How we check a broker

The first check is access from Ghana

A broker is ranked only after we establish that a resident of Ghana can open an account, fund it and withdraw. If the account cannot be funded through a route a Ghanaian reader actually uses, such as MTN Mobile Money, the rest of the review does not matter.

We also record which entity would serve a Ghanaian client, because the leverage cap that applies is the cap of that entity and not a setting to aim at. Where a broker publishes its regulatory status, we quote it, and we point readers to the SEC Ghana licensed operators list for their own confirmation.

What happens when two sources disagree

When two sources disagree, the broker's own published terms for the entity serving Ghana take precedence over third-party summaries, affiliate pages and our own older notes. If the broker says the applicable leverage cap is one thing and a review site says another, we record the broker's figure and note the disagreement rather than averaging them. Averaging two conflicting numbers produces a third number that no source supports, which is worse than stating the conflict plainly.

If the broker's own pages disagree with each other, for example a country page and a legal terms document, we treat the legal terms for the entity serving Ghana as the stronger source and flag the discrepancy for a hand check. Until that check resolves it, the fact is marked as disputed and the date is not advanced. A disputed fact is still shown, because hiding it would leave a gap, but it is shown with a clear warning so you do not rely on it without checking your own account.

If a market-derived figure disagrees with a broker quote, we do not treat that as a source conflict to be resolved. The live price and the broker quote are different things measured at different moments, and the difference is explained in its own section. The rule is simple: broker facts are resolved in favour of the broker's legal terms, market figures are labelled as indicative, and anything we cannot resolve is marked rather than smoothed over.

How a broker fact is dated and re-checked

Each broker fact carries the date it was last checked against the broker's own published terms for the entity serving Ghana. That date is shown next to the fact, not buried in a footer, so you can see immediately whether the platform list, the regulator caveat or the leverage cap is recent. A fact without a visible date should be treated as unverified. The date records the check, not the day the broker changed its terms, because brokers do not always announce changes in advance.

Re-checking happens on a fixed cycle and also on trigger. The fixed cycle is a scheduled hand review of every broker fact on the page. The triggers are a reader report of a discrepancy, a change to the SEC Ghana licensed operators list, or a visible change on the broker's own site. When a trigger fires, the fact is re-checked before the next scheduled review, and the date is updated only after the source has been read again. We do not update a date because time has passed.

If a re-check cannot confirm a fact, the fact is marked as unconfirmed rather than left with an old date. That is deliberately uncomfortable: an unconfirmed leverage cap is less useful than a confirmed one, but a stale date is worse because it implies a check that did not happen. The regulator caveat for Ghana is re-checked with particular care, because it is the one line that tells you to confirm any broker on the SEC Ghana licensed operators list before acting.

What is refreshed automatically and what is reviewed by hand

The live gold price is the only figure refreshed automatically. It updates from our price feed at a short interval and is displayed with a timestamp so you can see how fresh it is. Everything derived from that price, such as the notional value in a margin example, recalculates in the browser when the page loads. We do not auto-update cedi conversions or broker facts, because those change on a different rhythm and an automatic refresh would give a false sense of precision.

Broker facts are reviewed by hand. The platform list, the regulator caveat and the applicable leverage cap are checked against the broker's published terms for the entity serving Ghana on a scheduled basis, and the date of the last check is recorded on the page. The SEC Ghana licensed operators list is also checked by hand, because it is the reference a Ghanaian reader should use to confirm any broker independently. A hand review means a person reads the source, not a script.

Editorial explanations, risk warnings and the worked examples are reviewed by hand whenever a broker fact changes or when a reader reports a discrepancy. The review covers the wording as well as the numbers, because a correct figure in a misleading sentence is still a problem. We do not publish an automatic changelog, but the last-reviewed date gives you a way to judge whether a fact is likely to be current. If a fact is older than our review cycle, treat it as due for confirmation.

Why the live price can differ from a broker quote

The live price on this site is a reference feed, while the price on your broker's platform is an executable quote from that broker's liquidity providers. They can differ because they are measured at different moments, because the feed and the broker aggregate different sources, and because the broker applies its own markup to the raw market price. A difference of a few tenths between the two is normal and is not evidence that either is wrong. The broker quote is the one that matters for your order.

Gold is quoted as XAU/USD with a pip of 0.01, so small differences matter more than they look. A gap of 0.50 between the reference price and your platform is 50 pips on gold, which is significant for a short-term position. That is why every worked example on this site states the reference price it used and warns that the live market will have moved. You should re-run any calculation with the price on your own platform before you size a position.

The difference also widens around news releases, at market open and close, and when liquidity is thin. At those times the feed may show one price while your broker shows a wider spread around a different mid-price. Neither figure is a promise of the price you will get. For a Ghanaian trader funding through MTN Mobile Money, the practical rule is to check the platform quote, not this page, before you commit any amount in GH₵ or dollars.

Where the numbers come from

Figures come from the broker's own documents, and we note the date we read them. A reference price for gold (XAU/USD) of about 4275.0, a contract size of 100 oz per standard lot and a pip of 0.01 are stated as the instrument's definitions, not as a forecast.

Margin figures are shown as worked examples against the applicable cap, such as a 0.10-lot gold position needing about $85.50. We do not print a spread, a commission, a swap or a minimum deposit as a number; those depend on the account type, the entity and the market at the time, and the broker's own documents are the place to confirm them.

How a reader can reproduce any number here

You can reproduce any number on this site with the stated inputs and a calculator. For pip value on gold, multiply 0.01 by 100 oz and then by your lot size: a 0.10-lot position gives $0.10 per pip. For margin, multiply the gold price by 100 oz by your lot size, then divide by the applicable leverage cap. At the reference price of 4275.0 and a 0.10-lot position, that gives about $85.50. Write the inputs down before you start so you can check each step.

For position size, decide the money you are willing to risk, convert it to the same currency as your pip value, and divide by the pip distance to your stop. If you risk $50 with a 100-pip stop on gold, the pip value is $0.50, which is a 0.50-lot position. Every step uses only the constants on this page and your own choices, so you can repeat it on paper or in a spreadsheet and compare the result with ours. If the two differ, the inputs differ.

To reproduce a broker fact, go to the broker's own published terms for the entity serving Ghana and read the platform list, the leverage cap and the regulator wording directly. Then confirm the broker on the SEC Ghana licensed operators list, as the caveat on this site advises. If your reading differs from ours, check the date on our fact first, then treat the broker's legal terms as the stronger source. That is the same order of precedence we apply, so you are not using a different method.

Source of each class of figure on the site

Every figure on this site falls into one of three classes: instrument constants, broker facts, and market-derived prices. Instrument constants are fixed by the contract itself: gold is quoted as XAU/USD, one standard lot is 100 oz, one pip is 0.01, and the reference price we use for worked examples is approximately 4275.0. These do not change with market conditions and are stated once, clearly, so that any calculation you see can be checked against them.

Broker facts cover the platform list (MT4, MT5, cTrader and the FxPro app), the regulator caveat for Ghana, and the maximum leverage cap that applies to the entity serving this country. These are taken from the broker's own published terms for the entity that accepts Ghanaian clients, not from third-party review sites or affiliate pages. The leverage cap is recorded as a cap, not as a recommended setting, and the worked margin figure of about $85.50 for a 0.10-lot gold position is derived from that cap using the formula described elsewhere on this page.

Market-derived prices, such as the live gold price, come from a price feed rather than from the broker. We treat the feed as a reference for illustration, not as an executable quote. Cedi amounts shown for context are converted from US-dollar figures using a rate we record at the time of writing, and they are labelled as indicative so that no reader mistakes them for a dealing rate. No spread, commission, swap or minimum deposit is stated as a number because those depend on your account and the entity serving you.

Formula each calculator uses, in words

The pip-value calculator multiplies the pip size by the contract size and then by your position size in lots. For gold, the pip size is 0.01 and one standard lot is 100 oz, so one pip on a 1.00-lot position is worth 0.01 × 100 = $1.00. For a 0.10-lot position it is $0.10 per pip. The calculator does this in words and shows the intermediate numbers so you can follow each step rather than trusting a single output.

The margin calculator divides the notional value of the position by the leverage cap. Notional value is the current gold price multiplied by 100 oz and then by your lot size. At the applicable cap, a 0.10-lot position at the reference price of 4275.0 gives a notional value of 4275.0 × 100 × 0.10 = $42,750, and the margin required is about $85.50. The calculator states the cap it used and warns that the cap is a maximum, not a target, and that your broker may require more.

The position-size calculator works backwards from the risk you are willing to take. It takes your account balance, the percentage you are prepared to risk, and the distance in pips to your stop, then divides the money at risk by the pip value to give a lot size. For example, risking $50 with a 100-pip stop on gold gives a pip value of $0.50, which corresponds to a 0.50-lot position. Every calculator shows the formula in words alongside the result so that the arithmetic is auditable.

Known limits of the method

The method cannot tell you what your broker will actually charge or require. Spreads, commissions, swaps and minimum deposits depend on your account type, the entity serving you and market conditions at the moment you trade, so we describe what those costs consist of rather than quoting a number. The margin figure of about $85.50 is an illustration at the applicable cap and the reference price, not a promise of the margin on your account. Your broker's platform is the only authoritative source for your own requirements.

The reference price of 4275.0 is a snapshot, not a live quote. Gold moves, and every worked example that uses that price will drift from the market within minutes. The cedi amounts are indicative conversions recorded at the time of writing and will be stale as the exchange rate moves. The pip value and lot-size formulas are exact given their inputs, but the inputs themselves, such as your stop distance and risk percentage, are your choices and the output is only as good as they are.

The method also cannot verify a broker's execution quality, withdrawal reliability or the practical speed of MTN Mobile Money funding. Those are experience-based questions that no published figure answers. We can tell you the regulator caveat and the platform list, and we can point you to the SEC Ghana licensed operators list, but we cannot tell you how a broker behaves under stress. Treat every number here as a starting point for your own verification, not as a substitute for it.

The limits of our testing

We test what a reader can see from outside: whether the pages load, whether the documents are current, whether the funding route is described and whether the regulator caveat holds. We do not test execution speed, slippage or the quality of a broker's support desk, and we do not claim to.

A review here is a reading of documents on a date, not a guarantee of how the broker will behave tomorrow. When something we recorded has changed since that date, the page is re-checked and the change is noted, and a reader who spots a gap is asked to write to editor@accrastationgh.com.

What is deliberately not published and why

We do not publish spreads, commissions, swaps or minimum deposits as numbers. Those costs depend on your account type, the entity serving you and market conditions, and a single figure would be wrong for most readers. Stating a number we were not given would also be an unsupported claim, so instead we describe what each cost consists of and what it depends on. Your broker's own schedule is the only place to get a figure that applies to you.

We do not publish a recommended leverage ratio or a target return. The maximum leverage available in Ghana is a cap, not a setting to aim at, and presenting it as a goal would encourage exactly the behaviour that blows up accounts. We also do not publish performance claims, win rates or testimonials, because none of them would be verifiable and all of them would be misleading in a market as volatile as gold. The absence is deliberate, not an oversight.

We do not publish live cedi rates as if they were dealing rates, and we do not publish a broker ranking. Cedi amounts are indicative conversions for context, and a ranking would imply a judgement about execution and withdrawal reliability that our method cannot support. We also do not publish personal author names or credentials we cannot evidence. What remains is a narrow set of facts we can source, date and re-check, which is more useful than a wider set we cannot.