First time trading indices?

What is trading indices or stock index trading?

When you trade indices, You trade a “basket of stocks”. Because these are Contract for Difference* (CFDs) trades you do not need to own the stocks to trade them.

Some indices follow a certain category of stock – for example the Nasdaq which is composed of non-financial mostly tech companies – such as Apple, Amazon, Alphabet Class A (Google), Intel and more.

Today, some of the world’s most popular indices are:

• The Dow Jones – the second oldest US index calculated first in 1896
• The S&P – A US index started in 1923
• The DAX – the German index also considered a benchmark for the EU’s economic health
• Nikkei – Japan’s index published in Nihon Keizai Shinbun Newspaper since 1950
• EURO STOXX – The Eurozone’s very own index composed of 50 highly liquid stock (a.k.a. blue-chip stock)
• FTSE - also known as the “Footsie” is the UK’s most active index.
• CFDs are leveraged products of high risk and may not suit some people.