Risk disclaimer

Last updated 28 August 2026

Nothing on this site is financial, investment, legal or tax advice, a recommendation, or an invitation to trade any instrument. It is informational research published for general reading. We are not licensed to give advice in any jurisdiction and we do not do so.

Trading carries a high risk of loss

Published regulatory figures on retail outcomes in leveraged products are consistent and unflattering. ASIC found that 68% of Australian retail CFD investors lost money in FY2024. The FCA states that approximately 80% of customers lose money when investing in CFDs, with a sampled figure of 82%. Individual firm disclosures include 70% and 69%. These are documented population results, not worst cases.

You can lose the money you commit. With leveraged products you can lose it faster than with unleveraged ones, and outside jurisdictions with negative balance protection you may be able to lose more than you deposited.

Past performance and backtests

Historical results do not indicate future results. Simulated or backtested performance is not evidence of tradability: results can be inflated by selection across many trials, by information leaking from the future into training data, by excluding delisted instruments, and by omitting costs. Our backtest overfitting page explains the mechanisms.

No performance claims

We do not forecast prices, publish signals, or claim that any strategy, model or platform will be profitable. Where we cite performance figures, they are historical results attributed to a named source, reproduced so readers can evaluate them, not endorsed by us.

Accuracy and currency

We work from primary sources and record dates, but regulatory positions, platform pricing and published statistics change. Figures may be out of date by the time you read them. Verify at the named source before relying on anything, particularly anything marked "verify before use" in the data hub.

Jurisdiction

Content covers Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Rules differ between them and elsewhere. A protection described for one market may not exist in another — we found no New Zealand equivalent of the Australian and UK retail leverage caps, for example. Nothing here should be assumed to apply to your jurisdiction without checking.

Third-party sites and products

We link to regulators, publications and vendors for verification. We do not control those sites and are not responsible for their content, accuracy or security. Naming a platform is not a recommendation, and naming a fraudulent brand documented by a regulator reflects that regulator's publication rather than an independent finding by us.

Get advice that applies to you

If you are making decisions about your own money, consult a professional licensed in your jurisdiction — an FCA-authorised firm in the UK, an AFS licensee in Australia, or a licensed Financial Advice Provider in New Zealand. Verify their authorisation in the public register before engaging them.

If you believe you have been targeted by an investment scam, our scams page sets out the reporting routes in each country. If you are in financial difficulty, your bank's hardship team exists for that purpose and contacting it early generally helps.