Do not rely on an app’s brand name to decide whether your brokerage is regulated or where your money is held. First identify the exact legal entity serving your account, then verify that firm and its representative in an official regulator database. Next, identify the introducing broker, clearing broker, custodian and any bank receiving a cash sweep. Finally, confirm which investor-protection scheme applies to each entity, account and type of asset.
This workflow is primarily for U.S. brokerage accounts. A platform can use different legal entities, custodians and protection rules for customers in other countries. The result must be checked against your own account agreement, Form CRS, trade confirmations and statements.
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What you are actually trying to verify
“Is this brokerage regulated?” is several questions, not one. A complete check establishes:
- the legal broker-dealer or investment adviser named in your contract;
- the individual representative connected with your account, if one is involved;
- the firm that executes and carries your trades;
- where securities are recorded and who has custody;
- where uninvested cash sits, including the identity of any sweep bank; and
- which protection scheme covers each entity and account, including its limits and exclusions.
Registration is a threshold requirement. It does not promise investment performance, solvency, good advice or satisfactory customer service. A registered firm can still have complaints or disciplinary history, and a familiar app can be operated by a different legal entity than the one appearing on your statement.
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Start with the exact legal names in your account documents
Before searching, make a short list from documents you already possess. Use the spelling and punctuation shown there rather than the consumer-facing brand.
Documents to collect
- Account agreement and opening disclosures
- Form CRS (the relationship summary)
- Trade confirmations
- Monthly or quarterly account statements
- Cash-sweep disclosure or bank-deposit agreement
- Any notice describing an introducing or clearing relationship
Record the broker-dealer’s legal name, any introducing firm, the clearing or carrying firm, the name of a bank used for a sweep, and the representative’s full name and registration details. A corporate parent, affiliate, app publisher and regulated broker can all have different names. Search each relevant entity separately.
How do I check if my broker is registered?
For a U.S. account, use free government and self-regulatory databases rather than a search-engine advertisement or a badge on an app’s website. The SEC’s Investor.gov “Check Out Your Investment Professional” tool routes you to the appropriate record. FINRA BrokerCheck covers brokerage firms and individual brokers. The SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (IAPD) database covers SEC- and state-registered investment advisers and their associated people.
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| What you are checking | Official lookup named by investor guidance | What the record can show |
|---|---|---|
| Brokerage firm or individual broker | FINRA BrokerCheck, reached directly or through Investor.gov | Current registration, licenses, qualifications, employment history, customer disputes, arbitration awards, and regulatory or disciplinary events |
| Investment adviser or associated adviser | SEC IAPD, reached directly or through Investor.gov | Registration status, business information and disclosures; Form ADV records adviser practices, fees, conflicts and disciplinary information |
| State-registered activity | Your state securities regulator, in addition to the federal lookup | State registration and any additional public enforcement or licensing information |
| U.S. futures or derivatives intermediary | NFA BASIC | Registration and disciplinary checks for the relevant futures professional or firm |
| Canadian account | Canadian Securities Administrators’ National Registration Search | Registration information under the Canadian jurisdiction shown in the result |
IAPD and BrokerCheck can direct you to the other database when a search belongs there. A result with a similar name is not enough: match the legal name, address, website domain shown in your documents and the entity’s registration category to your account relationship.
Check both the firm and the person
Search the brokerage firm and the named representative independently. Review current status, licenses, employment history, customer complaints, arbitration awards and regulatory events. A person can move firms, and a firm can change names or merge. Read the record’s historical entries so that an old name does not look like an unrelated company.
The SEC’s 2026 World Investor Week bulletin warns: “Do not invest with anyone who misrepresents that they’re registered with the SEC or mischaracterizes SEC filings.” A filing or registration number presented by a salesperson is not a substitute for the regulator’s own record. If the identity does not match, use contact information obtained independently from the regulator’s official site.
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Read the disclosures behind the search result
A database entry is a starting point. Open the firm’s disclosures and compare them with your contract.
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Form CRS summarizes services, fees and costs, conflicts of interest, standards of conduct, disciplinary history and questions an investor should ask. Confirm that the legal entity in Form CRS is the one you intended to hire and that the services described match what the platform offers.
Form ADV
For an investment adviser, Form ADV Part 1 contains information about the adviser’s business and problems with regulators or clients. Part 2 is the brochure describing practices, fees, conflicts and disciplinary information. Part 3 is Form CRS. These forms help explain whether you are dealing with an adviser, a broker, or both under separate relationships.
Name changes and mergers
Use the firm record’s history to explain a mismatch between an older statement and a current website. A merger, acquisition or legal-name change can be legitimate, but you should be able to trace the old entity to the current one in regulator records and written account notices. An unexplained mismatch is a reason to pause transfers and ask the regulator or firm’s compliance department for clarification.
Who actually holds my brokerage assets?
Many online brokerages use a two-layer structure. An introducing broker is customer-facing: it markets the service, opens the relationship and may provide advice or an app. A separate clearing or carrying broker commonly executes trades, maintains the books and records, and holds customer securities and cash. Some firms perform both roles, but you should verify which arrangement applies to your account.
Ask these questions in writing
- Which legal entity is my broker-dealer?
- Which entity clears my trades and carries my account?
- Where are my securities recorded, and in whose name are they registered?
- Where does uninvested cash sit before I invest or withdraw it?
- If cash is swept to a bank, which bank receives it and under what account-ownership terms?
Send the questions through a channel that produces a durable record. Compare the written answers with your account agreement, statements and trade confirmations. If the answer names an affiliate that never appears in your documents, request an updated disclosure and do not assume the entities share the same protections.
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Customer-name and street-name registration
SIPC describes two common ways securities are registered. In customer-name registration, eligible securities are recorded directly in the customer’s name in non-negotiable form. In street-name registration, the brokerage is the registered owner on the issuer’s records while the customer is recorded as the beneficial owner on the brokerage’s books. Both arrangements can be protected by SIPC in a qualifying member-firm failure, but the recordkeeping method affects how assets are returned. The distinction does not, by itself, prove that a brokerage is legitimate or illegitimate.
Is my brokerage account SIPC insured?
SIPC protection is not ordinary insurance on the market value of your investments. It is a limited customer-property protection that can apply when a SIPC-member brokerage fails and enters the relevant liquidation process. It does not prevent losses caused by falling prices, unsuitable recommendations or poor performance.
Verify membership for the precise entity
Check SIPC membership for the brokerage named in your account documents and, when a separate firm carries the account, for that clearing firm as well. A SIPC-member parent does not automatically make every subsidiary a member. A foreign subsidiary is a separate legal entity and is not protected merely because its parent is a SIPC member.
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Transfers and deposits should be made to the SIPC member or its SIPC-member clearing broker, not to an individual representative or an unrelated affiliate. If the account is booked through an overseas entity, identify the law and protection scheme governing that entity instead of assuming U.S. SIPC coverage.
Understand the limit
The SEC and SIPC investor bulletin states a maximum SIPC advance of $500,000 per separate customer capacity, including a $250,000 limit for cash claims. This figure is attributed to the Securities Investor Protection Corporation and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (2023). Accounts held in the same capacity at the same firm are combined; opening several accounts in the same capacity does not automatically multiply the limit. The amount is not a guarantee that every account will be restored to its market value.
What SIPC can and cannot cover
| Generally within the listed eligible securities category | Excluded or not protected by SIPC according to the investor guidance |
|---|---|
| Stocks, bonds, U.S. Treasuries, certificates of deposit, securities options, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and money-market funds, subject to applicable rules | Market-value declines; poor investment recommendations; many non-custody fraud or misrepresentation claims; commodities; futures contracts; unregistered investment contracts; fixed annuities; and most crypto assets |
SIPC is not a regulator and says it cannot investigate a currently operating brokerage or access its account records. Use regulator databases to check registration and disciplinary history, and SIPC records to check membership and the protection framework. Neither check answers questions about future financial strength or service quality.
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How idle cash is treated
Find out what happens to cash that has not been invested. The treatment can change both the custodian and the protection scheme.
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Brokerage cash
Cash retained at a brokerage for purchasing securities is handled under the brokerage relationship. Ask how it is recorded and whether it is included in the firm’s customer-property records.
Money-market fund
A qualifying money-market-fund holding is a security category listed in SIPC guidance, subject to the applicable rules. Its price can still fluctuate, and SIPC does not promise a particular return.
Bank sweep
A bank sweep moves cash out of the brokerage firm to a named bank. SIPC says cash in a bank sweep is held outside the brokerage and is not protected by SIPC. Bank-deposit insurance may apply under that bank’s rules and limits. Read the sweep disclosure for the receiving bank, account ownership, allocation among banks and any applicable limits before treating swept cash as protected.
How jurisdiction changes the answer
The legal entity serving a customer can differ by country, state, account type or product. A U.S. platform may route a non-U.S. resident to an overseas subsidiary, while a U.S. resident may have separate entities for securities, derivatives or banking services. The parent company’s reputation does not determine the rules for every subsidiary.
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Red flags that require a pause
- The app name differs from every legal name in the account agreement and no entity relationship is explained.
- A representative supplies a registration number, screenshot or filing but the regulator’s own search cannot match the identity.
- The firm refuses to identify its clearing broker, custodian or sweep bank in writing.
- A SIPC-member parent is cited as proof that a foreign subsidiary or affiliate is protected.
- Marketing says your investments are “insured” without naming the scheme, member entity, limits and exclusions.
- Statements, trade confirmations and support responses name different firms without a documented merger or carrying arrangement.
- You are pressured to transfer funds to an individual, an unrelated affiliate or an account whose ownership terms are unclear.
Any one of these signs warrants stopping new transfers while you verify the legal identity through an independently located regulator contact.
Keep an audit trail and resolve discrepancies
Save the account agreement, Form CRS or Form ADV, statements, trade confirmations, sweep disclosures, regulator search results and written support replies. Compare positions, cash balances and transaction dates regularly.
If a trade or balance is wrong
- Notify the brokerage promptly in writing and describe the transaction, date, security, quantity and expected correction.
- Preserve the confirmation, statement, screenshots and communication log.
- Ask which entity investigated the issue and request a written outcome.
- If the firm does not resolve the complaint, the SEC/SIPC investor bulletin points customers to the SEC, FINRA or their state securities regulator.
Document unauthorized trades as soon as you notice them. Delay can make it harder to reconstruct what happened, even when a later complaint process is available.
A compact comparison checklist
When comparing two or more online brokerages, use facts tied to your account rather than a universal safety ranking.
- Legal entity and country governing the account
- Registration status of the broker-dealer, adviser and representative
- Customer disputes, arbitration awards and disciplinary history
- Named introducing, clearing and custody firms
- SIPC membership of the precise entities, or the applicable local equivalent
- Idle-cash treatment: brokerage cash, money-market fund or named bank sweep
- Protection cap, exclusions and claim trigger
A registration result does not decide fees, investment suitability, app quality, execution quality or future financial strength. The official material available for this check does not establish a ranking, failure rate or probability that one brokerage will fail.
Quick Recap
Final verification before funding an account
- Copy every legal name from the agreement and statements.
- Search the firm and representative in Investor.gov, BrokerCheck, IAPD or the relevant jurisdictional database.
- Read the firm’s Form CRS or Form ADV and its historical record.
- Confirm the introducing, clearing and custody chain in writing.
- Identify the treatment and destination of idle cash.
- Check protection-scheme membership for each relevant entity.
- Write down the limit, exclusions and account-capacity rules that apply.
- Keep the documents and recheck them after a merger, name change or material account notice.
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