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Australia’s corporate regulator wants another decade of guardrails on contracts for difference. This time, digital assets are named in the rulebook.
On October 12, 2026, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) published Consultation Paper CS 64. It proposes extending the existing CFD Product Intervention Order (PIO) for ten years, out to 2037, subject to ministerial approval. Stakeholders have until November 9, 2026 to send feedback.
What ASIC is proposing
The biggest change in CS 64 is definitional. The draft instrument would explicitly bring CFDs that settle through a transfer of digital assets into the order’s scope. Contracts that pay out in crypto, rather than cash, would no longer sit in an ambiguous corner of the rules.
ASIC is also tidying up its vocabulary. The draft swaps the term “cryptoasset” for “digital asset” throughout.
Under the proposal, initial margin requirements would apply to each CFD on its own. Traders could not net opposing positions against each other to shrink the collateral they post. Holding a long and a short on the same market would not cancel out for margin purposes. Each position would need its own cushion of money behind it.
The paper also clarifies the rules on inducements, the perks brokers might dangle to attract clients. And ASIC is asking for views on whether options CFDs should remain available to retail clients at all. That question is open for consultation, not a decision already made.
Why the regulator is not easing off
The current order took effect in March 2021 and is set to expire on May 23, 2027. It introduced leverage caps, mandatory position close-outs, and protections against negative account balances.
According to ASIC’s research, those measures have had a positive impact. Retail investors nonetheless lost more than $458 million in the last 12 months, per the figures cited in the consultation. That total includes $73 million lost to fees alone.
What this means for brokers and traders
For CFD providers offering crypto exposure in Australia, products that settle in digital assets would likely face the same leverage caps, close-out rules and negative balance protections as cash-settled contracts.
The no-netting margin rule could matter most to active traders who run offsetting positions. Requiring separate initial margin for each contract raises the capital needed to run hedged or paired strategies.
The options CFD question carries the most uncertainty. If feedback pushes ASIC toward restricting those products for retail clients, providers that rely on them could need to rethink their offerings.
Feedback closes November 9, 2026, and the current order runs until May 23, 2027. Any extension still requires ministerial approval, so the final shape of the rules depends on both the consultation outcome and a political sign-off.
Disclosure: This article was edited by John Chen. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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