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Retail investors lost more than $458 million trading contracts for difference (CFDs) over a 12-month period, and $73 million of that amount went on fees. ASIC wants to keep its CFD product intervention order (PIO) in force until 2037 and apply it to CFDs settled through digital assets.
ASIC’s data covers the 2024 financial year, when 133,674 retail clients, or 68% of the total, made a net loss. Retail clients deposited $444 million by debit card, $425 million by bank transfer, $271 million by credit card and $184 million through e-wallets.
ASIC commissioner Alan Kirkland said CFDs remain highly risky products, and ASIC’s data repeatedly shows most retail investors lose money on them.
Subject to Ministerial approval, the extended order would remain in force until 2037 unless revoked earlier. The current PIO commenced on March 29, 2021 and is due to expire on May 23, 2027.
“Some products expose retail investors to the same risks as CFDs but may fall outside the current PIO because of how they are settled,” Kirkland said. “The proposed updates ensure protections apply consistently, regardless of whether a CFD is settled by cash, set-off or digital assets.”
The draft would therefore cover CFDs settled through the transfer of digital assets, and it would replace the term ‘cryptoasset’ with ‘digital asset’.
In FY24, 61,424 retail clients traded CFDs over cryptocurrency, and 69% of them lost money. That was a higher loss rate than for foreign exchange, commodity or equity CFDs.
Crypto also features in the broking channel. The FBAA–CoreData 2025–26 Investor Satisfaction and Intention Research found 41% of investors who engaged brokers for investment products discussed cryptocurrency, and four in 10 now hold it.
Lender policy has been slower to follow. Steph Coleman, a mortgage broker at Unconditional Finance, told Broker Daily in April 2026 that most lenders do not accept crypto as security.
She added that AUSTRAC and ASIC guidelines create significant compliance risk where lenders cannot verify the origin of crypto wealth.
Some products are now testing that boundary. In September 2026, Block Earner and Century 21 Home Loans partnered to offer a Bitcoin-backed deposit loan that sits alongside a conventional mortgage, with an initial loan-to-value ratio cap of 50%.
Kirkland said the order has materially reduced retail investor harm by addressing drivers of harm like excess leverage.
“Within six months of our current order taking effect, aggregate net losses by retail client accounts fell by 91%,” he said.
Data collected for the order’s extension on April 6, 2022 showed quarterly aggregate net losses fell from $372 million to $33 million. Margin close-outs decreased 87% per quarter, and active retail accounts dropped 29%, from 504,905 to 357,841.
ASIC’s more recent sector-wide reviews show this reduction has largely been maintained. The order provides four protections, namely leverage limits, standardised margin close-out arrangements, negative balance protection and a prohibition on certain inducements.
The draft would clarify initial margin for CFDs over options. Where a client’s maximum loss is limited to the premium, the margin would equal the premium, and otherwise it would be calculated by reference to the option’s underlying.
ASIC is also seeking feedback on whether CFDs over options that expose retail clients to losses greater than the premium should remain available to retail investors.
The question follows ASIC data showing 85% of retail clients who traded options CFDs in FY24 made a net loss. The regulator described these products as effectively ‘double leveraged’.
The draft also confirms initial margin applies to each CFD individually and cannot be reduced by netting opposing positions. ASIC also plans to clarify conditions for permitted discounts and educational or research tools.
In January 2026, ASIC reported that its sector-wide review had secured the return of nearly $40m to more than 38,000 retail investors. The review also drove improvements in issuers’ target market determinations, onboarding questionnaires, reporting compliance and monitoring of client trading outcomes.
Improving consumer outcomes and addressing the risks of distributing high-risk products such as CFDs to retail investors is one of ASIC’s 2026–27 priorities for supervising market intermediaries. ASIC has committed to maintaining retail CFD protections.
ASIC’s focus on consumer harm also covers lending. Its 2026 risk outlook reported a 50% rise in investigations and a near 20% rise in new civil enforcement actions. It also flagged relaxed credit assessments, unsuitable or larger loans and more aggressive marketing into higher-risk products as potential drivers of significant consumer harm.
“Improving consumer outcomes is one of ASIC’s top strategic priorities,” Kirkland said. “These proposals seek to make the investing landscape safer by ensuring our consumer protection measures keep pace as financial markets continue to evolve.”
CFD issuers, industry bodies, consumer representatives and other stakeholders have four weeks to respond, and submissions close at 5pm (AEDT) on November 9, 2026. Details are in CS 64 Protecting retail investors: Proposed extension and amendments to the CFD product intervention order.
