In the past, trading on the movement and price direction of financial markets was largely the preserve of major banks, high net worth individuals and sophisticated investment houses. However, the advent of online applications like the Internet has now made it possible for retail investors with limited capital to trade worldwide financial markets in exactly the same way these sophisticated investors did in the past. This form of online trading is widely known as Financial Spread Trading/Betting.

What is Financial Spread Trading?

Financial Spread Trading is a highly leveraged form of trading that has become a mainstream investment tool for retail investors around the world. Effectively, it is a mechanism for ordinary individuals with limited capital to gain access to worldwide financial markets. You can actually trade shares, options, indices, currencies, commodities and just about any other financial instrument through an online financial dealer.

Unlike the traditional way of investing the stock market, Financial Spread trading is based on a simple concept. Individuals get the opportunity to back a trading judgment that they may have, that a particular market is going to rise in value or is going to fall in value. For instance, if you believe that the shares of Microsoft are going to rise in value, you would “buy” Microsoft shares. Conversely, if you believe that Microsoft shares are going to fall in value, you would “sell” Microsoft shares. You don’t actually own the underlying asset. You are simply trading on the price direction of the financial instrument. If your prediction is correct, you make a profit. If you are incorrect, you suffer a loss.

There is also provision of posting a “stop loss order” on every trade you initiate. A stop loss order is a way of reducing your risk exposure to the markets, which means that you can effectively limit your loss in the event of the price moving against your perception. Spread trading is most easily explained through an example - the concept is the same whatever the market. Let’s assume that it’s October, and due to an imminent breakthrough in the cure for bird flu, the shares of XYZ Corp have been rising steadily over the past few weeks. You’ve been following the market closely, and decide you want to get in on the action. The shares of XYZ are currently selling at $42.14 per share. In order to buy shares in any listed company, you need to buy a minimum of 100 shares. This means that you need a minimum of $4214 just to buy 100 shares. However, you only have $150 risk capital. What can you do? Well, given your limited capital, you can simply place a spread trade with a financial dealer on XYZ Corp shares to rise. Financial spread trading enables you to be highly leveraged because you actually trade on margin. Leveraged trading, or trading on margin means that you are not required to deposit the full value of your trade in order to open a position, so buying XYZ Corp shares at $1 a point is actually the equivalent of purchasing 100 shares of the same company. Thus if you are looking to buy 1000 shares of XYZ shares, instead of paying $42,140 for the shares, you can place a spread trade on XYZ shares to rise at $10 a point.