Romania

Romania supervises investment firms through the Autoritatea de Supraveghere Financiară, which covers capital markets, insurance and pensions in a single authority. A domestic brokerage industry exists alongside the EEA firms passporting in, and the choice between them has a practical consequence beyond regulation.

Trading conditions

The ESMA measures apply in full: 30:1 on major currency pairs, 20:1 on minors, gold and major indices, 10:1 on other commodities, 5:1 on individual shares, 2:1 on cryptocurrencies. Negative balance protection is mandatory, margin close-out sits at 50%, bonuses are prohibited, and each broker must display the proportion of its retail accounts that lose money. Binary options may not be sold to retail clients.

Why a domestic intermediary is worth considering

Romania moved to a system in which a resident intermediary withholds the tax on investment gains at source and remits it, with rates that differ according to how long the instrument was held. For the client this removes the annual reconstruction of every trade and the associated filing.

Using a foreign broker reverses that entirely. No withholding occurs, and the resident must calculate the result independently, convert each transaction into lei at the correct reference rate, and file the declaration themselves. For an active trader with hundreds of positions, that is a substantial piece of work and the most common source of error and penalty. It is a real argument for a Romanian-licensed intermediary that has nothing to do with the quality of the foreign broker.

Compensation

Clients of Romanian-authorised firms are covered by the domestic investor compensation fund up to a statutory limit. A passported broker brings its home state's scheme instead — most often the €20,000 Cypriot ICF. The entity named on your account agreement decides which applies.

Currency

Romania has not adopted the euro, and the leu is managed within a narrow range against it. That keeps RON pairs quiet most of the time and makes them thin when they move, with wide spreads outside local hours. Traders funding a euro or dollar account from lei should also compare conversion costs, which can exceed a year of trading commissions.

Checks

The ASF publishes registers of authorised entities and warnings about unauthorised operators.