Economic Data
Company Industry News
Interest Rates
Share Performance
Cash CFD | Future CFD | |
Underlying Market | Spot (FMV) | Futures |
Financing (Swap) | ✓ | x |
Dividend Adjustment | ✓ | x |
Rollover | x | ✓ |
Contract Size | $ per point | Standard |
Indicative Spreads | Tighter | Standard |
Trading Hours | Longer | Standard |
Find out more about how to trade indices with Zenith Quatum Trade or discover the right trading account type for you: standard, pro or swap-free trading account.
An index is a way to track the performance of a specific group of assets – such as tech companies and other publicly traded companies – and their stock prices. Trading indices is generally considered safer than trading individual stocks since no single company can sharply influence the overall price of the index.
Trading index CFDs is a balanced way to trade the world’s top financial markets as it reduces the need to analyse the performance of an individual company’s stock. With Zenith Quatum Trade, you can invest in the most globally traded stock market indices including DOW, S&P 500, DAX 30, FTSE 100, EURO STOXX 50 and NASDAQ 100.
Experience index trading online the way it was meant to be – intuitive, fast and portable. When finding the right trading platform to trade indices, these are the ultimate tools to consider.
MetaTrader 4 is the smart choice for online traders everywhere who are looking for a trading edge. Simple for beginners and full of advanced functions for professionals, the MT4 platform helps you unlock unlimited trading possibilities.
Built to utilise Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, PsyQuation is a highly advanced trading analytics platform designed to reduce your trading mistakes and provide powerful performance analytics.
Autochartist continuously scans the market for customised trade opportunities, based on realtime pricing and your specific trade setups, then alerts you to potential trades.
The major difference between index CFDs and share trading is that with a contract for difference you never actually own the physical asset or financial instrument you have chosen to trade. Instead, you speculate on the market price of the asset and benefit if the market moves in your favour, or make a loss if the opposite happens. With share trading, you are legally contracted to exchange the legal ownership of the shares (of a company) for money, meaning you own the asset.
And because CFDs are a leveraged trading product, you’re only required to deposit a small percentage of the full value of the trade in order to open a position. Depending on which way you speculate the market price will move, you can either buy (go long) or sell (go short) the asset; with share trading, you must purchase the shares for the full amount and will only profit if the share price increases.
However, share trading only allows you to trade with shares and ETFs. Index CFDs have no shareholder privileges, where this is contrary to share trading.
While different products are suitable for different types of traders, depending on their knowledge and goals, it is always important that you understand how each product works, for example rollovers, daily financing/swap charges and different holding costs for each product, which may be attractive for various index trading strategies.
We work with a number of liquidity providers, all of which are major financial institutions.
No. Generally speaking, cash CFDs have longer trading hours and smaller contract sizes compared to future CFDs.
No, your positions will not be closed when the contract expires. It will remain open, the position will be rolled over and a cash adjustment will be applied to your account.
All Zenith Quatum Trade index contracts are based on a relevant futures exchange price, and each futures contract has an expiry date. If your trade remains open on the date the contract expires, the trade will be rolled over and an adjustment will be made to reflect the difference in contract pricing.
For reference, the spot price is the current market price at which an asset is bought or sold for immediate payment and delivery. With futures, the price reflects the expected value at which an asset can be bought or sold for delivery in the future.
The initial margin rate required varies for each index. The tick sizes will vary too, as outlined in the product schedule.
For reference, tick value on indices is the minimum price fluctuation established by an exchange. Tick sizes are mentioned in the "contract specifications" set by futures exchanges and are calibrated to ensure liquid, efficient markets through a tick bid-ask spread.
Buying on margin is when investors borrow money from a broker to buy stocks or indexes. Margin trading would require a trader to open a dedicated margin account.
Leverage is a loan provided to traders that makes it possible for them to buy and sell trading instruments. Zenith Quatum Trade offers 30:1 leverage for standard trading accounts.