Financial Spread Trading
Financial spread trading lets you back your trading judgement without having to buy the underlying instrument or product you want to trade. How? Basically, like any other trade, a spread trade is a trade on an unknown outcome made at odds set by someone else – in this case, a financial spread trading company.
The financial spread trading company takes an instrument and quotes two prices; let’s say, 101 – 103. These two prices, which they call a spread, are effectively a bid and offer price. The offer price (103) is the price you can buy at, the bid price (101) is the price you can sell at.
The spread represents a prediction of a future outcome. And because spread trades have an expiry date, it’s a prediction of a future outcome within a set time frame (although you can close out your position at any time before expiry).
With a spreadbet, you can either buy (go long) if you expect the price to rise or sell (go short) if you believe the price of the particular asset will fall. What you need to decide is whether to buy or sell the financial spread trading company’s prediction of the future outcome.
* The spread is simply a two-way price quoted by a bookmaker on a given market. A spread trader buys at one end of the spread (the offer price) and sells at the other (the bid price), and if the spread has moved far enough in the right direction tradeween the time he buys and sells (or sells and buys, as he may trade on either direction), he makes money. If it moves in the wrong direction, he loses. Meanwhile the bookmaker profits on every trade from the spread. * A spread trade can be closed for a profit or loss at any time (assuming the company is quoting a price), unlike a fixed odds trade which must run to expiry before the outcome is known. * The size of the initial stake determines how much profit or loss is made per unit move * Financial spread trading is treated as gambling and thus, in almost all cases, is tax free.
Financial Spread Trade Example
Let’s say a financial spread trading company offers a spread of 10000-10004 on the price of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. 10000 is the ‘sell’ (or bid) price and 10004 is the ‘buy’ (or offer) price.
Suppose you think the index is going to rise. You make a £10 per point “buy” trade at 10004. Over the next few days the price does rise, and the spread quoted by the indexation company moves upward to 10050-10054.
At this point you might choose to “take your profit” and the way you do it is by making a £10 “sell” trade at 10050. Your profit on the two transactions would look like this:
Bought at: 10004
Sold at: 10050
Difference: 46
Stake: £10
Profit: £460
The two main reasons that shorter term traders prefer using financial spread trading rather than the underlying shares are leverage and the stamp duty exemption. These allow you to increase the potential return on your capital and to reduce your transaction costs.
Trading on margin using a spread bet only requires a fraction of the cash of the equivalent share purchase, yet you are still exposed to the same absolute profit and loss. This enables traders and investors to increase and diversify their exposure to the market.
But spread trading also allows you to profit from falling markets – something which in the past was reserved for institutional investors. Since spread trading (spread betting) simply involves betting on price movement, one can bet on prices falling in value i.e. an activity which is known as shorting financial markets and making a profit from falling prices. This makes spread trading great for taking advantage of both bull (rising) and bear (falling) markets alike.
Please note that spread trading are not products that are suitable for everyone and even the most experienced investor must ensure they have a sensible risk management strategy in place to prevent unnecessary losses. Spread betting beginners are advised to try their hand at ‘paper’ trading, or even better utilise a demo spread trading account, before depositing any real money. Many private traders find that a working knowledge of technical analysis is invaluable as well.
Finally, though there are always tales of those who have made their fortune in such products, it is best to keep objectives realistic, as well as accounting for the considerable time required to monitor fast-moving markets. For every winner, there is always someone else less fortunate on the other side of the deal.
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The main point for spread bets is based on the fact that such transactions not transfer ownership rights but speculates on a variation of the underlying asset price. Unlike the spot market, where as a participant you must first buy and then sell, on the spread trading market you can sell (you can open a long position) if you forecast a drop for price. In the classical style, the speculation could be done only when the price rises. This opportunity to speculate when the price grows or drops, is a consequence of how is settle the profit and loss as a difference between entry price and the exit one. For investors who want short-term profit there is virtually no difference between a stock and a spread trade for the underlying stock. Owning an investment in a spread trade provides the owner the opportunity to obtain the same gross profit like the spot market, but with a much smaller investment, and it also allows the investor to obtain dividends due to price changes for the stocks with dividends which are marked permanently. Major difference between an investment in shares and one in a spread trade is that in the latter case you don’t have the opportunity to participate in the management of that company, fact which does not bother a speculator.
Participants on derivatives market are divided in three categories, as follows: hedgers, those who want to be protected against certain risks, speculators, those who follow a profit through risk taking and arbitrators, those who follow a profit from speculation of the differences between markets.
Spreadbets are a good option for short-term investment. The possibility to trade very cheap, relatively simple mechanism of trading and permanent marking to market make the spread trades perfect tools for short-term speculators. For long periods of time spread trading investments are not so profitable because of the leverage effect that requires a permanent surveillance of the investment and because of the costs it should be remembered daily the financing interest rate for long positions. For a long-term, risk management can emphasize safer investments such as stocks or for the individuals in contributions to private pension funds.
Finally it should be pointed out the fact that the investments in spread trades aren’t suitable for any investor. Depending on the risks that the investor wants to assume and the knowledge he acquired so far, the decision to invest in spread bets can be taken. If the purpose of trading derivatives is speculation, the investor should not forget that the leverage is equally spectacular when it generates profits and so painful when it produces losses. If a potential investor on financial derivatives market does not take into account the possibility of losing, it is better for him to participate on a traditional market where the price, paid to initiate a transaction, limits the risks and profits.
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If you are looking for an online market which allows you the exposure to wide range of markets, the financial spread trading is the place for you. Known as the spread betting market, the financial spread trading is the place where high risk and higher potential meets, where you can maximize the benefits from your skills and enjoy low taxes upon your revenues.
The basic of this operation called: financial spread betting system is actually the ability to predict the market movements. In case you like to place a bet on a market and you believe it’s about to fall in value, you place a “sell” bet and put your trust that the market will lose some of its value, means the spread you will look for is the negative one. In case the market did fall, you earned money. In case you believe the market will rise in value, it’s time to place a bet on it and “buy” a bet. If the market did went up – again, revenue for you for the great bet.
If the market movements are wide and you find that the market felt in value or raised in value for more than you bet for, you must be sure that the financial spread betting system you are using, the software can support you to accomplish the bet itself and to place new bets in the future.
The industry of the financial spreads is growing every day, more and more users are joining the different software providers, more software’s are going online and the companies are dealing with more bets every day. The financial spread trading has the highest value in the spreads market and it’s not only the UK anymore. If you believe you have the time to learn how to bet on spreads, and to get the experience to do it right, this financial market is the right place for you to join.