Retail client

The glossary notes Article 4(1)(11) of MiFID. The retail CFD rules in COBS 22.5, including the leverage cap, the 50% close-out, negative balance protection and the risk warning, are written for retail clients. A client who is opted up to elective professional loses those protections. The FCA's 2019 policy statement said supervisors would look at firms that opted clients up in order to avoid the rules. The tests for an elective professional client are on the professional-client page. Being a retail client is a regulatory category. It is not a statement about experience or about whether a product is suitable.