Singapore CFD market contracts by 23%

Steeper decline than in Western regions.

The 2013 Investment Trends Singapore CFD & FX report has found that while Singapore's CFD market has contracted by 23%, as the number of traders significantly declined this year.

This is a significantly higher decline than in other regions like the UK, Australia, France and Germany, the report added.

Commenting on the activity dip, Jason Hughes, Head of Sales Trading of CMC Markets said: "The regulatory controls over opening CFD accounts in Singapore, such as the Customer Knowledge Assessment, are more restrictive than in other countries, such as the UK and Australia."

"This means that traders of CFDs with Singapore-based brokers are among the world's most financially astute. The flipside is that less financially astute traders -- those who are more vulnerable -- can only trade CFDs with brokers based offshore, without the same controls and protection," he added.

Phillip CFD remains Singapore's biggest CFD provider by primary relationships, the report said.

Meanwhile, it also named CMC Markets as the CFD provider with the highest overall client satisfaction based on ratings by Singapore's CFD traders.