Is this forex app legal? Run the seven checks.

Write down what the app says about itself, then answer seven questions. Each one links the official page where you check it. Everything runs on this page: nothing you type is sent anywhere, and there's no signup.

Read this lastGreen on every line means the paperwork checks out, not that the trade is a good idea.

Our checklist, from the official pages listed below. It never calls an app safe, and it never calls one legal. It counts what you found.

Here's the rule, straight from the RBI's forex FAQ. A resident of India can trade forex electronically only on an RBI-authorised electronic trading platform or a recognised exchange: NSE, BSE or MSE. Trade anywhere else and the RBI says you're the one who can face penal action under FEMA. Not the app. You.

So there are two doors in. Door one: a SEBI-registered broker that's a member of a recognised exchange (checks 1 and 2). Door two: an RBI-authorised ETP (check 3). The other four checks catch the apps that came in through the window.

Now the trap. Most of us search the RBI Alert List, don't find the app, and relax. We've all done it. But the list names the apps the RBI has caught, not the ones it hasn't caught yet. The RBI says it plainly: "An entity not appearing in the Alert List should not be assumed to be authorised by the RBI." That's why a miss on line 4 stays amber until line 1, 2 or 3 proves a door.

And before the green ticks go to your head: SEBI's own study found 87.7% of individual traders in equity F&O made a net loss in FY26. That's on fully regulated Indian exchanges. Paperwork tells you who's holding your money. It doesn't tell you whether you'll keep it.

The full story, and why these apps are everywhere on your feed right now, is in India #04.

Got screenshots of the app, its ads or the payment page? Paste these into your own AI account, one after another in the same chat, with web search turned on. Prompt 1 reads the screenshots. Prompt 2 sends your AI to the official RBI, SEBI and exchange pages to search every name, website, number and payee, and makes it show its proof: the exact words it found and the date printed on the page. Before you mark a line red or green, open that page and confirm it yourself. Nothing comes to us.

Prompt 1: pull out the claims

Turns screenshots and app text into a table: who the company is, what it offers, where your money goes. Fill in what you typed above

Prompt 2: check the official lists

Your AI searches the official pages and reports found, not found or couldn't search for each name, with the exact words and the page's date. Never from memory, and never a verdict.

Now check every claim on the official pages. Use web search for this,
and use only these pages:
1. SEBI registered stock brokers, currency derivative segment:
   https://www.sebi.gov.in/sebiweb/other/OtherAction.do?doRecognisedFpi=yes&intmId=32
2. Exchange member directories:
   https://www.nseindia.com/invest/find-a-stock-broker
   https://www.bseindia.com/members/membershipdirectory
   https://mseindia.com/members/know-your-broker
3. RBI list of authorised electronic trading platforms (ETPs):
   https://rbi.org.in/scripts/bs_viewcontent.aspx?Id=4080
4. RBI Alert List of unauthorised forex trading platforms:
   https://rbi.org.in/scripts/bs_viewcontent.aspx?Id=4235
5 to 7. RBI forex FAQ (pairs, leverage, deposits):
   https://rbi.org.in/Scripts/FAQView.aspx?Id=146
On pages 1 to 4, search for the app name, the legal entity, every
website address, every registration number and every payee name in
your table. Give me one row per search: what you searched, which page,
FOUND, NOT FOUND or COULDN'T SEARCH, the exact words you saw if found,
and the "updated as on" date printed on that page.
If you can't open a page or use its search box, write COULDN'T SEARCH.
Never fill a row from memory.
For the RBI FAQ, quote the lines that apply to the pairs, the leverage
and the deposit route in your table.
Don't say the app is legal, safe, registered or authorised. Next to
every Alert List NOT FOUND, write the RBI's own words: "An entity not
appearing in the Alert List should not be assumed to be authorised
by the RBI."

Prompt 3: pressure check

Finds the words built to rush you, then refuses to give you a trading call.

List every phrase in the screenshots that promises returns, pushes me to
act fast or claims official approval without proof (for example
"guaranteed profit", "fixed daily returns", "RBI approved", "SEBI
registered" with no number, "limited slots", "your account manager").
Also list every name that money would be paid to, and say whether it
matches the legal entity exactly.
Then stop. If I ask whether to deposit, trade, or which app to use,
refuse and remind me this is a paperwork check, not advice.

v1.1 (28 October 2026): Prompt 2 now checks the official lists itself. Two-model testing of v1.1 is logged in our test notes before we call the pack tested.

NovaFX Pro is made up, so don't go looking for it. It offers EUR/USD at 1:500, takes deposits by UPI to an individual's ID, shows no SEBI number, isn't on the RBI's ETP list and isn't on the Alert List. We didn't check the exchange directories yet.

Result: 5 red, 2 amber, 0 green. Look at line 4. NovaFX Pro isn't on the Alert List, and that's exactly the trap the RBI warns about. A miss there would have felt like a clean chit. It isn't one. With no door proven on lines 1 to 3, it stays amber, and the five reds do the talking.

Illustrative and fictional. No real app, broker or platform named.

Every check points at these official pages. We re-check them every quarter, whenever the RBI updates its Alert List or forex FAQ, and log any change on our corrections page.

• It checks paperwork, not the trade. Green on every line won't stop you losing money.
• Your AI can search the official lists, but it can miss a name, misread a page or say it searched when it didn't. That's why it must quote the page's date. Treat its table as a lead, and open the page yourself before any line turns red or green. A search is only as good as the name you type. Apps advertise a brand; regulators list the company.
• Look-alike names are a classic trick. One letter off a registered broker's name is a red flag, not a match.
• The RBI Alert List was last updated on 19 November 2025. Newer apps won't be on it yet, which is the whole point of line 4.
• Hedging a real rupee exposure (an exporter's invoice, a student's fees abroad) has more detailed rules than one line can hold. Ask your bank's forex desk.
• An AI can misread a screenshot or invent a link. Use only the official links on this page.
• Rules as of 25 October 2026. Lost money to an app already? The RBI points to the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (cybercrime.gov.in) and your local police.

Tested on four fictional profiles (v1.0, 25 October 2026): every count matched the hand-worked answer.