Best CFD brokers in Cyprus

• 30 CFD brokers with a verified licence serve residents of Cyprus: 25 hold a local licence (CySEC) and 5 serve under an EU passport.
• Top pick by Coinish Score: FxPro (72/100, Editor Rating 3.9/5).
• Lowest advertised EUR/USD all-in cost: 0.1 pips (Deriv), across 15 brokers that publish one.
• No minimum deposit: Deriv.

Ranked by Coinish Score: half the Editor Rating for the entity that serves residents of Cyprus, half Market Signal. Brokers without enough verified data for a rating are placed by Market Signal and labelled; brokers with neither are listed last. How we rate

Of the 30 CFD brokers on this list, 25 hold a licence from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) (FxPro, eToro, FOREX.com and 22 more), 2 serve Cyprus from a CBI licence in Ireland (Interactive Brokers and AvaTrade), 1 serves Cyprus from a Bank of Latvia licence (Dukascopy) and 1 serves Cyprus from a MFSA licence in Malta (Deriv); 1 more is licensed by CMVM.

ESMA's product intervention measures cap retail CFD leverage at 30:1 on major currency pairs, down to 2:1 on cryptocurrencies. In Cyprus, CySEC applies them through its own product-intervention rules. The 5 that publish the regulator-required loss figure report that 51% (eToro) to 75% (XM) of retail CFD accounts lose money; the median is 73%.

Advertised all-in EUR/USD costs on this list run from 0.1 pips (Deriv) to 1.5 pips (Orbex) across the 15 that publish one.

• Search the company name on the CySEC register (cysec.gov.cy); for a firm licensed elsewhere, on its home regulator's register too (CBI, Bank of Latvia and MFSA for most of this list).
• Check which company your contract is with. FxPro, for example, onboards residents of Cyprus through FXPRO Financial Services Ltd (CySEC licence 078/07), and the name on the account-opening documents should match the list.
• Look for the percentage-of-accounts-that-lose-money warning on the broker's site. A firm marketing CFDs to residents of Cyprus without it is probably not using its regulated entity.

Yes, with a licensed provider. Brokers need MiFID II authorisation from an EEA regulator; firms authorised elsewhere in the EEA may serve residents under the European passport. CySEC restricts CFDs for retail clients under its Cyprus National Product Intervention Measures.

Sources: cysec.gov.cy, bafin.de

By Coinish Score, FxPro (72/100, Editor Rating 3.9/5), through FXPRO Financial Services Ltd (CySEC licence 078/07). eToro (72) and FOREX.com (70) follow. The score rates the company that would serve you in Cyprus, so the same brand can rank differently in another country.

Cypriot firms had to offer negative balance protection on CySEC's own initiative before the EU made it a requirement. CySEC also asks for a standard risk warning showing the share of the provider's retail accounts that lose money. Some firms wanted to update that figure just once a year, and CySEC turned them down, so it stays current every quarter.

If you live in Cyprus these are your home rules, and 25 of the 30 CFD brokers here are licensed by CySEC.

Source: cysec.gov.cy

Yes. A firm authorised under MiFID II in one EEA country can serve residents of the others once its home regulator has notified them. 5 of the 30 on this list reach Cyprus that way, most from Ireland (2), Latvia (1) and Malta (1).

The home regulator supervises the firm and its compensation scheme applies, while CySEC can still set conduct rules for clients in Cyprus.

Source: bafin.de

If a broker fails, the compensation scheme of the regulator that licenses it applies, not one chosen by where you live. For this list: Investor Compensation Fund (Cyprus): 90% of covered claims, up to €20,000 for clients of CySEC-licensed investment firms (25 on this list); Investor Compensation Company (ICCL): 90% of the loss, up to €20,000 per investor for clients of CBI-licensed investment firms (2 on this list); Latvian investor protection (Latvijas Banka): up to €20,000 per investor for clients of Bank of Latvia-licensed investment firms (1 on this list); Investor Compensation Scheme (Malta): 90% of the net loss, up to €20,000 for clients of MFSA-licensed investment firms (1 on this list). Compensation covers missing client money and assets after a firm's failure, never trading losses.

Sources: cysec.gov.cy, investorcompensation.ie, bank.lv, compensationschemes.org.mt