A whole market, in one position.
A stock index turns a defined group of listed companies into a single level. Trading it is a view on that market as a group, so what matters is how the index is weighted, when it is priced, and what reprices all of it at once.
Index exposure grouped by where the underlying shares trade. Which benchmarks you can trade, and on what terms, is set out in the platform rather than on this page.
- North America
- Europe
- Asia-Pacific
What an index actually is
An index is a calculation, not a company. It takes a defined set of listed shares, applies a weighting rule, and publishes the result as one number that moves as its members move.
A basket quoted as one number
An index tracks a defined group of listed companies and reports them as a single level. Taking one position in it gives you the direction of that whole group, instead of a separate ticket for every company inside it.
The weighting rule decides what matters
Most well-known benchmarks weight their members by market value, so the largest companies move the level the most. A few weight by share price instead. Either way it is the rule, not the number of members, that tells you what you are exposed to.
Cash pricing and futures-style pricing
Cash pricing follows the index level as it stands and has no end date. Futures-style pricing follows where the market expects the level to be on a set date, and that contract expires. The instrument you open says which of the two you are holding.
Why the index and not the company
One company's results, management change or supply problem moves its own share price far more than it moves the benchmark it sits in. An index position is a way to hold a view on the market itself and leave single-company news out of the decision.
How an index book is grouped
Segments of the market, described rather than named. This is not a product list: there are no benchmark names, prices or costs on this page, and the platform's instrument list is what decides which indices you can trade.
North America
The most closely watched equity session of the three, and the one whose closing hours set the tone for the following morning in Asia.
- US broad market
- US technology
- US industrial blue chips
- US smaller companies
- Canada large cap
Europe
National benchmarks alongside a euro area one. They open well before the United States and spend the afternoon reacting to it.
- UK large cap
- German blue chips
- French large cap
- Euro area blue chips
- Spanish large cap
- Italian large cap
- Swiss blue chips
- Dutch large cap
Asia-Pacific
The first equity session of the trading day. These benchmarks usually open with whatever happened in New York after their own market had already shut.
- Japan large cap
- Hong Kong large cap
- Australia large cap
- India large cap
- South Korea large cap
- Singapore large cap
What moves an index
None of the following is a strategy. It is the ordinary behaviour of a benchmark, and it explains how an index position can move a long way while nothing in particular has happened to any single company in it.
- 01
The cash session sets the rhythm
An index is calculated from shares that trade on an exchange with an opening and a closing bell. Activity clusters around both, and the level can gap between one session and the next when news arrives while the market is shut. Quoting hours for each index instrument are published in the platform.
- 02
Earnings arrive in clusters
Most constituents report within the same few weeks each quarter. Through that stretch a benchmark is absorbing company results almost daily, and the largest few members can move the level on their own while everything else stands still.
- 03
Rate expectations reprice everything at once
What money is expected to cost feeds straight into what companies are considered to be worth. When the expected path of rates shifts it shifts for every member at the same time, which is why a benchmark can move hard on a central bank meeting where no company said anything at all.
- 04
The index changes shape
Constituents are reviewed on a published schedule: companies are added, removed and reweighted, and a benchmark can carry noticeably different names from one year to the next. A review can move the level by itself, because funds tracking the index have to trade in order to match it.
- 05
Cash and futures-style are different instruments
A cash instrument has no expiry and tracks the level as it stands. A futures-style one references a dated contract and stops trading when that contract does. Which of them you hold changes what happens if you leave the position open, so it is worth checking before you carry it rather than after.
- 06
Concentration hides inside the average
A market-value weighted benchmark can be dominated by a handful of very large companies or by a single sector, so the whole market may be a narrower position than the name suggests. Benchmarks in different regions also tend to move together when the news is global, which can quietly turn several tickets into one bet.
Before your first index trade
If your question is not covered here, ask us before you place the trade rather than after.
Contact usWhat am I actually trading when I trade an index?
An instrument whose price follows the published index level. You are not buying the shares in the benchmark and the position carries no shareholder rights; what you hold is exposure to that level moving up or down while the position is open.
Why trade an index instead of a single share?
Because it answers a different question. A share position stands or falls on one company, while an index position is a view on the market that company trades in. Neither is the safer choice; the index simply stops one company's news from deciding the outcome on its own.
What is the difference between cash and futures-style index pricing?
Cash pricing tracks the index as it stands and has no end date. Futures-style pricing references a dated contract, so it reflects where the market expects the level to be at expiry, and it stops trading when that contract does. The instrument details say which type you are looking at.
Can I trade an index while its home exchange is closed?
That depends on the instrument, and the quoting hours are published per instrument in the platform. What is worth knowing either way is that conditions away from the underlying cash session are usually thinner, and the level can gap when the exchange reopens.
What happens when a company joins or leaves an index?
The benchmark is recalculated with its new membership on the review date. Your position stays with the index rather than with the departing company, but the level can move around a review, because the funds that track the benchmark have to adjust at the same time.
The rest of the account
One balance and one set of margin rules sit behind all four, so moving between them does not mean moving money.
Trade the market, not the headline
If you can say which market you have a view on, why now, and what would tell you the view is wrong, the position is worth sizing properly. Open the account when that is true.