Trade both Ways using CFDs

Cryptocurrency trading | Dezember 12, 2021, 14:27 PM | The content is supplied by a Guest author

Introduction

Contract For Differences is becoming a new norm for trading the financial markets. This form of trading involves speculating the assets without owning them. For example, traders can trade currencies without holding the cash in physical form. CFDs are useful in analyzing the markets on both long and short sides.

A CFD contract is made between a broker and a trader who agree to sell the instrument later. To better understand how this market operates, we will go through the critical characteristics and discuss how investors can use them to their full advantage.

Characteristics of CFD Trading

CFDs are listed on many brokers who display them on their trading platforms.

Check and Balance

CFD trading is subjected to a good amount of regulation. The regulatory authorities ensure that the broker provides adequate services to traders and is not going to run with the investors' cash. If a market participant believes that the brokerage is double-crossing, they can report directly to the regulators. The regulatory authorities impose fines on the brokers and suspend their licenses in severe cases. Therefore the brokers have to provide their best to customers.

Trading Costs

The trading costs in CFDs come in two forms, i.e., spreads or commissions. The first is the difference between the bid and asking price, which is usually variable or fixed. The latter involves covering the charges through a fixed cost which can increase or decrease depending on the lot size. Interests are charged for positions that are held overnight and are implemented on non-Islamic accounts.

Market Access The number of instruments at hand is numerous with CFDs. Stocks, forex, futures, indices, etc., are typical examples readily available with many brokers. There are no restrictions on trading multiple assets at once. This eliminates the need to switch from one exchange to another.

Long and Short

It is possible to speculate the markets in both directions through CFD trading. Previously the concept of investing was only limited to buying, where a trader would hold the asset and later sell it at a higher price. Through CFDs, investors can easily open trades on long and short sides and use hedging or averaging techniques.

Leverage

Leverage is borrowed money that can be utilized to open large positions on a small account. While this can increase the profits, it can also put more risk on the account. Some regulators restrict brokers in terms of margin that they can put forward for investors to use.

Order Types

As mentioned before, CFD trading allows averaging and hedging techniques. This is possible by employing multiple orders types to your advantage. For example, traders can put stop orders if a position turns into a loss.

Use of Robots

Trading robots is now a common choice of many to trade the markets. They do not require investors to have any experience as they run on full automatic mode. Algorithms employ high frequency or arbitrage strategies which can not be executed manually for trading CFDs.

Disadvantages of CFD Trading

CFD trading can limit traders in some aspects. Let us go through some of them as follows:

• Using a good amount of leverage can be risky for beginners. Demo trading is an excellent way to understand what margin is.
• CFD trading can bring liquidity issues. Traders can have trouble getting in and out of their trades.

While the benefits of CFDs outweigh the demerits, there is always a chance to lose money, even with proper support. Having the right balance between risk and strategy is an excellent way to tackle the markets and ensure your existence for the long term.