Crypto CFD or Buying Real Coins? How Leverage, Margin Calls and Tax Differ

A crypto CFD and a purchased coin look almost identical on screen, yet in law they are two different things. With a CFD you enter into a contract with a provider on the difference in price, and not a single coin ever moves to you. With a direct purchase the crypto asset itself belongs to you, and you can withdraw it to a wallet of your own. Almost everything else follows from that one distinction: the leverage you are allowed, the tax treatment, the custody arrangement, and the question of who stands behind your money if things go wrong. This guide places both routes side by side, using the rules that actually apply in Germany. The supervisory figures come from BaFin's general administrative act on contracts for difference, the tax figures from the German Income Tax Act as currently in force. At the end there is an assessment of which product suits which type of investor. What is a crypto CFD, and what do you actually own? A contract for difference, or CFD, is an agreement between you and a provider on the difference between the price when a position is opened and the price when it is closed. If the price moves your way, the provider pays you the difference; if it moves against you...