CFD trading offers the ability to trade a variety of financial instruments with leverage, meaning you can open larger positions than your account balance would allow in traditional investing. This creates the possibility of larger profits, but also carries the risk of larger losses.
For example, if you trade with a leverage of 20:1, it means you can trade a notional value 20 times greater than the capital in your trading account.
Retail clients have restrictions to leverage, set by the regulator, of between 30:1 and 5:1. The maximum leverage varies per asset class.
30:1 - major currency pairs;
20:1 - non-major currency pairs, gold and major indices;
10:1 - commodities other than gold and non-major equity indices;
5:1 - for individual equities and other reference values;
2:1 - for cryptocurrencies.
You can view and change your current leverage in your app settings (‘Account’ > ‘My accounts’ > ‘Trading options’).
Please see the following page on our website which explains more on leverage: https://capital.com/leverage-definition, and further details on our leverage and margin policy can be found here.
It's possible to gain access to increased leverage as a Polish resident. Please visit the following page to find out about the criteria and details of the Experienced Retail Clients.
If you qualify as an elective professional client you could also gain access to increased leverage. Please see the criteria below and check that you can provide at least two out of the three criteria.
1) Proof of executing an average of 10 transactions on CFDs, forex and/or spread betting per quarter over last four quarters (with Capital.com or another broker). This can be a statement from a financial institution (ie a broker) showing:
The number of transactions on relevant markets (eg CFDs)
Their frequency
Dates of transactions
2) Proof of relevant work experience in a professional position which requires the knowledge of the above financial transactions, in the financial sector for more than one year. This could be a reference letter from your current or previous employer which confirms your employment (position, a financial institution, dates of service).
3) Proof of the size of your portfolio which includes cash deposits and financial instruments exceeding €500,000. This could be a bank statement or letter from your bank showing a balance of your accounts, or a statement of current investments in similar financial markets worth €500,000.
If you have any further questions about opening a Professional Account including on changes affecting CFD trading with leverage issued by ESMA recently, please contact us at support@capital.com.