Skip to content

CFDs are leveraged products. CFD trading may not be suitable for everyone and can result in losses that exceed your deposits, so please consider our Risk Disclosure Notice and ensure that you fully understand the risks involved. 79% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs over the last 12 months. CFDs come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage and can be closed quickly due to margin calls. CFDs are leveraged products. CFD trading may not be suitable for everyone and can result in losses that exceed your deposits, so please consider our Risk Disclosure Notice and ensure that you fully understand the risks involved. 79% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs over the last 12 months. CFDs come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage and can be closed quickly due to margin calls.

Capital loss definition

When a trader sells an asset at a lower price than they initially paid for it, they have incurred a capital loss. As such, capital loss is the opposite of capital gain: the profit made when an asset is sold for more than originally paid.

Capital loss occurs when the drop in price of an asset is realised by a trader: in other words, when they sell the asset for less than they bought it. When a financial asset’s price has moved lower than the price initially paid it has not yet incurred a loss, as that only happens when the trader executes the sale.

For example, buying £400 of Tesco stock then selling after it has dropped to £300 would incur a capital loss of £100. If you held onto the stock at £300 and it returned to £400, though, no capital loss would be realised and the trade would be even.

Visit our shares section

Find some shares to trade here.

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - Y

See all glossary trading terms

Help and support

Get answers about your account or our services.

Get answers

We're here 24hrs a day from 9am Saturday to 11pm Friday.