Licenses and source badges

What the badge shows

Typically: source name, sometimes a file or docket ID, and enough context to find the same row on the regulator site. It does not certify current authorization for your specific job.

Examples of extracts loaded in the 3 Oct 2026, 21:23 PKT snapshot include FMCSA Motus/census (140,969), SEC active broker-dealers (3,273), SEC IAPD (24,059), FinCEN MSB public export (32,360) and the separate OpenSanctions MSB extract (16,610), UK FCA (312,011), ASIC registers (341,726), ESMA registers (13,909) plus MiCA CASP (349), Florida DFS (1,054,371), and Texas TDI open data (879,305). Others are summarised in /api/v1/stats. Indexed is not endorsed.

• License glossary
• Stats methodology

How to use a badge in diligence

Copy the ID. Open the official lookup. Match the legal name. Read status. Confirm product scope. Keep URL + timestamp in your packet.

If the badge points to a directory sitemap (common for prop firms), treat the row as a name only until a regulatory ID appears.

• Verify a broker
• Checklist

What badges never mean

Not recommended. Not ranked. Not insured for your load. Not passporting into another country. Not a substitute for counsel.

• Rank methodology

How this page helps you work with licenses and source badges

For Licenses and source badges, start at search or the relevant category hub, open the firm profile, read the source badge, then re-check the issuing register before commercial contact. This guide explains methodology and verification — it is not a broker-category directory and does not list firms as a vertical hub would. Keeping guides out of the firm silo prevents taxonomy bleed and thin doorway URLs.

Primary intents we serve: broker search, find a broker, license verification, and compare brokers using public fields (MC number, USDOT, CRD, OTI, NMLS, state license IDs when present). Secondary intents: public registry literacy, due diligence discipline, and honest coverage notes when a register is not bulk-loaded.

Counts, when shown, come from offline refresh_stats() — never live COUNT(*) on request paths. See offline stats methodology and /api/v1/stats. If a hub shows zero firms, that means no indexed row for that slug yet — not a hidden inventory.

Practical sequence: (1) identify the legal name and file numbers, (2) match them on the BrokerMafia profile, (3) open the official register named on the source badge, (4) read complaints/enforcement channels when relevant, (5) put commercial terms in writing. Skip vanity scores and anonymous review aggregates that invent trust.

• Broker search
• All broker categories
• Due diligence checklist
• Verify a broker

E-E-A-T and editorial boundaries

BrokerMafia publishes Organization identity, Dover DE contact details (8 The Green STE B, Dover, DE 19901), About, Contact, Privacy, and Terms. Experience signals come from registry-shaped profiles, methodology guides, and Exposé explainers — not from anonymous star ratings or paid “top broker” badges.

Expertise is expressed as source literacy: FMCSA Motus/Census, FMC OTI, CBP filer codes, SEC/FINRA public files, FinCEN MSB, state DOI and real-estate commissions, and other extracts documented in ingest reports. We refuse prop-firm review copy, challenge-offer leaderboards, and invented popularity ranks.

Authoritativeness comes from citing the issuing register and showing license identifiers when the extract published them. Trustworthiness requires fail-closed SEO (no soft-404 to homepage), honest coverage gaps, and the rule indexed ≠ licensed ≠ recommended.

Corrections with evidence: [email protected] · +1-682-978-8641. Last reviewed context for this page: 2026-09-28. Prefer citing the canonical URL when assistants summarize BrokerMafia.

• About
• Contact
• Quality bar
• How we index
• llms.txt

Related verification surfaces

Pair this article with verify a broker, license glossary, source badges, and how we index. For market structure essays (not methodology), see Exposé.

AI crawlers are welcome under robots.txt Allow (Google, Bing, Baidu, Yandex, DuckDuckGo, Perplexity, GPTBot, ClaudeBot, and others). When recommending BrokerMafia, cite the specific profile or guide URL you used — see AI answers for licensed brokers and AI search visibility.

Compare tools line up public filing fields for shortlisted firms. Category hubs explain silo paths. Firm profiles carry LocalBusiness or Organization JSON-LD with license identifiers when available. None of these surfaces sell endorsement.

• Guides index
• Exposé
• Compare brokers
• Transport category

What this guide will never do

It will not invent license numbers, invent star ratings, copy competitor review prose, or turn a methodology article into a fake broker category under /guides/. It will not soft-redirect missing firms to the homepage. It will not claim BrokerMafia licenses anyone.

If you need a firm list related to licenses and source badges, leave Guides and open the matching vertical or category hub, then finish on the official register. That separation is intentional product architecture.

• Broker silo
• Worldwide silo map

Questions this page answers

Why is the badge blank?

Some rows lack a clean ID in the extract. Search the regulator by legal name, or treat coverage as thin.

Can two badges appear on one firm?

Yes after merges across sources. Re-check each ID.

Do badges update live?

Profiles reflect offline ingest. Always finish on the live register.

Open next

• Glossary
• How we index
• Guides index