At ETX Capital you can place spread bets online for rolling daily, daily, monthly and quarterly positions across all the indices we provide access to.
Here is the list of the spread betting indices on which you can speculate:
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What is spread betting on indices?
Spread betting is a popular form of financial trading because it allows investors to profit from rising or falling markets.
When you place a spread bet on a particular index, you are speculating on the overall performance of that market, rather than focusing on individual stocks and shares.
Therefore, you can take a more general view of a market and you will be able to make money from upward or downward movements, depending on which way you bet.
Spread betting on indices is a relatively simple concept in that you place a wager per point of movement on the index in question.
Online spread betting services, such as those provided by ETX Capital, make it possible to speculate on markets around the world.
All about global indices
A stock index is comprised of the largest publicly traded companies based in a given country, so if you are spread betting on the UK 100, you will be dealing with British organisations.
Indices are heavily traded around the world, and due to the large number of firms that make up each individual index, it is difficult for one participant to overly influence the index's performance.
One of the main factors that will affect the performance of any given index is the national economy, as this underpins the growth of the firms that are listed on the index.
When you spread bet on indices with ETX Capital you will be able to do so 24 hours a day, as an index can still be traded even when the market itself is closed.
Trading on indices is leveraged, which means you could build up profits or losses far greater than the initial stake you put into a spread bet. The potential for high returns may be attractive, but never forget that losses can mount up just as quickly if the market moves against you.
An indices spread betting example
The UK 100 is one of the most popular European indices to speculate on because London is viewed as the financial hub for the continent.
Here is an example of UK 100 spread betting:
When you place a spread bet on an index, you will put down a certain amount of money per point of movement.
You will be quoted two figures as the spread - for instance 5,515.5 - 5,517.5 for a daily rolling bet.
You decide to bet £5 per point of movement and because you believe the market will rise, you 'buy' at the higher price of 5,517.5.
At the end of the trading day, the UK 100 has risen to 5,523.5 - 5,525.5, so you would then close your position using the 'sell' figure of 5,523.5.
This is a six point movement, so in this case your profit would be £30. You can boost your leverage by betting more money per point, although this also increases the risk associated with that particular trade.
Had the index fallen rather than risen, you would have made a loss on your spread bet.
Appendix
1. Spreads
Where reference to the market spread is used
this is a combination of the underlying futures spread and the ETX Capital spread shown for each market.
2. Trading hours
These are the usual hours of business but may vary where daylight saving applies or where there is a market holiday. All times are expressed as London time.
3. Overnight finance adjustments
If you hold a position overnight in a daily rolling index market a finance adjustment is made to your account shortly after the stock market closes.
Important note: This adjustment is applied to your account despite the fact that you may have closed your position after stock market close but before the end of ETX Capital out of hours trading for that day.
The adjustment is calculated as follows:
f = (s x p x ir) / d
where
f = daily financing adjustment
s = your stake
p = closing price of rolling market as determined by ETX Capital
ir = interest rate, including plus 2.5% for long positions and minus 2.5% for short positions.
d = number of days, i.e. 365 for UK and 360 for all others
Long (buy) rolling bet positions are debited a daily financing adjustment
Short (sell) rolling bet positions are credited a daily financing adjustment
The daily financing fee will be applied to your account each day that you hold an open position (including weekends and holidays).
There may be instances when a daily financing fee is charged to you on short positions, rather than paid to you. This may occur if LIBOR is at an exceptionally low rate.
4. Minimum / maximum bet sizes
Please note, ETX Capital may modify the maximum stake size available for a market in some circumstances, for example, during fast-moving or low liquidity markets.
Further information
Index dividend adjustments
Any daily rolling index position held on account after market close the day before an ex dividend event is adjusted for the weighted effect of any stock dividend within that index.
A separate payment or charge will be made to the account to reflect this adjustment. A haircut may be applied to any such charges or payments.
The index dividend adjustment is obtained from external financial data sources, eg Bloomberg or Reuters.
The Germany 30 index is not adjusted by ETX Capital for index dividends as the underlying index (DAX 30) is a total returns index where dividend events are automatically reflected in the price.
Index Future markets are not affected by ex dividend events as any anticipated future dividends are already reflected in the price.
Rollover of futures markets
Futures positions can be rolled over before the expiry of the contract.
ETX Capital will close the open position at the current bid/offer price for that contract and open the new position at the mid price of our current quote for the next contract month.
Daily futures and daily cash markets cannot be rolled.
Daily rolling market price
ETX Capital prices its daily rolling markets from a corresponding futures market and a ‘fair value’. This fair value is obtained from external data services, eg Bloomberg.
It is a fluctuating adjustment made whenever deemed appropriate by ETX Capital and is made up of compounded interest and dividends that the futures market has already incorporated
Removing these from the futures market allows us to obtain a cash level.