The Hidden Volume

unts lose money when trading CFDs, with this investment provider. You can lose your money rapidly due to leverage. Please ensure you understand how this product works and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing money.

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What is trading and how does it work?

Financial trading is no different to any other form of trading: it’s about buying and selling assets with the aim of making a profit. Discover key concepts, participants and markets involved in financial trading.

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Start trading today. Call +44 (20) 7633 5430, or email sales.en@ig.com to talk about opening a trading account. We’re here 24/5.



What’s on this page?

What is trading?

What assets and markets can you trade?

Trading vs investing

Who trades and invests?

How does trading work?

How to start trading

Trading examples

What is trading?

Trading is the buying and selling of financial instruments in order to make a profit. These instruments range from a variety of assets that are assigned a financial value that can go up or down – and you can trade on the direction they’ll take.

You may have heard about stocks, shares and funds. But there are thousands of financial markets you can trade, and a variety of products you can use to trade them.

You can get exposure to markets as diverse as the S&P 500, the FTSE 100, global currencies like the US dollar or Japanese yen, or even commodities like lean hog or cattle.

To get started, you’d need to create an account on a platform that offers your preferred markets. Our online trading platform has a variety of financial markets that enable you to speculate whether the price of an asset will rise or fall. Plus, we’ve compiled a trading for beginner’s guide below to assist you in getting familiar with the different markets.



What assets and markets can you trade?

There are more than 17,000 financial assets and markets that you can trade with us.
These include:

Shares

Indices

Forex

ETFs

Bonds

Commodities

Interest rates

IPOs

Whatever instrument you trade, the ultimate intended outcome is always the same: to make a profit. If your speculation about the market’s movement is correct, you’ll make a profit. But, if the market moves against your position, you’ll make a loss.

It’s important to note that trading is inherently risky – and you could lose more than you expected if you don’t take the appropriate risk management steps.

Learn more about the different financial markets that you can trade

Trading vs investing

The difference between trading and investing lies in the means of making a profit and whether you take ownership of the asset. Traders make profits from buying low and selling high (going long) or selling high and buying low (going short), usually over the short or medium term. Since the trader would only be speculating on the market price’s future movement, be it bullish or bearish, they wouldn’t gain ownership of the underlying asset.

Investors aim to buy the underlying outright at a favourable price. They make profits from owning the asset, and then selling it at a higher price. The hope is that the market price rises over the long term so that they can profit through difference in price. Investors could also earn income in the form of dividends (in the case of stocks) if the company grants them. Plus, they’ll have shareholder voting rights (if eligible).