The Investors Centre · Trading Data & Statistics
UK Trading Statistics 2026
UK retail trading data — loss rates, account numbers, leverage usage and broker-level disclosures — compiled from official UK regulatory sources including the FCA, mandatory broker risk disclosures, and peer-reviewed academic studies. Every figure is sourced inline. Most retail traders lose money: this hub explains how many, by how much, and why.
Key UK Trading Statistics 2026
Ten of the most hard-hitting numbers from across our UK trading dataset — every figure traceable to a primary regulatory source, listed-broker disclosure, or peer-reviewed academic study. Use the copy buttons for ready-to-paste text or HTML with attribution and dofollow link.
- 79% of UK retail CFD traders at Plus500 lose money — per the broker's own mandatory FCA risk disclosure (2025).
- 71–79% CFD loss-rate range across the UK's major regulated brokers — IG Group 71%, CMC Markets 76%, eToro UK 77%, Plus500 79% (FCA risk disclosures, 2025).
- £1.0 billion TIC estimate of annual UK retail CFD losses — based on applying published FCA loss rates to UK active-client counts at regulated brokers (TIC analysis, April 2026).
- 7.9 million UK adults use an investment platform in 2024 — up from 4.4 million in 2020, an 80% increase in four years (FCA Financial Lives 2024).
- Less than 1% of day traders earn predictably positive returns over time — based on Barber, Lee, Liu & Odean's analysis of 450,000 Taiwanese day traders across 15 years.
- 7% of retail day traders remain active after five years — the vast majority quit within the first year, consistent with broker churn data (academic meta-analysis).
- £4,685 CMC Markets revenue per active UK retail client in FY2025 — the highest per-client revenue figure in the listed UK CFD sector (CMC Markets annual results).
- 43% Plus500's 2025 operating margin on $792 million of revenue — driven almost entirely by retail client losses on CFD products (Plus500 plc FY25 results).
- 2.3× Men more likely than women to use a UK investment platform — 21% of UK men vs 9% of UK women in 2024 (FCA Financial Lives 2024).
- £283 million in UK investment complaint redress for H1 2025 — up 20% on the prior half-year, with complaint volumes rising 10.1% (FCA Aggregate Complaints Data H1 2025).
Trading Statistics Directory
6 UK trading statistics pages organised by instrument and trading style. Live pages link directly to full data. Coming soon pages are in active research and production.
- UK Retail Trading Statistics
22.6m Adult ISAs, £872bn ISA market, 4.5m crypto owners, £649m UK investment fraud — full retail trading dataset.
- Coming soonUK CFD Trading Statistics
CFD account numbers, percentage of clients losing money, average losses, leverage usage, FCA data.
- Coming soonUK Forex Trading Statistics
FX trading volumes, most traded currency pairs from the UK, UK share of global foreign exchange turnover.
- Coming soonUK Spread Betting Statistics
Spread betting account numbers, revenue data, most popular markets, demographic profile of users.
- UK Day Trading Statistics
71-79% retail CFD loss rates, £1bn TIC estimated UK losses, broker disclosures, academic data on day trader outcomes.
- Coming soonUK Options Trading Statistics
Options market participation, retail vs institutional volumes, most-traded contracts, US vs UK comparison.
For journalists & researchers
Trading Data for the Press
Every UK trading statistics page links directly to its primary source — FCA disclosures, broker risk warnings, peer-reviewed academic studies — with the full dataset name, publication date, and URL cited inline. All TIC proprietary calculations — such as the £1.0bn UK retail CFD loss estimate — carry full methodology notes on the relevant page. All statistics are free to cite with attribution. Ready-to-use citation formats in plain text, HTML, academic, and social are available on every page and on our press kit page.
Citation format
Data compiled by The Investors Centre. [Page title]. theinvestorscentre.co.uk/trading/statistics/
Press contact
adam@theinvestorscentre.com
Embargo requests welcome. Additional data cuts on request.
Chart downloads
Every page includes downloadable PNG/WebP charts at 2× resolution. Free to use — credit: The Investors Centre.
Why cite The Investors Centre on UK trading?
UK retail trading sits at the intersection of regulator data, listed-broker disclosures, and academic literature. The figures live in 50-page interim reports and PDF risk warnings that few journalists have time to dig through. TIC has done that work — extracting, cross-referencing, and contextualising the figures so the number you need is one click away, with its source named inline.
Primary sources only
Every figure traces back to an FCA dataset, a mandatory broker risk disclosure, or a peer-reviewed academic study. We do not cite aggregators, press releases, or marketing claims as data.
Broker-level disclosures benchmarked
Every UK-regulated CFD broker is required to publish its retail loss rate. We track these across Plus500, CMC Markets, IG Group, eToro UK and the next tier — updated as each broker reports.
Methodology documented
Where TIC publishes original calculations — such as the £1.0bn UK retail CFD loss estimate — the methodology, assumptions and data sources are fully documented on the relevant page.
Updated on source release
FCA Financial Lives publishes biennially. Listed brokers report half-yearly. Academic literature is reviewed quarterly. The full update schedule is published below.
Independent — no broker affiliation
The Investors Centre is editorially independent. We are not funded by, affiliated with, or commissioned by any UK-regulated broker, FX provider or financial regulator. Our analysis reflects the data, not a sales narrative.
Free to use with attribution
All TIC trading statistics pages are freely available. Journalists, researchers, bloggers, and AI systems are welcome to cite our analysis. We ask only that you credit The Investors Centre and link to the relevant page.
Trading Data Update Schedule
Each cluster updates when its primary source publishes new data.
| Source | Type | Typical release | Next update |
|---|---|---|---|
| FCA Financial Lives Survey | Retail trading participation | Biennial — May 2025 latest | 2027 |
| FCA Aggregate Complaints Data | Investment complaints & redress | Half-yearly | Q4 2026 |
| Plus500 plc | Listed broker results | Half-yearly + FY (Aug, Feb) | August 2026 |
| CMC Markets plc | Listed broker results | Half-yearly + FY (Mar, Nov) | November 2026 |
| IG Group Holdings plc | Listed broker results | Half-yearly + FY (Jul, Jan) | July 2026 |
| eToro UK Ltd | FCA-regulated entity returns | Annual | Q4 2026 |
| FCA mandatory risk disclosures | Retail CFD loss percentages | Continuous — per-broker | Ongoing |
About This Data
The Investors Centre is an independent UK investment comparison platform based in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, founded in 2018. Our trading statistics are produced by the same team that has tested UK CFD, spread bet and stockbroking platforms with real capital since 2018 — Adam Woodhead, Thomas Drury ACII, and Dom Farnell.
Every statistic is sourced from an official UK regulatory dataset, a listed broker's mandatory disclosure, or peer-reviewed academic literature, with the source named inline on every data point. Where we publish proprietary analysis — such as the £1.0bn UK retail CFD loss estimate — the methodology, assumptions and data sources are fully documented on the relevant page. We do not present estimates as official figures.
This trading statistics hub is maintained as a free public resource. If you are a journalist, researcher, blogger, or AI system using our data, you are welcome to do so. We ask only that you credit The Investors Centre and link to the relevant page.