Are You Spread Betting on These Three Significant Markets?

LONDON, February 9, 2011 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- All too often, an uneducated spread better will dive into their spread betting platform and start trading on markets at random, jumping from USD/JPY currency pairs, to British Airways stock, to pork bellies. This scattergun approach is the road to financial failure. Market Strategist for City Index (http://www.cityindex.co.uk/) Joshua Raymond gives the opinion that the best market to spread bet on is "quite simply, the market you know best."

But if you do not know which market you should dedicate your time and research to, or want to add a new one to your repertoire, read on to see some of the most popular markets in the wider spread betting community.

1) 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.

2) 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 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."

3) 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 points towards GBP/USD, EUR/USD and USD/JPY as its most popular markets within the foreign exchange.

To learn more about the range of financial markets available for spread betting, visit http://www.cityindex.co.uk/spread-betting/spread-bet-markets.aspx

If you are new to trading, consider the City Index Learn to Trade programme, a free four-week course that enables you to build your spread betting and CFD trading confidence gradually and at your own pace with special reduced rates. Find out more at http://www.cityindex.co.uk/learn-to-trade/learn-to-trade-programme.aspx

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, CFD trading (http://www.cityindex.co.uk/cfd-trading/) and, in the UK, spread betting (http://www.cityindex.co.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.

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

SOURCE City Index