Every guide, by section
Every guide sits under its section, with the same short description you see in the menu and a brief introduction to the section as a whole. If you want to compare brokers country by country, begin with the broker comparison. The glossary defines every term the guides use.
CFDs
The CFD section is where the site compares brokers. The section starts with the main comparison, which shows each group’s global company. Three more pages show brokers at their EU-licensed, UK and Australian companies, and every broker gets a profile page of its own with facts about its companies and instruments. The global companies have a page of their own, and a last page lists the payment rails: the ways to pay in and withdraw that are local to each country.
- CFD and forex broker comparison: leverage and platformsSix brokers in nineteen countries, compared on facts you can check yourself.
- CFD brokers with an EU licence, by countryThe same brokers at their EU-licensed companies: 30:1 leverage and protection by law.
- CFD and forex brokers in the UK comparedCFD brokers for UK residents at their FCA-authorised companies: leverage, platforms, funding and crypto.
- CFD and forex brokers in Australia comparedCFD brokers for Australians at their ASIC-licensed companies: leverage, platforms, funding and crypto.
- Eightcap review: platforms, crypto CFDs and regulationWhich Eightcap company holds your money, what protection comes with it, and what the group doesn’t publish.
- Capital.com review: platforms, leverage and regulationCapital.com’s Bahamas company, its protection, and what it states on leverage and funding.
- CMC Markets review: forex range, platforms and regulationWhich CMC Markets company you’d deal with, its protection, and what it publishes on leverage and costs.
- IG review: markets, platforms and regulationWhich IG company you’d deal with, the protection that comes with it, and what it publishes on costs.
- Pepperstone review: platforms, pricing and regulationWhich Pepperstone company you’d deal with, the protection it brings, and what the group publishes.
- XTB review: xStation, range and regulationWhich XTB company you’d deal with, what protection comes with it, and what it publishes on costs.
- Offshore forex brokers and CFD companies comparedThe global companies behind familiar brands, who regulates them and what their own terms say.
- Broker groups and regulators: who opens your accountWhy one broker brand runs several companies, each licensed by a different regulator.
- Why some EU traders use a broker’s global companyWhy some traders in the EU choose a global company, what its leverage does and what changes.
- Payment rails by countryThe payment systems people in each country use to pay online, who runs each one, and which have closed.
Basics
The basics section lays out what a contract for difference (CFD) is: an agreement with a provider that pays out the movement in an asset’s price. It explains what a CFD is, how a trade works from the price quote through to your statement, and what leverage and margin do to your balance. You also see what it costs to open, hold and close a trade. You don’t need any other section to read this one, but every other section builds on it.
- What is a CFD? Contract for difference explainedWhat a contract for difference is, a worked example with numbers, and what the contract doesn’t give you.
- How CFD trading works, from quote to statementEvery stage of a CFD trade: quote, order, fill, margin, overnight financing, closing and your statement.
- How to start trading: forex and CFDs for beginnersA beginner’s path in seven steps: the product, the costs, a demo, risk rules, a licensed provider, a record.
- What is leverage in trading? Leverage and marginWhat leverage does to your buying power, the margin terms your platform uses and who sets the limits.
- Maximum leverage: what “up to 500:1” really meansWhy the leverage a provider advertises isn’t the leverage you get, and what you give up to reach it.
- CFD and forex trading fees: spread, swap, commissionEvery cost of a CFD trade: spread, commission, overnight financing, weekend charges and account fees.
- What is a pip? Pips, lots and position size explainedWhat a pip and a lot are, and the formulas for pip value, margin, profit and loss and position size.
- Stop loss and order types explained for CFD tradingMarket, limit and stop orders, the stop-loss, the trailing stop, take-profit and partial close.
Markets
The markets section explains what changes when a CFD follows a different underlying, the asset whose price it tracks. The CFD contract itself doesn’t change. What does change is where the price comes from, the financing and the trading hours. The leverage limit also changes if the company that opens your account is regulated in the EU or the UK. The way price gaps and company events affect your trade changes too.
- Forex trading: what forex is and how it worksCurrency pairs, pips and lots, trading hours, what moves exchange rates, and why swap can be paid to you.
- Indices trading with CFDs: cash, futures, dividendsWhat an index CFD tracks, cash versus futures prices, dividend adjustments, hours and the gap at the open.
- Commodities trading with CFDs: energy, metals, cropsHow futures set the price, contango and backwardation, roll costs, gold’s margin rate and price swings.
- Gold trading: how XAU/USD works as a CFDWhat XAU/USD is, where the gold price comes from, what moves it, contract size, leverage and trading hours.
- Oil trading with CFDs: WTI, Brent and natural gasWTI and Brent crude oil CFDs, the futures roll, what moves oil, the EU and UK 10:1 cap and natural gas.
- Share CFDs and crypto CFDs: the tightest capsShare CFDs: commission, dividends, borrow costs, results gaps. Crypto CFDs: the EU 2:1 cap, weekends and bans.
- Crypto trading with CFDs: bitcoin CFDs vs owning coinsCrypto CFDs against owning the coin: no wallet, the EU 2:1 cap, the UK ban, weekends, financing and offshore.
- Forex market hours and stock market trading hoursForex sessions, stock exchange hours in UTC, gold, oil and crypto, clock changes, and gaps at the open.
Analysis and strategy
The analysis and strategy section sets out the methods traders use to decide what to do. It also covers the maths that determines whether any method can work after costs and leverage are taken into account. The section describes, but doesn’t recommend. None of these articles says an approach works, because the evidence regulators have published shows that most retail approaches don’t.
- Technical analysis: what price history can tell youChart types, trend, support and resistance, why every indicator lags, and why good backtests mislead.
- Technical indicators: RSI, MACD, moving averages and moreRSI, MACD, moving averages, Bollinger Bands, ATR, ADX, VWAP and Fibonacci: formula, settings, weakness.
- Candlestick patterns and chart patterns explainedCandlestick and chart patterns in words: what each looks like, what it’s taken to mean, and the evidence.
- Fundamental analysis: what moves markets and whyWhat drives each market, the economic calendar, central banks, earnings, commodity supply, and news trading.
- Economic calendar: how to read it and what moves marketsHow to read a calendar row, the releases that move markets, who publishes them, and what happens to spreads.
- Trading strategies: what each needs and how it failsTrend following, mean reversion, breakout, carry and hedging: what each needs, how each fails, and expectancy.
- What is scalping? Day trading and swing tradingScalping, day trading, swing and position trading by holding time, what each costs, and hedging in forex.
- Forex signals: what they are and how to judge themWhat a trading signal contains, who sells them, how to check a track record, and what regulators say.
- Risk management in trading: position size and stopsRisk per trade, sizing from your stop, the recovery table, stop types and the habits that empty accounts.
Practical
The practical section moves on from how CFDs work to the decisions you need to make. Topics include which platform features matter, how to choose and check a provider without relying on rankings, and how to tell whether a broker is regulated. You’ll also see how to use a demo account so it teaches you something, and where to look up a term or find a quick answer.
- Trading platforms and trading apps: MT4, MT5, cTraderWhat differs between MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView and providers’ own platforms, and what to check first.
- MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5: MT4 vs MT5 explainedWhat MT4 and MT5 are, how they differ, where to download them safely, and how TradeLocker and cTrader compare.
- Expert advisors and automated trading explainedWhat an expert advisor is, why backtests flatter a forex trading robot, what a VPS does, and scam warnings.
- Copy trading: how it works, costs, risks and rulesHow an account mirrors another trader, what it costs, where it goes wrong, and how regulators class it.
- Prop firm challenges: how funded accounts workHow a prop firm challenge works, how the firms earn, why most people fail and what regulators have said.
- Choosing a forex broker or CFD broker without a rankingLicence checks, how your money is protected, all-in costs, execution, withdrawals and red flags.
- What matters more than the number of markets at a CFD brokerLeverage, protection, costs, execution and account terms: what shapes a trade more than a market count.
- Trading account types: standard, raw, Islamic, demoStandard, raw spread, swap-free, demo and professional accounts, and what each one really changes.
- Is forex and CFD trading safe, legal or a scam?Legal in most countries, risky everywhere: how to tell a real product from a fraud, country by country.
- Demo trading account: what it teaches and what it hidesWhat a demo copies and leaves out, how to set one up like a real account, a practice plan, and when to stop.
- Glossary of CFD and leveraged trading termsSeventy trading terms from ask price to volatility, each explained in plain words and linked onward.
- Frequently asked questions about CFDsTwenty-five short answers on the basics, costs, risk, the rules and getting started.