Risk Of CFDs Trading

Higher Risks

While CFDs offer market participants a lot of benefits, they don't come without risks. Margin trading (leverage) is not suitable for all types of traders and investors. Magnified profit opportunities signify magnified risks of loss.

Lack of Ownership

As the trader does not own the underlying product that he is trading, say, for instance, a share, then he does not have the right to vote at a shareholders’ meeting. However, he will receive any dividend paid by the underlying company, and he has to pay the dividend if he is shorting of the CFD.

Cost of Overnight Financing

As CFD trading is done on margin, the trader is effectively borrowing money from his/her broker to trade. For this service, the trader needs to pay an interest rate to the broker. This means that holding a CFD position for a long time could cut any returns made on the price change of the CFD.

Dividends

In case of clients holding a long position on the ex-dividend date, they are entitled to receive a cash-adjustment from the dividend

In case of clients holding a short position on the ex-dividend date, they are chargeable for a cash-adjustment form of dividend

Counterparty risk

Another risk of trading CFDs is the counterparty risk, a very familiar concept in most of the over-the-counter (OTC) traded derivatives products. It is defined as the risk associated with the counterparty’s financial stability. Regarding CFD contracts, if the counterparty, e.g., your broker, is not able to meet the required financial obligations set by the trade, then there is no value associated with the CFD, regardless of the underlying instrument. In other words, if you bought Apple Shares at 50 dollars a share and two years later the share price is at $250, and your broker goes bankrupt before you book profits and withdraw your money then you could lose your profit.

However, CFDs providers over OTC desks are required to segregate client funds to protect client balances in the event of company default. That said, cases such as the bankruptcy of MF Global remind us that even regulators sometimes fail to identify problematic conduct.