A CFD, or contract for difference, is an agreement with your provider to exchange the change in an asset's price between when you open and when you close.
You never own the underlying asset: no shares, no barrels of oil, no gold bars. You trade the price movement only.
Because you don't need to own the asset, going short is as simple as going long. Expect a rise: buy. Expect a fall: sell.
The profit or loss is calculated the same way in both directions.
From a single CFD account you can trade indices, currencies, commodities and shares from exchanges around the world.
There are no separate accounts for each market and no physical delivery to arrange.
CFDs are traded on margin. You deposit a fraction of the position's value, but gains and losses are calculated on the full size.
Three costs apply to most CFDs. For short-term trades the spread dominates. For longer trades, financing adds up night after night.
When you close a CFD, the difference between the opening and closing price is settled in cash to or from your account. Nothing is delivered, which is what makes CFDs quick to trade across so many markets.
Flexible, leveraged access to price movement, with leveraged risk.
