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CFD risk warnings in ads: getting the loss-percentage disclosure right

By the Samoha team · Sep 28, 2026 · 8 min read

Retail CFD marketing in the UK has one line that cannot be paraphrased: the risk warning with its loss percentage. The FCA sets its exact wording, a short version for character-limited ads, a fallback for firms with no recent retail trades, how the percentage is calculated, and how the warning must be displayed. The rules are detailed and easy to get slightly wrong in ways that matter.

This guide goes through the UK rules in COBS 22.5 as they apply to marketing, then turns them into practical checks for search, social, display, landing pages, email and affiliate content. It ends with a note on the EU. Quotes are taken from the FCA Handbook text. Treat this as a working reference, not legal advice, and check the current Handbook before relying on it.

Which products and which communications are covered

COBS 22.5 covers what the FCA calls restricted speculative investments: leveraged CFDs, leveraged spread bets, leveraged rolling spot forex and restricted options. The warning obligation is broad. A firm must not market, publish or communicate information to a retail client, approve or communicate a financial promotion, or disseminate one in a way likely to reach a retail client, "unless the firm includes one of the following risk warnings, as appropriate" (COBS 22.5.6R(1)).

The key word is "likely". A banner aimed at a professional audience that retail traders will realistically see still needs the warning.

The three versions of the warning

1. The full warning (durable medium, website or webpage)

For firms offering leveraged CFDs, spread bets or rolling spot forex, the prescribed text is:

"CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. [insert percentage per provider]% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money." (COBS 22.5.6R(1A))

Firms that also offer restricted options use a variant that names "CFDs and restricted options" (1B). Firms offering only restricted options use an options-only version (1C). Use the text that matches the products you actually offer.

2. The shorter warning (other media)

For communications that are not in a durable medium or on a website, such as a video ad, audio spot or social post, the rule allows a shorter text:

"[insert percentage per provider]% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money." (COBS 22.5.6R(10A))

3. The abbreviated warning (character limits)

If the shorter warning is longer than a third-party marketing provider allows, which is common in search ads, the rule permits:

"[insert percentage per provider]% of retail CFD accounts lose money." (COBS 22.5.6R(11))

This comes with a condition that is often missed. The abbreviated warning "must be accompanied by a direct link to the firm's webpage which contains the risk warning" in full (COBS 22.5.6R(12)). Linking to the homepage is only enough if the full warning is actually displayed there.

The fallback for firms with no recent retail trades

A firm that has not entered into a single restricted speculative investment trade with a retail client in the previous 12 months has no percentage to show. It uses "The vast majority of retail client accounts lose money when trading in CFDs" wording instead (COBS 22.5.7R for websites and durable media, COBS 22.5.7AR for other media). The character-limited version is "CFD-retail client accounts generally lose money." New brokers preparing launch campaigns often need this version first.

Where the percentage comes from, and why it keeps changing

The percentage must be specific to the firm and up to date. COBS 22.5.6R(3) to (7) sets out the method:

It is recalculated every three months and covers the preceding 12 months.
An account counts as losing money if the sum of all realised and unrealised net profits on these products over the period is below zero.
The calculation must include all costs, fees, commissions and other charges.
It excludes accounts with no open position in the period, profits or losses on other investments, and deposits and withdrawals.
Records of the accounts used must be kept for five years (22.5.6R(8)).

For marketing teams the main point is operational. The figure changes every quarter, and every asset that displays it has to change with it. In practice that means:

One source of truth. Compliance publishes the current figure and its effective date in one place, and every team and partner takes it from there.
Templates, not hard-coded numbers. Landing pages, banners and email footers should pull the figure from a variable or shared component, so one update changes everything.
A dated refresh task. Each quarterly recalculation should create a checklist: search ad variants, social video end cards, display sets, affiliate banners, creator link-in-bio pages, app store text.
Partner notification. Affiliates and introducing brokers often host your creative on their own pages. Send them the new figure and replacement assets, and check that they have used them. We cover partner oversight in our guide to forex affiliate and IB programmes.

How the warning has to look

The wording is only part of it. COBS 22.5.8R requires the warning to be:

prominent;
contained within its own border, with bold and unbold text as indicated;
on a website or mobile app, "statically fixed and visible at the top of the screen even when the retail client scrolls up or down the webpage"; and
on a website, included on each linked webpage.

The accompanying guidance (COBS 22.5.9G) says the warning, including its font size, should be proportionate to the content, size and orientation of the material, and shown against a neutral background.

The "statically fixed" requirement affects page design directly. A warning in the footer, or one that scrolls away with the hero section, does not meet it. Landing-page templates for UK retail traffic need a sticky, bordered warning bar at the top that works on mobile. Our notes on broker landing pages that convert assume it is there from the first wireframe.

Channel-by-channel checklist

Paid search: use the abbreviated warning only when the shorter warning genuinely won't fit, and make sure the ad links directly to a page showing the full warning. Ad platforms have their own financial-services policies on top of this, so check both.
Paid social and video: use the shorter warning from 22.5.6R(10A) where it fits. Make it legible for as long as the offer is on screen, not only in a final end card, since the warning has to be prominent.
Display and programmatic: check every size in the set. Small formats are where warnings get shrunk until they can't be read, which conflicts with the proportionality guidance.
Landing pages and the website: full warning, bordered, fixed at the top, on every linked page, and tested on mobile.
Email and PDFs: these are usually durable media, so use the full warning, not the short one.
Affiliate, IB and creator content: brief partners on the exact wording and current figure, and check what they actually publish.

The incentives rule sits alongside the warning

COBS 22.5.20R says a firm "must not offer to a retail client, or provide a retail client with" a monetary or non-monetary incentive when marketing, distributing or selling these products. A correctly formatted risk warning next to a deposit bonus still breaks the rules. Creative built for other markets often has bonus messaging, so check for it before adapting assets for UK retail audiences.

Leverage messaging is also constrained. Retail clients must post margin of at least 3.33% of exposure on major FX pairs (COBS 22.5.11R), so a headline advertising much higher leverage to UK retail clients doesn't fit the rules.

What about the EU?

The UK rules grew out of ESMA's 2018 temporary measures. Those required "a standardised risk warning, including the percentage of losses on a CFD provider's retail investor accounts", alongside leverage limits of 30:1 on major currency pairs down to 2:1 on cryptocurrencies, a 50% margin close-out rule, negative balance protection and restrictions on incentives (ESMA). ESMA explains that national regulators then adopted their own measures, which replaced its temporary ones (ESMA product intervention). The broad structure is familiar, but the exact wording and formatting you must use come from the national measure of the regulator you are marketing under, such as CySEC for many Cyprus-licensed brokers. Check that text directly rather than reusing UK copy. Our methodology summarises how we map rules by market before drafting.

FAQ

Can we round the percentage or show a range?

The rule requires the firm's own up-to-date percentage based on the prescribed calculation. Anything that changes the figure should be agreed with your compliance team first.

Is a link to our risk disclosure page enough in a search ad?

Only together with the abbreviated warning in the ad, and only if the linked page displays the full warning under COBS 22.5.6R(12).

Does the warning apply to brand-awareness ads that don't mention CFDs?

If the communication promotes the CFD business and is likely to reach retail clients, assume it does and ask your compliance team. The obligation covers marketing and financial promotions broadly, not only product ads.

Who is responsible when an affiliate uses an old figure?

The warning obligation sits with the firm, so partner oversight is part of meeting it. That is why the quarterly refresh has to include partners.

Sources

For how warnings fit into the wider approval workflow, see how a compliance-led finance marketing engagement works.

Last reviewed: 28 September 2026.