2023-04-26 17:26:02
Dhe trading in contracts for difference, so-called CFDs, has declined significantly in the past year. This is reported by the CFD association as part of its annual market study, which is available to the FAZ in advance. With a number of almost 292,000 accounts, which was practically unchanged compared to the previous year, the trading volume fell from 2.3 to 1.6 trillion euros and the number of transactions from around 72 to almost 49 million – a decrease by a third. The fourth quarter was the weakest in three years with trading sales of 228.5 billion euros. This is also noteworthy in that the trading volume in the first quarter still reached a record high of EUR 639 billion.
With contracts for difference, investors can bet on price changes. Since the full value of the investment is not paid, but only a security deposit has to be deposited, larger sums can be moved with less capital. The security deposit is at least 20 percent for a share and 5 percent for an index.
Based on the results of its annual survey, the association sees the reasons for the decline in trade in the war in Ukraine, a generally challenging economic situation and turbulent capital markets. However, the results also indicated a massive impact of changed tax legislation. Forty percent of those who stopped investing in CFDs cited the recent restriction on loss offsetting as the reason for doing so. On the other hand, only 15 percent used the argument that the risk was currently too high.
Since the 2021 assessment period, losses from futures and CFD transactions may only be offset against corresponding profits up to an amount of EUR 20,000. According to the association, this affects almost a third of investors. A good 60 percent of them made losses and still had to pay taxes. A large number have received additional tax claims up to the five-digit range.
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