Capital adequacy is the minimum own funds a licensed broker must hold, set by its regulator and scaled to the risk the business actually runs. A firm dealing on its own account carries a materially larger requirement than one that only passes orders on, and the ratio has to be reported to the supervisor at regular intervals rather than calculated once at licensing.
For a client it is a solvency margin, not a service feature: own funds are what absorb a bad day in the firm's own book before client money is anywhere near the question. Audited accounts filed at the company registry show the figure, and it is one of the few genuinely comparable numbers between brokers. A firm sitting barely above its minimum while advertising very high leverage is describing two different risk appetites at once.
Next step
Guide
How a Broker Holds Your Money
Segregated accounts, regulatory capital and compensation schemes are three different protections that get described in one sentence. What each covers, what it does not, and how to check which apply to you.