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A cryptocurrency is a form of digital currency created from code that functions outside of traditional banking and government systems. You can read more about cryptocurrencies here.

You can trade CFDs on a range of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin/USD, Ethereum/USD, Litecoin/USD, XRP/USD and meme coins such as TRUMP/USD. View the full list of cryptocurrencies available to trade here.  

You can view the full list of cryptocurrencies available to trade on the platform under Products, then Crypto.

No. A cryptocurrency wallet is used to store and manage cryptocurrencies directly. When you trade cryptocurrency CFDs, you do not buy or hold the underlying cryptocurrency. Instead, you trade on the price movement of the cryptocurrency through your CMC Markets account, so you do not need a digital wallet. 

Cryptocurrency CFDs are available to trade 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, subject to occasional maintenance or downtime.

To close or reduce a position, select the red ‘Close Out’ X to bring up an order ticket. To close ‘All’ trades in a specific product select ‘X’ on the aggregate row, or to close an individual trade select ‘X’ on the individual position row. To partially close a position, you will need to reduce the ‘Size’ of the trade. The wording at the bottom of the ticket will change to indicate that you are reducing your position rather than closing it.

Forks occur when the software of different miners disagree over the best way forward for the currency. It’s up to miners to decide which blockchain to continue using. If there isn’t a unanimous decision,  this can result in the creation of two versions of the blockchain. There can be periods of increased price volatility around such events. You can read more on blockchain forks here.

The price of our cryptocurrency instruments are based on the underlying market. They are made available to us by the exchanges and market-makers with which we trade. In the event of a hard fork, we will generally follow the blockchain that has the majority consensus of cryptocurrency users. We reserve the right to determine which cryptocurrency unit has the majority consensus.

You are able to do this, unless you have added a guaranteed stop-loss order to your trade.

To enable this feature, you will need to deactivate 'Account Netting': go to 'User Preferences' (in the top right-hand side of your screen next to the power on/off symbol), choose 'Account Settings' and then un-tick the box which says 'Enable Account Netting for this Account'.

Please note that shorting certain instruments may not be permitted – check the 'Product Overview' for confirmation.

Click or tap on the 'Sell' or 'Buy' price and an order ticket will appear. Choose between 'Market Order', 'Limit Order', or 'Stop Entry Order', input the trade size and then hit enter, add any 'Stop Loss' and 'Take Profit' levels and then place your trade.

On our mobile apps you can swipe from left to right anywhere on the order ticket to reveal a chart and use price sliders to set trade levels directly from the chart. Tablets use the extra screen space to display the chart to the left of the order ticket with your relevant order price and risk management levels shown against historical price action. Remember that information relating to past performance does not indicate future performance.

Yes you can. Click on the 'Accounts' tab and then 'Positions' on the trading platform to see your separate position clusters, or an amalgamated total with your average entry price. 

It is impossible to eliminate all of your risk. To minimise your losses you can consider using Stop Losses so that trades are closed before your losses exceed a certain level. (Please remember that Stop Losses are not guaranteed). In addition, please bear in mind when trading with CFDs that the higher the optional financing rate you use for a transaction, the higher the risk. Read more about stop losses here.

Yes, but we don't call them OCO orders. You can set up Stop Loss and Take Profit orders for every trade, as all orders are automatically linked together. If you close your trade or the Stop Loss or Take Profit order is triggered all other linked orders will be cancelled. 

Some stocks have restrictions placed on them, because of which you can only buy the stock but not short it.

Sometimes you will be unable to buy or sell a product on the platform. There could be a number of reasons for this, but typically, it's when the regulator imposes restrictions or there's a lack of liquidity in the market. To list CFD shares on our platform, a number of parameters need to be met. This includes the requirement for each company to have a market capitalisation of at least US$150m. If the parameters are not met, then we may not allow clients to buy/sell at that given time.

You can only deposit funds into your CFD account using the currency the account was originally opened in. If you wish to trade an alternative currency, a second account can be opened in either NZD, HKD or USD. 

Please contact our Client Services Team for assistance on 0800 26 26 27 or via email at support@cmcmarkets.co.nz.

You can reduce the amount of slippage your orders are subject to by using boundaries. To enable boundaries on your platform, select 'User Preferences' from the top right-hand side of your screen, choose 'Order Settings' and tick the box to enable boundaries. They will then appear on the order ticket for both market and stop-entry orders.

See also Guaranteed Stop Loss

You can have ten charts open per layout, with a maximum of 100 using all five layouts. For optimum platform performance, we would suggest that you keep the number of open charts on any layout to a minimum.

Your account will be in your home currency. All positions are opened in US dollars and converted to NZD at the prevailing level 1 mid price for the exchange rate +/- 0.5%

Prices streamed from our liquidity providers are consumed by our automated pricing engine where the ‘best’ and most representative price is used to create our quotes on which clients trade.

No, we do not offer currency exchange facilities.

A commodity is a physical good that can be bought or sold on the various 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.

Find out more

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.

You can start trading index CFDs now by opening a live CFD account. If you would like to practise your index trading strategy first, open a demo account to trade with virtual funds.

When you trade CFDs on indices on our platform, you don’t buy or sell the underlying index. Instead, you’re taking a position on whether you think the index will go up or down.

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.

While you can trade on leverage, your profits and losses are based on the full value of the trade.

When a stock goes ex-dividend, ignoring other market forces, the value of that stock effectively falls by the dividend amount. In most cases, this will in turn cause the index value to drop since the value of the index is calculated from the value of the stocks within it. The amount that the index drops is dependent on the weighting of the stock within the index. If more than one constituent stock of an index goes ex-dividend on the same day, we will add the amount of points each stock will cause the index to drop by together to calculate the total dividend amount in relation to the relevant index CFD offered by us.

Calc = Div Drop Amount Units FX Reval*1 (long) or Div Drop Amount Units FX Reval* -(1) (short)

This depends on what type of corporate action. Only cash dividends appear as a price adjustment. Other corporate actions are labelled "Corporate Action." We may also book a rights line for non-renounce-able rights issues.

If you have a position on a company which announces a dividend, your account will be credited/debited prior to market open on the day the stock goes 'ex-dividend'. Here's a typical example:

• Vodafone announces a 15c dividend

• You currently hold 3000 units of Vodafone (or $30 per point)

• 15c x 3000 = $450

• $450 will be credited to your CFD account.

• (If you hold a short position going into the ex-dividend date, then your account will be debited for the same amount)

Please note, the amount you are credited or debited will be subject to the relevant tax holding rates according to the region in which the share is listed. On your daily statement the dividend will appear under 'Ledger Activity' as:

Corp Action: Price Adjustment

Stock splits are usually undertaken when the value of a company's stock is becoming too high. The company will essentially offer more stocks in the company but at a lower price. Here's a typical example:

• You hold 300 units in company Q at a price of 1607 per share

• Q announces on R date, that it will be issuing a stock split of 5 for 1.

• Hence for every 1 stock you hold you will be issued 5.

• Now you will hold 1500 units at the reduced price of 321.4.

• Note the overall contract value remains the same: (300 units x 1607 = 4821; 1500 units x 321.4 = 4821)

On your daily statement the stock split will appear as a corporate action in your history.

If you were to hold a short position in underlying, you would be liable for the dividend and therefore we will charge you the appropriate amount to replicate this.

In the event that a listed issuer of a security (on which you hold an open CFD position with us) announces a share sub-division or share consolidation or makes changes to its capital structure by way of cash dividend payments, we will make an appropriate adjustment on the relevant listed share or index CFD on the ex-date or the corporate action effective day.

The premium charged for GSLOs will vary by product and depend on your trade size. The estimated cost will be displayed on order tickets before you agree to apply a guaranteed stop-loss order to a position, and will automatically be deducted from your cash balance once you have confirmed the GSLO. The premium is refunded in full if the GSLO is not triggered. 

Within the deal ticket, select 'Stop Loss' and then click on the arrow below 'Regular' on the right-hand side of the deal ticket. Then select 'GSLO' (guaranteed stop-loss order). Proceed to enter your stop loss amount as you would with a regular stop. Please note that there is a minimum distance at which GSLOs will be placed and a premium attached. This information can be found within the product overview for the relevant product.

If you remove a guaranteed stop-loss order (GSLO) from an open position, convert it to a regular or trailing stop-loss order, or close out the position yourself, we will credit your account with 100% of the GSLO premium charge.

Our Risk Management team determines the minimum distance for GSLOs on specific products, depending on market volatility and risk preference of that product on the day.

The premium charged for GSLOs will vary by product and depend on your trade size. The estimated cost will be displayed on order tickets before you agree to apply a guaranteed stop-loss order to a position, and will automatically be deducted from your cash balance once you have confirmed the GSLO. The premium is refunded in full if the GSLO is not triggered. Learn how we calculate our GSLO premiums.

If you're currently long (with a buy position), make sure you're looking at a sell chart (you can change the chart type at the bottom of the chart itself). If you're short (with a sell position), make sure you're looking at a buy chart. If you still feel the stop loss shouldn't have been executed, please contact our Client Management team.

The dormant account fee is applied 12 months after inactivity on the account.

The list of costs and charges below is not exhaustive.  Please see our CFD holding costs page for a more comprehensive explanation of our GSLO premiums, margins, etc. Please see the pricing page for more information on our dormant account charges. 

Spread: the difference between the current buy price and the current sell price is referred to as the spread. This is shown as a number of points based on the last large number within the price quote.

Overnight holding costs: at the end of each trading day at 5pm (New York time), any cash positions held in your account may be subject to a charge called a 'holding cost'. The holding cost can be positive or negative depending on the direction of your position. Historical holding rates, expressed as an annual percentage rate, are visible on our platform within the overview section of each product. This annual percentage is applied to the notional value of your trade when it was opened, and divided by 365 for the one night cost. Learn how we calculate CFD holdings costs. 

Commission charges: when trading CFD shares on our platform, a commission will be charged to your account upon execution of any order. See our commission rates.

Market data feeds: in order to view share prices on our platform, you will need to activate the relevant market data feed for the region in which the products you wish to see are traded.

Monthly subscription charges may apply depending on your market data classification and the type of account you hold, details of the charges can be found on the platform in the ‘market data’ section in ‘user preferences’.

When you place a trade with CMC Markets and use any optional financing you will incur a holding cost. The transaction holding cost is the cost of ‘holding’ the value of the unfunded portion of a trade. We calculate the rate applicable to the Holding Cost with reference to inter-bank lending rates. The holding cost is only applicable to trades on the following product types: Indices, shares and commodities. For full details please refer to our Product Disclosure Statement and other related documents.

Commission is only applicable for share trading on a CFD account. It's taken out of the cash balance on your account at the open and the close of a position. Learn more about our commission charges.

The overnight holding rate used when calculating the applicable holding costs on FX comes from the tom-next rate, which is the difference between the two currencies’ interest rates, with an additional 0.0027% CMC Markets charge added. Learn more about CFD holding costs.

Please note, you'll be charged holding costs for three days on either a Wednesday or a Thursday, depending on the currency pair, as shown in the table below.

If you want to trade a share CFD or view the price data for that share, you will need to activate the market data subscription for the applicable country or group of countries that the share product is based in. Depending on the subscription, there may be a monthly fee for the market data subscription and the monthly fee will differ, depending on which country and/or countries the share CFDs relate to.  The monthly fee, if applicable, will be debited from your account at the time you activate a market data feed. Please note that the market data fee for the full calendar month will be charged, irrespective of whether you activate or deactivate the market data subscription part way through the calendar month.

In addition to the market data fee, local taxes and duties may also be charged. The market data fees will be converted into your account currency at our prevailing currency conversion rate before being debited from your account.

It's your responsibility to ensure that you have sufficient funds in your account to pay any market data fee in full.

The dormant account fee will normally be charged within three business days of the following calendar month after 12 months of no trade activity.

The first step is to establish the holding rate for the instrument you are trading. Holding rates can be found within the trading platform by selecting ‘Library’ from the main menu (which displays the full list of products), then select the arrow icon next to the specific product which will bring up a sub-menu. Choose ‘Product Overview’ on the sub-menu to bring up the holding rate details.

To calculate your holding rate:

• Take your total trade value using the end of day price (calculated by multiplying your position size by the opening price), which is displayed in the order ticket when you enter a quantity.

• Multiply that by the holding cost percentage (which can change each day) shown in the product overview to get your annualised holding fee.

• Divide this number by 365 to calculate your daily cost in the product’s traded currency.

If you activate your dormant account by trading again, the inactivity fee will be rebated for up to three months. The funds will be credited back to your trading account.

In addition to the ability to trade during extended trading hours on 250+ US stocks, we offer the ability to speculate on popular indices and commodities almost 24/5. You can also trade on forex from Monday morning through to Saturday morning. View our range of markets.

Trading during extended hours allows you to speculate on 250+ popular US shares ahead of the underlying market open and after market close. This allows you to manage your positions and your risk with more flexibility, as you can react earlier to earnings reports, which are usually released either before or after the core underlying market hours of 3:30am to 10am (NZDT time)*, as well as other possible breaking news or global events which may impact these US shares. 

*The times outlined here are not updated when daylight savings ends/starts across NZ/UK/US time zones. Please refer to the platform for the most up to date market hours.

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 market session hours of 3.30am-10am (NZDT 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.

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 3.30am-10am (NZDT time), as a result of varying levels of market activity.

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

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.

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, with positions being closed, in line with our order execution policy In this policy,  you can learn more about liquidations and how they work.

• Pre-market: Occurs between 4am EDT and 9:30am EDT. 

• Core market hours: The standard trading session, running from 9:30am EDT to 4pm EDT. 

• Post-market: Begins at the end of the core session at 4pm EDT, running until 8pm EDT. 

• Overnight: This extends trading for 250+ select equities between the post-market session on Monday to the pre-market session on Friday. 
   

Please note all times given above are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC –4) and may change from time to time depending on whether daylight saving time is used. 

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 outside of core 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 outside of core  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 outside of core hours as there is less liquidity in the market due to fewer market participants, compared with the main trading session. Our spreads reflect the underlying market conditions. This means that you may have a higher spread cost if you trade outside of core hours. You can view the current spread in the platform, directly on the order ticket.