What Are the Most Popular Markets in Spread Betting - and Why?

LONDON, February 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Spread betting (http://www.cityindex.co.uk/spread-betting/) offers traders a huge variety of markets to speculate on. City Index has prepared a short guide to three of its most popular markets:

Commodities

Two of the most popular commodities in spread betting are oil and gold. Many traders see oil as a good barometer for the condition of the overall global economy. This is based on the belief that when the economy is performing well, a greater amount of oil will be consumed, consequently pushing its price higher. In contrast, some believe gold to retain its value in times of economic instability, during which other currencies and commodities might lose value.

Currencies

Also known as the foreign exchange, forex and FX, currencies are another widely-traded spread betting market. City Index offers spreads on more than 50 currency pairs, including sterling, US dollar, yen, euro, Swiss franc, Canadian and Australian dollars. City Index (http://www.cityindex.co.uk/) points towards GBP/USD, EUR/USD and USD/JPY as its most popular markets within the foreign exchange.

Indices

Indices, such as UK 100, Germany 30, Wall Street, Japan 225 and Australia 200, are the most widely-traded markets in spread betting. Joshua Raymond, Market Strategist for City Index, states: "[City Index's] most popular traded markets are typically the FTSE 100 and Dow Jones. This is probably because most traders know what these markets are and what makes them move."

City Index currently offers 1 point spreads on the UK 100 (FTSE 100), Wall Street (Dow Jones), Germany 30 and France 40 during market hours, which makes them an even more attractive proposition to new traders. Find out more about the 1 point spreads at http://www.cityindex.co.uk/1point-spreads/.

About City Index:

Today more and more individual traders are discovering the benefits of derivatives, and many of them are discovering them through a City Index trading platform.

As a group, we transact in excess of 1.5 million trades every month for individuals in over 50 countries worldwide. We provide access to a wide range of instruments including margined foreign exchange, contracts for differences (CFDs) and, in the UK, spread betting.

We constantly look to widen the range of assets we offer, improve the performance of our platforms and expand the range of services we provide. The result is that our customers benefit from innovative trading tools with transparent pricing, competitive spreads, and a high standard of customer service and support. For more information, visit http://www.cityindex.co.uk/.

Spread betting and CFD trading are leveraged products which can result in losses greater than your initial deposit. Ensure you fully understand the risks.