ASIC proposes CFD protections through 2037 and clearer margin rules

ASIC proposed a ten-year extension of Australia’s retail CFD product intervention order on 12 October, alongside amendments covering option-based CFDs, opposing positions, promotional discounts and digital-asset settlement. The extension would carry the protections into 2037, subject to ministerial approval; the present order expires on 23 May 2027.[1]

The package would preserve the framework introduced in March 2021: leverage limits, account margin close-out requirements, negative balance protection and restrictions on inducements. The existing initial-margin schedule ranges from 3.33% of notional exposure for major currency pairs to 50% for cryptoassets. The proposed option rules would determine which margin calculation applies where an option, rather than the underlying asset itself, is the reference.[5][3]

The margin changes reach the calculation inside the platform

For a broker, this reaches the margin engine rather than only the product disclosure document. Two opposite positions can leave little net price exposure while still generating costs on the separate contracts. ASIC’s January review found that the margin discounts encouraged clients to hold opposing positions which could not generate a trading profit but incurred higher funding costs.[4]

The regulator reviewed 52 licensed issuers between October 2024 and December 2025 and reported almost A$40 million in refunds to more than 38,000 retail investors. In CS 64, it identifies more than A$36 million refunded by 28 issuers specifically following intervention on margin netting. These figures describe related review outcomes and should not be added together.[4][2]

A wider settlement definition still has boundaries

The original order covers eligible contracts settled in cash or through set-off. ASIC proposes adding settlement through transfers of digital assets. That would bring economically equivalent contracts within the same protections where their settlement method currently excludes them. It is a change to the product definition, not a new general authorisation to offer digital-asset products.[5][1]

The remaining CFD tests would still apply. Among them, the holder must be able to terminate the contract, and it must have no fixed termination date or belong to a kind typically closed before that date. ASIC expressly says some fixed-expiry crypto options and futures would remain outside the order.[2]

Discounts would need an auditable record

The draft would permit fee discounts only where they are unconditional, apart from conditions reasonably necessary for a volume discount; available to retail clients and prospects on substantially the same terms; and prominently displayed on the website and trading platform. Evidence of the offer would have to be retained for seven years after it ended.[3]

Education, information and research tools would retain an exclusion from the inducements prohibition only when accessible to all retail clients and not used to induce specified funding or CFD acquisition activity. For issuers, the practical distinction is between a generally available service and access tied to the conduct the prohibition addresses.[3]

The option-product question remains separate from the draft margin rules

ASIC is also seeking evidence on whether CFDs over options that can lose more than the premium should remain available to retail clients. It has not decided to ban or otherwise restrict that category. Its cited loss data concern the 2023–24 financial year: 85% of retail option-CFD users made a net loss, compared with 68% of retail CFD users overall.[2]

Responses to CS 64 are due by 5pm AEDT on 9 November 2026. The consultation also asks whether the amendments need a transition period. As at 15 October, the extension and revised provisions remain proposals; there is no final implementation timetable for platform or promotional changes.[1][2]

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