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Capital.com regulation: what happens if the firm fails

The licence is what decides where your money sits and who is obliged to do something about it. Here is who licenses Capital.com and what the protections are.

Facts last checked . Read the full Capital.com review.

Regulation and safety

Regulated by
FCA (793714); ASIC (AFSL 513393); CySEC (319/17 and 463/25); Securities Commission of The Bahamas (SIA-F245); UAE Capital Market Authority (20200000176)
Regulator tier
Tier 1
Register entry
FCA Financial Services Register, FRN 793714
Client money segregated
Yes
Held at
Top-tier regulated banks
Negative balance protection
Yes, retail clients
Compensation scheme
FSCS up to £85,000 for eligible UK clients; ICF up to €20,000 for eligible CySEC clients; additional private insolvency insurance up to €1 million for eligible EU clients
Audited by
Independent external auditors
Not available to
Afghanistan, American Samoa, Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Canada, Congo, Cuba, DR Congo, Eritrea, Gibraltar, Guam, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Kosovo, Libya, Malaysia, Mali, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Myanmar, New Zealand, North Korea, Northern Mariana Islands, Palestine, Palau, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Russia, Samoa, Senegal, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Turkey, United States, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Yemen and other restricted territories

Check the licence yourself: the FCA Register, ASIC Connect, the CySEC register of investment firms.

What this means

The licence is what decides where your money sits and who is obliged to do something about it.

Capital.com holds tier-one authorisations from ASIC, FCA and CySEC. That matters more than any headline spread: it determines your leverage cap, whether losses can exceed your deposit, and what happens to your money if the firm fails.

ASIC caps retail leverage at 1:30, requires negative balance protection, and obliges the broker to hold client money in a separate trust account.

The FCA caps retail leverage at 1:30, mandates negative balance protection, and covers eligible clients under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

CySEC licences passport across the EU and follow the 1:30 retail leverage cap, with the Investor Compensation Fund covering eligible claims.

Client money is held separately from the firm's own money, at Top-tier regulated banks. That separation is what makes your balance recoverable if the company fails, rather than part of the pool its creditors divide up.

Negative balance protection applies, so a losing position cannot take the account below zero and leave you owing the broker money.

Covered by FSCS up to £85,000 for eligible UK clients; ICF up to €20,000 for eligible CySEC clients; additional private insolvency insurance up to €1 million for eligible EU clients, which pays eligible clients up to its limit if the firm fails owing client money.

Questions about Capital.com regulation

Is client money segregated at Capital.com?

Yes. Capital.com holds client money separately from its own funds, at Top-tier regulated banks.

Does Capital.com offer negative balance protection?

Yes. Capital.com offers negative balance protection, so a losing position cannot leave you owing the broker more than your account held.

Is there a compensation scheme at Capital.com?

Capital.com's compensation scheme is recorded as: FSCS up to £85,000 for eligible UK clients; ICF up to €20,000 for eligible CySEC clients; additional private insolvency insurance up to €1 million for eligible EU clients. A scheme covers the broker failing, not losses on your trades.

Regulation at brokers under the same regulator

More about Capital.com