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What Percentage of Forex Traders Are Profitable?
Brokers' own risk warnings show that about 29.9% of retail CFD accounts do not lose money. Fewer stay profitable year after year. Here is what the data really says, broker by broker.
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Roughly 23% to 39% of retail forex and CFD accounts finish a year without losing money, depending on the broker. That range comes from the mandatory risk warnings of 16 UK and EU providers, read on 20 October 2026: their losing shares run from 61% to 76.6%, an average of 70.1%. The share that is consistently profitable over several years is much smaller, and no regulator publishes it. A fair one-line answer: about one account in three is not losing at any given time, and far fewer than that make a reliable living from trading.
Where the numbers come from
Since 2018, every CFD broker regulated in the UK or the European Union has had to print a standard warning on its website: "X% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider". The figure covers forex as well as other CFDs, is recalculated regularly and looks back over a recent 12-month period. It is the closest thing the industry has to an official scoreboard.
Our CFD loss-rate tracker reads those warnings directly from each broker's UK or EU site. Turning the losing share around gives the percentage of accounts that did not lose money: everything from small profits to break-even.
Broker by broker
The share of accounts that avoid a loss varies widely between providers. At the best end of our tracker, Spreadex reports that 39% of retail accounts did not lose money; at the other end, OANDA reports 23.4%.
A broker with a better figure is not automatically a better choice. The number depends heavily on who the broker attracts and what those clients trade. A broker popular with experienced spread bettors will show different results from one that advertises to beginners. Use these figures as a reality check on the activity, not as a ranking.
Not losing is not the same as profitable
Three cautions stop these figures from sounding better than they are.
- "Did not lose" includes break-even. An account that opened two trades, made $3 and stopped counts on the not-losing side.
- It is one year at a time. A trader who profited this year may lose next year. No regulator tracks the same accounts over five or ten years.
- It counts accounts, not people. One person with three accounts at three brokers appears three times.
When researchers have followed individual traders over time, the picture gets harder. A study by Fernando Chague, Rodrigo De-Losso and Bruno Giovannetti, "Day Trading for a Living?", followed everyone who started day trading Brazilian equity index futures between 2013 and 2015. Among those who kept going for at least 300 days, 97% lost money, and only about 1% earned more than the Brazilian minimum wage. That study covers futures, not forex, but it is one of the few to follow real traders rather than snapshots, and it points the same way.
How this compares with the famous 90%
You will often hear that 90% of traders lose. The published data is a little kinder: ESMA's 2018 review found 74% to 89% of retail accounts lost money, and today's broker figures average 70.1%. The improvement since 2018 is likely helped by the 30:1 leverage cap on major pairs that ESMA and the FCA introduced for retail clients, which makes it harder to wipe out an account in one move. Our guide to the 90% rule in forex looks at the saying in detail.
What the profitable minority do differently
Nobody publishes a list of habits from profitable accounts, but the causes of losses are well understood, and traders who stay in the game tend to avoid the same mistakes. The table sums up the contrast.
| Habit | Losing majority | Profitable minority |
|---|---|---|
| Risk per trade | 5% to 20%, or sized by feel | 1% to 2%, sized from the stop |
| Stop-loss | Missing or moved | Set before entry, never widened |
| Number of trades | Many, often out of boredom | Few, only planned setups |
| After a loss | Trade bigger to win it back | Stop for the day or review |
| Measuring success | Last trade or last week | Expectancy over 100+ trades |
Two traders open accounts at the same broker in January. By December the broker's risk warning says 70% of accounts lost money. The first trader is in that 70%: he risked 8% a trade and a two-week losing run in March took half his account. The second risked 1% a trade, had a losing quarter in the spring and finished the year up 6%. She is in the 30%, not because she was smarter, but because her losing run was survivable.
Why so few stay profitable: the cost of trading
Part of the answer is simply cost. Every trade opens with a small loss equal to the spread, plus commission on some accounts, and those costs add up faster than most beginners expect.
Take a trader with a $2,000 account who trades one mini lot (10,000 units) of EUR/USD, worth about $1 per pip, and pays an all-in cost of 1.2 pips per round trip. Each trade costs about $1.20. At five trades a day, 20 trading days a month, that is about $120 a month, or 6% of the account, before a single trade has been right or wrong. The strategy has to earn more than 6% a month just to stand still.
Cut the activity to five trades a week and the same costs fall to about $24 a month, a little over 1%. Nothing else changed. This is one reason traders who take fewer, better-planned trades show up more often on the profitable side of the broker figures. Our trading cost calculator works out the cost for your own pair, size and broker.
How to improve your own odds
- Keep risk per trade at 1% to 2% of the account. The position size calculator turns that into a lot size.
- Trade with a written plan and a stop-loss on every position.
- Measure your expectancy, not your win rate. A 40% win rate can be profitable at a 1:2 risk-to-reward; see risk-reward vs win rate.
- Test on a demo account first, then trade small live stakes until your results match.
- Choose a regulated broker so that, whatever happens to your trading, your money is held properly.
If someone claims a 90% win rate or guaranteed monthly returns, ask for a verified record from a regulated broker. Profitable traders talk about drawdowns and expectancy, not certainty.
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Most retail accounts lose money. This guide is education, not financial advice.
Frequently asked
What percentage of forex traders make money?
Across the 16 UK and EU brokers in our tracker, 23.4% to 39% of retail CFD accounts did not lose money over the latest measured period, about 29.9% on average. That includes break-even accounts, so the share that is clearly profitable is lower.
What percentage of forex traders are consistently profitable?
No regulator publishes multi-year figures. Research that followed individual day traders, such as the Brazilian futures study by Chague, De-Losso and Giovannetti, found that 97% of those who persisted for 300 days or more lost money. Consistent profitability is rare.
What percentage of forex traders fail?
The best official measure is the losing share of retail accounts: 61% to 76.6% across UK and EU brokers in 20 October 2026, and 74% to 89% in ESMA's 2018 review.
What percentage of forex traders are millionaires?
No reliable data exists. Claims you see online are not backed by any regulator or study. Given that most accounts lose money and most retail accounts are small, the share is likely tiny.
Does a lower loss rate mean a better broker?
No. The figure reflects each broker's mix of clients and products as much as anything the broker does. Use it as a reminder of how risky CFDs are, not as a ranking.
Related reading
The team behind this guide
Researched, checked and approved by five forex specialists
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