Market Monitor

Jurisdictional Availability

Why prop firm access differs by country — and which of the three distinct restriction layers applies. Availability is a legal, licensing and commercial question, not a measure of firm quality.

The three restriction layers

These layers are frequently conflated. They have different sources, different scope, and different implications.

Sanctions regimes

Legal prohibition — applies to every firm

Where a jurisdiction is subject to comprehensive financial sanctions (for example US OFAC or UN measures), firms and their payment providers are legally prohibited from transacting. This layer is set by law and is not a firm-by-firm choice. Sanctions programmes change; the operative list is the one published by the relevant authority.

Financial regulation

Conditional — depends on the firm's permissions

Regulators restrict who may solicit or market regulated activity to residents of their jurisdiction. A firm without the relevant permission cannot lawfully market there, which is why availability differs between firms operating the same product. This is a licensing question, not a statement about a firm's conduct.

Firm-level terms

Commercial — set by each firm individually

Beyond law and regulation, each firm sets its own eligible-country list for commercial reasons such as payment processing, fraud exposure or support coverage. Two firms in the same jurisdiction may reach different decisions. Only the firm's own current terms are authoritative on this.

What PropTradeCenter holds — and does not

On record

Firm-level operating detail on each firm dossier, including headquarters and platform detail where established.
Recorded regulatory actions and developments in Regulatory Watch, each linked to its source.
Recorded closures, pauses and platform changes across the Market Monitor.

Not established

A verified per-firm, per-country eligibility matrix. We do not publish one, because we do not hold one to publication standard.
Aggregate figures such as "banned by X% of firms" or counts of affected traders. These previously appeared here without a source and have been removed.
Rankings of jurisdictions by risk, or recommendations of which firms to use from a given country.

Absence of information is not a restriction. Where we hold nothing on a country or firm pairing, this page shows nothing — it never renders unknown as "banned". The only authoritative statement of whether a firm accepts your country is that firm's current terms of service.

Who sets the rules

Factual description of each authority's remit. No grading, no ban rates.

Jurisdiction	Authority	Relevant remit
United States	CFTC · NFA (financial) · OFAC (sanctions)	Retail forex and futures activity requires CFTC/NFA registration; the CFTC publishes a RED List of unregistered foreign entities soliciting US residents. OFAC administers US sanctions programmes.
United Kingdom	FCA · OFSI (sanctions)	Financial promotions of regulated activity must be issued or approved by an authorised firm; the FCA publishes a warning list. OFSI administers UK financial sanctions.
European Union	ESMA + national authorities	ESMA product-intervention measures set retail CFD leverage limits and marketing restrictions, enforced nationally (for example BaFin, AMF, CONSOB, CySEC). EU sanctions are adopted at Union level.
Australia	ASIC	Regulates CFD and derivatives conduct, including leverage limits and client-money rules.
Canada	CIRO · provincial securities commissions	Dealer registration and securities regulation are administered provincially.

Sanctions programmes and product-intervention measures are amended regularly. Always check the authority's own publication for the current position.

Sources

Regulator and sanctions-authority publications (CFTC, FCA, ESMA and national EU authorities, ASIC, CIRO, OFAC, OFSI), and firm-published terms of service. Firm-specific records are held in the PropTradeCenter firm-event and dossier record.

Regulatory Watch Jurisdiction Tracker PTC Risk Monitor™