How to check a US broker before opening an account

Every legitimate US broker and investment adviser sits in a public, free, searchable register. Checking takes minutes and filters out most fraud before it starts. This guide is the procedure with the official links; we refresh it if the regulators move their pages. Checked 2026-08-22 against investor.gov.

Step 1: BrokerCheck, for brokers and their people

FINRA’s BrokerCheck (brokercheck.finra.org) covers registered brokers and brokerage firms: registration status, employment history, and, crucially, disclosures, complaints, sanctions and terminations. A firm that sells securities to US customers without appearing there is the conversation-ender. Individual reps are searchable too; a seller with a disclosure trail is worth reading about before trusting.

Step 2: the SEC side, for advisers

Investment advisers register with the SEC or their state, searchable at adviserinfo.sec.gov, with the same logic: registration plus disclosure history. investor.gov, the SEC’s investor site, fronts both searches in one box and adds the agency’s action lookup for people already charged. State regulators (findable through NASAA) cover the smaller firms.

Step 3: the red flags the regulators publish

investor.gov keeps a running list: guaranteed returns, pressure to act today, unregistered products sold by unregistered people, overly consistent returns whatever the market does, and difficulty withdrawing. Crypto platforms deserve a special note: most are NOT brokers and appear in none of these registers, which does not make them frauds but does mean no SIPC protection and no FINRA arbitration if things go wrong; you are relying on the platform itself.

If something already went wrong

Complaints go to FINRA (for brokers), the SEC (tips and complaints portal) or your state regulator; disputes with a registered broker usually run through FINRA arbitration. All of it starts far easier when step one happened first, which is the point of this page.