A commodity is a physical good that can be bought or sold on commodity markets. Commodities can be categorised into either hard or soft varieties. Hard commodities are natural resources like oil, gold and rubber, and are often mined or extracted. Soft commodities are agricultural products such as coffee, wheat or corn.

Commodity index trading | EN-IE | CMC Markets

Q: How can I trade commodity CFDs?

Spread betting or trading CFDs on commodities offers the opportunity to speculate on the underlying price movement of popular metals like gold and silver, energies like Brent and West Texas crude oil, and natural gas, plus soft commodities such as wheat. There are no commission fees to pay, although other charges may apply, including the instrument's spread, plus overnight holding costs if you're holding the trade open for longer than one day. View our trading costs for more details.

Q: What is leveraged trading?

One of the features of spread betting and CFD trading is that you only need to deposit a percentage of the full value of your position – the initial margin requirement – to open a trade, known as trading on leverage. Trading on leverage amplifies your profits and losses equally, so it's important to manage your risk.

Q: How does CMC Markets protect my money?

CMC Markets Germany GmbH is a broker regulated by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). It holds funds of private clients separately from its own funds in separate bank accounts. In the unlikely event that CMC Markets Germany GmbH is unable to meet its financial obligations, the EdW would cover any claim for damages by claimants up to €20,000, provided that certain criteria are met.

Q: Is CMC Markets regulated?

CMC Markets Germany GmbH is a company authorised and regulated by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). CMC Markets complies with the requirements of §84 of the German Securities Trading Act (WpHG) regarding client funds.

Q: Is it free to open an account?

There's no cost when opening a live trading account with us. You can also view prices and use tools such as charts, Reuters news or Morningstar quantitative equity reports, free of charge. However, you'll need to deposit funds in your account to place a trade.

Q: 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 our overall revenue.

Q: What can I trade on with CMC Markets?

You can trade on financial instruments when you spread bet and trade CFDs with us. Take a look at our popular markets and instruments.

EU regulated

FTSE 250 group

2m+ global traders and investors¹

2023 WINNER

Best Forex Broker

Good Money Guide Awards

2025 WINNER

Best Mobile Trading Platform

ADVFN International Financial Awards

2023 WINNER

No.1 Web Platform

ForexBrokers.com Awards

More than a commodity trading platform

100+ cash and forward commodities

Trade on 'cash' and forwards across a wide range of precious metals, energies and agricultural commodities.

Around-the-clock trading

Speculate on gold seven days a week, and on silver, crude oils and natural gas from Sunday night through to Friday night (includes a short daily break).

Trade the whole sector

Take a view across a whole commodity sector from a single position, with our bespoke commodity indices.

'Cash' markets

Tighter spreads, no rollovers and charting back as far as 2011 to help your analysis.

Dedicated customer service

Our experienced team is here whenever the markets are open to support you on your trading journey.

No partial fills

No dealer intervention – we don't reject or partially fill trades based on size.

What are other traders saying about CMC Markets?

Discover why 2 million+ global traders and investors choose us.²

Major commodity indices to trade

Agriculture Index

The Agricultural Index contains Soybean, Corn, Soybean Meal, Wheat, Coffee Arabica, Soybean Oil, Sugar Raw, Cotton, US Cocoa, Coffee Robusta, Sugar White and Oats, covering a broad spectrum of the soft commodities sector.

How do commodity indices work?

Our commodity indices group together individual commodities to make a commodities 'basket'. The indices track the underlying prices of the commodities within that index. If the individual commodity prices in that index increase, then the value of the index goes up. Conversely, if the individual commodity prices decrease, then the value of that index falls.

There are several benefits to commodity index trading as opposed to trading individual commodities. It can be a more cost-effective and efficient way of trading the market, allowing you to take a view on a commodity sector as a whole without having to open individual positions on each commodity. This can be a good way to diversify your portfolio.

However, it's important to be aware that CFDs are high-risk, speculative products. High volatility combined with leverage could lead to significant losses. As with any leveraged product, profits and losses will be based on the full value of your position. While you could profit if the market moves in your favour, you could just as easily make significant losses if the trade moves against you and you don't have adequate risk management in place.

Commodity index costs

View the spreads, margin rates and trading hours for our three major commodity indices in the table below.

View all of our costs

How our commodity indices are weighted

For the Energy Index and Agricultural Index, the components were initially weighted according to the average daily trade value of the nearest six futures contracts, where available, for the 12 months preceding the index launch date, based on the initial index value of $10m.

For the Precious Metals Index, Gold and Silver are split equally to collectively make up 70% of the index weight. The remaining two components, Platinum and Palladium, are also split equally and collectively make up 30% of the index weight. Subsequent index reviews are applied as shown in the index methodology.

Award-winning broker

2025 WINNER

Best Mobile Trading Platform

ADVFN International Financial Awards

2023 WINNER

No.1 Web Platform

ForexBrokers.com Awards

FAQs

New to commodity trading?

What is a commodity?

How can I trade commodity CFDs?

What is leveraged trading?

New to CMC Markets?

How does CMC Markets protect my money?

Is CMC Markets regulated?

Is it free to open an account?

How does CMC Markets make money?

What can I trade on with CMC Markets?

Do you have any questions?

Email us at info@cmcmarkets.ie or call us on +353(0)1 256 3000 (lines open 24 hours, Monday to Friday).

¹FSCS is an independent body that offers protection to customers of financial services firms that have failed. The compensation amount may be up to £85,000 per eligible person, per firm. Eligibility conditions apply. Please contact the FSCS for more information.

²Based on over 2 million unique user logins across CMC's trading and investing platforms, including partners, as at November 2025.

³Recent awards include: Best Spread Betting Broker, Good Money Guide Awards 2026; No.1 Most Currency Pairs & Best-in-class for Overall Excellence, MetaTrader, Mobile Trading App, Professional Trading, Research & TradingView, ForexBrokers.com Awards 2026; Best Broker for Active Traders, Professional Trader Awards 2025; Best Mobile Trading Platform and Best Spread Betting & CFD Education Tools, ADVFN International Financial Awards 2025; No.1 for Commissions & Fees, ForexBrokers.com Awards 2025.

Commodity index trading

More than a commodity trading platform

What are other traders saying about CMC Markets?

Major commodity indices to trade

How do commodity indices work?

Commodity index costs

How our commodity indices are weighted

Award-winning broker

FAQs

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