France runs the standard EU leverage framework through the AMF, but pairs it with one of the strictest advertising regimes in the world for these products, predating EU-wide rules by years.
The AMF (Autorité des Marchés Financiers) enforces the same ESMA-aligned leverage tiers as the rest of the EU: 30:1 on major FX pairs, 20:1 on minor pairs/gold/major indices, 10:1 on other commodities/minor indices, 5:1 on shares, and 2:1 on crypto, all with mandatory negative balance protection for retail clients. If an authorised French investment firm fails, the FGDR (Fonds de Garantie des Dépôts et de Résolution) covers client securities/instruments up to €70,000 per client through its securities-guarantee compartment, separate from the standard €70,000 general limit for bank deposits.
What's distinctive about France is Article 28 of the 2016 "Sapin II" law: an outright ban on electronic advertising of forex, binary options, and highly-leveraged CFDs to retail individuals, covering email, banner ads, TV, radio, and online marketing, plus a ban on bonuses used to entice retail CFD clients. This predates the EU-wide ESMA measures by years and goes further than them: a broker can be fully MiFID-passported and legally allowed to serve French clients, yet still be barred from running electronic ad campaigns targeting them. AMF has continued enforcement action against non-compliant advertising since the law took effect.
French traders most often fund accounts through SEPA bank transfer (virement, including instant SEPA), Carte Bancaire (France's dominant domestic card scheme, typically co-badged with Visa/Mastercard), and increasingly PayPal or Apple Pay where supported.
Same composite score used site-wide. Confirm each broker's specific EU entity and passporting status before opening an account.
| # | Broker | Min. Deposit | Regulation | Typical EUR/USD Spread | Score |
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The composite score is broker-wide, but account availability, entity, and protections differ from one broker to the next. Check exactly which legal entity you'd be onboarded to as a French resident before depositing.