The short answer
A "MAS-regulated broker" is a firm holding a Capital Markets Services (CMS) licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, permitting it to conduct specified regulated activities — for forex, dealing in spot FX contracts for leveraged foreign exchange trading under the Securities and Futures Act. The licence is a verifiable fact on a public register, not a badge a firm can award itself. We do not rank or recommend brokers — we take no commissions and run no affiliate links. What we give you is the method to check for yourself.
What the CMS licence actually is
MAS licenses activities, not reputations. A Capital Markets Services licence authorises a firm to carry on one or more specified regulated activities. For a forex broker, the relevant one is dealing in capital markets products — spot foreign exchange contracts for the purposes of leveraged foreign exchange trading.
Holding it means the firm has satisfied MAS's admission criteria and is subject to ongoing conduct requirements and supervision. Banks, merchant banks and certain other financial institutions operate under a different part of the framework rather than a CMS licence — so "no CMS licence" does not automatically mean "unregulated" if you are dealing with a bank.
What it does not mean
This is where marketing exploits ambiguity. A CMS licence does not mean:
— That your losses are protected. They are not. Trading losses are yours.
— That the firm is endorsed by MAS. Licensing is not a recommendation, and firms are not permitted to present it as one.
— That every entity under the brand is licensed. This is the big one, and it gets its own section below.
— That the pricing is fair. Spreads, swaps and conversion costs are commercial terms, not regulated outcomes. Compare them yourself using the spread.
The offshore-entity trap
Here is the pattern that costs Singapore traders the most money, and almost nobody flags it because most sites covering brokers are paid by brokers.
A global brand holds a Singapore CMS licence through, say, Brand (Singapore) Pte Ltd. The website says "regulated by MAS" — true, of that entity. But during signup you may be onboarded to Brand Ltd, registered somewhere with lighter regulation, higher advertised leverage and materially weaker protections.
Nothing about the interface tells you this happened. The only reliable signal is the legal entity named in your client agreement. Read it before you fund. If the entity in your agreement is not the entity on the MAS register, the MAS licence is not protecting your account.
How to check the register
Find the entity name. Site footer, legal page, or the client agreement. You want the full legal name, not the brand.
Search MAS's Financial Institutions Directory. This is MAS's own free, public, searchable register of licensed institutions. It shows what the firm is licensed to do — check the activity matches what you are being sold.
Cross-check the Investor Alert List. MAS publishes a list of entities that may be wrongly perceived as licensed. A listing is a hard stop, not a caution.
Then keep the ordinary discipline. A licence does not exempt a firm from the tests in how to choose a broker, and it will not stop you from losing money trading.
Why we don't publish a "best broker" list
Because the incentive is corrupting. "Best broker" pages are, with few exceptions, monetised by affiliate commissions paid when you open and fund an account — which means the ranking reflects payouts at least as much as merit.
We take no commissions and run no affiliate links, so we have nothing to sell you here. The trade-off is that you have to do the checking yourself. We think a method you can apply to any firm, forever, beats a ranking that quietly expires. This is education, not advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does MAS-regulated mean for a forex broker?
It means the firm holds a Capital Markets Services licence permitting specified regulated activities — for forex, dealing in spot FX contracts for leveraged foreign exchange trading under the Securities and Futures Act — and is subject to MAS conduct requirements and supervision.
How do I check if a broker is MAS-regulated?
Search the firm's full legal name on MAS's Financial Institutions Directory, a free public register, and confirm the licensed activity matches what you are being offered. Also check MAS's Investor Alert List.
Does MAS regulation protect me from losing money?
No. It sets conduct, disclosure and margin standards for the firm and gives you a complaints path. Trading losses are not covered. Regulated means supervised, not safe.
Why does the legal entity on my account matter?
Because a global brand may hold a Singapore licence through one entity while onboarding clients to an offshore entity with weaker protections. If the entity in your client agreement is not the one on the MAS register, the MAS licence is not protecting your account.
Which MAS-regulated broker is best?
We do not rank brokers. We take no commissions and no affiliate links, so we publish the verification method instead — check the entity on the MAS register, confirm the activity, read which entity your agreement names, then compare costs yourself.