CMC Markets clients in Australia placed 1,193% more Brent crude trades in March 2026 than in the previous month, according to a report the broker published today (Tuesday). CMC presents the figure as evidence of how quickly traders shift attention during volatility.
March was the month US and Israeli strikes on Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz. Brent jumped as much as 13% to $82 at the 2 March open, a 14-month high, and later topped $115.
Clients Rotated Out of Bitcoin and Into Gold
The report, Inside the Mind of the Trader, carries two other sets of CMC client data. Bitcoin trade counts fell 27% between December 2025 and January 2026, while gold trade counts rose 44% over the same weeks.
That followed Bitcoin ‘s October 2025 peak at $126,080 and its drop below $90,000 in November. CMC frames the rotation as a move from risk-on positioning after a period of what it calls bullish overconfidence.
Average monthly trades in Commonwealth Bank of Australia shares fell 53% between January and April 2026 against the 2025 average, after the stock closed at A$158 in January 2025 against a Morningstar fair value estimate of A$95.
All three figures are percentage changes with no base numbers attached. They cover trade counts rather than volume, and the Australian business only.
The Report Cautions Against Trading in Markets CMC Has Been Opening Up
Sakis Paratsoukidis, head of quantitative trading for CMC in Australia and New Zealand
“The challenge for traders isn’t a lack of information, it’s how they process it,” Sakis Paratsoukidis, head of quantitative trading for CMC in Australia and New Zealand, said in the report.
The two instruments in the report’s rotation example are also two the Australian unit has been making easier to trade. CMC launched 24/7 crypto CFD trading for Australian clients, covering Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP and others without weekend or after-hours restrictions.
It followed with weekend gold CFDs, giving clients access to the metal while the underlying spot and futures markets are shut. The report does not address the relationship between extended access and the reactive trading it describes.
What the Report Leaves Out
CMC builds its case on DALBAR’s investor gap studies and cites a shortfall of 8.48% against the S&P 500 in 2024. In the same paragraph it notes the most recent reading is 0.72%, the lowest since 2012, without addressing what that does to the argument.
The Australian regulator has published harder numbers on the same market. ASIC found that 68% of retail CFD investors lost money in the 2024 financial year, losing more than A$458 million including A$73 million in fees.
In a report released on 20 January this year, ASIC set out the results of a review of 52 licensed CFD issuers and said it had secured close to A$40 million in refunds for more than 38,000 investors. It found more than half the sector had breached its product intervention order by offering margin discounts on opposing long and short positions.
ASIC located the problem in how firms designed and distributed the products. CMC’s report locates it in how clients think. Neither the review nor the regulator’s loss data appears in the report.
The academic backbone is Kahneman and Tversky’s 1979 prospect theory paper and Barber and Odean’s 2000 study on overtrading. The herd mentality section uses GameStop in 2021.
CMC has published client data before, including a breakdown showing Australians on its investing platform traded local stocks almost six times more than US-listed ones. Its parent reported record client assets of £46.3 billion in its most recent update.
CMC Markets clients in Australia placed 1,193% more Brent crude trades in March 2026 than in the previous month, according to a report the broker published today (Tuesday). CMC presents the figure as evidence of how quickly traders shift attention during volatility.
March was the month US and Israeli strikes on Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz. Brent jumped as much as 13% to $82 at the 2 March open, a 14-month high, and later topped $115.
Clients Rotated Out of Bitcoin and Into Gold
The report, Inside the Mind of the Trader, carries two other sets of CMC client data. Bitcoin trade counts fell 27% between December 2025 and January 2026, while gold trade counts rose 44% over the same weeks.
That followed Bitcoin ‘s October 2025 peak at $126,080 and its drop below $90,000 in November. CMC frames the rotation as a move from risk-on positioning after a period of what it calls bullish overconfidence.
Average monthly trades in Commonwealth Bank of Australia shares fell 53% between January and April 2026 against the 2025 average, after the stock closed at A$158 in January 2025 against a Morningstar fair value estimate of A$95.
All three figures are percentage changes with no base numbers attached. They cover trade counts rather than volume, and the Australian business only.
The Report Cautions Against Trading in Markets CMC Has Been Opening Up
Sakis Paratsoukidis, head of quantitative trading for CMC in Australia and New Zealand
“The challenge for traders isn’t a lack of information, it’s how they process it,” Sakis Paratsoukidis, head of quantitative trading for CMC in Australia and New Zealand, said in the report.
The two instruments in the report’s rotation example are also two the Australian unit has been making easier to trade. CMC launched 24/7 crypto CFD trading for Australian clients, covering Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP and others without weekend or after-hours restrictions.
It followed with weekend gold CFDs, giving clients access to the metal while the underlying spot and futures markets are shut. The report does not address the relationship between extended access and the reactive trading it describes.
What the Report Leaves Out
CMC builds its case on DALBAR’s investor gap studies and cites a shortfall of 8.48% against the S&P 500 in 2024. In the same paragraph it notes the most recent reading is 0.72%, the lowest since 2012, without addressing what that does to the argument.
The Australian regulator has published harder numbers on the same market. ASIC found that 68% of retail CFD investors lost money in the 2024 financial year, losing more than A$458 million including A$73 million in fees.
In a report released on 20 January this year, ASIC set out the results of a review of 52 licensed CFD issuers and said it had secured close to A$40 million in refunds for more than 38,000 investors. It found more than half the sector had breached its product intervention order by offering margin discounts on opposing long and short positions.
ASIC located the problem in how firms designed and distributed the products. CMC’s report locates it in how clients think. Neither the review nor the regulator’s loss data appears in the report.
The academic backbone is Kahneman and Tversky’s 1979 prospect theory paper and Barber and Odean’s 2000 study on overtrading. The herd mentality section uses GameStop in 2021.
CMC has published client data before, including a breakdown showing Australians on its investing platform traded local stocks almost six times more than US-listed ones. Its parent reported record client assets of £46.3 billion in its most recent update.
