The Cyprus regulator has fined the retail forex broker F1 Markets 150 thousand euro over a set of compliance breaches, part of a pair of penalties it handed to two Cyprus brokers at the same time. The F1 Markets CySEC fine is notable not just for its size but for what came before it — a suspension made at the request of the United Kingdom regulator.
The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission fined F1 Markets Ltd 150 thousand euro for several possible compliance violations. The penalty came alongside a matching fine for another Cyprus firm, together totalling 300 thousand euro in retail forex broker penalties. F1 Markets was one of the two names in that action.
A Suspension at the FCA Request
The more striking part of F1 Markets' history is what happened earlier. CySEC had previously suspended the firm, along with several other Cyprus brokers, at the request of the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority. When one regulator asks another to suspend a firm, it is a serious cross-border signal. It means concerns raised in one jurisdiction were considered grave enough to prompt action by the firm's home supervisor. The licences were later restored, but the episode is part of the record.
Set against that background, a subsequent 150 thousand euro fine for compliance breaches reads as more than an isolated event. It is a firm that had already drawn the attention of a foreign regulator, had its licence suspended and restored, and then was penalised by its home regulator for further compliance failings. Each step on its own might be survivable. Together they describe a broker whose compliance has been repeatedly in question.
Reading a Layered Record
For a prospective client, the F1 Markets case shows why a broker's history has to be read as a whole rather than one headline at a time. A single fine, a single suspension, or a single restoration each tells only part of the story. Stacked together, they reveal a firm that has moved in and out of regulatory trouble across more than one jurisdiction. That layered record is far more informative than any single number, and it is exactly the kind of thing a careful trader should assemble before trusting a broker.
F1 Markets continued to operate as a licensed Cyprus firm after these events, and none of this is an allegation of ongoing wrongdoing. But the pattern is the point. A broker that has been suspended at a foreign regulator's request and then fined at home for compliance breaches is not a firm with a clean, quiet record. In a crowded market, that history is a legitimate reason to choose more carefully, and to prefer brokers whose regulatory files are thin.
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The 150,000 Euro Fine Is Only Half the Story
The other half is that CySEC had earlier suspended the firm at the request of the United Kingdom's FCA — a cross-border intervention that does not happen over trivial concerns. The licence was restored, but a home regulator fine for compliance breaches then followed.
Read in isolation, each event is survivable. Read together, they describe a broker that has repeatedly been in regulatory trouble across more than one jurisdiction.
That layered record is more revealing than any single penalty, and it is the kind of history a trader should assemble before trusting any firm with money.
About the Company
About F1 Markets
Regulator
CySEC (Cyprus)
Cross-Border
Earlier FCA-requested suspension
Action Type
Fine, Compliance Breaches
Penalty
EUR 150,000
F1 Markets Ltd is a Cyprus investment firm offering retail forex and CFD trading, authorised and supervised by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission. It was previously suspended by CySEC at the request of the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority, and its licence was later restored.
In 2022 CySEC fined the firm 150 thousand euro over several possible compliance violations, as part of a pair of penalties totalling 300 thousand euro imposed on two Cyprus brokers.
Editor's note & source: Factual points are drawn from the CySEC public decisions register. This article is not legal advice. Last updated: 12 August 2026.