CFD is the alternative of traditional investing and is used by a variety of traders for investment. Before investing in CFDs, it gets highly important to understand the risks involved in trading. With the right knowledge and full preparation, a trader can take advantage of all the positives that CFDs offer while controlling the potential risks.
Leverage – As CFDs are the leveraged product, you only need to deposit a small percent of the value of trade to open a position. Therefore, you get exposure to a huge market in small initial capital. This also means that any gains will be multiplied when the market moves as per your prediction; however, it also means that losses will also be magnified in case the market goes in the opposite direction.
Volatility – Financial market is highly volatile. Big announcement, regulatory changes, political upheavals, and natural disasters all can affect the market significantly. While the volatile market can offer you a trading opportunity, it can also offer significant risks.
CFDs are a contract – Trading in CFDs involves a contract between you and the CFD provider. It is a legal agreement which underlines your speculation about the underlying asset. Unless you have some trading knowledge and patience to read all the contract provisions, you could likely be entrapped in a hidden clause.
CFDs are affected by the market conditions- As the CFD trading is based on your speculation on the price movements of underlying assets; the trade gets affected by the market condition. Additionally, CFDs are leveraged, so even the small dip in the market can result in huge losses. Trading in CFDs during the time of economic uncertainty is not advisable due to the risks being involved.
There are risks involved with CFD trading, but there are also ways to mitigate them:
Research – Before starting trading CFDs, you should do a lot of research. The more you understand the market, the less you will experience the losses.
Select the assets you are experienced in – It’s advisable to trade in the CFDs, you have experience with. For example, if you have a lot of experience with share trading and know what affects the prices of shares, you should consider trading shares CFDs.
Start with a demo account – Before investing in the CFDs with real money, you should always take advantage of free demo accounts which are offered by CFD brokers. Demo accounts are offered to practice trades in simulating environment so that a trader can test his strategies and learn the details of trading without risking his real money.
Use stop losses and limit orders – There are tools that you can use to minimize your risks as those tools let you cap your losses. Tools like limit orders and stop losses are great to protect the traders from unexpected market turns, and almost all the CFD trading providers provide these tools.
Go small – It can be enticing to go big when you get started with CFD trading but always keep in mind that when trading with leverage, you have the potential to gain a lot and loss a lot. Trading small is a good way to get used to with the trading with leverage.
By choosing the right trading platform, you can minimize the trading risks. AAATrade.com is a trading platform giving access to over 1,000 CFD products to its clients. It’s the most reliable platform for CFD trading.