how many brokers do you keep funded accounts with, and why

[nathanx]

curious how people structure this. i currently have everything at one broker which feels risky if they ever freeze withdrawals or go down. but spreading across several means more admin, more minimums tied up, and more entities to trust. whats your setup and reasoning?

[darkhorizon]

i run two, occasionally three. one primary where most capital and trading sits, and a fully funded backup at a different regulated broker so if the primary has a withdrawal issue or downtime i can keep trading and im not held hostage. more than three is just admin overhead for me with no added safety. two is the sweet spot of redundancy without sprawl.

[urbanlegend]

two is my answer too, and crucially at different regulators, not two accounts at the same group under different brand names. the whole point of a backup is independence. if both your brokers clear through the same parent, a problem at the top hits both and youve gained nothing.

[frostbyte]

most people asking this have a four figure account spread across three brokers, turning a small balance into three tiny ones that each barely clears a minimum. diversifying counterparty risk matters at size. at small size youve just made your life annoying for no real protection.

[bluedreams]

the troll has a point about scale. counterparty diversification matters most when the amount at one broker is more than you could comfortably lose to a withdrawal freeze. if your whole account is small, one solid regulated broker is fine and a second one is premature. add the backup when the balance at one place starts to feel uncomfortable to have locked up.

[Elliot]

two regulated, different parents, once the balance justifies it.