Market share of CFD ads in France declines in first nine months of 2018

The share of ads of highly-speculative trading products like CFDs has declined when compared to the share these ads had in previous years, according to the latest Newsletter of the Households Savings Observatory, run by the French financial markets authority AMF.

The data reveals that, during the first nine months of 2018, the ads of CFDs and other highly speculative online trading products accounted for 24% of all the investment ads in France. This is way below than the higher share seen in previous years. Until 2016, the share of these ads was around 50%.

In addition, the ads for such products had become more restricted in their content and now focus on offers permitted under the Sapin II law. This law prohibited digital advertising of all sorts of high-risk products, including CFDs with high leverage.

The Newsletter also provided some information about crypto-asset ads. During the first nine months of 2018, these accounted for 12% of the ads of investment products. The percentage is higher than the level of below 3% for 2017, but is also below the level of 23% for the January-April period of 2018.

Let’s note that earlier this year, the AMF clarified its stance on the regulation of cryptocurrencies and the products related to them.

Following an analysis of the legal status of cryptocurrency derivatives, the AMF has reached the conclusion that the platforms offering these products must abide by the authorisation and business conduct rules, and that these products must not be advertised via electronic means. That is, such products fall within the ambit of the famous Sapin 2 law, which prohibits the digital advertising of binary options and certain CFDs which are deemed toxic for investors.