--- title: "TheTraderWiki: learn how CFDs work, then compare the brokers" description: "A free learning tool for CFDs and leveraged trading: how contracts, leverage and margin work, what a position costs, and how the brokers compare." canonical: https://thetraderwiki.com/en/ lang: en kind: home published: 2026-09-05 updated: 2026-10-15 html: https://thetraderwiki.com/en/ json: https://thetraderwiki.com/en/index.json --- *Learn · Compare · Trade smarter* # Knowledge is the best way to make the most of your buying power. [Home](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/) Free, independent lessons make [CFDs](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/what-are-cfds/) easy to follow. The lessons teach you how CFDs work, what [leverage and margin](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/leverage-and-margin/) do to your money and what a trade really costs. [Start learning](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/#follow-the-fundamentals) [Browse guides](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/learn/) - [CFDs](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/learn/#group-cfds) - [Leverage](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/leverage-and-margin/) - [Markets](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/learn/#group-markets) - [Analysis](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/learn/#group-analysis) - [Strategy](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/trading-strategies/) ## Explore trading topics Clear guides and real numbers, so you can make your own informed decisions about trading. - [CFDs Explained](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/what-are-cfds/): How a CFD works, what you can win or lose, and where its risks lie. - [The Global Markets](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/learn/#group-markets): How currencies, indices, commodities and shares move, and the news and data that drive them. - [Leverage & Margin](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/leverage-and-margin/): What it costs you when a small deposit controls a bigger trade, and how that works. - [Costs & Fees](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/costs-and-fees/): What you pay to open a trade, and what you pay to keep it open overnight. - [Managing Risk](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/risk-management/): How big to make a trade, how to choose where your stop goes and what follows when your account runs low. - [Compare Brokers](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/compare-brokers/): Regulation, cost and funding details each broker publishes, set out side by side with no ranking. [View all](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/learn/) *Explore the markets* ## One contract. Different markets. - [Forex](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/forex-trading/): Currency pairs, pips and lots, trading hours, what moves exchange rates, and why swap can be paid to you. - [Indices](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/indices-trading/): What an index CFD tracks, cash versus futures prices, dividend adjustments, hours and the gap at the open. - [Commodities](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/commodities-trading/): How futures set the price, contango and backwardation, roll costs, gold’s margin rate and price swings. - [Shares](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/shares-and-crypto-cfds/): Share CFDs: commission, dividend adjustments, borrowing costs and the price jump an earnings date can cause. - [Crypto](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/shares-and-crypto-cfds/): Crypto CFDs: trading at weekends, the leverage cap the EU sets and the UK ban on selling them to private traders. [View all markets](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/learn/#group-markets) *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](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/glossary/#spread), the gap between the buy and sell price, and on any commission. You also pay [overnight financing](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/glossary/#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](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/costs-and-fees/), [how a trade works](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/how-cfd-trading-works/)). [Learn more about CFDs](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/#follow-the-fundamentals) *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 [Compare brokers](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/compare-brokers/) *Risk is part of the product* ## Most retail CFD accounts lose money. > **Risk warning.** 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. [Understand CFD risk](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/risk-disclosure/) *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. 6 lessons · ≈ 73 min 1. [What is a CFD?](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/what-are-cfds/), 12 min 2. [How a trade works](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/how-cfd-trading-works/), 14 min 3. [Leverage and margin](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/leverage-and-margin/), 14 min 4. [Costs and fees](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/costs-and-fees/), 12 min 5. [Risk management](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/risk-management/), 12 min 6. [Demo accounts](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/demo-accounts/), 9 min [Start learning](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/what-are-cfds/) ## Related pages - [What is a CFD? Contract for difference explained](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/what-are-cfds/): What a contract for difference is, a worked example with numbers, and what the contract doesn’t give you. - [What is leverage in trading? Leverage and margin](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/leverage-and-margin/): What leverage does to your buying power, the margin terms your platform uses and who sets the limits. - [Is forex and CFD trading safe, legal or a scam?](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/is-forex-and-cfd-trading-safe/): Legal in most countries, risky everywhere: how to tell a real product from a fraud, country by country. - [Risk management in trading: position size and stops](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/risk-management/): Risk per trade, sizing from your stop, the recovery table, stop types and the habits that empty accounts. --- CFDs are complex, leveraged products, and the regulators’ own figures show that most retail accounts lose money. Nothing on TheTraderWiki is investment advice. Read the full [risk disclosure](https://thetraderwiki.com/en/risk-disclosure/), and if you’re unsure, talk to a qualified adviser. Broker details can change and they can be wrong. Before you open an account, confirm them with the broker and the regulator’s register.