I have gotten approval in a few different jurisdictions for retail derivs trading. The barrier to entry is pathetically low in all cases. Literally: Tick a box to agree if you accept risk and are "qualified".
My broker presents a form with questions that I need to get right before they allow me to dabble in the leveraged and tricky instruments. Don't remember how many exactly, it's a combination of questions like 'can you lose all your invested money' and technical ones that reflect the type of instrument.
I assume it's a compliance requirement, they get a record of me having said the right things at one time and don't really know if I got someone else to tell me what to answer. Still, I think it's actually keeping some people out, judging from some forum threads where they try to get help to pass and seemingly fail even though others are telling them basically what to respond with.
