Market guides
How each market works.
What a currency pair, an index, a commodity, a share and an exchange traded fund actually are, who trades them, and what reprices them.
Trading involves risk. You could lose more than your deposit.
51 guides, each written to be read on its own
Markets
Every guide in this group
Reference guides to the markets a contract for difference can reference: currencies, indices, commodities and metals, shares and exchange traded funds. What each instrument is, who the participants are, and what moves the price.
The forex market
What the currency market is, who deals in it, how a pair is quoted, and how a CFD on one settles.
- Level
- Foundation
- Covers
- Forex
Major currency pairs
Which pairs the market treats as majors, what each is sensitive to, and how their liquidity behaves.
- Level
- Foundation
- Covers
- Forex
Minor currency pairs
How the market uses the term minor, and where the label overlaps with crosses and exotics.
- Level
- Foundation
- Covers
- Forex
Exotic currency pairs
How the market uses the term, why depth and financing differ here, and what the pegged Gulf pairs share.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- Forex
Currency crosses
What defines a cross, how its rate is derived from two dollar pairs, and why it can move on its own.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- Forex
How a currency pair is quoted
Which currency is the base, what the two sides of the price mean, and how a pip becomes an amount.
- Level
- Foundation
- Covers
- Forex
What moves a currency pair
The channels that reprice a rate, why every move has two possible sources, and where that framework stops.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- Forex
The US dollar and the dollar index
Why the dollar sits on one leg of most pairs, what the index measures, and how its basket is weighted.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- Forex
Commodity currencies
Which currencies the market groups this way, the terms-of-trade link, and why that link is unstable.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- Forex
Safe haven currencies
Which currencies carry the label, the mechanisms behind the flow, and the episodes where it failed.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- Forex
Index CFDs
What the index market is, which contracts sit in the class, and how a CFD on a level is settled.
- Level
- Foundation
- Covers
- Indices
What an index measures
The base date, the divisor that holds a series continuous, and what an index level cannot report.
- Level
- Foundation
- Covers
- Indices
Index weighting methods
Capitalisation, free float, price and equal weighting compared, and what each does to concentration.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- Indices
US indices
Wall Street 30, US 500, US Tech 100 and US Small Cap 2000: coverage, weighting and trading hours.
- Level
- Foundation
- Covers
- Indices
European indices
Germany 40, UK 100, France 40 and Euro 50 compared: what dominates each list and when they trade.
- Level
- Foundation
- Covers
- Indices
Asia Pacific indices
Japan 225, Hong Kong 50, China A50, Australia 200 and their peers: concentration, sessions and currency.
- Level
- Foundation
- Covers
- Indices
Emerging market indices
How a market comes to be classified as emerging, and the properties that separate these contracts.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- Indices
Index dividend adjustments
Why a price return index falls on an ex dividend date, and the cash adjustment that offsets it.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- Indices
What moves an index
Earnings expectations, the discount rate, the risk premium, sector mix, currency and index flows.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- Indices
The volatility index and what it measures
What a volatility index is computed from, how to read its units, and why it is not a mirror of equities.
- Level
- Advanced
- Covers
- Indices
How the commodities and metals market works
The four families the class divides into, who trades them, and the inventory arithmetic that sets prices.
- Level
- Foundation
- Covers
- Commodities and metals
How the gold market works
The London and New York venues that set the reference price, who holds gold, and what reprices it.
- Level
- Foundation
- Covers
- Commodities and metals
How the silver market works
Silver's split monetary and industrial demand, the venues that price it, and why it moves more than gold.
- Level
- Foundation
- Covers
- Commodities and metals
How the platinum and palladium market works
The autocatalyst demand that dominates them, their concentrated supply base, and the substitution link.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- Commodities and metals
Gold quoted in currencies other than the dollar
Why gold is quoted in currencies other than the dollar, and how a move splits into metal and currency.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- 2 classes
How the crude oil market works: Brent and WTI
What Brent and WTI each specify, why two benchmarks exist, and what their differential measures.
- Level
- Foundation
- Covers
- Commodities and metals
How the natural gas market works
Why regional gas prices diverge, the injection and withdrawal cycle, and what the storage report shows.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- Commodities and metals
How refined energy products trade
What gasoline, heating oil and ethanol specify, and the crack spread that expresses a refining margin.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- Commodities and metals
How the industrial metals market works
What copper, aluminium, zinc and nickel are used for, and the exchange system that prices them.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- Commodities and metals
How the agricultural softs market works
Which crops the category covers, why perennial cycles make supply unresponsive, and what reprices them.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- Commodities and metals
How the grains market works
The planting and harvest calendar, the acreage competition between crops, and what moves them.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- Commodities and metals
What moves commodity prices
The drivers common to every commodity: inelastic supply, inventory, the dollar, energy, weather and policy.
- Level
- Foundation
- Covers
- Commodities and metals
Contango and backwardation
What the two curve shapes mean, the carry and convenience yield behind them, and what the roll costs.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- Commodities and metals
Shares CFDs
What the underlying is, which venue sets the price, what moves it, and how the contract settles in cash.
- Level
- Foundation
- Covers
- Shares
US shares
The venues, the session structure, the reporting calendar and the settlement conventions for US shares.
- Level
- Foundation
- Covers
- Shares
European and UK shares
How the London, Frankfurt, Paris and other European venues run their day, and what currency each quotes.
- Level
- Foundation
- Covers
- Shares
Asia Pacific shares
The Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul, Taipei, Mumbai and Sydney venues, their sessions and their daily limits.
- Level
- Foundation
- Covers
- Shares
Share CFDs compared with owning shares
What a purchase carries that a contract does not, and the arithmetic that separates the two.
- Level
- Foundation
- Covers
- Shares
Sector groups and how they move
How the standard classification works, which sectors share sensitivities, and where it stops describing.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- Shares
Market capitalisation and free float
How both size measures are calculated, why providers weight on float, and what a small float does.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- 2 classes
What moves a share price
The four forces that reach a share price, and why a reaction depends on the expectation before it.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- Shares
Share liquidity and the opening auction
Why turnover concentrates at both ends of the day, and how a call auction strikes its price.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- Shares
Exchange traded funds as a CFD market
What an exchange traded fund is, how its price relates to its holdings, and what a CFD on one settles.
- Level
- Foundation
- Covers
- ETFs
How an ETF is built
The wrapper, the index licence, creation and redemption in kind, and the arbitrage that anchors the price.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- ETFs
Index ETFs
How broad market funds are assembled, and why several funds tracking one index still diverge.
- Level
- Foundation
- Covers
- 2 classes
Sector ETFs
How sectors are classified, what the sector funds hold, and why they concentrate more than broad funds.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- 2 classes
Bond ETFs
What fixed income funds hold, why price and yield move oppositely, and what duration and spread describe.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- ETFs
Commodity ETFs
The two structures behind commodity funds, and why a futures based fund separates from the spot price.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- 2 classes
Regional and emerging market ETFs
The two components of a country fund's return, and why it trades while the market it holds is closed.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- 2 classes
Leveraged and inverse ETFs
How a daily objective is built, and why the daily reset can leave a longer result worse than the index.
- Level
- Advanced
- Covers
- ETFs
What moves an ETF price
The two layers behind every move in a fund's price, and the events that move it mechanically.
- Level
- Foundation
- Covers
- ETFs
Get started
Open your account in four steps.
A clear path from sign-up to your first trade, in four steps.
No depositNo documents
01/ 04step 1 of 4
Register
A few details to get started.
No deposit to open
02/ 04step 2 of 4
Verify
Confirm your identity, securely.
ID and proof of address
03/ 04step 3 of 4
Fund
Add money by bank transfer or card.
From $0
04/ 04step 4 of 4
Trade
Go live on the platform you already know.
MetaTrader 5
