A practical order to check things in — not every factor matters equally, and checking them in the wrong order wastes time on brokers that were never viable to begin with.
1Confirm it's properly regulated in your country
2Check the fee structure against your trade size & frequency
3Confirm it supports the account type & tax reporting you need
4Check the product range covers what you actually want to trade
5Review platform & support quality last — it matters, but only once the above check out
Why check regulation first?
Everything else — fees, platform, support — is negotiable trade-off territory. Whether your money is properly protected isn't, so it's the one check that should rule a broker out before you weigh anything else.
Does this order apply to everyone?
The regulation check always comes first. After that, reorder freely based on what you personally care about most — an active trader might weigh fees before account types, for example.
