading conditions for traders who can afford to deposit in excess of $1,000. However, some brokers are challenging the status quo by offering low fees to customers with significantly lower deposits. These brokers tend to rank higher than others on our service because they provide a better trading environment.
Monetization and Impartiality
SBS – How do TrustedBrokers monetize its services while maintaining impartiality in broker reviews?
Stéphane – Almost all the brokers we partner with pay us a fixed or variable commission for introducing active traders. We prefer when commissions are tied to a customer’s trading volumes. This aligns our interests with that of our users, because happy traders trade more. This also ties in with our ratings, which always rank brokers with the best trading environment higher.
TrustedBrokers Success Stories
SBS – Can you share a success story or a significant achievement of TrustedBrokers since its inception?
Stéphane – I’m perhaps most proud of our chart patterns pdf and cheat sheet, downloaded over 380,000 times since it was first published in 2022. It’s connected with users because it brings 20 classical chart patterns to life through interactive charts hosted on TradingView. This makes it possible to replay price action as it occurred and watch patterns unfold over time. The success of this ebook has helped build our following on their platform.
Advice for Online Trading Entrepreneurs
SBS – What advice would you give entrepreneurs looking to start a business in the online trading industry?
Stéphane – My advice to any entrepreneur is to focus on a niche they are passionate about, where they have an “edge” or point of difference. If I were starting out in online trading today, I would focus on video and social media, along the lines of what “finfluencers” are doing today. The pandemic introduced a whole new generation of traders to the financial markets, and those who tapped into that demographic have done very well.
Future of Online Trading Platforms
SBS – How do you see the future of online trading platforms evolving, and what role will TrustedBrokers play in it?
Stéphane – It’s hard to predict how trading platforms will evolve over time, beyond mobile apps and desktop applications. But whatever direction these platforms take, there will always be a need to review and compare brokers.
In my opinion, the bigger question revolves around how users will source information in the future. A shift is already underway, with people increasingly turning to AI for answers. Our analytics show that Microsoft’s Copilot has already referred traffic, which is a positive as long as these tools link to their sources and services like ours.
Educating Traders on Risks
SBS – What measures do you take to educate new traders about the risks and complexities of online trading?
Stéphane – We’re careful to highlight the risks around leveraged trading, also known as trading on margin. Excessive leverage and risk taking are the reasons why some many inexperienced traders lose money. We’re particularly proud of the leverage trading case study in this guide.
We’ve also published guides with a focus on Forex scams and crypto scams, to draw attention to actionable steps that users can take to protect themselves. We’ve fallen prey to these scams in the past, and are doing our best to help others avoid these pitfalls.
