Regulation

UK forex leverage limits: what the FCA rules say

The FCA caps leverage for UK retail clients trading CFDs and spread bets, including forex. Here is what the limits are, which other protections come with them, and what changes if you trade as a professional client or with an offshore entity.

Explainer · 6 min read Updated 3 Nov 2026 Forex Awards research desk

The short answer

UK retail clients trading CFDs and spread bets, including forex, are limited to leverage of 30:1 on major currency pairs. The FCA made the limits permanent in its policy statement PS19/18, in force from 1 August 2019, after ESMA had applied similar temporary measures across the EU from 2018.

Underlying

Maximum leverage for UK retail clients

Major currency pairs

30:1

Other currency pairs, gold and major indices

20:1

Commodities other than gold, and non-major indices

10:1

Individual shares and other assets

5:1

Crypto derivatives can no longer be sold to UK retail clients at all; the FCA banned them in January 2021.

The other protections

The same rules require brokers to close a retail client's positions once their margin falls to 50% of the margin required, to give negative balance protection so a retail client cannot lose more than the money in their account, and to show a standard risk warning with the percentage of their own retail accounts that lose money. Brokers cannot offer retail clients bonuses or other incentives to trade CFDs.

Professional clients

Clients who qualify as elective professional clients can access higher leverage but lose these retail protections. To qualify you normally need to meet at least two of three tests: you have traded in significant size around ten times per quarter over the last year, your financial portfolio exceeds €500,000, or you have worked in the financial sector for at least a year in a role that needs knowledge of the products.

Offshore entities

Many global brokers run offshore companies that offer 1:500 or more. UK residents who open accounts with those entities lose the FCA protections above, and firms that are not authorised in the UK generally cannot promote their services to UK residents. Check which company you are joining; see how to check a broker's legal entity.

What UK traders should check

✓The broker company is on the FCA Register and the website matches the register entry.

✓The margin you need at 30:1 for your usual position size; see position size.

✓Whether moving to professional status is worth losing negative balance protection.

Sources

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Written by the Forex Awards research desk

Guides are checked against current broker documents and regulator rules. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we will re-check it.