Shares

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

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 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.

When you spread bet or trade CFDs on shares on our platform, you don't buy or sell the underlying share. Instead, you're taking a position on whether you think the company's share price will go up or down.

With spread betting, you buy or sell an amount per point movement for the share instrument you’re 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.

As an example, say you wanted to buy £1,300 worth of Lloyds penny shares at £65 per share. For the spread betting equivalent of this trade, you would specify a stake size of £20 per point to get the same exposure as you would if you bought 20 Lloyds shares at £65 through traditional share dealing. 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 £260, instead of £1,300. However, your profits and losses are based on the full value of the trade (£1,300). As a retail client, negative balance protection means that you will never lose more than the available cash in your account. View our spread betting versus CFDs comparison.

You can make money from spread betting or trading CFDs on shares, if you have sufficient knowledge of the market and make use of appropriate risk-management tools. Remember that when trading with leverage, it increases your exposure to the markets and magnifies your profits and losses, as your position is based on the full value of the trade. Read more about the risks of trading with leverage.

Trading shares on our platform works similarly to physically buying and selling shares, except that you don’t take ownership of the asset. When trading derivative products, you open a position based on whether you think a price will rise or fall, and subsequently make a profit or loss based on the price when you close the trade compared with your opening price. Learn more about our spread betting and CFD trading products.

You can spread bet or trade CFDs on 67 US stocks – including the 'magnificent seven' of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla – 24 hours a day, five days a week, from 1am Monday through to 10pm Friday (UK time).* We also offer extended trading hours on a further 20 major US shares. This means you can spread bet or trade CFDs on these 20 stocks in both pre- and post-market trading. These shares are available from 9am through to 1am the following day, Monday to Thursday, and from 9am to 10pm on Friday (all UK times).*

*The core or main US session trading hours, when the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ are open, is 2.30pm to 9pm (UK time). Please note: there is a three-week period during March, and one week in October, between the US and UK clocks changing for daylight saving time (DST), when the underlying US exchanges will open and close one hour earlier than usual. During these periods, 24/5 shares trading will start at midnight instead of 1am on Monday, through to 9pm on Friday instead of 10pm (UK times). Extended trading hours on US shares will run from 8am to midnight (instead of 9am to 1am the following day), Monday to Thursday, and from 8am to 9pm (instead of 9am to 10pm) on Friday.

You can spread bet or trade CFDs on over 5,000 US stocks and ETFs with us - including the 'magnificent seven' of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla - 24 hours a day, five days a week, from 1am Monday through to 10pm Friday (UK time).*

*The main US session trading hours (when the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ are open), are 2.30pm to 9pm (UK time). Please note: there is a three-week period during March, and one week in October, between the UK and US clocks changing for daylight saving time (DST), when the underlying US exchanges will open and close one hour earlier than usual. During these periods, 24/5 shares and ETF trading will start at midnight instead of 1am on Monday, through to 9pm on Friday instead of 10pm (UK times).

Here's a selection of popular US shares and ETFs available to trade from 1am Monday to 10pm Friday (UK time). You can view the full range of US shares and ETFs available 24/5 in our platform.

Trading during extended hours allows you to speculate on selected US shares ahead of the underlying market open at 2.30pm, and after the underlying market close at 9pm (all UK times).* This allows you to manage your positions and risk with more flexibility, as you can react earlier to earnings reports, which are usually released either before or after the core market session (2.30pm-9pm)*. Similarly, you're also able to react to breaking market news or global events which may impact these US shares.

*Please note: there is a three-week period during March, and one week in October, between the US and UK clocks changing for daylight saving time (DST), when the underlying US exchanges will open and close one hour earlier than usual. During these periods, 24/5 shares trading will start at midnight (instead of 1am) on Monday, through to 9pm (instead of 10pm) on Friday (UK times). Extended trading hours on US shares will run from 8am (instead of 9am) to midnight (instead of 1am the following day), Monday to Thursday, and from 8am to 9pm (instead of 9am to 10pm) on Friday.

Yes, there is a higher risk when you trade outside of the core trading session hours (when the underlying exchange is closed). There is likely to be a greater level of price volatility, due to lower trading volumes. This is because there are fewer participants than during normal market hours, resulting in less liquidity, which means that markets are more volatile as a result.

These market conditions mean that prices are likely to fluctuate more rapidly than usual, and some trades could be more difficult to execute, owing to the lower trading volumes. Our spreads may also be wider compared with the main trading session.

Our order types and execution function as normal during extended-hours trading, although we lower trading and position limits compared with the main trading session. This helps us to manage risk during periods of lower liquidity in the market. Account liquidations also function as normal, so it’s important to ensure that your account is properly funded, and that you allow enough time to deposit funds, if required.

The liquidation process operates in the same way as during the core market hours, ensuring a seamless trading experience. While liquidity levels during extended hours may vary, our systems are designed to manage this effectively, aiming to close positions at the best available price, in line with our Order Execution Policy. In this policy, you can learn more about liquidations and how they work.

Our spreads may vary during extended trading hours. This is because there are likely to be fewer market participants, which results in less liquidity in the market compared with trading during the main US session open times of 2.30pm-9pm (UK time).*

Our spreads reflect the underlying market conditions. This is typical in extended trading hours across global markets. This means that you may have a higher spread cost if you trade during extended hours. You can view the current spread in the platform, directly on the order ticket.

*The core US session trading hours, when the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ are open, is 2.30pm to 9pm (UK time). Please note: there is a three-week period during March, and one week in October, between the US and UK clocks changing for daylight saving time (DST), when the underlying US exchanges will open and close one hour earlier than usual. During these periods, 24/5 shares trading will start at midnight (instead of 1am) on Monday, through to 9pm (instead of 10pm) on Friday (UK times). Extended trading hours on US shares will run from 8am to midnight (instead of 9am to 1am the following day), Monday to Thursday, and from 8am to 9pm (instead of 9am to 10pm) on Friday.

No, there are no additional trading costs or fees, as our costs remain the same as during regular market hours. However, spreads may be wider compared with the main US market session hours of 2.30pm-9pm (UK time)*. This is because there are generally fewer participants in the market compared with the core market hours, and this results in less liquidity, which in turn means that markets are more likely to be volatile.

*The core or main US session trading hours, when the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ are open, is 2.30pm to 9pm (UK time). Please note: there is a three-week period during March, and one week in October, between the US and UK clocks changing for daylight saving time (DST), when the underlying US exchanges will open and close one hour earlier than usual. During these periods, 24/5 shares trading will start at midnight (instead of 1am) on Monday, through to 9pm (instead of 10pm) on Friday (UK times). Extended trading hours on US shares will run from 8am to midnight (instead of 9am to 1am the following day), Monday to Thursday, and from 8am to 9pm (instead of 9am to 10pm) on Friday.

During extended trading hours, our share instruments are priced from the various available exchanges. Prices may differ slightly compared with trading during the core session of 2.30pm to 9pm (UK time)*, as a result of varying levels of market activity.

*The core or main US session trading hours, when the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ are open, is 2.30pm to 9pm (UK time). Please note: there is a three-week period during March, and one week in October, between the US and UK clocks changing for daylight saving time (DST), when the underlying US exchanges will open and close one hour earlier than usual. During these periods, 24/5 shares trading will start at midnight (instead of 1am) on Monday, through to 9pm (instead of 10pm) on Friday (UK times). Extended trading hours on US shares will run from 8am to midnight (instead of 9am to 1am the following day), Monday to Thursday, and from 8am to 9pm (instead of 9am to 10pm) on Friday.

Yes, our full range of order types are supported during extended trading hours, including market and limit orders. Learn more about our order types

Lower trading limits, where we reduce the maximum order size available, help to mitigate the higher risks associated with reduced liquidity during extended-hours trading. This helps to ensure a stable and secure trading environment for all our customers.

Share spread bets have an additional spread added either side of the existing spread. See our UK and US share spread bet examples below.

UK shares example:

CFD price/underlying sell/buy price: 250p/255pA CMC 0.10% additional spread is added to either side, widening the spread: 250p - (0.1% of 250) / 255p + (0.1% of 255) Spread bet sell/buy price = 249.75p / 255.25p

US shares example:

Share price / Cost $0-15 | 1 cent (each side) $15-25 | 2 cents (each side) $25-35 | 3 cents (each side) $35+ | 4 cents (each side)

CFD price/underlying price: $25.50 / $25.58

Share price falls into bracket three: $25-35.

So, 3 cents is added to both sides, widening the spread: $25.50 - $0.03 / $25.58 + $0.03

Spread bet sell/buy price = $25.47 / $25.61

When a stock goes ex-dividend, the value of that stock effectively falls by the dividend amount. This means if you hold a spread bet or CFD position on a company which announces a dividend, your account will be credited or debited on the day the stock goes ex-dividend.

If you were long (holding a buy position), you would have been disadvantaged by the drop in the market caused by the pay out of the dividend, so we would credit your account with the dividend amount, less any applicable dividend withholding taxes. If you were short the stock, you would benefit from the drop in the price, so the equivalent amount would be deducted. So, overall, you don't lose or gain anything from the adjustment. There are no withholding taxes on short positions. The dividend will appear as a 'Price Adjustment' in your account history within the platform.