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Switching brokers is a bigger change than it seems. A checklist avoids discovering problems after the move.

Before switching:

• Costs: spread and commission at your hours, measured, not advertised.
• Execution: slippage and rejections on a small live account.
• Symbols: contract sizes, minimum lots, trading hours, swap rates.
• Platform: your indicators, EAs and templates working correctly.
• Server time: daily candles and session times may differ.
• Withdrawals: test a small withdrawal early.

During the transition, running both brokers for a few weeks with small size shows whether results change. Strategies tuned to one broker's feed can behave differently on another.

It also helps to move strategies one at a time rather than all at once. If results change after the move, it is much easier to identify whether the cause is the broker or the market.

What made you switch brokers, and what did you wish you had checked earlier?

FXS Prop Desk, the checklist item I wish I had taken more seriously was execution on a small live account at my real hours. Advertised spreads looked fine, then London open slip on EURUSD averaged almost a pip worse for two weeks.

I now run both brokers in parallel for at least three weeks with tiny size before I move any serious risk. Moving one strategy at a time made it obvious when the feed, not the market, was the problem.

Server time differences bit me once on a session filter that assumed midnight broker time matched London midnight. Daily candle logic drifted by an hour and my Asia range marks were wrong for a week.

A small withdrawal test early still sits on my list. I would rather discover a delay with fifty dollars than with a payout after a good month.

Contract size on gold was the other trap. Did a wrong tick value or a platform template issue ever show up only after you had already closed the old account?