A guide to AIM stocks: everything you should know about AIM

Who are the AIM Nomads?

AIM Nomads are the ‘nominated advisors’ that act as gatekeepers, advisers and regulators of all companies that are listing, or have listed, on the market. Each AIM company has its own Nomad that will continue to assist it throughout its time on the market.

The system of nomads has been widely criticised because these individuals are paid fees by the companies, so arguably have little incentive to impose regulations upon them. There have been plenty of instances of nomads failing in their duties and cases of outright fraud.

How to trade AIM stocks

You can trade AIM stocks either by buying and selling the shares of individual companies listed on AIM, or via ETFs and investment trusts that hold the underlying AIM stocks. The latter method would enable you to get a much broader exposure to the market.

Whichever way you decide to take a position, follow these steps to get started:

1. Open a FOREX.com account, or log in if you’re already a customer
2. Search for the market you want to trade
3. Choose your position and size, and your stop and limit levels
4. Enter your trade and monitor the market

Alternatively, you can practise trading AIM stocks and ETFs with a risk-free demo account. 

AIM shares

Trading the shares of AIM-listed companies via CFDs enables you to profit from both periods of growth and decline. If you think a company’s value is going to rise, you’d opt to ‘buy’ the market – known as going long – and if you thought it was going to fall, you’d ‘sell’ or go short.

As mentioned, the AIM shares available to you include mid-cap firms like Asos, Boohoo.com and FeverTree, as well as the smaller-cap stocks the market is known for.

Learn more about share trading with us.

AIM ETFs and investment trusts

When you buy a share in an ETF or an investment trusts, you’ll be getting exposure a basket of AIM stocks from a single position. If AIM company shares increased in value, the ETF or trust would profit and so would you. But if AIM shares decreased, you’d experience a loss.

You can trade on AIM ETFs and investment trusts with us via CFDs – these derivatives enable you to go both long and short.

For example, you could trade the iShares MSCI UK Small Cap, an ETF that seeks to track the performance of the MSCI UK Small Cap Index but also offers protection by investing in some FTSE 100 stocks too. Or you could buy and sell shares of Montanaro UK Smaller Companies Investment Trust, which aims to achieve growth by investing in small cap companies listed on the LSE Main Market and AIM.