ETF trading
Trade on over 1,000 exchange-traded funds with leverage on our award-winning spread betting and CFD platform. Enjoy tight spreads, lightning-fast execution and the highest customer satisfaction in the industry.*
FCA regulated
Segregated funds
LSE listed
View popular ETFs
1Y
More than just an ETF trading platform
Your favourites in one place
Over 1,000 ETFs to trade, including the most popular themes from the US and Europe.
Professional research
Free access to quantitative equity analysis from Morningstar.
Minimal slippage
With fully automated, lightning-fast execution in 0.0075 seconds.**
99.8% fill rate^
No partial fills, no dealer intervention, regardless of your trading size.
Award-winning platform
Best Platform Features and Best Mobile/Tablet App 2013-2019.
Competitive pricing
Enjoy tight spreads across our full range of ETF instruments.
Our themes to watch
Since their establishment three decades ago, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have evolved from a relatively obscure investment fund to a type of investment vehicle that has attracted trillions of dollars worth of assets. But with thousands of available instruments and multiple types and focuses, how do you know where to start? Our in-house trading team have identified three themes with high growth potential and the instruments well placed to benefit from their performance.
Other popular instruments
See our competitive ETF trading costs
Whatever you trade, costs matter. That’s why we’re committed to bringing competitive pricing and transparency across all of our markets, whether you trade on ETFs, indices or commodities.
The platform built for ETF trading
Fast execution, exclusive insights and accurate signals are vital to your success as an ETFs trader. Our award-winning trading platform was built with the successful ETFs trader in mind.
Industry-leading charting
Our charting package ranked highest for charting in the 2019 Investment Trends survey. Choose from over 115 technical indicators and drawing tools, more than 70 patterns and 12 in-built chart types.
Pattern recognition scanner
We automatically scan over 120 of our most popular instruments every 15 minutes for emerging and completed chart patterns, such as wedges, channels and head & shoulders formations to give you a head start on the market.
Client sentiment
Award-winning app*
What are ETFs
Trading ETFs enables investors to obtain instant diversification, by gaining exposure to a range of instruments across a sector, or within the S&P 500 or Russell 3000 index for example, with a single transaction.
ETFs can be classified into three major fund types, typically based on specific investment characteristics. These are passive, smart beta and actively managed (including semi-transparent ETFs). The difference between each type of fund is the investment strategy underpinning it. For instance, index investing uses a strategy that requires little involvement, as these funds are set up to mimic the performance of a broad market index, such as the FTSE 100 or S&P 500. These are passively-managed funds. An actively-managed fund, on the other hand, will have its holdings readjusted and reallocated on a frequent basis by portfolio managers in an attempt to outperform the benchmark index. Learn more about ETFs.
Learn about ETF trading
EBOOK
ETFs can seem complicated, but they’re actually one of the most accessible forms of investment. Find out what they are and how you can start enjoying their benefits.
News
Opto Sessions: Jack Schwager’s market misconceptions
PODCAST
Jack Schwager, renowned author of the Market Wizards book series, reveals a major misconception in investing.
FAQs
New to CMC?
Is it free to open an account?
There's no cost when opening a live spread betting or CFD trading account. You can also view prices and use tools such as charts, Reuters news or Morningstar quantitative equity reports, free of charge. However, you will need to deposit funds in your account to place a trade.
What are the costs of spread betting and CFD trading?
There are a number of costs to consider when spread betting and CFD trading, including spread costs, 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 for expired forward trades, and guaranteed stop-loss order charges (if you use this risk-management tool).
Find out more about our costs
Is CMC Markets regulated by the FCA?
Yes, CMC Markets UK plc (registration number 173730) and CMC Spreadbet plc (registration number 170627) are fully authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK. Retail client money is held in segregated client bank accounts and money held on behalf of clients is distributed across a range of major banks, which are regularly assessed against our risk criteria.
Is CMC Markets covered by the FSCS?
Yes, your eligible deposits with CMC Markets are protected up to a total of 85,000 by the Financial Services Compensations Scheme (FSCS), the UK’s deposit guarantee scheme. If CMC Markets ever went into liquidation, retail clients would have their share of segregated money returned, minus the administrator‘s costs in handling and distributing these funds. Any shortfall of funds up to 85,000 may be compensated under the FSCS.
How does CMC Markets protect my money?
As a CMC client, your money is held separately from CMC Markets’ own funds, so that under property, trust and insolvency law, your money is protected. Therefore your money is unavailable to general creditors of the firm, if the firm fails.
Where do your prices come from?
Our automated pricing engine collates and checks thousands of prices per second, streamed from our liquidity providers. The most representative price is then used to create the quotes on our platform. Our pricing aims to mirror the underlying market.
Learn more
How does CMC Markets make money?
Our income primarily comes from our spreads, while other fees, such as overnight holding costs, make a minor contribution to overall revenue. We never aim to profit from our clients’ losses. Our aim is to build long-term relationships by providing the best possible trading experience through our technology and customer service.
New to ETF trading?
What is leveraged ETF trading?
As an example, let’s say you want to put down a total of £1,000 on your ETF trade. Due to the leverage available with spread betting (5:1 in this case), you would be able to enter this position with an initial outlay of £200, instead of £1,000. However, remember that your profits and losses are based on the full value of the trade (£1,000). As a retail client, you will never lose more than the amount in your account.
One of the advantages of spread betting and 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 ETFs on leverage can also amplify losses, so it’s important to manage your risk.
How does spread betting and CFD trading ETFs actually work?
When you spread bet or trade CFDs on ETFs on our platform, you don’t buy or sell the underlying ETF. Instead, you’re taking a position on whether you think the ETF price will go up or down.
With spread betting, you buy or sell an amount per point movement for the instrument you are trading, such as £5 per point. This is known as your stake. With CFD trading, you buy or sell a number of units for a particular instrument. For every point or unit that the price moves in your favour, you gain multiples of your stake, and vice versa. Read about the differences between ETFs and CFDs.
What are the costs involved in ETF trading?
There are a number of costs to consider when trading on ETFs, including spread costs, holding costs (for trades held overnight) and guaranteed stop-loss order charges (if you use this risk-management tool).
See our trading costs