ASIC regulatory update
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has released its Product Intervention Order - Contracts For Difference Instrument 2020/986 which will affect retail clients that trade any CFD products. These changes will come into effect from 29th March 2021.
Read ASIC's official announcement
What are the new ASIC regulatory changes?
Leverage ratio limits for CFDs
- 30:1 on major currency pairs
- 20:1 on minor currency pairs, gold and major stock market indices
- 10:1 on commodities other than gold, and minor stock market indices
- 2:1 on crypto-assets
- 5:1 on shares or other assets (e.g. Treasuries)
Additional changes
Standardisation of margin close-out percentages for all CFD issuers. This helps ensure that brokers close out their clients’ CFD positions before all or most of the investment is lost. [At OANDA, we have always had the 50% margin auto close-out in place, so our clients will not be affected in any way.]
Negative balance protection. Prevents losses from exceeding the funds present in a client’s account when a trade is closed. This ensures against negative account balances and the possibility of clients losing money they may not have.
Prohibition of promotional offers. This includes giving or offering retail clients any special offers such as volume rebates and rewards, incentives or gifts.
What do these changes mean for OANDA clients?
OANDA is fully regulated by ASIC and committed to protecting clients and investors. We support these newly announced ASIC regulations, which will bring Australian regulatory practice in line with other major financial markets.
The new ASIC regulations will be implemented seamlessly and immediately on all OANDA platforms on March 29, 2021. Until that date, this regulatory announcement will have no effect on trading. We will be quick to communicate any future updates or announcements that could potentially impact our clients.
We keep our clients at the centre of our focus and offer the best trading tools and platforms to help you trade safely and successfully on the financial markets. To that end we offer client money protection, meaning your funds are always protected, as well as a range of risk management tools.
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