FAQs

If the 'settlement price' is equal to the Countdowns price at expiry, your Countdowns trade will result in a draw. If this occurs, we will refund between 50% and 60% of your original premium, depending on the product and expiry timeframe of your Countdowns trade.

Simply put, Countdowns are a trade on whether a product's price will be above or below the current level, at the end of a range of short timeframes, from 30 seconds to one hour. There are only three possible outcomes (profit, lose and occasionally, draw) and the amount you can profit or lose is predetermined. Countdowns provide a fast-paced way to place fixed-odds trades, with low minimum premiums and competitive returns. While losses are limited per Countdowns trade, you can still make substantial losses as well as gains.

The minimum premium is $40 (or the equivalent in another currency).

Yes, our maximum trade sizes are reduced during our 'out of hours' session and the minimum timeframes that we offer increase.

If you're new to CMC Markets, you can apply for a live account – just complete our application form. Please note that you can trade Countdowns with CMC Markets through a CFD account. When your application has been approved and you've verified your email address and funded your account, you will be able to place your first Countdowns trade through your CFD account. If you're already a CMC Markets client, just click on 'Countdowns' in the top navigation toolbar.

We offer a range of timeframes, from as short as 30 seconds for EUR/USD and USD/JPY, up to one hour.

The 'settlement price' is the continuously updated price of the product. It is whether this price is higher or lower than the Countdown price at expiry that determines whether you profit or lose.

Countdowns are based on a fixed-odds concept where the return for profits varies between 75% to 90%. You simply select the timeframe you want the Countdowns trade to run for, choose your premium (how much you want to risk) and decide whether the settlement price will be above or below the current Countdowns price, at the end of that particular timeframe. Unlike trading CFDs, you can't lose more than your initial premium.

On the iPhone app, tap 'More' at the bottom-right hand corner then tap Countdowns. On the web-based platform, click on 'Countdowns' (clock icon), available in the top navigation toolbar or in the product library. Unfortunately, Countdowns is no longer available through our Android app.

Click on the 'History' tab within the Countdowns window to view the outcome of previously expired Countdowns. You will easily be able to see whether the position resulted in a profit, loss or draw. All the relevant price and return details will be visible and if you click on an expired position, you will be able to view a chart showing the historical progress of the position.

No, with Countdowns you are not able to exit the trade or alter the expiry once you have placed the trade. Your chosen timeframe will count down and whether you profit or lose will be determined using the product's price at the expiry time.

For every trade you place you choose a 'premium'. This is the amount you are willing to lose if the trade goes against you. You specify your premium on the Countdowns order ticket before you enter the position. For each product there is also a 'return'. This is the amount that you will receive if the trade goes your way and your prediction is correct at the time of expiry. The payout percentage and amount is also displayed on the Countdowns order ticket.

The prices for CMC Markets products are generated in real time, electronically, by our platform. While these prices take into account prices from various sources, they are not taken from any one particular source, so the prices at which you open and close trades are exclusive to the CMC Markets platform and will not be the same as prices you may see elsewhere. Please click here for more information.

You can see the status of all of your open Countdowns under the 'Positions' tab within the Countdowns window on the platform. You will be able to see a colour-coded Countdowns timer showing how much time until expiry, the current price and whether the current price is above or below your entry price. Click on an open position to see the live performance of your Countdowns plotted on a chart.

No, with Countdowns your potential return or loss is displayed on the order ticket before you enter your trade. You can't set stop-loss or take-profit orders, and it doesn't matter how much above or below the original price the product's price is at expiry, the return and risk levels will be the same.

This is the history of the last ten intervals of the timeframe/expiry you are looking at. A large green bar means the price at the end of that interval was significantly above the price at the start of the interval. A large red bar represents the opposite.

The CMC Markets Next Generation trading platform is web-based, so there is no need to download any software and you can access the platform from any computer with one of the common web browsers. We also provide free mobile trading apps for iPhone and iPad – just search for 'CMC Markets' in your relevant app store. Unfortunately, Countdowns is no longer available through our Android app.

There are currently 27 different products available to trade using Countdowns, including some of our most popular indices, FX and commodities products. For more information please see our Countdowns page.

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