Contracts for Difference compared with Financial Spread Betting
A Contract for Difference, or CFD is an two way trading deal between two different parties based on the rise or fall in the trading price of an agreed number of shares in a company over an agreed time – no actual share purchase is necessary. Sounds complicated, but its not really. Many investment groups and hedge funds have found a great deal of success with CFD Trading in the UK stock market for just over ten years instead of regular share dealing. They are many similar comparisions between CFD trading and spreadbetting in that the both of them are margined products so you can gear yourself up or actually take a decision that is a multiple of your available funds.
For example, if the margin on a firm youre interested in was 10%, establishing a position of £100,000 would really only require a deposit of £10,000. Any running profits you make can be used as margin to establish new positions but any running losses would have to be made good by reducing your position or providing additional funds.
While stamp duty of 0.5% on all UK share purchases has in the opinion of some traders reduced the cost effectiveness of ‘day-trading’ traditional stocks and shares, both CFDs and spread betting are exempt and this has actually added to their appeal. CFDs are quite liable to capital gains tax whereas spread bets are tax free, but losses incurred from spread bets are gone for good while CFD losses can be offset against future profits for tax purposes. In the same way that you would buy shares, when you trade in CFDs the contract purchase is the same.. So if you wanted exposure to 1,000 shares in a company, youd have to sell 1,000 contracts at, say, 494p per contract rather than simply placing a £10 per point bet with spread betting to get a similar return.
Most CFD providers admit you to post orders anywhere within the bid-offer spread whereas spread betting firms post their own two-way take it or leave it price exactly as a bookie would. With CFD you are the price maker, which is why hedge funds incline to use CFDs rather than spread betting. With CFD you are the price maker, which is why hedge funds tend to use CFDs rather than spread betting. CFDs do not wrap the costs of financing a position within the spread (as does spread betting) but charge those costs and commissions separately. Because of this, the CFD spread quote will always be very close to the underlying price of the share or commodity that you are following. CFD’s also mimic almost every aspect of actually owning the underlying share or market, so if you hold a position long enough, you receive the benefit of any dividends being paid on the underlying shares.
Ultimately there is no hard and fast rule as to whether CFDs or Spread Bets are ‘better’ – you just need to understand the differences as each will be suited to different investing styles. Although they should not be regarded as substitutes for long term investment or saving, as more people seek to take control of their financial destiny, theres been a growing realisation that going short is a legitimate means of trading in market thats become increasingly difficult to profit from in a traditional sense.
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