Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 71% of retail investor accounts lose money when spread betting and/or trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how spread bets and CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Why trade forex?

There are a number of benefits to trading forex, including the ability to trade on margin, high liquidity and the flexibility to trade around the clock from Sunday through to Friday.

Leverage

Leverage is a key feature of FX trading, and means you only need to put up a small initial deposit, or margin, to enter a trade. Our margins start from 3.3%, which is a leverage of 30:1.

Margined trading can be a more efficient use of your capital because you only have to provide a percentage of the overall value of your position, while maintaining full exposure to the market. This effectively means that you increase your profit potential if the market moves in your favour, and loss potential if the market moves against you.

For example, with £100 as position margin, you could enter a position that has an overall value of £3,000. Remember that increased leverage enhances losses as well as profits. Additionally, markets can move against you and losses can exceed your initial deposit due to rapid price movements.

Learn more about using leverage in forex trading or view our FX trading examples.

24-hour market

Forex is an over-the-counter (OTC) market, which means trades don't take place through a centralised exchange, like shares or indices for example. FX trading takes place across the globe, around the clock, from Sunday night through to Friday night.

This means that unlike any other financial markets, investors can almost always respond to currency fluctuations caused by economic, political and social events as they occur, without having to wait for markets to open.

Currency markets offer price volatility 24 hours a day, so whatever your trading strategy, there is the potential to find numerous trading opportunities. This also means that the markets are constantly moving, which places even more emphasis on monitoring your positions and using the appropriate risk management tools.

High liquidity

The currency market is the most heavily traded financial market in the world, with a daily average turnover of around $5 trillion. With so many global market participants trading at any one time throughtout the day, the currency markets are more liquid than any other financial market.

Find out more about forex trading with us.

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