CFDs are financial contracts between a broker and trader that pays for the difference in the settlement price between when you open and close a trade.
If a trader expects the currency to move higher, they will enter a long position with a specific lot size. Conversely, if the trader expects the currency to move lower, they will enter a short position, expecting to profit from it.
The benefit of CFDs is that there is no need to own the physical asset. Instead, traders speculate in the difference between opening and closing trade prices. While these contracts can be used to speculate on the foreign exchange markets, the same concept applies to other assets such as commodities, oil and indices.
In Forex trading, CFDs allow us to buy or sell the currencies without actually owning the physical asset. For example, let’s say you live in Canada and, through your analysis, you expect CAD to depreciate and USD to appreciate. What could you do to hedge against the CAD dollar that you have on hand? Well, you can buy or “go long’ on USD/CAD and profit from the movement in prices. By buying or entering a long position on USD/CAD, you are essentially buying the USD and selling CAD.
SO, WHAT IF YOU DECIDED TO TRADE WITHOUT THE USE OF CFDS?
This would mean going down to your local currency dealer and exchanging your physical Canadian dollars for US dollars, leaving you holding on to stacks of US dollars. When the value of the US dollar moves higher, you would once again head back to the currency dealer to exchange them into CAD. Now that the USD is stronger, you can exchange them for more CAD dollars than the initial amount you invested, thereby realising a profit.
SOUNDS LIKE A HASSLE?
It is. That’s why CFDs are so popular for forex trading: it removes the need to hold those stacks of physical cash, making trading much more convenient.
If a trader expects the currency to move higher, they will enter a long position with a specific lot size. Conversely, if the trader expects the currency to move lower, they will enter a short position, expecting to profit from it.
The benefit of CFDs is that there is no need to own the physical asset. Instead, traders speculate in the difference between opening and closing trade prices. While these contracts can be used to speculate on the foreign exchange markets, the same concept applies to other assets such as commodities, oil and indices.
In Forex trading, CFDs allow us to buy or sell the currencies without actually owning the physical asset. For example, let’s say you live in Canada and, through your analysis, you expect CAD to depreciate and USD to appreciate. What could you do to hedge against the CAD dollar that you have on hand? Well, you can buy or “go long’ on USD/CAD and profit from the movement in prices. By buying or entering a long position on USD/CAD, you are essentially buying the USD and selling CAD.
SO, WHAT IF YOU DECIDED TO TRADE WITHOUT THE USE OF CFDS?
This would mean going down to your local currency dealer and exchanging your physical Canadian dollars for US dollars, leaving you holding on to stacks of US dollars. When the value of the US dollar moves higher, you would once again head back to the currency dealer to exchange them into CAD. Now that the USD is stronger, you can exchange them for more CAD dollars than the initial amount you invested, thereby realising a profit.
SOUNDS LIKE A HASSLE?
It is. That’s why CFDs are so popular for forex trading: it removes the need to hold those stacks of physical cash, making trading much more convenient.
