AMF regulation
The Autorité des marchés financiers regulates financial markets in France, within the European framework. Retail leverage on major currency pairs is capped at 30:1 under ESMA rules, negative balance protection applies to retail accounts, and brokers must display standardised risk warnings.
The AMF maintains public lists of authorised firms and of unauthorised websites it has identified. The second list is unusually useful — it is a direct record of entities that have solicited French residents without authorisation, and checking it takes a moment.
Automating your own trading is not a regulated activity. The rules apply to the broker and to anyone managing money on behalf of others.
The advertising restrictions, and what they tell you
France restricted the electronic advertising of certain highly speculative financial contracts to retail investors, a measure introduced because the harm was measurable rather than theoretical. AMF research into retail CFD and forex trading found that a large majority of clients lost money over the period studied.
That context is worth carrying into any evaluation of a trading bot. The restrictions exist because aggressive marketing of leveraged products to retail investors produced consistent losses, and a bot sold with the same marketing techniques deserves the same scepticism regardless of the software behind it.
The practical filter this gives you: judge a bot by what it will show you about its losing periods, not by what it claims about its winning ones. A seller unwilling to show a drawdown is telling you something.
What the leverage cap means for automation
An automated strategy calculates position size from its rules and either can open that size or cannot. Strategies written for jurisdictions offering far higher leverage will request sizes unavailable on a French retail account.
The failure is not always visible. Some bots skip the trade silently; others open a smaller position and run a risk profile different from the one that was tested. Either way the live strategy is not the backtested one, and this is worth verifying explicitly rather than assuming.
Practical setup
- Check the broker against the AMF's authorised list, and against its list of unauthorised sites.
- Recalculate position sizing for 30:1 leverage rather than porting settings.
- Verify what your bot does when a position size is rejected.
- Ask for out-of-sample results with spread and commission charged, and for the worst drawdown.
- Demo for weeks, including through a losing run.
What we can build
We build custom Expert Advisors for MetaTrader 4 and 5, coded to rules you already trade, backtested with real costs and validated on data they were not fitted to. You receive the source code and a written test report — including when the report says the strategy does not hold up.
We do not promise returns and we do not publish win rates. Given the AMF's own findings about retail outcomes in this market, that reticence seems to us the only defensible position.
Common questions
Are trading bots legal in France?
Yes. Automating your own account is legal and not itself regulated. AMF rules apply to brokers and to firms managing money for others.
What is the leverage limit in France?
Retail leverage on major currency pairs is capped at 30:1 under ESMA rules, with tighter caps on other assets, alongside negative balance protection on retail accounts.
Why does France restrict trading advertisements?
Because AMF research into retail CFD and forex trading found that a large majority of clients lost money. The restrictions target aggressive marketing of leveraged products, and the same scepticism is worth applying to any bot sold using those techniques.
How do I check if a broker is authorised in France?
Consult the AMF's register of authorised firms, and separately its list of unauthorised websites — the second is a direct record of entities that have solicited French residents without authorisation.
Trading carries risk and you can lose money. Nothing on this page is financial advice. Past performance does not indicate future results.