Millions of individuals enter the trading world each year, enticed by the promise of financial prosperity. After all, who can resist the possibility of overnight wealth from a few well-placed and timed trades?
Stories like Bill Ackman’s, who turned his $27 million investment into $2.6 billion by entering the stock market at the right time, make engaging with financial arenas through trading even more alluring, especially for beginners.
Yet, the path to wealth through traditional securities, such as stocks and bonds, demands a well-thought-out strategy, a clear vision of your goals, discipline, and patience.
Success in trading involves waiting for the opportune moments to buy and sell, hoping for price fluctuations to work in your favour. Unfortunately, this approach can leave you holding on to a collection of financial instruments for extended periods.
Thankfully, an alternative route offers a unique avenue to trading and the global markets without the burden of owning underlying assets. This pathway is known as a contract for difference (CFD).
This article provides a comprehensive overview of CFDs, including how they work, their advantages and disadvantages and strategies you can use to protect your investments and portfolio.
What Is CFD Trading?
At its core, contract for difference (CFD) trading, like spread betting, involves buying or selling contracts based on the price trends of an underlying asset. These assets include various financial instruments, such as stocks, indices, cryptocurrencies and forex currency pairs.
What Is a Contract for Difference (CFD)?
A CFD is a financial agreement that facilitates payment based on the difference between the settlement price of the initial and final trades. In other words, it’s a product that lets you profit from a derivative asset’s price fluctuations.
However, unlike conventional trading practices, a contract for difference doesn’t involve buying and owning an underlying asset. Instead, CFDs allow you to exchange the difference in an asset’s opening and closing price.
What sets CFDs apart from other trading strategies is that they let you profit from upward and downward price trends. In contrast, traditional trading only allows you to realise yields when you sell an asset at a higher value than its purchase price.
What’s the Appeal of CFDs?
The allure of a contract for difference lies in its flexibility and accessibility. This product exposes you to financial markets and various assets without extensive capital.
Moreover, CFDs are leveraged products. In other words, CFD providers allow you to borrow funds you can use to invest and control more significant positions with a smaller upfront capital, which can magnify gains.
What Are CFDs Used for?
CFDs serve various purposes for traders. Many use them as a gateway into global markets, providing an opportunity for diversification and participation in financial arenas that may otherwise be inaccessible or require considerable investments.
Other traders utilise a contract for difference in hedging strategies. For instance, CFDs let you short-sell or sell an asset before its price declines and repurchase it at a lower market value. Short selling helps you mitigate potential losses from your investment portfolio.
Key Takeaways
Before diving further into the intricacies of CFD trading, let’s summarise some essential details:
- A contract for difference is a derivative financial instrument that allows you to realise profits from price speculations without owning assets.
- CFDs let you participate in various financial markets and trade products like stocks, bonds, and other securities.
- Unlike conventional trading approaches, a contract for difference enables you to gain returns from rising and falling prices.
How Contracts For Difference or CFDs Work
Let’s assume two scenarios: One where you’re entering the global markets through traditional asset buy and sell and one where you use a contract for difference.
With traditional trading, you invest in an asset, such as a currency pair or commodity, by buying it at a specific price, hoping its value will increase over time. When it does, you sell it and pocket the difference.
While this approach is tried and tested, it carries certain inherent limitations. For one, holding onto physical assets ties up your capital, leaving you cash-strapped while waiting for the optimal sell price.
In contrast, with a contract for difference, you speculate on an asset’s price movements without needing to purchase and manage them. You profit from the difference between the CFD’s buy price and the closing trade value.
As mentioned, one of the most significant upsides of using CFDs is the ability to get returns from taking a “long position”, an optimistic prediction in an asset’s price, and a “short position”, speculating a downward trajectory.
Make Informed Choices About Purchases
When trading CFDs, it’s crucial to understand the concept of leverage. Leverage allows you to possess a more significant market position with a fraction of the total trade value, thanks to the margin requirements imposed by the CFD broker.
For instance, if a brokerage offers a 1:50 leverage ratio, you can trade $50 for every $1 you have. Leverage can be an effective mechanism to amplify profits if you have little upfront capital. However, it can also increase your exposure to potential losses if your speculation is wrong.
For this reason, you must maintain a focus on risk management. Understanding leverage can help you make informed and strategic choices about your CFD purchases.
Transacting in CFDs in Taurex
Diving into CFDs is an excellent way to begin trading with a small investment or diversify your portfolio to distribute risk.
The key to a successful trading experience is choosing a reputable broker to partner with.
You can start trading with a trusted broker like Taurex to tailor your approach to your unique preferences and goals.
Choose Your Instrument
One of the first decisions you must make when trading CFDs is selecting the underlying asset. Choosing the one that will help you achieve your trading goals can be overwhelming, considering that there are various options, each with pros and cons.
With Taurex, you can access guides, resources, and tools, such as real-time market analyses and report videos, to immerse yourself in the markets and better understand which assets best fit your trading style.
Choose Your Position
Opening positions can make or break your trades. When trading a contract for difference, open a long position or buy when you believe the price of your chosen underlying asset will go up. Conversely, short the market or sell when you think otherwise.
Choose Your Platform
Your chosen trading platform plays a pivotal role in the success of your financial venture. Fortunately, Taurex provides multiple cutting-edge options, from MetaTrader 4 and its successor MetaTrader 5 to Copy Trading by Taurex.
The Advantages of a CFD
A contract for difference offers several advantages that differentiate it from traditional approaches and make it the better option.
Below are some benefits of CFD trading:
Higher Leverage
As mentioned, leverage empowers you to control a more prominent position with a fraction of the total trade value. While the maximum leverage for CFD trading varies on the regulatory authority facilitating a country or brokerage, some ratios can reach 1:500.
You’ll Open a Leveraged Position With Margin
Although leverage can magnify your earnings, it isn’t free. CFD margin requirements can vary wildly, but these require you to deposit based on the financial market in which you’ll open positions. Fortunately, many CFD providers have low-margin requirements.
Spread and Commission
When opening a position, a CFD provider will generally offer you two prices – the asking or buy price and the bid or sell price of an asset. The discrepancy between the two values is known as the CFD spread.
The spread is one of the costs of trading CFDs and how most brokerages profit from overseeing a contract for difference trade. Fortunately, CFD brokers typically only take a portion of the spread or charge a flat rate.
Global Market Access From One Platform
A unique facet of a contract for difference lies in its global accessibility. Trusted CFD brokers like Taurex open doors to various global markets with 24/7 trading, which you can access from a single platform.
No Shorting Rules or Borrowing Stock
Many conventional markets prohibit traders from “shorting” or selling securities without owning them. CFDs eliminate these constraints by letting you short positions whenever you want without borrowing an underlying asset from a broker. This benefit allows you to exploit short-term price fluctuations.
Professional Execution With No Fees
Like conventional brokerages, CFD providers offer stop-loss and other contingent orders to prevent you from exceeding a certain loss threshold. While CFD providers may also charge fees for these services, they can be insignificant depending on the volatility of the financial derivative.
No Day Trading Requirements
Day trading refers to participating in the financial markets by buying and selling financial instruments during the trading day. For instance, day trading in the London Stock Exchange (LSE) means engaging in the market between 8 AM and 4:30 PM.
Variety of Trading Opportunities
CFDs offer a diverse range of assets you can trade, such as stocks (like Apple), indices, ETFs (exchange-traded funds), and commodities like gold and oil.
These opportunities allow you to diversify your trading strategies and explore other financial instruments outside traditional exchanges that match your market preferences.
CFDs Behave Similarly to Their Underlying Market
One of the significant advantages of CFDs is that they closely mirror the behaviour of their underlying assets. This synchronicity lets you utilise conventional trading approaches like technical and fundamental analyses to make informed decisions effectively.
Disadvantages of a CFD
While we’ve been singing praises for CFDs thus far with their numerous upsides, it will only be fair if we discuss their fair share of downsides.
Here are some disadvantages of CFDs that you must consider before setting your position:
Traders Pay the Spread
Spreads lets you capitalise on minute market movements. Still, they can also slowly chip away at the gains of your successful trades. Moreover, paying this fee can be even more bitter when it amplifies your losses.
Thankfully, CFD spreads can be lower than those in other financial instruments. However, they’re still an essential aspect that warrants your attention, especially considering that you must pay them, regardless of how little a CFD broker charges.
Weak Industry Regulation
Unlike conventional financial domains, the CFD industry isn’t closely regulated. Regulations can vary wildly depending on the country.
For instance, CFD trading is illegal in countries like Belgium, Hong Kong, and the United States. At the same time, it may be legal but heavily restricted in some countries, such as Canada, France, and Austria.
A weak or lack of regulation can lead to differences in investor protection from fraudulent activities. For this reason, it’s critical to collaborate with a trusted broker like Taurex, which follows the stringent standards set by the regulatory bodies.
Risks
A contract for difference is generally associated with short-term trading strategies aiming to exploit subtle market price fluctuations. Engaging in CFD trading requires vigilance and swift actions to offset liquidity risks and margin calls.
While advantageous, leverage also exposes you to higher risk levels, potentially leading to significant losses if not managed appropriately. Although CFD providers have contingent measures to prevent these losses from occurring, they don’t guarantee that your portfolio won’t take a hit.
Partnering with an experienced broker like Taurex allows you to manage CFD trading risks. It will also help if you conduct thorough research into global markets and match your approach with your trading needs and goals.
Steps to Becoming a CFD Trader
Anyone can become a CFD trader. However, becoming a proficient CFD trader involves navigating an intricate landscape of essential knowledge and strategic awareness.
Here are some crucial stepping stones that can pave the way for a successful venture through a contract for difference:
Learn How CFD Profit and Loss Works
Before you start trading CFDs, you must grasp how profit and loss calculations function in the context of these contracts. Fortunately, the formula is simple:
- First, multiply the size of your position or the number of contracts by the value of each contract.
- Then, multiply the resulting figure by the disparity between the opening and closing price of the underlying asset.
Note that this formula doesn’t consider the margin requirements and the spread costs. You can use a CFD profit and loss calculator to estimate your trades accurately.
How to Place a CFD Trade
Making a CFD trading is straightforward. You select an underlying asset you want to speculate on and decide whether to go short or long.
Shorting a CFD means betting on a downward trend. On the other hand, going long entails predicting price rises.
After you set your position, it’s up to the CFD provider to execute your trade. All that’s left is for you to monitor your transaction closely and respond appropriately to market movements.
Learn About CFD Timeframes
Different traders have varying timeframes for their trading strategies. Some prefer short-term trading, while others opt for longer timeframes. The timeline impacts the optimal market on which you take your position.
For instance, if you prefer short-term trading, you can consider spot trading, which involves opening or closing trades on a specified date based on the derivate asset’s price at a specific point.
Conversely, you can consider dabbling in CFD futures if you’re looking for medium- to long-term trades. This approach requires buying or selling a financial instrument at a designated price on a specific future date.
Know the Costs When Trading CFDs
While CFDs eliminate some traditional trading costs, such as stamp duty and exchange commission, there are still surcharges you must consider, as they can reduce your total trade earnings.
These transaction costs vary on the brokerage and the market but generally include the spread, leverage, and retail investor account maintenance fees.
Example of a CFD
To fully understand what future results you can expect when you engage in CFD trading, let’s assume a hypothetical scenario wherein you bought 5 Apple stock CFDs at a share price of $100.
Going Long CFD Trading Example
As mentioned, taking a long CFD position indicates that you’re betting for the price of an underlying asset to increase. Let’s say the market moves in your favour in this scenario.
If Apple’s stock price rises to $110, and you close the trade, expect a profit of $10 ($110 – $100 = $10) per CFD. If you bought and sold 5 CFDs, the total value of your potential profits would be $50 ($10 x 5 = $50).
Going Short CFD Example
Now, let’s look at a scenario wherein you took a short position or speculated on a downward market movement. If Apple’s stocks fall to $90, you receive a profit of $10 ($100 – $90 = $10) per share CFDs, netting you a total of $50 ($10 x 5 = $50) for five contracts.
A Losing Trade
Unfortunately, not all trades yield profits. If the market moves against your position, you’ll incur losses.
For instance, if you bet on an upward price movement and Apple shares fall to $90, you will lose $10 ($90 – $100 = -$10) per contract when you close your trade or $50 for 5 CFDs.
A Profitable Trade
On the other hand, when your analysis aligns with the market’s movement, you can capitalise on favourable price changes and generate profits regardless of your position.
Margin Trading Example
As mentioned, leverage is critical in CFD trading, as it can magnify your returns or potential losses. Margin trading is an approach wherein you utilise borrowed funds for more market exposure.
You’ll encounter two types of margins when trading CFDs – deposit and maintenance margins. The former is the amount you need to open a position, while the latter is the amount you need to cover losses.
Let’s say your CFD provider offers a 20% deposit margin requirement or a 5:1 leverage ratio.
Going by our Apple scenario, you need $100 ($100 x 5 x 20% = $100) to open a CFD position. You’ll need an additional $100 ($100 x 5 x 20% = $100) if your brokerage requires a 20% maintenance margin.
What Is a CFD Account?
At the heart of CFD trading lies the CFD account. This trading account allows you to bet and profit from market price movements without owning underlying assets.
Note that different CFD providers may have various retail investor accounts you can choose from, each with features and limitations, such as margin requirements or spread rates. Choose one appropriate for your trading needs and goals.
Fortunately, some brokers provide demo accounts that let you practice various trading techniques across multiple scenarios in a simulated environment. These trading accounts allow you to experience CFD trading firsthand without risking any money.
Minimum Deposit
When opening a CFD account, brokerages may require you to meet a minimum deposit requirement, which varies from one CFD provider to another. This initial deposit is the capital you’ll use to open a position.
Commissions
While traditional brokerage fees aren’t applicable, CFD brokerages generally charge commissions and spreads. Understanding these costs is crucial for effective trade planning.
Trading Stocks, Commodities, Indices and Currencies
Exchange-traded funds are a collection of securities or underlying assets, such as stocks, commodities, and forex, which you can use to gain exposure in various financial markets.
A contract for difference works similarly to ETFs as both allow you to participate in trading various financial instruments, such as indices and cryptocurrency, with the additional benefit of not needing to buy derivative assets.
Trading on Both Rising and Falling Markets
One of the many remarkable aspects of CFDs is their capacity to profit from rising and falling markets. You can tailor your CFD positions to match your market outlook, whether bullish (optimistic) or bearish (pessimistic) on an asset.
Trading Tools for CFD Traders
Many CFD providers offer financial services and trading tools to harness the true potential of a contract for difference. These tools may include AI news sentiment indicators, real-time trading signals, and in-depth video market commentary.
CFDs and Dividends
A dividend is a company’s earnings usually distributed quarterly to its shareholders. But did you know that you can receive dividends with stock-related CFDs?
For instance, your trading account will receive interest and dividend adjustments if you open a CFD position before a company’s ex-dividend date.
The ex-dividend date is the day prospective shareholders lose eligibility for upcoming payouts.
Your trading account will be debited with interest adjustments and credited for dividend payments when you have a long position. Conversely, going short rewards your account with interest adjustment credits and dividend payment debits.
Dividends are an excellent way to earn a steady income stream and preserve your capital’s purchasing power. Whether you realise dividends as earnings or re-invest them into more CFDs is up to you.
CFDs and the Regulator
The legal landscape of CFD trading is complex. Some countries prohibit financial instruments like contract for difference. At the same time, other countries allow them but have strict regulations.
For example, the U.K. and its financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, have specific regulations CFD brokerages and providers must follow concerning CFDs and CFD-like financial products.
These restrictions include the following:
- A CFD provider’s leverage range must be between 2:1 and 30:1.
- Brokerages must automatically close trades when the retail trader’s funds fall to 50% of the maintenance margin.
- CFD providers must provide protections that guarantee traders won’t lose more than their trading account’s total funds.
- A broker cannot offer monetary and non-monetary incentives to convince a trader to engage in CFD trading.
- A CFD firm must have standardised risk warning systems that indicate the percentage of its retail investment accounts that lose money.
Advanced Strategies for Risk Management Using CFDs
Mastering risk management is essential when using a contract for difference, as every trade demands a thorough understanding of financial markets and refined approaches to mitigate potential pitfalls.
Negative Balance Protection and Margin Closeout
As mentioned, Some CFD brokerages provide safety features to help you minimise potential losses if market fluctuations are against your speculation. One of these protections is for negative balances.
Under normal circumstances, CFD providers will gradually close your CFD trades if your trading account’s balance doesn’t meet the maintenance margin requirements. Unfortunately, this procedure may already be too late to prevent losses.
When your balance drops below zero, the broker will close affected positions with a negative balance protection feature. Doing so helps prevent significant losses if the market suddenly goes in the opposite direction of your speculation, especially if you’re utilising leverage.
Hedging the Investment Portfolio
Hedging is a risk management technique that acts as insurance for your trading portfolio against market volatility by investing in other financial instruments related to your current investments.
Derivatives, like contracts for difference, can be effective hedges, as their underlying assets can correspond to various financial products, such as stocks, bonds, commodities, and indices.
CFD Regulations by Country
Unlike other financial markets, the CFD industry isn’t as strictly regulated, which can present significant risks, especially to beginner traders. While trading a contract for difference is legal in many countries, regulations vary widely across jurisdictions.
Understanding the regulatory landscape in the country you’re trading from and the body that governs your chosen CFD provider is critical, as it tells you the dos-and-don’ts and the protections available to you as a CFD trader.
What Countries Are CFDs Legal In?
Over-the-counter (OTC) markets refer to financial arenas wherein securities trading occurs through broker-dealer networks instead of centralised exchanges like the London Stock Exchange.
Trading a contract for difference and CFD-like instruments are legal in countries listed in these OTC markets. These countries include the following:
| Australia | Hong Kong | Spain |
| Belgium | Italy | Sweden |
| Canada | New Zealand | Switzerland |
| Denmark | Norway | Thailand |
| France | Singapore | The Netherlands |
| Germany | South Africa | The United Kingdom |
Why Are CFDs Illegal in Some Countries?
Contracts for difference are illegal or heavily restricted in some countries for various reasons, including high leverage, lack of investor protections, and the OTC nature of the products not being traded on regulated exchanges.
Is CFD Trading Right for You?
Whether CFD trading suits you depends on your risk appetite, trading goals, and familiarity with the financial markets.
CFDs offer opportunities for profit and lower barriers to entry, considering they don’t require you to own underlying assets and the availability of leverage.
However, contracts for difference come with inherent risks that require careful consideration, such as margin requirements and lack of regulations, particularly regarding investor protections.
Weighing the pros and cons and understanding who you are as a trader can help determine if engaging in the global markets through trading CFDs is the appropriate avenue to traverse.
Why Trade CFDs With Taurex?
You can start trading a contract for difference with a trusted broker like Taurex. Taurex protects your investments using segregated tier-one bank accounts, provides exceptional customer support, and is fully regulated.
Trade a Range of CFD Markets With Taurex
With Taurex, you can access over 500 CFD instruments, such as forex currency pairs, metals, commodities, indices, and shares, at tight spreads and competitive trading conditions.
This variety lets you explore several financial markets to refine your trading strategies, diversify your portfolio, and determine the best approach for your preferences and goals.
What Is the Contract Length of CFDs?
Unlike conventional financial instruments with fixed expiration dates, CFDs do not expire. Instead, a CFD trade closes when market fluctuations align with your position, and you sell the contract.
CFD Trading Courses and Resources
Becoming a proficient and successful CFD trader hinges on skill, knowledge, and practice. Fortunately, you can find a comprehensive suite of tools and resources from various sources like EverythingTrading.com.
From courses that give beginner traders the knowledge and confidence to trade, to free tools that let you monitor market trends and identify new opportunities, these toolkits can help propel you towards your trading goals, whether to earn additional income or become the next billionaire.
FAQ
- What is leverage?
At its core, financial leverage is borrowed funds you can use as capital to control a larger position in a market. You can use leverage to increase your returns from a trade. However, it can be a double-edged sword, as it can also magnify losses from losing investments.
- Can you trade CFDs without leverage?
You can trade a contract for difference without financial leverage. However, this requires you to use your funds to open and maintain a position, which can limit your buying power, especially if you don’t have considerable capital available.
- How do you hedge an existing portfolio with CFD trading?
One of the primary advantages of CFDs is that you can bet on upward and downward price movements. If you believe an asset you own may lose its value in the near future, you can take a short position against it via CFDs. Doing so lets you offset potential losses.
- How long can you hold CFDs?
CFDs don’t have specific expiry dates. In other words, you can hold onto your CFDs for as long as you like, depending on your trading strategy. However, there are costs for keeping a contract open, such as overnight fees, which you must consider.
- Is CFD trading good for beginners?
CFDs can have a lower barrier, as they don’t require owning underlying assets and allow you to close trades at any time. However, like other financial instruments, a contract for difference has inherent risks and requires extensive knowledge to navigate successfully.
- Can you lose more than you invest in CFDs?
If market fluctuations move against your speculations and you don’t act swiftly, you may lose more than what you invested, especially if you use leverage. Fortunately, you can prevent this situation with account protections such as stop-loss orders and negative balance features.
- What makes a CFD trader successful?
Successful CFD traders typically possess a clear understanding of the markets, solid trading strategies, effective risk management practices, and strong partnership with a brokerage that offers various opportunities, tools, and protections.
- Is Taurex regulated and safe to trade with?
Taurex follows the stringent standards. Taurex protects your money using segregated tier-one bank accounts and tight spreads.
- What determines returns?
Various factors determine and influence the returns on a CFD trade. These elements include the market conditions, your trading strategy, the CFD provider’s fees, and the leverage you’re using.
- What is the optimal investment?
There’s no one-size-fits-all investment. The optimal investment must meet your risk tolerance, timeline, and goals.
- Can you make money with CFD trading?
A contract for difference can be an excellent opportunity to earn money through speculative trading.
However, CFD trading can also lose you money if you bet incorrectly. Hence, it’s important to use a regulated and financially stable broker to help you navigate CFD trading.
- How do CFD margins work?
CFD margins are the amount required to open a position and keep your trades open. The margin requirements vary depending on the CFD brokerage.
- What’s the difference between going long and going short?
Going long or taking a long position in CFD trading means betting on an upward movement in an underlying asset’s price. Going short is the pessimistic inverse.
- Is CFD trading tax-free?
When trading a contract for difference, you must pay capital gains tax, a levy on the returns you make after selling a contract.
- How are CFDs taxed?
While you’re subject to capital gains tax, there’s no stamp duty involved in CFD trading. Stamp duty refers to a surcharge involving the transfer of an asset. CFDs don’t have this tariff as you didn’t buy and don’t own the underlying asset.
- What is the difference between CFDs and futures?
Unlike CFDs, futures are contracts that mandate you to buy and sell an asset at a predetermined price at a specific time. They also require you to own the financial instrument and make the trade through an exchange.
- Does a CFD expire?
A contract for difference doesn’t expire.
- Is CFD trading good or bad?
Whether CFD trading is good or bad depends on how well you understand the global markets, analyse trends, and apply appropriate trading strategies.
References
- How to Trade Stocks
https://www.investopedia.com/learn-how-to-trade-the-market-in-5-steps - How ‘the single best trade of all time’ netted one investor a $2.6 billion profit
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-the-single-best-trade-of-all - CFD vs. Spread Betting: What’s the Difference?
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/110714/ - Contract for Differences (CFD) Definition, Uses, and Examples
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/contractfordifferences.asp - What Is Financial Leverage, and Why Is It Important?
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/leverage.asp - Short Selling: Definition, Pros, Cons, and Examples
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/shortselling.asp - Contract for Differences (CFDs) Overview and Examples
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/stocks/09/trade-a-cfd.asp - Stop-Loss Orders: One Way To Limit Losses and Reduce Risk
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/stop-lossorder.asp - London Stock Exchange FAQs
https://www.londonstockexchange.com/personal-investing/faqs - CFD
https://www.fsma.be/en/cfd - CFD Regulations Around the World — A Comprehensive Guide
https://beincrypto.com/learn/cfd-regulations/ - What Is Spot Trading and How Do You Profit? How It Works
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/spottrade.asp - Over-the-Counter (OTC): Trading and Security Types Defined
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/o/otc.asp - What Is CFD Trading And How Does It Work?
https://www.forbes.com/uk/advisor/investing/what-is-cfd-trading/ - What Is a Dividend?
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dividend.asp - What Is an Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF)?
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/etf.asp
