Learn · Compare · Trade smarter
Knowledge is the best way to make the most of your buying power.
Free, independent lessons make CFDs easy to follow. The lessons teach you how CFDs work, what leverage and margin do to your money and what a trade really costs.
Explore trading topics
Clear guides and real numbers, so you can make your own informed decisions about trading.
- CFDs ExplainedHow a CFD works, what you can win or lose, and where its risks lie.
- The Global MarketsHow currencies, indices, commodities and shares move, and the news and data that drive them.
- Leverage & MarginWhat it costs you when a small deposit controls a bigger trade, and how that works.
- Costs & FeesWhat you pay to open a trade, and what you pay to keep it open overnight.
- Managing RiskHow big to make a trade, how to choose where your stop goes and what follows when your account runs low.
- Compare BrokersRegulation, cost and funding details each broker publishes, set out side by side with no ranking.
Explore the markets
One contract. Different markets.
- ForexEUR/USD
- IndicesS&P 500
- CommoditiesGold
- SharesNVIDIA
- CryptoBitcoin
How a CFD works
A small deposit. A larger position.
Illustrative figures: a made-up example, not a forecast or a quote.
Leverage lets a small deposit called margin control a much larger position in the market. The example below uses made-up numbers to show how a 2% price move plays out both ways.
- Margin to open the trade The amount needed to open the position.
- $500
- 20× leverage
- Your $500 controls a position 20 times larger.
- Position size (exposure)
- $10,000
You go long: you profit if the market rises and lose if it falls.
- Market rises by 2%
- +$200
The price rises 2%, so your $10,000 position is now worth $10,200.
2% of $10,000 = $200.
That’s a 40% return on your $500 margin.
- Market falls by 2%
- −$200
The price falls 2%, so your $10,000 position is now worth $9,800.
2% of $10,000 = $200.
That’s a 40% loss on your $500 margin.
You don’t own the asset. The price move is only part of what you make or lose.
Your profit or loss comes from how the market moves while you hold the trade, because a CFD tracks the price of an asset. The figures above show that price move and nothing else. Your real result also depends on the spread, the gap between the buy and sell price, and on any commission. You also pay overnight financing if you hold the trade past the provider’s daily cut-off. Each provider’s own trading conditions change the result too (costs and fees, how a trade works).
Compare CFD providers
The facts without the sales pitch.
The facts in the comparison cover each broker’s regulation, markets, platforms, payment methods and trading conditions, country by country.
- Regulation
- Markets
- Trading conditions
- Platforms
- Payment methods
- Country by country
Risk is part of the product
Most retail CFD accounts lose money.
Most retail CFD accounts lose money because leverage makes a loss bigger just as it makes a gain bigger. A small move against you can take a large share of your deposit. That’s why it’s worth working through the numbers before you risk any money.
New to CFDs?
Start with the fundamentals.
Six short lessons teach the fundamentals of how CFDs work, what leverage does and where the costs and risks lie. The lessons also show how to practise before you use real money.
- What is a CFD?12 min
- How a trade works14 min
- Leverage and margin14 min
- Costs and fees12 min
- Risk management12 min
- Demo accounts9 min