Forex Brokers Must Tell You How Many Customers Lose. The Answer Is Most of Them.

Mandatory disclosures from 49 EU and UK-regulated brokers show an average of 71% of retail forex and CFD accounts lose money, with individual brokers ranging from 51% to 81%. How the market works and why the odds look like that.

By the UISC BD Editorial Desk · United Information Service Center · Published 13 September 2026 · 6-minute read

This article explains how forex trading works. It is general information, not financial or investment advice.

Forex adverts show beaches, laptops and freedom. The small line at the bottom of every regulated advert in Europe and the UK tells a different story, and it is required by law.

What Forex Trading Actually Is

Forex — foreign exchange — is the buying of one currency with another. When a trader "buys EUR/USD", they are betting the euro will rise against the US dollar.

Banks, companies and governments use this market to pay for imports, hedge risk and manage reserves. Retail traders mostly access it through CFDs — contracts for difference — which let them bet on price movements without owning the currency, usually with borrowed money.

The Number Brokers Must Publish

In the European Union and the UK, CFD promotions must carry a standardised warning stating the percentage of that broker's own retail accounts that lose money. It has to be the firm's current figure, displayed prominently — including in social media posts and banner ads.

Across mandatory disclosures from 49 EU and FCA-regulated brokers:

• Average: 71.0 percent of retail accounts lose money.
• Median: 71.7 percent.
• Range: 51 percent to 81 percent, depending on the broker.

In the UK specifically, the April 2026 reading across 14 brokers was a 69.9 percent mean and 71.0 percent median. Named examples include 68 percent at CMC Markets UK, 68 percent at IG UK and 71 percent at IG International.

The original ESMA standard warning cited a range of 74 to 89 percent. Current figures are somewhat lower, but the picture is the same.

Why Most Retail Traders Lose

Leverage. Borrowed money multiplies gains and losses equally. A small move against a leveraged position can erase the deposit — explained in detail in our guide to leverage.

Costs. Every trade pays a spread, and positions held overnight pay financing. Frequent trading means paying those costs repeatedly, whether the trade wins or not.

The competition. A retail trader is on the other side of banks, hedge funds and algorithmic firms with better data, faster execution and far larger resources.

Behaviour. Holding losing trades in the hope they recover, and closing winning trades early to lock in a gain, is a pattern that reliably loses money over time.

Where the Industry Is Heading

Even parts of the trading industry now warn retail customers away from CFD brokers. Some firms have leaned more heavily on "educational" labels as marketing rules have tightened.

Proprietary trading firms, which sell evaluation challenges rather than brokerage accounts, have grown as an alternative — with their own problems, covered in our report on prop firms.

If You Are Still Considering It

• Find the broker's own loss percentage before opening an account. A regulated broker must show it.
• Check the broker is genuinely regulated — here is how.
• Only use money you can afford to lose completely. That is not a figure of speech; it is what the statistics describe.
• Be deeply sceptical of anyone selling signals, courses or bots that promise consistent profit. See what regulators say about AI trading bots.

Related reading

• AI Trading Bots: What They Can Do, and Why Regulators Keep Warning
• How a Central Bank Rate Decision Reaches Your Loan and Savings Account
• Prop Firm Challenges: Only About 7% of Buyers Ever Get Paid
• What Moves Exchange Rates, and Why the Fed's 16 September Decision Matters

Sources

• "71.0% of retail traders lose money — 2026 data (49 brokers)," BrokerRank — brokerrank.net
• "UK CFD trading statistics 2026 — 14 brokers compared," The Investors Centre — theinvestorscentre.co.uk
• "Forex broker marketing compliance 2026: rules and disclosure," Track360 — track360.io
• "Prop firm E8 Markets warns retail traders off CFD brokers," Finance Magnates — financemagnates.com