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Financial Markets Authority (AMF) Brokers 2025

Written By

Royston Wild

Written By

Royston Wild

Royston is an experienced investor and writer. His expertise includes stock recommendations through to commodities, forex, and macroeconomic news. Royston's background includes roles as a stocks and commodities reporter, and editor of forex coverage at Shares Magazine.

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Edited By

James Barra

Edited By

James Barra

James is an investment writer with a background in financial services. As a former management consultant, he's worked on major operational transformation programmes at top European banks. A trusted industry name, James's work at DayTrading.com has been cited in publications like Business Insider.

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Fact Checked By

Jemma Grist

Fact Checked By

Jemma Grist

Jemma is a writer, editor and fact-checker focused on retail trading and investing. Jemma brings a unique perspective to the forex, stock, and cryptocurrency markets and works across several investment websites as a researcher and broker analyst.

» Jemma Grist Profile Page

Updated

Oct 22, 2024

In France, the Financial Markets Authority (AMF) – known locally as the Autorité des Marchés Financiers – regulates the country’s financial system and authorizes the activities of online brokers.

The AMF is considered a ‘green-tier’ regulator under our Regulation & Trust Rating, meaning that day traders can expect a high level of protection. Helpfully for investors, it regularly updates a warning list of unauthorized brokers that traders should avoid.

The French regulator is also relatively active, making 17 enforcement decisions in 2023, resulting in total financial penalties of €34.94 million. It also settled 10 cases which generated another $1.35 million in fines.

Here you’ll find a selection of the best brokers regulated by the AMF. Each one can be found on REGAFI’s database of authorized companies.

Methodology

To locate the top brokers that are regulated in France, we:

How Can I Check If A Broker Is Regulated By AMF?

There are three simple steps you can take to ascertain whether a broker has AMF authorization:

1. Go to REGAFI’s register of approved financial companies.
2. Type the broker’s name into the search field.
3. If the company appears, click on the details in the ‘REGAFI Identifier’ or ‘Name’ fields to see additional details (like business address and regulated activities).

Here you can see the results of a search I ran on eToro, revealing that the company is AMF-authorized through the EU’s cross border initiative.

Royston Wild

Author

What Rules Must AMF-Regulated Brokers Follow?

Online brokers in France must follow a strict framework of rules designed to protect retail investors and the broader financial system.

France’s membership of the European Union means that the AMF follows many requirements demanded by the European Securities and Markets Association (ESMA).

One important piece of legislation is the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II), which was introduced in 2018 to safeguard investors and boost the efficiency, transparency and strength of financial markets across the European Union.

Key rules that brokers regulated in France must follow include:

• Brokers must fairly advertise trading products, and clearly display client fees.
• Customer leverage (or borrowed funds) must not exceed 1:30 for major currency pairings, and 1:20 for all other forex crosses.
• Companies must offer negative balance protection, which prevents retail investors from losing more money than they have deposited, as well as margin close-outs, where positions are shut when a trader’s margin falls below 50% of the initial required amount.
• Brokers should establish rules that allow them to prevent, identify and manage conflicts of interest.
• Brokerages must adhere to minimum capital requirements of €750,000.
• Customers’ funds must be segregated from the brokers’ operating funds, thus protecting clients’ money in the event of corporate insolvency.
• Brokers should provide adequate information on the broader risks of online trading.

The AMF can issue financial penalties, and/or suspend or revoke a trading platform’s authorization to deal if they violate regulations.

Bottom Line

A strict regulatory regime makes France a great place for day traders to set up shop. But as with any territory, investors need to be on the lookout for fraudulent actors. The AMF says that 15% of the French population have been victims of a financial scam at one time or another.

It’s therefore important that traders only use a brokerage that has regulatory approval to do business. This can be checked in just a few minutes through the AMF website. Alternatively, use our list of the best brokers regulated in France.