A bond is a fixed-income instrument, or debt security, and represents a long-term lending agreement between a borrower and lender – effectively an 'IOU'. The bond issuer is often a corporation or a government, and the funds are used to finance a project or operation. Learn how to trade bonds.

There are a number of costs to consider when CFD trading, including holding costs (for trades held overnight, which is essentially a fee for the funds you borrow to cover the leveraged portion of the trade), rollover costs (on expiring forward positions) and a guaranteed stop-loss order (GSLO) charge (if you use this risk-management tool). Find out more about our costs.

One of the advantages of CFD trading is that you only need to deposit a percentage of the full value of your position to open a trade, known as trading on leverage. Remember, trading on leverage can also amplify losses, so it's important to manage your risk.

As well as ‘cash’ instruments, you can also take a position on forwards (based on the underlying futures price), which are an agreement between a buyer and seller to exchange a treasury at a set price at a future date.