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The risk in one sentence
Exness’s own wording is: “CFDs carry a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage and are not suitable for all investors.” That applies to forex and gold CFDs at any broker, not only Exness. Every Exness button on this site also carries the short line “Offered by Exness.com. Trading is risky.”
What this means in practice
- You can lose all the money you deposit, and you can lose it quickly.
- Prices can move against you faster than you can react, for example around major news or when markets reopen after a weekend.
- No calculator, guide, strategy, account type or swap-free status removes this risk.
- Only trade with money you can afford to lose completely.
How leverage magnifies losses
Leverage lets you control a position much larger than the money you put up. With leverage of 1:500, USD 200 of margin can hold a position worth USD 100,000:
- if the price moves 0.2% against that position, the loss is USD 200, which is all of the margin;
- if it moves 1% against you, the loss is USD 1,000, five times the margin.
Many brokers offer leverage of 1:1000 or more, and some offer “unlimited” leverage under conditions. Higher leverage lets you open bigger positions with the same money, and bigger positions lose faster. Kenya caps leverage at 1:400 for CMA-licensed brokers, and Nigeria’s proposed SEC rules would set a similar cap on major pairs. Leverage and margin explains the mechanics, and the margin calculator shows what a position ties up.
Why we don’t quote a percentage
In some countries, brokers must publish the share of their retail clients who lose money. We haven’t found such a figure published by the Exness companies that serve Africa, so we don’t quote one, and we won’t invent one.
Before you trade
- Practise on a demo account first. See demo accounts.
- Size every position from the amount you’re prepared to lose, using the lot size calculator.
- Check the legal position where you live. In Nigeria, no online forex broker is registered with the SEC yet, and the SEC has published proposed rules. In Kenya, use a CMA-licensed broker. In South Africa, the FSCA requires a licence to provide trading signals, and the Reserve Bank’s rules govern how you fund an account abroad. Our country pages for Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa have the details.
What Nuqta FX does and doesn’t do
Our content is educational. It isn’t investment advice, and we don’t know your finances or your goals. We don’t publish signals or trade calls, and we don’t manage money. Treat anyone who promises fixed returns from forex, offers to trade for you, or asks for your login as a warning sign. Our editorial policy explains how we source what we publish.