Invest and trade on 13,000 financial instruments

Financial markets is a very broad term and can vary from world to virtual currencies, commodities to stock indices, shares to ETFs plus rates and bonds, where traders can invest in or trade on a huge range of securities and derivatives.

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.

Indices are a measure of a section of shares in the stock market, created by combining the value of several stocks to create one aggregate value. Major financial indices include the Dow Jones Industrial Average, FTSE 100, CAC 40, and DAX. The Dow Jones index, for example, represents 30 large publicly-listed companies traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

Foreign exchange, or forex (FX) trading, is the exchange of different currencies on a decentralised global market. It involves the simultaneous buying and selling of two different currencies, and is the world's largest and most liquid financial market.

You speculate on whether the price of one currency will rise or fall against another. For example, if you believe that the value of the British pound will rise, relative to the value of the US dollar, you would trade the GBP/USD pair. Learn more about forex trading

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.

A share represents a portion of the ownership of a public company. The shares of a publicly listed company will be available on a stock market, such as the FTSE 100 index, whose constituent stocks are listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Trading shares in the underlying market involves the buying and selling of a company's shares, with the aim of profiting through the company's share price rising over time. The aim would be to sell your shares at a higher price than when you bought them.

You can spread bet or trade CFDs on shares with us, without actually owning the underlying share. Learn more about share trading

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

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.

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.

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.

Our income primarily comes from our spreads, while other fees, such as overnight holding costs, make a minor contribution to our overall revenue.