Brokers today offer CFDs on stocks, indices, treasuries, currencies, sectors, and commodities. This makes it possible for investors interested in various financial vehicles to trade CFDs as an exchange option Versus Trade.
Choosing the best CFD trading platform for you depends on your location, and your broker’s rules. Interactive Brokers is the best CFD broker for most experienced CFD traders; eToro is the best CFD broker for most beginner CFD traders.
eToro’s Social Trading features can provide new CFD traders with a blueprint for implementing this tricky strategy – learning from more experienced traders in eToro’s vast social network who share their trade ideas.
CFDs are traded on margin. The broker allows investors to borrow money to increase leverage or the size of the position. Brokers will require traders to maintain specific account balances before they allow this type of transaction.
Usually levied on share CFDs, commission means that the broker will take a small percentage of the full value of the trade as a payment. So, if you’ve taken a trade on Amazon stock worth £5,000, and the commission rate is 0.10%, your commission charge will be £5. (markets.com does not currently charge commission fees.)
Suppose you want to trade a CFD on a stock worth $1,000 with a leverage of 10:1. Instead of investing the full $1,000, you only need $100 (10% of the position value) as your margin. Your broker covers the remaining $900. Besides, leverage enables traders to earn higher returns on their investment, as the profits are calculated based on the total position size rather than just the invested capital.
In addition to leverage, traders should also be aware of the risks associated with the underlying asset they are trading. For example, there is a risk of price volatility, which can result in significant losses if the market moves against the trader. There is also a risk of liquidity, which can make it difficult to exit a position if there are no buyers or sellers in the market. Finally, there is a risk of political instability, which can impact the price of the underlying asset and result in losses for the trader.
Traditional investing usually involves following a simple strategy: “buy low, sell high.” CFD trading follows that same pattern, but investors can also use an alternative method to try and profit from market moves: “sell high, buy low.”
Diversification: Spread your investments across different asset classes to reduce risk. Diversification can provide a buffer against poor performance in a specific market or sector. Avoid concentrating your capital in a single trade or asset class.
To be authorized and regulated, brokers must undergo audits, meet capital requirements, and provide segregated accounts and negative balance protection. You can search the regulator’s website to confirm the broker’s status and check for any disciplinary action. The broker’s size and operating history are also worth considering. You can usually find these on the company’s LinkedIn page.
Opening an account with an unregulated offshore broker entails substantial risk. In some instances, brokers with offshore entities purchase private insurance from Lloyds of London to mitigate the risk for clients. Be sure to check what kind of account insurance is available to safeguard your account – whether a compensation fund is provided in association with a regulator or private insurance.
We preferred brokers with a broad range of CFD instruments and diverse account types suitable for various trader levels. Customer support responsiveness, deposit and withdrawal convenience, and offered leverage were also key considerations.
Many CFD traders want to be able to watch asset markets, check their CFD trade executions, enter trades and perform market analysis using their smartphones or tablets while away from their desktop computers. A CFD broker having a mobile app suitable for your device can therefore become a priority feature.
FP Markets offers competitive trading costs: in my live tests, I experienced spreads of 14 pips in gold and 4 pips in crude oil. Speed is the name of the game at this broker – made possible with low latency trade execution delivered from the Equinix NY4 facility server cluster. I also confirmed that scalpers and algorithmic traders can be more confident of having a stable trading environment thanks to free VPS hosting.