I didn,t think a CFD or a spread bet are derivatives. They are just another way of trading/ betting the stock. Options are derivatives because they derive from the underlying (not connected) and trade on a seperate market. Yes, I know, not convincing!Hi carme,
Welcome to T2W.
Whatever market you trade, you will always have the bid and offer prices and the difference is known as the spread. These prices and the size of the spread can vary according to the instrument you're using to trade. So, in your example using Lloyds, a trader could buy actual shares in the company which, historically, is the most common way of trading it. However, these days, there are any number of derivative instruments that allow people to trade Lloyds without actually owning the stock itself - which is referred to as the 'underlying'. CFD's are one type of derivative product; others include spread betting, warrants, options and single stock futures. They are all different with their relative pro's and con's and all will offer different prices to the other with different size spreads. This is because you're not trading actual shares, rather the derivative product whose price is usually (always?) based on the futures price rather than the cash price of the underlying. 'Always' is in brackets as I'm not certain of my ground here - someone else may be able to clarify if this is correct - or not.
Tim.
Hi carme,
Welcome to T2W.
Whatever market you trade, you will always have the bid and offer prices and the difference is known as the spread. These prices and the size of the spread can vary according to the instrument you're using to trade. So, in your example using Lloyds, a trader could buy actual shares in the company which, historically, is the most common way of trading it. However, these days, there are any number of derivative instruments that allow people to trade Lloyds without actually owning the stock itself - which is referred to as the 'underlying'. CFD's are one type of derivative product; others include spread betting, warrants, options and single stock futures. They are all different with their relative pro's and con's and all will offer different prices to the other with different size spreads. This is because you're not trading actual shares, rather the derivative product whose price is usually (always?) based on the futures price rather than the cash price of the underlying. 'Always' is in brackets as I'm not certain of my ground here - someone else may be able to clarify if this is correct - or not.
Tim.
Manipulate?? Does the FSA know about this? I think it is MAKES the prices (as in Market Maker)thanks for that tim,
it is as I thought, the MM manipulate the prices
Hi raysor,I didn,t think a CFD or a spread bet are derivatives. They are just another way of trading/ betting the stock. Options are derivatives because they derive from the underlying (not connected) and trade on a seperate market. Yes, I know, not convincing!
Hi raysor,
I would have thought that both CFD's and spread bets are also derivatives as they too are instruments that are derived from securities or physical markets. In that respect, they are no different from options, warrants, convertible bonds and futures contracts - are they? This is more of a question than a statement - so please correct me if my thinking is kock-eyed!
Cheers,
Tim.
Well I suppose they are not tradeable instruments derived from the underlying. They are just an alternative way of financing the purchase (at least CFD). An option is a true derivative. It can also be sold onto someone else. I think it is a mute point anyway. Is a mortgage a derivative? A spread bet is just a bet.Hi Zig,
Can you run that by me one more time please, as I'm not quite clear!
:cheesy:
Seriously though, while I take on board the sentiment behind your comment, surely SB and CFD companies will argue that their prices are indeed 'derived' from the underlying - to the extent that they will hedge their position(s) in the underlying where possible and / or via another derivative product when it's not (e.g. futures in the case of market indices for example)?
Assuming you and 'raysor' are correct - can either of you explain please why SB and CFD's aren't derivative instruments?
Cheers,
Tim.
Hi Zig,
Can you run that by me one more time please, as I'm not quite clear!
:cheesy:
Seriously though, while I take on board the sentiment behind your comment, surely SB and CFD companies will argue that their prices are indeed 'derived' from the underlying - to the extent that they will hedge their position(s) in the underlying where possible and / or via another derivative product when it's not (e.g. futures in the case of market indices for example)?
Assuming you and 'raysor' are correct - can either of you explain please why SB and CFD's aren't derivative instruments?
Cheers,
Tim.
Zig - could you say just one more thing - to satisfy my curiosity please . . .SB's don't hedge their position in the underlying, they 'hedge' within their book. Same as the over-round as standard bookies.
And that's all I want to say about that...