I intend to open a real account and I recently read that the FCA has changed the trading conditions and reduced the leverage. What are the new conditions for trading ? And since when was it worked out? Means : What is the maximum leverage now available for FCA licensed, regulated and controlled companies? Is hedging still allowed? What is stop out Margin Level? The most important question Do companies actually work with the new rules or not? If they work out, how we can work with very little leverage? If they do not work, how can they be licensed and monitored by the FCA?
The reduced leverage rules were introduced in 2018 and limit leverage on CFD's (including spreadbets) to - 30:1 for major currency pairs; 20:1 for non-major currency pairs, gold and major indices; 10:1 for commodities other than gold and non-major equity indices; 5:1 for individual equities and other reference values; 2:1 for cryptocurrencies At the same time, the companies in the market have to give clients negative balance protection and an automatic close-out at the 50% margin level, plus restrictions on new client bonuses etc. Brokers already had to provide clients deposits protection and segregated clients' funds accounts. The leverage rules came from ESMA, the EU regulator, and the FCA has complied with almost all of them. They're not likely to disappear on Brexit. Its your choice of course. You might find a non-EU brokerage will offer you higher leverage but then you'll miss out on the other protections.
Many of them run offshore branches too, where you can choose higher leverage and more flexible trading options. Some of examples are Excess, Hotforex or Tickmill.