MODULE 2 Spread betting Financing, margin and exposure
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FINANCING, MARGIN AND EXPOSURE 3 Contents Access to margin Getting more out of your capital More examples of how to calculate margin on spread bets Your exposure and risk What is margin? 4 Buying example 10 Exposure and risk 13 The advantages of trading on margin 5 Selling example 11 UK company spread bet example 14 Comparing share trading with spread betting on a company 6 Did you know you can view the amount of margin you use on your trading dashboard? 12 Risk-to-reward ratios 15 A detailed example 7 Spread betting and overnight financing costs 8 Where to find the overnight financing costs on your statement 9 Factsheets What happens if your account value falls? Review How to access a product s factsheet 16 Notification Level 18 Summary 19 Factsheets also include the following information 17 Close-out level 18 Test your knowledge 19 Spread betting is a leveraged product and carries a high level of risk to your capital as prices may move rapidly against you. It is possible to lose more than your initial investment and you may be required to make further payments. These products may not be suitable for all customers therefore ensure you understand the risks and seek independent advice.
FINANCING, MARGIN AND EXPOSURE 4 Access to margin Getting more out of your capital What is margin? Spread betting accounts give you access to leverage, which allows you to invest in financial products without having to deposit a large amount of your own funds. This is known as trading on margin. When you place a trade, you only need to deposit a small percentage of the value in order to open a position and the remaining value of the trade is financed by CMC Markets. For example, if the UK 100 was trading at 5,999.3/6,000.0 and you wanted to place a buy spread bet at 1 per point; your exposure would be 6,000 (6,000 points x 1). The margin requirement for the UK 100 is 0.25% so you would only need to deposit 15. The other 99.75% or 5,985 is borrowed by you from us. So, when you trade on 0.25% margin, you are borrowing 99.75% of the capital for the position from CMC Markets. We offer highly competitive margin rates on all our products starting from as little as 0.25% (of the total trade size) on indices and currencies and from 0.5% for commodities and 5% for companies. The margin requirement for each product can be found in its factsheet, provided on the platform or via the website. 0.25% 99.75% 15 Deposited by you 5,985 Borrowed by you from us
FINANCING, MARGIN AND EXPOSURE 5 Access to margin Getting more out of your capital The advantages of trading on margin If you choose to trade on a company with 5% initial margin (therefore with 95% financing by CMC Markets), for every point the price moves, the profit or loss will be multiplied by a factor of 20 (100/5). This is because the profit or loss is calculated with respect to the full value of the position, instead of just the margin amount. Place trade Other products, such as indices and foreign exchange have margin rates of less than 1%, which means the leverage (the factor the profit or loss is multiplied by) will be more than 1:100. Margin magnifies your profits and losses, so it can be positive if you are in profit, or negative if you make a loss. Traders should keep in mind that the amount of margin that they are required to pay CMC Markets does not necessarily correlate directly with the size of the risk that they undertake. If a traditional share trader in the UK were to buy 2,000 worth of the shares, as well as a long position of 1 per point at a price of 2,000.00, the total exposure in both cases is the same (Remember 1 per point is the same as buying 100 shares). So, if the value of BHP Billiton shares were to fall to 0 then they would lose 2,000 on both positions. In the case of the spread better though, they may have only paid an initial margin of 100 (5%) to secure the position, and this does not reflect the maximum amount they stand to lose. The maximum amount they could lose is entirely based on the total exposure to the market, which would be 2,000 using the example above. 95% financing from CMC Markets TRADING 2,000 Deposited by you For every point the price moves, the profit or loss will be multiplied by a factor of 20 (100/5).
FINANCING, MARGIN AND EXPOSURE 6 Access to margin Getting more out of your capital Comparing share trading with spread betting on a company Now let s take a look at an example that shows the differences between trading a share via a traditional stockbroker and a spread betting account. You have 1,000 that you want to use to trade on the stock market. You have decided that you want to invest the 1,000 in a position on Tesco (TSCO). WARNING Margin can be a double-edged sword, working for you in positive positions and against you in negative positions. Through a traditional stockbroker you would have to put forward the whole 1,000 (the trade value) plus stamp duty (a buying tax, currently at 0.5%) plus dealing commission (the stockbroker s charge). If you wanted to take a 1,000 total position with a spread bet on TSCO, you can put forward 3% of the total position value, plus the extra spread, and use 97% financing from CMC Markets. 3% of 1,000 is just 30. Remember that the potential profit or loss on this spread bet is the same as you could make if you actually had 1,000 worth of TSCO shares. You should keep in mind that this means your total loss would be to the value of 1,000 and not just the margin amount. Let s look at this in more detail. You put forward 100% of the trade value (plus stamp duty and dealing commission). You put forward 3% of the trade value (plus the extra spread). The other 97% is financed by CMC Markets. TRADITIONAL STOCKBROKER 1,000 TESCO (TSCO) POSITION. SPREAD BETTING 1,000 TESCO (TSCO) POSITION.
FINANCING, MARGIN AND EXPOSURE 7 Access to margin Getting more out of your capital A detailed example In this example we are going to compare buying shares through a traditional stockbroker with trading via a spread betting account with CMC Markets. We will be buying 200 shares in Tesco (TSCO). TIQ TIP There are no separate commissions to pay when you spread bet with us. Instead there is a slight increase in our spreads compared to the underlying market. For UK shares, we add 0.08% onto either side of the spread. * Stockbrokers commissions vary; we have used 10 as an average. ** Tax treatment depends on the individual circumstances of each customer. Tax law can change or may differ in a jurisdiction other than the UK. TSCO is trading at 499.50 pence to sell and 500.00 pence to buy; we re going to buy 1,000 worth: The slightly higher price takes into account our small increase in the spread (0.08%). We do this instead of making you pay a separate commission charge. Traditional stockbroker CMC Markets Buy price 500.00 pence 500.40pence Position size 200 shares 2 per point Trade value 1,000 1,000.80 Initial outlay 1,000 30.02 (3% of 1000.80) Commissions 10* Built into the spread Stamp duty 5 (0.5% of 1,000) None Total outlay 1015 30.02 The following day, TSCO goes up by 20 pence to 520.00 and you decide to sell at this point. The slightly lower price takes into account our increase in the spread. This is how we build the commission into the price. Traditional stockbroker CMC Markets Sell price 520.00 pence 519.58 pence Initial profit 40 (20p x 200 shares) 38.36 (19.18pts x 2) Commissions 20 ( 10 x 2)* Built into the spread Stamp duty 5 as before None Overnight finance costs None 7 pence (explained on the next page) Total profit 15.00 38.29 This is the trade value (exposure) of the spread bet = 500.40 pence multiplied by 2 = 1,000.80. Remember that you have to pay financing costs on the borrowed amount.
FINANCING, MARGIN AND EXPOSURE 8 Access to margin Getting more out of your capital Spread betting and overnight financing costs For each spread bet that remains open at the end of each day (17:00 New York time when all equity markets globally are closed), an overnight financing cost will be calculated and applied to your account as you are trading on margin and have therefore borrowed funds from CMC Markets. A spread bet essentially mirrors what would happen if you were to take out a loan in order to secure a position in the market. Accordingly, the trader will pay overnight financing costs in order to secure the position that they have undertaken. The rate of interest that you pay will be dependent on the country in which the product is based. Typically the official interest rates of the country (or a reasonable proxy) will be applied, plus a premium of 2%. As an example, in the UK we base financing on the Reuters Zero Coupon Rate, while in Australia financing is based on the Reserve Bank of Australia s overnight cash rate. As a trader you should be aware that different countries have different levels of interest rates, which means it will be cheaper to finance positions in some countries than others. If we assume the Reuters Zero Coupon Rate is at 0.58%, adding 2% gives you an annual financing rate of 2.58%. We will apply this rate to the financed (sometimes referred to as funded) portion of each position you hold overnight. In our previous Tesco spread betting example: The total exposure (the total size of the trade) = 500.40 x 2 per point = 1,000.80. Deduct the initial margin: 1,000.80 30.02 = 970.78. The annual charge = 970.78 x 2.58% (Coupon rate* + 2%) = 25.05. The daily charge = 25.05 divided by 365 (days in the year) gives you a financing cost of 0.07 each night. *Using a Reuters Zero Coupon rate of 0.58%.
FINANCING, MARGIN AND EXPOSURE 9 Access to margin Getting more out of your capital Overnight financing costs differ for different products Product Financing rate Companies and indices Currencies Commodities Note: Gold and silver commodities do not have holding costs. Reuters Zero Coupon Rate (or the rate of the prevailing product location). The applicable interest paid or received is calculated based on the differential between the base interest rates of the individual currencies. Traditionally, commodities are traded via futures contracts which have expiry dates, rollover costs and price jumps at expiry. Price movements are closely tied to inventory and storage capacity as well as perishability, in the case of agricultural commodities. CMC Markets provide cash commodity prices where we strip out the carrying costs that are built into futures prices thus making the price smoother and more continuous. The carrying costs are then applied to the position as a financing adjustment at the close of business each day, providing total transparency on the cost of holding the position. You can look at retrospective carry costs on all our commodities in the overview section in the trading platform. For further details on charges please call our help desk. Please note that the overnight financing cost applies to both long and short trades. For more information and financing examples please visit our website. Where to find the overnight financing costs on your statement: You can view your trading costs through the Account icon, under the History tab. Each night, just after 17:00 New York time (when the last of the world s equity markets closes for the day), any overnight financing costs applicable for the previous day s trading will be calculated and deducted from the account. Simply click on the summarised financing line and a detailed description of each charge with financing rates and carry costs will be available. Note: You must have sufficient funds in your account to meet the net overnight financing costs.
FINANCING, MARGIN AND EXPOSURE 10 More examples of how to calculate margin on spread bets BUYING EXAMPLE An index Buy 1 per point on the UK 100 at a price of 6,000.00. CMC s margin rate for the UK 100 is 0.25%, meaning you only have to put forward 0.25% of the total size of the position as initial margin. Total exposure price multiplied by stake Total exposure = 6,000.00 x 1 Total exposure = 6,000 INITIAL MARGIN total exposure multiplied by margin rate Initial margin = 6,000 x 0.25% Initial margin= 15 Therefore, for a 15 deposit, you will control a 6,000 position. Your profit or loss will be relative to the total position size (total exposure) and is not limited to the 15 initial margin. TIQ TIP You can have as many open positions as you want, as long as you have enough available cash in your account to cover your margin requirement. You have effectively borrowed 5,985 to transact this trade, therefore you will incur a daily borrowing cost on this amount if you hold the position open after 17:00 New York time.
FINANCING, MARGIN AND EXPOSURE 11 More examples of how to calculate margin on spread bets SELLING EXAMPLE A UK company Sell 8 per point in UK company QWE, at 1,000.00. CMC s margin rate for QWE is 5%, meaning you only have to put forward 5% of the total size of the position as initial margin. Remember that UK companies are quoted in pence. Total exposure price multiplied by stake Total exposure = 1,000.00 x 8 INITIAL MARGIN total exposure multiplied by margin rate Initial margin = 8,000 x 5% initial margin= 400 Therefore, for a 400 deposit you will control an 8,000 position. Your profit or loss will be relative to the total position size (total exposure) and is not limited to the 400 initial margin. You have effectively borrowed 7,600 to transact this trade, therefore you will incur a daily borrowing cost on this amount if you hold the position open after 17:00 New York time. TIQ TIP Total exposure = 8,000 You can view the amount of margin required for each trade on the order ticket prior to placing the trade.
FINANCING, MARGIN AND EXPOSURE 12 More examples of how to calculate margin on spread bets Did you know you can view the amount of margin you have currently used on your trading dashboard? The remaining money in your account that is not being used is known as your Cash. Take a look at your account balance at the bottom right-hand side of your screen. Margin you use can be seen under Margin. TIQ TIP In Module 3 we will explain how stop losses can limit your potential losses. These are essential if you want to reduce your risks.
FINANCING, MARGIN AND EXPOSURE 13 Your exposure and risk With a margined investment, it is always important to consider the full exposure of each of your trades. Remember that the margin you pay in can be just a small deposit in relation to the total exposure. For example, suppose you are looking to spread bet 1 per point on the Germany 30 index at 7264.4 / 7265.1. You have decided that you want to buy at 7,265.1. Remember that your exposure is always shown in pounds, whatever currency the price is quoted in. The total exposure of this trade would be 7,265.10. That is the market price of 7,265.1 multiplied by the stake ( 1). The margin requirement to spread bet on the Germany 30 is 0.25%, which means you would use 99.75% financing and deposit 0.25% as initial margin. So 7,265.10 x 0.25% is equal to 18.16 this is the amount you need to deposit to take out this trade. If the Germany 30 dropped in value by 200 points to 7,065.1 and you did not have any stop losses, your total loss would be 200, even though you only had to put forward 18.16 of your own money as initial margin. Of course, if the Germany 30 had increased by the same amount to 7,465.1, you would have made 200 profit having only put forward 18.16 of your own money as margin. To keep things simple, CMC Markets will automatically show live and unrealised profit or loss in your local currency, under the Positions tab. Let s take a look at a UK company spread bet as another example.
FINANCING, MARGIN AND EXPOSURE 14 Your exposure and risk UK company spread bet example Suppose you want to trade 1 per point on British American Tobacco (BATS), to buy at 2,649.51. Your total exposure would be 2,649.51 (2,649.51 x 1). Remember UK stocks are quoted in pence. The level of risk on this trade will be the same as if you bought 2,649.51 worth of physical stock. If BATS dropped from 2,649.51 to zero, your total loss using a spread bet would be 2,649.51, which is what you would lose if you had bought the physical stock. We will explain in Module 3 how stop losses can limit your potential losses. These are essential if you want to reduce your risk. Remember you can find individual margin requirements and spreads in each product s factsheet. Let s look at factsheets in more detail.
FINANCING, MARGIN AND EXPOSURE 15 Your exposure and risk Risk-to-reward ratios How much are you willing to risk on each trade? Traders quite often calculate the risk based on the amount they are aiming to make from the trade. This concept is known as risk-to-reward. A trader will generally risk less than they are willing to make. When you first start out you should be looking for a risk-to-reward ratio of around 1:3, depending on your personal circumstances. For example if you risked 50 on one trade you would aim to make 150. As your trading experience increases, you may feel comfortable increasing the risk element in this ratio. Example Suppose you had placed a spread bet with a stake of 1/point on the US 30, which is priced in US dollars, going long (buying) at 12,080.0. If the US 30 goes down to 12,030.0 you would look to close out of your position at a loss of 50, but if it increased to 12,230.0, you would look to close out at a profit of 150. Most people would agree that it is worth risking 50 points to make a possible 150 points, meaning you only have to get 1 in every 4 trades correct to break even. Using the above example if we placed 10 trades, with 3 winning trades and 7 losing trades Winning Trades (30%) Losing Trades (70%) Profit: 150 per trade Total Profit = 450 (3x 150) Gross profit = 100 Loss: 50 per trade Total Loss: 350 (7x 50) Another way to help reduce your risk when trading is to consider hedging any physical shares you may have. This allows you to protect yourself from losses in your assets by spread betting at a profit to offset the losses. Assume you own a physical stock (e.g. Vodafone) that you believe will go down in the near future, but you do not want to sell because you believe it is a good long-term investment, you could short it with a spread bet and earn money from its decline. This is considered a hedge because it protects you if the price falls, as you are long on the physical assets and short on the spread bet.
FINANCING, MARGIN AND EXPOSURE 16 Factsheets Factsheets allow you to view all product information for the instrument you re interested in, in one location. You can find margin levels, spreads, trading hours, news, background information and live charting all within a product s factsheet. How to access a product s factsheet You can access a factsheet whenever you see this icon. So you can access factsheets from search results in the Product Library, from Watchlists, from your Account section, from charts, and even from Insights (under Related Products). Each factsheet is simply laid out so you can view all the product information quickly and easily. The name of the product is displayed prominently in the top left-hand corner, in this case it s Gold. You ll see its corresponding live quote price at the top right of the factsheet. To trade at any time simply click either the buy or sell price to bring up an order ticket. A short descriptive paragraph outlines the main information about the product. Influencing factors describes the various factors that could affect the price movement of the product, such as important economic indicators, data releases and supply and demand influences. And background information outlines the product s history and its relevant sector and industry information.
FINANCING, MARGIN AND EXPOSURE 17 Factsheets Factsheets also include the following information: Region and Type This section identifies whether the product is global or if it s specific to a world region or country. Type and subtype are categories that link groups of products together. Type is the asset class, while subtype allows you to sort further by company sector or developed and emerging markets, in currencies and indices. Margin This details the margin requirement for a particular product. It will tell you what percentage of the total value of the position you will have to put forward from your funds to open a position. Maximum Quantity This notes the maximum stake that can be bought or sold per transaction on this particular product. It is possible to do multiple transactions at this maximum level. Stop Entry A stop entry is an order to buy at a specified price above the current market price, or sell at a price below the current market price. The factsheet shows you whether stop entry orders are allowed for a particular product. Financing Cost If there is a cost for holding a position open overnight, the factsheet will show the time at which this cost is deducted from your account, if the position is still open. Shorting (profit from falling markets) Most products can be bought (called going long ) or sold (called going short ). Sometimes there are occasions when the ability to short is disallowed. The factsheet will show you whether shorting is allowed for a particular product. Spreads The spread is the difference between the buy price and the sell price. The smaller the spread, the less it will cost you to open the position. Trading Hours This will show you the trading hours of the product that you re interested in, over the coming week. Dow Jones news In this section you ll be able to read live streaming news headlines related to the product, direct from Dow Jones Newswire. Carry Cost Some products, such as commodities and currencies, incur Carry Costs. The factsheet will show you whether a particular product has any Carry Costs associated with it. For further details on carrying costs please visit the CMC Markets website. Carry Cost historical charts If a product does incur Carry Costs, you will be able to see historical charts showing the current rate and previous rates, according to whether you buy or sell.
FINANCING, MARGIN AND EXPOSURE 18 What happens if your account value falls? A common mistake that traders make when they start trading is to use up all of their free equity at the beginning and leave no extra room in case their spread bets go against them. Remember, the money that you use for your margin requirements is locked away until you close out of your positions, so any losses from your current open positions will come out of your free cash balance. If you do start to suffer losses from your positions and you start to run out of free cash, you may receive one of the following: Notification Level If your total Account Value falls to 50% of your minimum margin requirement, a notification will be shown on screen and will be sent by email, showing the value of the close-out level. If the Account Value falls to this value (20% of your Margin requirement), the platform will close out all your positions. CMC Markets provides these notifications, but you should not rely on them, it is your responsibility to ensure you have enough funds in your account to cover your positions. In the below example your margin requirement is 1,000 but your account value is only 500 ( 200 + 1,000-700) which is equal to 50%. Close-out level If your account value keeps falling to reach 20% of your minimum margin requirement, and no additional funds are added, your account will reach the close-out level. A pop-up will appear over your account position stating that Your position close-out level has been breached. All open positions on the account will then be liquidated in the order in which they were opened (on a first in, first out basis). The platform will look to close out your open trades at this level to protect you from losing more than what is held in your account. Provided that your Account Value remains above the close-out level, you will not be required to top up your funds. You can click the! button to view your account close out level. If you receive one of these notifications you should consider closing your positions or paying further funds into your account. You should not rely on the platform to close out your spread bets if your account value falls below the close-out level, as we cannot guarantee that close-outs will always occur (this can lead to you losing more than your initial deposit). It is your responsibility to monitor your positions closely, and you should not rely solely on our notices or monitoring.
FINANCING, MARGIN AND EXPOSURE 19 Summary Now you should: > Understand margin requirements > Calculate your margin requirements across all our products > Calculate the total exposure on each spread bet that you do > Understand the very basics of risk-toreward ratios > Understand the procedure for notification and close-out levels and the situations leading to them. If the margin requirement for a spread bet was 1% and your initial deposit was 60, what would the total value of your position be? What risk-to-reward ratio is recommended for new spread betters? If you wanted to find news relating to a specific product on the platform, where would you look? Click here to reveal answers
FINANCING, MARGIN AND EXPOSURE 20 Summary Now you should: > Understand margin requirements > Calculate your margin requirements across all our products > Calculate the total exposure on each spread bet that you do > Understand the very basics of risk-toreward ratios > Understand the procedure for notification and close-out levels and the situations leading to them. If the margin requirement for a spread bet was 1% and your initial deposit was 60, what would the total value of your position be? 6,000 (60 x 100 = 6,000) What risk-to-reward ratio is recommended for new spread betters? A risk-to-reward ratio of 1:3. So your potential reward is 3 times the size of your potential loss. If you wanted to find news relating to a specific product on the platform, where would you look? In the products factsheet, under the News tab. You can access a factsheet wherever you see this icon: Click here to hide answers