Trade major
global indices

An index measures the collective price performance of a group of Shares, usually from a particular country. Indices are often used to track and compare the performance of stock markets.

The performance of each index is dictated by the performance of the underlying share prices that make up that index. An index is constructed and calculated independently, sometimes by a bank or by a specialist index provider like the FTSE Group. The choice of the companies included in the index is determined by index calculation rules or by a committee. Not all indices use the same rules, however.

Indices are a measurement of the price performance of a group of shares from an exchange.

The most popular way to trade indices is via Contracts for Difference, or CFDs. By using a CFD for indices trading, traders can profit from it whenever prices either rise or fall. Traders can accomplish this by either opening a short position (sell), or opening a long (or buy) position depending on whether they think the index will fall or rise, respectively.

If you believe that an Index such as the FTSE 100 will rise, you can place a buy trade on City Indexes equivalent market, the UK 100.

If the prices rise, you will make a profit for every point that the index rises. If the market falls, then you will make a loss for every point the index moves against you. Our trading platform tells you in real-time how much profit or loss you are making.

The biggest difference between indices / index CFDs and shares are that the former are contracts for differences not a physical asset. This means that you can speculate on the market without needing to physically own the shares that the CFD reflects. Owning shares, on the other hand, means you take a varying level of legal ownership in those company assets.

Some of the major indices consist of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, Nasdaq and Russell 3000

Along with having access to hundreds of different stocks, CFDs and commodities, FXTM gives you access to a wide array of stock, forex indices and more. What's more, with an FXTM account, you can take advantage of highly competitive spreads and prices on assets – helping you take your portfolio further!

You'll notice that our CFD indices markets have different names to the underlying indices themselves. This is because the actual stock indices are calculated, owned and trademarked by various organisations. For example, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is owned by S&P Dow Jones Indices, while the German DAX is operated by Deutsche Börse. This means we can’t use their official names on our platform.

Here are a few examples of the indices markets we offer:

Underlying index	FXTM’s market
FTSE 100	UK100_m
S&P 500	SPX500_m
NASDAQ 100	NQ100_m
Nikkei 225	JAP225_m
Dow Jones Industrial	WSt30_m
ASX 200	AUS200_m

On FXTM, you’ll notice that our indices markets are marked with an '_m' at the end of their name. This denotes them as a mini index. Trading minis means you can gain exposure to an index with a smaller minimum volume size, meaning you have to put down less money to open a position.