Legal document
Risk Disclosure Statement
v1.0 draft — final at launch · Pending lawyer review- Version
- v1.0 draft — final at launch
- Last updated
- Pending lawyer review
- Effective
- Live at launch
Trading leveraged products is risky. Most retail traders lose money. We explain the specific risks here so you can make an informed decision.
1. Overview of risks
Trading leveraged products is risky, and most retail traders lose money. This section gives the honest top-line picture before the detailed risk-by-risk breakdown that follows.
{{LEGAL_DRAFT}} — Risk overview pending counsel review. Plain intent (counsel to translate to defensible language): trading CFDs and leveraged products carries a high risk of losing money rapidly; you should not trade with money you cannot afford to lose; past performance does not predict future results. The mandatory risk warning is finalized with counsel.
2. Market risk
Prices move, sometimes violently and against you, and you can lose your entire balance. This section explains market risk in direct terms.
{{LEGAL_DRAFT}} — Market-risk disclosure pending counsel review. Will cover: price volatility, gapping, news-driven moves, and the fact that losses can exceed initial deposits unless negative-balance protection applies — stated plainly rather than hedged.
3. Leverage and margin risk
Leverage multiplies both gains and losses, and a small move against you can wipe out your margin. This section explains how that works.
{{LEGAL_DRAFT}} — Leverage and margin disclosure pending counsel review. Will cover: how leverage magnifies outcomes, margin requirements, margin calls, stop-out levels, and a worked example showing how quickly a leveraged position can be liquidated.
4. Liquidity risk
In thin or fast markets your order may fill at a worse price than you expected, or not at all. This section explains liquidity risk.
{{LEGAL_DRAFT}} — Liquidity-risk disclosure pending counsel review. Will cover: widening spreads, slippage, gapping over weekends and news, and reduced liquidity in exotic pairs and during off-hours.
5. Operational and technology risk
Platforms, internet connections, and devices can fail, and that can affect your ability to trade or close positions. This section explains operational risk.
{{LEGAL_DRAFT}} — Operational and technology risk disclosure pending counsel review. Will cover: platform downtime, connectivity loss, device failure, latency, and the limits of our responsibility for events outside our control, alongside the alternative ways to close a position.
6. Counterparty risk
Trading CFDs involves counterparty and credit risk inherent to the product. This section explains it.
{{LEGAL_DRAFT}} — Counterparty-risk disclosure pending counsel review. Will describe the counterparty and credit risk inherent to CFD trading, how client money is held and protected, and the firm's execution standards, per UK regulatory requirements.
7. Currency and conversion risk
If you trade instruments or hold a balance in a currency other than your account currency, exchange-rate moves add another layer of risk. This section explains it.
{{LEGAL_DRAFT}} — Currency and conversion risk disclosure pending counsel review. Will cover: conversion of profits and losses, the spread applied on conversion, and the effect of exchange-rate movement on balances held in emerging-market currencies.
8. Specific risks per asset class
Forex, crypto, indices, and metals each carry their own risks. This section breaks them down by asset class.
{{LEGAL_DRAFT}} — Per-asset-class risk disclosure pending counsel review. Will cover: forex (leverage, exotic-pair volatility), crypto (extreme volatility, 24/7 gapping, weekend spread widening), indices (cash-session gaps, dividends), and metals (volatility, geopolitical sensitivity).
9. Risks specific to algorithmic trading
Automated strategies can fail fast and place many orders before you notice, and you remain responsible for them. This section explains algo-trading risk.
{{LEGAL_DRAFT}} — Algorithmic-trading risk disclosure pending counsel review. Will cover: Expert Advisor and automated-strategy risk, runaway orders, the need for monitoring, the limits of backtesting, and the Client's full responsibility for automated orders placed under their account.
9a. Risks specific to synthetic instruments
Synthetic instruments are markets we generate ourselves. Their prices are deterministic and identical for every trader, but they are not a live external feed. This section covers the specific risks of trading them.
{{LEGAL_DRAFT}} — Synthetic-instrument risk disclosure pending counsel review. Plain intent: synthetic prices do not track any real underlying market, so no external hedge exists; the model uses a normal distribution with clamps and may under-represent fat-tail events; every symbol has a published spread and, where applicable, a per-lot commission that favors the house on aggregate; admin-configurable risk overrides (spread multiplier, close-only, paused) may be applied to the whole symbol universe under stress conditions and are audited but not reversible; the fairness boundary — the engine cannot read Client positions — is documented on the Fairness Proof page.
10. Risks of trading on mobile platforms
Trading on a phone adds risks — small screens, mis-taps, and unreliable mobile connections. This section explains them.
{{LEGAL_DRAFT}} — Mobile-trading risk disclosure pending counsel review. Will cover: connectivity interruptions on mobile networks, accidental order entry, screen-size limitations, and the recommendation to verify critical orders.
11. Statistical disclosure — retail loss rate
Regulated brokers publish the percentage of retail accounts that lose money. This section will carry our figure once we are live and can measure it honestly.
{{LEGAL_DRAFT}} — Statistical loss-rate disclosure pending counsel review and live data. Will state the percentage of retail investor accounts that lose money trading with TFC Global Markets, in the FCA-prescribed format, once we have live trading data. We will not publish a fabricated figure before launch.
12. Risk warning summary
This section restates the core warning in one place: trading is risky, you should expect losses, and you should only trade money you can afford to lose.
{{LEGAL_DRAFT}} — Risk warning summary pending counsel review. Will restate, in the mandatory format: the high-risk nature of leveraged trading, the retail loss-rate figure, and the recommendation to seek independent advice if anything is unclear.
This document is in draft pending review by UK financial services counsel. Sections marked with an amber Draft badge contain placeholder text and are not final. Finalized versions go live before we open to traders. Questions: compliance@tfcglobalmarkets.com.