Risk Disclaimers

Full risk and legal disclaimers for content published on CompareForexBrokers.com.au. Read these before acting on anything you read on the site.

At a glance. Operating company: Compare Forex Brokers Pty Ltd. AFS Authorised Representative No. 001274082 (under Bardin Capital Pty Ltd, AFSL 247858).

Master risk warning

Trading CFDs and forex carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all investors. The high degree of leverage available can work against you as well as for you. Before deciding to trade, you should carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite. You may lose some or all of your initial deposit and should not deposit money you cannot afford to lose.

CompareForexBrokers does not provide financial advice. Information on this site is general in nature and does not take into account your personal circumstances. Read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) and Target Market Determination (TMD) before opening an account. ASIC-regulated brokers are members of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).

The sections below expand on each part of that warning.

CFD and forex trading risk

Contracts for difference (CFDs) and over-the-counter forex products are leveraged derivative products. They are not suitable for everyone. Most retail accounts trading CFDs lose money. Australian brokers regulated by ASIC are required to publish the percentage of their retail accounts that lose money over a given period, updated quarterly. That number sits between 65 and 85 per cent for most brokers on this site. The brokers themselves publish this number on their websites and in their PDS.

Specific risk factors that apply to CFD and forex trading:

• Market risk: Prices on the underlying instruments can move sharply against your position, including overnight while markets are closed in your time zone (gap risk).
• Leverage risk: Small price moves are amplified by leverage. A 1% move against a position with 30:1 leverage produces a 30% loss on the margin used. A 3.3% move wipes out the margin entirely.
• Liquidity risk: During major announcements (RBA cash rate decisions, US non-farm payrolls, central bank statements) spreads can widen sharply and orders may execute well away from your intended price.
• Counterparty risk: Even with a regulated AU broker, you are an unsecured creditor of the broker entity. ASIC requires segregated client funds at an Approved Australian Bank, but does not guarantee broker solvency. The Compensation Scheme of Last Resort, operational since April 2024, is limited to unpaid AFCA determinations and does not cover trading losses or general broker insolvency.
• Slippage risk: Market and stop-loss orders may execute at prices worse than requested, particularly during fast markets and outside major session hours.
• Operational risk: Platform outages, internet disconnections and broker server issues can prevent you from closing positions when you need to.

This is not an exhaustive list. Read the broker’s PDS for the full risk profile of their specific products.

Leverage and amplified losses

Leverage cuts both ways. The same leverage that allows a small deposit to control a large notional position also amplifies losses. Australian retail traders are capped at 30:1 leverage on major forex pairs under ASIC’s Product Intervention Order, which limits but does not eliminate leverage risk.

A worked example. With AUD 1,000 in margin and 30:1 leverage on EUR/USD, you can control a position of AUD 30,000 notional. A 1% move against you (roughly 100 pips on EUR/USD) produces an AUD 300 loss. That’s 30% of your margin gone in one move that’s smaller than EUR/USD’s average daily range.

The same trade with 100:1 leverage (only available to wholesale clients in Australia) would cost AUD 1,000 on the same 1% move. Your full margin gone, position closed automatically at the 50% margin close-out level.

This is why retail leverage in Australia is restricted. The cap exists to keep account losses recoverable. It does not make trading low-risk.

ASIC retail leverage caps (PIO summary)

For ASIC-regulated retail clients, leverage on CFDs is capped at the following levels under ASIC’s Product Intervention Order, in force since 29 March 2021 and made permanent:

• 30:1 on major forex pairs (AUD/USD, EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY, USD/CAD, USD/CHF, NZD/USD, EUR/GBP, EUR/JPY, GBP/JPY)
• 20:1 on minor forex pairs, major indices and gold
• 10:1 on other commodities (silver, oil, etc.) and minor indices
• 5:1 on shares and other reference assets
• 2:1 on cryptocurrency CFDs

Wholesale (professional) clients can access higher leverage at the broker’s discretion, typically up to 500:1, subject to the broker’s wholesale-client criteria under the Corporations Act. The wholesale tests are net-asset, gross-income, or sophistication-based, and qualifying as wholesale strips you of most of the retail protections (negative balance protection, margin close-out, AFCA access for retail-tier complaints).

If a broker offers you 500:1 leverage in Australia, they are either categorising you as a wholesale client (which has consequences) or routing you to an offshore entity (which means you lose ASIC protections). Read the contract before signing.

No advice: general information only

CompareForexBrokers is a Corporate Authorised Representative (No. 001274082) of Bardin Capital Pty Ltd (AFSL 247858). We are authorised under the Corporations Act 2001 to provide general financial product information about CFDs and forex.

We are not licensed to provide:

• Personal financial advice
• Tax advice
• Legal advice

Nothing on this site takes your personal circumstances into account. None of it is a recommendation to open an account with a specific broker, deposit a specific amount, trade a specific instrument or follow a specific strategy.

If you need personal financial advice, speak to a financial adviser licensed by ASIC. If you need tax advice, speak to a registered tax agent. The ATO maintains a register of tax agents operated by the Tax Practitioners Board. If you need legal advice on a financial product contract, speak to a lawyer.

Past performance disclaimer

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. This applies to:

• Spread and execution data published in our reviews. Live spreads and execution speeds change continuously. Numbers we publish reflect the testing window in which they were measured. They do not predict the spreads or execution you will receive when you open and trade an account.
• Broker rankings. A broker’s score in any given test cycle reflects performance in that cycle. Brokers improve and decline over time.
• Trading strategies, examples, case studies and worked scenarios used in educational content. Where we use a numerical example to illustrate a concept (such as the leverage worked example above), it is illustrative. It does not represent a real trade we recommend, nor a typical outcome.
• Any cited statistics on broker retail-account profitability. The percentages of retail clients losing money are taken from broker disclosures published under ASIC’s PIO and are updated quarterly by the brokers themselves.

No liability for content accuracy

We make every reasonable effort to keep the content on this site accurate and up to date. AFSL numbers are checked against ASIC Connect at every full review cycle. Spread and execution data is recorded from live testing. Pricing structures are cross-referenced against the broker’s current PDS at time of publication. Despite that, errors happen and conditions change.

Specifically:

• Broker pricing structures change. A spread or commission cited in a review reflects the broker’s PDS at the time of writing. Always check the broker’s current PDS before opening an account.
• AFSL conditions can change. ASIC can vary, suspend or cancel an AFSL with notice. Check ASIC Connect for the current status of any broker before signing up.
• Platform features change. Brokers add and remove account types, platforms, base currencies and instruments. Always confirm the current offer with the broker directly before opening an account.

To the extent permitted by Australian law, CompareForexBrokers and its operators do not accept liability for any direct, indirect, consequential or incidental loss or damage arising from the use of this site, the reliance on any information published here, or any action taken on the basis of that information. Nothing in this disclaimer limits any rights you have under the Australian Consumer Law.

AFCA dispute resolution

If you have a complaint about how we have behaved as a Corporate Authorised Representative under AFSL 247858 (Bardin Capital Pty Ltd), the dispute resolution path is:

1. Internal first: Email us through the contact page. We aim to acknowledge complaints within 5 business days and resolve them within 30 days.
2. AFSL holder: If we cannot resolve the complaint, you may escalate to Bardin Capital Pty Ltd as the AFSL holder.
3. External dispute resolution via AFCA: If the complaint is not resolved internally to your satisfaction within 30 days, you can escalate to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority. AFCA is free for retail clients. Contact AFCA on 1800 931 678 or via afca.org.au.

For complaints about a broker on this site (rather than about us), the dispute resolution path goes through the broker’s internal complaints process first, and then to AFCA if unresolved. Every ASIC AFSL holder offering retail CFDs must be an AFCA member. Membership and contact details are usually published in the broker’s Financial Services Guide (FSG) and on AFCA’s member register.

Hyperlinks and external content

This site links out to other websites, including broker websites, regulator websites and authoritative sources. We have no control over the content of those external sites and accept no responsibility for the accuracy, currency or completeness of information published on them. The presence of an external link does not imply endorsement.

Copyright and content reuse

Content published on this site (text, comparison tables, methodology, screenshots, original graphics) is owned by Compare Forex Brokers Pty Ltd or licensed to it. Brief, attributed quotations for the purpose of journalism, education or commentary are permitted under the fair-dealing provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. Reproducing whole pages, comparison tables or methodology content without written permission is not.

If you’d like to syndicate content or quote at length, get in touch through the contact page.

Updates to this disclaimer

We update this page when ASIC rules, AFCA processes, our regulatory status or our operating company change. The “Last updated” date at the top of the page reflects the most recent edit. Material changes are noted in the page revision history.