What the 0–10 score means
Our 0–10 score is a directional editorial signal for shortlisting firms; it is not a mathematical result and it is not a substitute for the product table. We consider published trading conditions, payout access, operating history, support evidence, platform coverage, and rule transparency. The account-specific price, drawdown method, profit split, and payout gate remain the deciding facts.
The score is deliberately separate from commercial status. An affiliate URL contributes 0 points, and a firm without a partnership can rank above a partner. We do not currently publish four calculated sub-scores because the conditions, support, payouts, and platform fields are not populated consistently enough across all 19 tracked firms.
How product terms are verified
Every numeric challenge claim in a firm review must trace to a sourceUrl and sourceCapturedAt in that firm’s challenge dataset. A source must be owned by the firm; a Traders Fund Hub page cannot cite itself. Unverifiable figures are stored as null with an explanatory note instead of being estimated.
The release audit enforces a 30-day capture window. We run the freshness queue at least weekly so the oldest product capture surfaces first, but “weekly queue” does not mean every firm changes every 7 days. A product outside the 30-day window fails the release check until its first-party terms are captured again.
Material changes that can affect a purchase decision belong in the public challenge-change ledger. “Verified” means the new term is confirmed on a first-party page; “Watch” means a conflict or incomplete source still needs resolution. The ledger keeps the original observation date and a separate last-checked date so history is not rewritten during routine verification.
The True-Cost calculation
Every review’s True-Cost table is generated by computeTrueCost() in lib/firms.ts. It uses the published fee, funded account size, profit split, and maximum-loss allowance. Subscription and activation fees are included when the product publishes them, and EUR-denominated fees remain in EUR rather than receiving a fixed exchange-rate conversion.
- Break-even profit is the trader-side funded profit required to recover the published cost.
- R-multiple divides that break-even amount by the verified maximum-loss allowance.
- Days to break even is a standardized scenario at +1% per trading day, capped by the published daily-loss limit.
The table is a comparison model, not a promise that a trader will pass or receive a payout. The same inputs always produce the same outputs, and the review audit checks the table against the challenge dataset so hand-calculated values cannot drift.
Affiliate relationships
We currently have affiliate links only for firms whose affiliateUrl is explicitly configured. Those outbound links are marked sponsored, and the relationship is disclosed on relevant pages. Other firms still link to their first-party public website through our central redirect, but those clicks are not labelled as sponsored.
Affiliate status changes the destination and disclosure, not the score or source requirements. A commercial spotlight is labelled as a partner placement and may use only current, source-dated product facts; an unverified discount is removed after 30 days rather than presented as active.
Evidence limits
- We do not claim that every firm has been personally trialled.
- We do not award a verified-payout badge without documented payout evidence.
- Trustpilot figures are displayed as third-party community signals, with their capture date, not as proof that an individual payout will succeed.
- Missing or conflicting first-party terms stay visible as unknowns or watch items.
Spot a mistake?
Each review shows its publication or update date, and each challenge record carries its own source-capture date. If a price or rule has changed, use the contact page and include the firm-owned source URL. We verify the evidence before changing the dataset or the public challenge ledger.