Read the label before you trade

How to read a label

Every label on this page answers the same questions about one trading app, in the same order, with the date we checked. It does not score the app or tell you which one to pick. It tells you what a public source says, so you can decide with the facts in front of you.

• RBI Alert List. "Named No. 4" means the RBI lists the app as an unauthorised forex trading platform, at entry number 4 of the list we read. "Not named" means we searched the list for the app's brand name and did not find it. The list is not exhaustive, so "not named" does not mean the RBI has authorised the app. "Not looked up yet" means we have not checked it.
• Demo account. Whether the app offers practice money, from the app's own listing. Where we could only see the listing from outside India, the label says "needs re-check".
• Checked on. The day we read the source. Lists change, so a label older than a month is a reason to check again yourself.

The first label, in the green board at the top, belongs to our site partner. It is first because the partner pays us when visitors go to its site, not because of a score, and it carries the same fields as every other label. The rest of the shelf has a fixed order: apps that are not named, A to Z, then named apps in the order of the RBI entry number.

A label is a starting point, not a verdict. Before you sign up, find the company behind the app and search the RBI Alert List yourself: it takes two minutes, and our guide Is it legal in India? shows how.

If you are new to trading, start with practice money. What a demo is explains what a demo account can and cannot teach you, and Practise with a plan gives a four-week plan for Indian shares. When you are thinking about real money, read Before a deposit first.