How to compare CFD leverage

Leverage is where a lot of new traders go wrong. Brokers advertise big numbers — '1:500!', '1:1000!' — as if more is obviously better. It isn't. Leverage magnifies your losses exactly as much as your gains, so higher limits are a risk to manage, not a prize to chase. Here is how to compare it properly.

If you're new to the idea, read what is leverage in CFD trading first.

Why 'more leverage' isn't a selling point

With 1:100 leverage, a 1% move against you wipes out the margin behind a fully-leveraged position. At 1:500, it takes a move five times smaller to do the same damage. High leverage doesn't make a strategy better — it just shortens the distance between you and a margin call or stop-out.

So when you compare brokers, treat very high advertised leverage as a warning to size carefully, not as a reason to pick one broker over another.

What UAE regulators expect

Leverage limits depend on which regulator oversees the broker, and it's an area where offshore entities often advertise far higher numbers than regulated UAE ones.

• DFSA (DIFC firms): the DFSA sets retail leverage expectations by asset class — broadly around 50:1 on major currency pairs, major indices and gold; about 20:1 on minor currency pairs and oil; and roughly 10:1 on individual shares. Higher-risk assets get lower limits.
• Onshore CMA / SCA: the onshore federal regulator — the Capital Market Authority (CMA), formerly the SCA, reconstituted from 1 January 2026 — does not publish a single, confirmed universal retail leverage cap in the way some other jurisdictions do. Be wary of any site quoting a specific onshore 'statutory limit' as settled fact; the rules in this area have been evolving. Always confirm current limits with the broker and the regulator directly.
• FSRA (ADGM firms): ADGM firms are supervised separately by the FSRA. Check the broker's own disclosures for its applicable limits.

The pattern is consistent: properly regulated brokers offer more conservative leverage than offshore ones. A broker dangling 1:1000 is almost certainly operating under a lighter-touch offshore licence — which ties directly back to the first rule of the UAE broker checklist: check the regulation first.

How to compare leverage sensibly

1. Confirm which entity and regulator you're actually signing up with (see how to check a broker is regulated).
2. Look at the leverage offered per asset class, not a single flashy headline number.
3. Ask whether it's a fixed limit or one that steps down as your position size grows.
4. Decide the leverage you will actually use — which for most people should be well below the maximum on offer.

The bottom line

Don't shop for the highest leverage. Shop for a properly regulated broker, understand the limits its regulator expects, and then use far less than the maximum. In leverage, restraint is the skill — and a broker offering suspiciously high numbers is telling you something about its regulation, not its generosity.