Markets and product FAQs
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All Questions
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FX Markets
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Metals
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Indices
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Shares
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Commodities
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Cryptocurrencies
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Orders and Positions
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Fees and Charges
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Margin and Leverage
FX Markets
Are there any data exchange fees associated with forex trading?
However, you may incur a rollover charge is you hold your positions overnight. Learn more about rollovers.
When is the forex market open for trading?
You can trade forex at FOREX.com 24 hours a day, five days a week. For more information, please visit our range of markets.
What is forex?
Forex, also known as foreign exchange or currency trading, is the buying of one currency by simultaneously selling another. Forex traders attempt to profit by speculating on the direction the currency exchange rates will go in the future.
For more information, read our what is forex article.
How do I know how much money I need in order to place a FX trade?
In addition, our FOREX.com platforms have a built in Margin Calculator.
What forex markets are available to trade at FOREX.com?
Metals
Do Metal CFD Futures expire?
If your account is a FOREX.com account, you can view a market’s expiry date in the Market Information Sheet on the FOREX.com desktop trading platform or the Market 360 on the WebTrader platform.
If your account is a MetaTrader 4 account, you can view more information about the market's expiry date on the MetaTrader 4 desktop download platform in Terminal > Company > Support > CFD Product Details.
What does (per 0.1) and (per 0.05) mean?
If it states per 0.1, the trade size of 1 is equal to 10 because it is 1 contract per every 0.1. If it states per 0.05, the trade size of 1 is equal to 500 because it is 1 contract per every 0.05.
Therefore, if you were to calculate the margin requirement, it would be the notional value x rate x leverage. The notional value would be calculated as quantity/0.1 or quantity/0.05 depending on what is listed for the market.
What is the minimum and maximum trade size for metals?
The maximum order size varies by market. You can view a market's minimum and maximum volume through the platform.
When can I trade metals with FOREX.com?
Is there an expiry date on spot gold and silver contracts?
Are there overnight financing/rollover charges on Metals CFD Futures?
How are metals traded?
Indices
What is the cost of index CFD trading?
In addition, you may be charged a nightly finance charge if you hold a position overnight, after 5pm ET.
What is the margin for indices?
For more information on a specific market, please check the Key Market Information or Market 360 within the trading platform.
What is the index CFD nightly finance charge and how is it calculated?
These charges are typically calculated as follows:
F=(S x P x R)/D
F - Daily Financing Charge
S - Number of CFDs (2500)
P - Closing Price
R - Relevant 1-month LIBOR rate, +250 basis points for long positions or -250 basis points for short positions, e.g. (4.50% + 2.50%) = 7.00%
D - Number of days, i.e. 365 for UK equities and 360 for all others
When do index CFD orders expire?
You can find more information through Key Market Information directly on the desktop download platform. There is an "i" icon for each market.
You can also find this information on the WebTrader's Market 360 section.
When a CFD Futures market expires, we close all open positions based on our most recent prices and all open orders are cancelled. To retain your open positions in a market, you must manually open a new position in the next contract month. You may also set the position to Autoroll prior to executing the position/order. When you launch the deal ticket, you will see a tick box option to Auto-Rollover. This box is located next to your "Direction" selection. If you tick this box, your futures contract will automatically roll to the next contract when it expires. Please note that autoroll is not available on the MetaTrader platform.
What indices does FOREX.com offer?
What are index CFDs?
Shares
What is the margin for shares trading?
Margins for shares vary depending on account type and shares.
For more information on retail accounts, you may refer to Shares on our Markets page.
Where can I find the contract details for CFD markets?
On the WebTrader platform, CFD specifications will be located in the Market 360.
Do corporate actions affect my account?
Please note that in the event of any positions being closed and reopened, working orders will be cancelled.
What shares can I trade at FOREX.com?
When will I receive or pay a dividend adjustment?
What are borrowing costs?
Can I go short on Shares CFDs?
What are Shares CFDs?
I cannot find the share that I want to trade in. How can I request to add it?
Which platforms can I trade shares/equities on?
How do corporate actions work on hedged trades?
What is a corporate action?
Commodities
What commodities does FOREX.com offer?
How do I calculate how much margin I need to trade a commodity?
The formula to calculate how much margin is required is quantity x price x margin.
When do commodity CFD orders expire?
You can find more information through Key Market Information directly on the desktop download platform. There is an "i" icon for each market.
You can also find this information on the WebTrader's Market 360 section.
For MetaTrader 4 accounts, commodity CFD markets information is found in Terminal > Company > Support > CFD Product Details on the MetaTrader 4 platform.
When a CFD market expires, we close all open positions based on our most recent prices and all open orders are cancelled. To retain your open positions in a market, you must manually open a new position in the next contract month. You may also set the position to Autoroll prior to executing the position/order. When you launch the deal ticket, you will see a tick box option to Auto-Rollover. This box is located next to your "Direction" selection. If you tick this box, your futures contract will automatically roll to the next contract when the it expires.
MetaTrader 4 does not have the option to autoroll; therefore, MetaTrader 4 clients will need to manually open a new position in the next contract month.
What is the margin for commodities trading?
For more information on a specific market, please check the Key Market Information or Market 360 within the trading platform.
How are Non-Expiring Commodities (NEC) priced?
The contract with the closest expiry date is called the Front month contract and the second-nearest expiry date is called the Far month contract.
Throughout the duration of the Front month contract, the price of the NEC will gradually move from the price of the front month to the price of the far month.
As there will be an adjustment to the NEC Market price every day, your account will be subject to an adjustment in the form of a Credit/Debit to offset this price adjustment. For example, if the NEC contract is adjusted by +2 points, clients with long positions will be debited 2 x stake and clients with short positions will be credited 2 x stake. "
What is the cost of commodity CFD trading?
In addition, you may be charged a nightly finance charge if you hold a position overnight, after 5pm ET.
What is the commodity CFD nightly finance charge and how is it calculated?
These charges are typically calculated as follows:
F=(S x P x R)/D
F - Daily Financing Charge
S - Number of CFDs (2500)
P - Closing Price
R - Relevant overnight LIBOR rate, +250 basis points for long positions or -250 basis points for short positions, e.g. (4.50% + 2.50%) = 7.00%
D - Number of days, i.e. 365 for UK shares and 360 for all others
What are commodity CFDs?
Cryptocurrencies
Do you offer cryptocurrency trading?
However if you're a Professional Client, you'll still be able to trade our range of Cryptocurrency CFD markets, which include: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Ripple.
Orders and Positions
What is slippage?
Slippage is when an order is filled at a price other than the requested price.
Our quoted prices are executable the majority of the time. In fast-moving markets, orders may be executed at a price which has ceased to be the best market price. Limit orders will always be filled at the price asked or better.
How does margin work with hedging?
For example, you have an open sell position for 2 Wall Street CFDs with an initial margin of £2,400, and then you open a buy position for 1 Wall Street CFD with a margin of £1,200 (hedged trade). As the margin is bigger on the open sell 2 Wall Street CFD trade, this will be the total margin required for all trades in this market. We do this to ensure that you have enough margin to cover the remaining position if and when the larger side is closed. The same rule apples for all step margin levels.
Do pending orders expire?
End of Day (EOD) orders automatically expire at 5pm ET on the same day the order was entered.
Good ‘til Cancelled (GTC) orders will not expire unless clients manually cancel them or if they are linked to an open position, they will expire when that position is closed.
Pending orders on the MetaTrader 4 platform can be set to expire at a specific date and time; otherwise, it will remain on the platform with no expiry.
How can I check the execution price of my order was correct?
If you have an open buy position or a pending sell order, you will need to monitor the BID chart.
If you have an open sell position or a pending buy order, you will need to monitor the ASK chart.
How long can I hold my positions open for?
Futures contracts work differently and you can trade the price of futures markets using CFDs. Futures contracts are quoted monthly or quarterly and will have various different expiry dates, which will be stated in the Key Market Information section within the platform. You can choose to close your position at the expiry of a contract or roll your contract into the following month.
What is a "limit down"?
A limit down period is imposed by an exchange (such as the NYSE) and not by brokers. It usually lasts 15 minutes but may be extended depending on the percentage decline before market open.
Please note that a limit down only restricts selling on the affected market(s).
How are the market prices calculated?
Foreign exchange, gold, and silver price quotes are derived from prices provided to us by selected top-tier global banks in the wholesale foreign exchange, gold and silver markets.
Commodity CFDs
Commodity CFD price quotes are derived from quoted or execution prices from the derivative exchanges for commodities products.
Index CFDs
Index CFD price quotes are derived from quoted or execution prices for the underlying reference assets from derivatives exchanges with respect to the given indices which we believe will provide the best available prices to you on a consistent basis.
What is market gapping?
Therefore, when the market reopens, the price could be substantially different from the previous closing price.
What are trailing stop orders?
A trailing stop is created by setting a stop order that 'trails' your position by a specific number of points. If your trade moves in your favour, the trailing stop moves with the market, executing only when the market moves against you by the set number of points.
The trailing stop is more flexible than a fixed stop loss, since it automatically tracks the market's price direction and does not have to be manually reset, as you would have to with a fixed stop loss.
How are my orders executed?
Fees and Charges
What is a rollover in FX trading?
Rollover rates (also known as a financing charge or swap rate) are based on the interest rate differential of the two currencies and the spot price, and is calculated according to whether the position is long or short. We source institutional rollover rates and pass these onto the clients at a competitive price.
However, rollover rates can be impacted by market conditions, especially at the end of a quarter or year. We periodically review our rollover rates and adjust them to fit with current market and industry conditions.
Each currency pair will have two rollover rates: one for short positions, another for long positions. Depending on the difference, your account will either be debited or credited a certain amount based on the rollover rate.
As a service to our customers, all open forex positions at the end of the day (5:00pm New York time) are automatically rolled over to the next settlement date. The rollover (or swap) adjustment is simply the accounting of the cost-of-carry on a day-to-day basis. We do not charge rollover on intraday trades.
Can I avoid paying rollover charges?
At FOREX.com, rollovers are not applied to intraday trades. No interest is paid or received if you open and close a position within the same trading day after 5pm ET and before 5pm ET the following day.
Other brokers may apply rollovers on a continuous, second-by-second basis. This policy may ultimately end up raising your total trading costs, especially if the broker's rollovers are not competitive.
How are the rollover rates determined?
Rollover rates are based on the interest rate differential of the two currencies and the spot price. However, rollover rates can be impacted by market conditions, especially at the end of a quarter or year.
We periodically review our rollover rates and adjust them to fit with current market and industry conditions.
How do I view FOREX.com's rollover rates?
You can access our rollover rates directly from our trading platforms.
FOREX.com Desktop Platform: Click on the "i" icon next to a market in a Watchlist to view details on that market. Rollover information can be found under the financing charge section.
On your browser: You can view a market’s rollover on its Markets 360 tab. To open this tab, right click on the name of a market and select Market 360 from the dropdown. From there, rollover information can be found under the financing charge section.
FOREX.com mobile apps: In our mobile app, you can view a market’s rollover on its Market Info tab. To open this tab, select the name of a market and head to the Market Info tab. From there, rollover information can be found under the financing charge section.
MetaTrader 4: Click on the Company tab in Terminal, scroll to Profile, and select "Rollover Rates".
Do you charge any inactivity fees?
If the account has a balance less than £12, the remaining balance will be charged as the inactivity fee, not the full £12. Additional fees will not be charged if the account has no funds.
Retail accounts will automatically be suspended if there has been no trading activity for 36 months. For Professional Accounts, it will automatically be suspended if there has been no trading activity for 12 months. However, after the account is suspended, inactivity fees will still be charged.
To avoid being charged inactivity fees, the best way would be to withdraw your funds if you do not plan on using your trading account; otherwise, placing a trade will reset your inactivity period.
Activity like platform logins, orders, deposits, and withdrawals every 12 months will not make a client exempt from inactivity fees.
After the account is suspended, you will need to complete the Reactivation Request Form.
What are the qualifying trade requirements?
A Qualifying Trade for each market is equal to the volume stated in the following table. Any combination of opening and closing trades, in any markets, can be used to meet qualifying trade requirements. For example, opening and closing a standard lot FX trade equals 200,000 in volume. Further examples can be found below the table.
Currencies
MARKET | VOLUME REQUIRED | UNIT TYPE |
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All currency pairs (excl HKD) | 200 | Micro Lots |
Metals
MARKET | VOLUME REQUIRED | UNIT TYPE |
---|---|---|
Copper | 100,000 | Pounds |
Palladium | 200 | Troy Ounces |
Platinum | 200 | Troy Ounces |
Spot Silver (all XAG pairs) | 10,000 | Ounces |
Spot Gold (all XAU pairs) | 200 | Ounces |
Commodities
MARKET | VOLUME REQUIRED | UNIT TYPE |
---|---|---|
Corn | 50,000 | Bushel |
Cotton | 350,000 | Pounds |
HTGOIL | 100,000 | Gallons |
Sugar | 1,500,000 | Pounds |
Soybean | 20,000 | Bushel |
UKOIL | 5,000 | Barrel |
USOIL | 5,000 | Barrel |
Wheat | 50,000 | Bushel |
Indices
MARKET | VOLUME REQUIRED | UNIT TYPE |
---|---|---|
AUS200 | 50 | Contract |
ESTX50 | 50 | Contract |
FRA40 | 50 | Contract |
GER30 | 20 | Contract |
HK50/td> |
60 | Contract |
JPN225 | 2,000 | Contract |
JPN226 | 50 | Contract |
JPN227 | 50,000 | mmBTU* |
SPX500 | 100 | Contract |
UK100 | 20 | Contract |
JUS30 | 10 | Contract |
*million British Thermal Units
Example: The example below represents a customer’s trade activity in fulfilling a 25 Qualifying Trade requirement.
Example Qualifying Trades
MARKET | VOLUME | QTR* | |
---|---|---|---|
REQ'D | TRADED | ||
EUR/USD | 200,000 | 2,100,000 | 10.5 |
XAG/USD | 10,000 | 160,000 | 16 |
USOIL | 5,000 | 30,000 | 6 |
Corn | 50,000 | 430,000 | 8.6 |
SPX500 | 100 | 440 | 4.4 |
TOTAL QUALIFYING TRADES EARNED | 26.5 |
*Qualifying Trades Earned
How are positions rolled on weekends and holidays?
A holiday rollover will occur when the currency traded has a major holiday and the banks are closed. A holiday rollover will typically be applied two days before the holiday.
What is the cost to trade?
If you have a retail account, FOREX.com only charges commissions on shares CFD trading.
Do you offer fixed spreads?
Fixed spreads don’t change according to market conditions such as volatility or liquidity. Depending on the market, fixed spreads may either be offered for a defined period of the day, or throughout trading hours.
Variable spreads may fluctuate throughout the day according to different factors such as underlying liquidity or market volatility. With variable spreads, FOREX.com will quote you the minimum spread it could be, plus an average spread for a defined historical period of time. View our live spreads.
What is the back to base currency conversion charge?
When Back to Base charges are applied, we use commercially reasonable rates (which may be up to and including +/- 0.5% away from our quoted prices or rates from time to time). Any conversions and the rates applied will be disclosed on your contract notes and statements.
How are non-FX overnight financing charges calculated?
Short Positions F = V × I / b
Long Positions F = V × I / b, where:
F = Daily Financing Fee
V = value of equivalent (quantity x end of day closing price)
I = applicable Financing Rate
b = day basis for currency (365 for GBP, HKD and AUD, 360 for all other currencies)
The daily financing fee will be applied to your account each day that you hold an open position (including weekend days). The financing rates are set at benchmark regional interest rate +/- 2.5%.
For example, you are long €10 on the France 40 and hold the position overnight. France 40 closes at 6500.
The LIBOR rate for that day is 0.33.
F = V x I/b
V = 10 (quantity) x 6500 (end of day closing price ) = 65000
I = 0.33 + 2.5% = 2.88%
V x I = 65000 x 2.88% = 1872
F = 1872 / 365 = €5.12 (Financing paid by you per day)
What time is overnight financing charges applied?
Financing is applied from 5pm ET each day for most markets. For details of the times for all of our available markets, please view the Key Market Information on the platform.
What is the difference between an intraday position and overnight position?
Overnight positions are positions that are still on at the end of normal trading hours (5pm ET), which are automatically rolled by FOREX.com at competitive rates (based on the currencies' interest rate differentials) and applied directly to your account balance.
What are borrowing costs?
Are there overnight financing charges on hedged trades?
Why do rollover costs widen at the end of the quarter or year?
Are there any data exchange fees associated with forex trading?
If I place a large trade, will the spread increase?
Do I need to pay taxes on my trades and transactions?
When is rollover applied?
What is a spread?
Margin and Leverage
How can I avoid margin close outs (liquidation) on my account?
There are several proactive measures that you can employ to reduce the risk of liquidation and manage your account:
- Actively monitor the status of your open positions.
- Set a stop-loss order for each open trade to limit downside risk. You can set the stop-loss level at the time you place a trade, or add a stop-loss order at any time for any open trade. You can also change your stop-loss orders at any time to take current market prices or other conditions into account. The use of stop loss orders may not necessarily limit your losses.
- Keep your account funded in excess of your required margin. These extra funds act as a cushion, protecting you if the market moves against you. If you are in danger of breaching your margin limits, either incrementally reduce the size of your position or add funds to your account as soon as possible. However this measure is not a guaranteed method that limit your losses.
What is a margin close out?
If your margin drops below 100% of your total requirement, then your positions are at risk of being closed. We’ll usually start automatically closing trades when it hits 50% of your total requirement. The calculation for the margin level indicator is determined by the net equity in your account divided by your total margin requirement, multiplied by 100.
Please be aware that during times of high volatility market prices can gap and this may affect the prices at which your positions are closed out.
Can my account go negative?
Please note Professional Clients are not covered under negative balance protection and their account balance can go below zero. For more information, click here.
What is leverage?
Please note that increased leverage increases risk.
What are the margin requirements at FOREX.com?
To calculate the amount of funds required to cover the margin requirement when you open a trade, simply multiply the total notional value of your trade (quantity x price of instrument) by the margin factor.
For example, say the margin requirement for EURUSD is 3.33%. The current buy price of EURUSD is 1.300 and you wish to buy 1 standard lot (100,000).
The total value of the position is $130,000 (100,000 x 1.300). The equivalent of $4329 would therefore be allocated from your account to open the position ($130,000 x 3.33%).
Keep in mind that when you have open positions, your margin requirement for those positions will adjust to the current market pricing.
With FOREX.com platforms, you can calculate the required margin before placing a trade through the platform’s margin calculator, monitor each position’s margin requirement separately or review your account’s total margin requirement through the Margin Indicator.
What are step margin levels?
Step margins are not present in MetaTrader platforms.
What is FOREX.com's liquidation process?
By default, FOREX.com accounts have a 50% margin requirement level (this may vary with your level of leverage and account type). This means that, if at any point, the equity available in your account drops below 50% of the margin required, you will be subject to auto liquidation and all open positions will be closed.
When your account falls below 100% margin, your account will be set to reduce only and you will not be able to enter into new positions.
While our 50% margin requirement level and real-time margin system is designed to limit your trading losses, your capital is at risk, especially during periods of extreme market volatility. For this reason, we strongly encourage you to manage your use of leverage carefully. Increasing leverage increases risk.
Does the margin change for hedged trades?
For example, you are trading CFDs and have two open Wall Street positions, originally selling a quantity of 10 and then buying a quantity of 5. In this case, only the margin for the larger side of the trade will be applied: the Wall Street short 10 position. Assuming that the margin for selling 10 Wall Street is €1,691.45 and the margin for buying 5 Wall Street is €845.70, you would only need to provide enough margin to cover the original, larger sell position for both of the trades in this market.
Hedging margin on MetaTrader is set to net position, whereby the margin for each net position will be applied, no matter their size.
What is order-aware margining for professional clients?
What is margin?
Does the margin change for larger trade sizes?
FX Markets
Are there any data exchange fees associated with forex trading?
However, you may incur a rollover charge is you hold your positions overnight. Learn more about rollovers.
When is the forex market open for trading?
You can trade forex at FOREX.com 24 hours a day, five days a week. For more information, please visit our range of markets.
What is forex?
Forex, also known as foreign exchange or currency trading, is the buying of one currency by simultaneously selling another. Forex traders attempt to profit by speculating on the direction the currency exchange rates will go in the future.
For more information, read our what is forex article.
How do I know how much money I need in order to place a FX trade?
In addition, our FOREX.com platforms have a built in Margin Calculator.
What forex markets are available to trade at FOREX.com?
Metals
Do Metal CFD Futures expire?
If your account is a FOREX.com account, you can view a market’s expiry date in the Market Information Sheet on the FOREX.com desktop trading platform or the Market 360 on the WebTrader platform.
If your account is a MetaTrader 4 account, you can view more information about the market's expiry date on the MetaTrader 4 desktop download platform in Terminal > Company > Support > CFD Product Details.
What does (per 0.1) and (per 0.05) mean?
If it states per 0.1, the trade size of 1 is equal to 10 because it is 1 contract per every 0.1. If it states per 0.05, the trade size of 1 is equal to 500 because it is 1 contract per every 0.05.
Therefore, if you were to calculate the margin requirement, it would be the notional value x rate x leverage. The notional value would be calculated as quantity/0.1 or quantity/0.05 depending on what is listed for the market.
What is the minimum and maximum trade size for metals?
The maximum order size varies by market. You can view a market's minimum and maximum volume through the platform.
When can I trade metals with FOREX.com?
Is there an expiry date on spot gold and silver contracts?
Are there overnight financing/rollover charges on Metals CFD Futures?
How are metals traded?
Indices
What is the cost of index CFD trading?
In addition, you may be charged a nightly finance charge if you hold a position overnight, after 5pm ET.
What is the margin for indices?
For more information on a specific market, please check the Key Market Information or Market 360 within the trading platform.
What is the index CFD nightly finance charge and how is it calculated?
These charges are typically calculated as follows:
F=(S x P x R)/D
F - Daily Financing Charge
S - Number of CFDs (2500)
P - Closing Price
R - Relevant 1-month LIBOR rate, +250 basis points for long positions or -250 basis points for short positions, e.g. (4.50% + 2.50%) = 7.00%
D - Number of days, i.e. 365 for UK equities and 360 for all others
When do index CFD orders expire?
You can find more information through Key Market Information directly on the desktop download platform. There is an "i" icon for each market.
You can also find this information on the WebTrader's Market 360 section.
When a CFD Futures market expires, we close all open positions based on our most recent prices and all open orders are cancelled. To retain your open positions in a market, you must manually open a new position in the next contract month. You may also set the position to Autoroll prior to executing the position/order. When you launch the deal ticket, you will see a tick box option to Auto-Rollover. This box is located next to your "Direction" selection. If you tick this box, your futures contract will automatically roll to the next contract when it expires. Please note that autoroll is not available on the MetaTrader platform.
What indices does FOREX.com offer?
What are index CFDs?
Shares
What is the margin for shares trading?
Margins for shares vary depending on account type and shares.
For more information on retail accounts, you may refer to Shares on our Markets page.
Where can I find the contract details for CFD markets?
On the WebTrader platform, CFD specifications will be located in the Market 360.
Do corporate actions affect my account?
Please note that in the event of any positions being closed and reopened, working orders will be cancelled.
What shares can I trade at FOREX.com?
When will I receive or pay a dividend adjustment?
What are borrowing costs?
Can I go short on Shares CFDs?
What are Shares CFDs?
I cannot find the share that I want to trade in. How can I request to add it?
Which platforms can I trade shares/equities on?
How do corporate actions work on hedged trades?
What is a corporate action?
Commodities
What commodities does FOREX.com offer?
How do I calculate how much margin I need to trade a commodity?
The formula to calculate how much margin is required is quantity x price x margin.
When do commodity CFD orders expire?
You can find more information through Key Market Information directly on the desktop download platform. There is an "i" icon for each market.
You can also find this information on the WebTrader's Market 360 section.
For MetaTrader 4 accounts, commodity CFD markets information is found in Terminal > Company > Support > CFD Product Details on the MetaTrader 4 platform.
When a CFD market expires, we close all open positions based on our most recent prices and all open orders are cancelled. To retain your open positions in a market, you must manually open a new position in the next contract month. You may also set the position to Autoroll prior to executing the position/order. When you launch the deal ticket, you will see a tick box option to Auto-Rollover. This box is located next to your "Direction" selection. If you tick this box, your futures contract will automatically roll to the next contract when the it expires.
MetaTrader 4 does not have the option to autoroll; therefore, MetaTrader 4 clients will need to manually open a new position in the next contract month.
What is the margin for commodities trading?
For more information on a specific market, please check the Key Market Information or Market 360 within the trading platform.
How are Non-Expiring Commodities (NEC) priced?
The contract with the closest expiry date is called the Front month contract and the second-nearest expiry date is called the Far month contract.
Throughout the duration of the Front month contract, the price of the NEC will gradually move from the price of the front month to the price of the far month.
As there will be an adjustment to the NEC Market price every day, your account will be subject to an adjustment in the form of a Credit/Debit to offset this price adjustment. For example, if the NEC contract is adjusted by +2 points, clients with long positions will be debited 2 x stake and clients with short positions will be credited 2 x stake. "
What is the cost of commodity CFD trading?
In addition, you may be charged a nightly finance charge if you hold a position overnight, after 5pm ET.
What is the commodity CFD nightly finance charge and how is it calculated?
These charges are typically calculated as follows:
F=(S x P x R)/D
F - Daily Financing Charge
S - Number of CFDs (2500)
P - Closing Price
R - Relevant overnight LIBOR rate, +250 basis points for long positions or -250 basis points for short positions, e.g. (4.50% + 2.50%) = 7.00%
D - Number of days, i.e. 365 for UK shares and 360 for all others
What are commodity CFDs?
Cryptocurrencies
Do you offer cryptocurrency trading?
However if you're a Professional Client, you'll still be able to trade our range of Cryptocurrency CFD markets, which include: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Ripple.
Orders and Positions
What is slippage?
Slippage is when an order is filled at a price other than the requested price.
Our quoted prices are executable the majority of the time. In fast-moving markets, orders may be executed at a price which has ceased to be the best market price. Limit orders will always be filled at the price asked or better.
How does margin work with hedging?
For example, you have an open sell position for 2 Wall Street CFDs with an initial margin of £2,400, and then you open a buy position for 1 Wall Street CFD with a margin of £1,200 (hedged trade). As the margin is bigger on the open sell 2 Wall Street CFD trade, this will be the total margin required for all trades in this market. We do this to ensure that you have enough margin to cover the remaining position if and when the larger side is closed. The same rule apples for all step margin levels.
Do pending orders expire?
End of Day (EOD) orders automatically expire at 5pm ET on the same day the order was entered.
Good ‘til Cancelled (GTC) orders will not expire unless clients manually cancel them or if they are linked to an open position, they will expire when that position is closed.
Pending orders on the MetaTrader 4 platform can be set to expire at a specific date and time; otherwise, it will remain on the platform with no expiry.
How can I check the execution price of my order was correct?
If you have an open buy position or a pending sell order, you will need to monitor the BID chart.
If you have an open sell position or a pending buy order, you will need to monitor the ASK chart.
How long can I hold my positions open for?
Futures contracts work differently and you can trade the price of futures markets using CFDs. Futures contracts are quoted monthly or quarterly and will have various different expiry dates, which will be stated in the Key Market Information section within the platform. You can choose to close your position at the expiry of a contract or roll your contract into the following month.
What is a "limit down"?
A limit down period is imposed by an exchange (such as the NYSE) and not by brokers. It usually lasts 15 minutes but may be extended depending on the percentage decline before market open.
Please note that a limit down only restricts selling on the affected market(s).
How are the market prices calculated?
Foreign exchange, gold, and silver price quotes are derived from prices provided to us by selected top-tier global banks in the wholesale foreign exchange, gold and silver markets.
Commodity CFDs
Commodity CFD price quotes are derived from quoted or execution prices from the derivative exchanges for commodities products.
Index CFDs
Index CFD price quotes are derived from quoted or execution prices for the underlying reference assets from derivatives exchanges with respect to the given indices which we believe will provide the best available prices to you on a consistent basis.
What is market gapping?
Therefore, when the market reopens, the price could be substantially different from the previous closing price.
What are trailing stop orders?
A trailing stop is created by setting a stop order that 'trails' your position by a specific number of points. If your trade moves in your favour, the trailing stop moves with the market, executing only when the market moves against you by the set number of points.
The trailing stop is more flexible than a fixed stop loss, since it automatically tracks the market's price direction and does not have to be manually reset, as you would have to with a fixed stop loss.
How are my orders executed?
Fees and Charges
What is a rollover in FX trading?
Rollover rates (also known as a financing charge or swap rate) are based on the interest rate differential of the two currencies and the spot price, and is calculated according to whether the position is long or short. We source institutional rollover rates and pass these onto the clients at a competitive price.
However, rollover rates can be impacted by market conditions, especially at the end of a quarter or year. We periodically review our rollover rates and adjust them to fit with current market and industry conditions.
Each currency pair will have two rollover rates: one for short positions, another for long positions. Depending on the difference, your account will either be debited or credited a certain amount based on the rollover rate.
As a service to our customers, all open forex positions at the end of the day (5:00pm New York time) are automatically rolled over to the next settlement date. The rollover (or swap) adjustment is simply the accounting of the cost-of-carry on a day-to-day basis. We do not charge rollover on intraday trades.
Can I avoid paying rollover charges?
At FOREX.com, rollovers are not applied to intraday trades. No interest is paid or received if you open and close a position within the same trading day after 5pm ET and before 5pm ET the following day.
Other brokers may apply rollovers on a continuous, second-by-second basis. This policy may ultimately end up raising your total trading costs, especially if the broker's rollovers are not competitive.
How are the rollover rates determined?
Rollover rates are based on the interest rate differential of the two currencies and the spot price. However, rollover rates can be impacted by market conditions, especially at the end of a quarter or year.
We periodically review our rollover rates and adjust them to fit with current market and industry conditions.
How do I view FOREX.com's rollover rates?
You can access our rollover rates directly from our trading platforms.
FOREX.com Desktop Platform: Click on the "i" icon next to a market in a Watchlist to view details on that market. Rollover information can be found under the financing charge section.
On your browser: You can view a market’s rollover on its Markets 360 tab. To open this tab, right click on the name of a market and select Market 360 from the dropdown. From there, rollover information can be found under the financing charge section.
FOREX.com mobile apps: In our mobile app, you can view a market’s rollover on its Market Info tab. To open this tab, select the name of a market and head to the Market Info tab. From there, rollover information can be found under the financing charge section.
MetaTrader 4: Click on the Company tab in Terminal, scroll to Profile, and select "Rollover Rates".
Do you charge any inactivity fees?
If the account has a balance less than £12, the remaining balance will be charged as the inactivity fee, not the full £12. Additional fees will not be charged if the account has no funds.
Retail accounts will automatically be suspended if there has been no trading activity for 36 months. For Professional Accounts, it will automatically be suspended if there has been no trading activity for 12 months. However, after the account is suspended, inactivity fees will still be charged.
To avoid being charged inactivity fees, the best way would be to withdraw your funds if you do not plan on using your trading account; otherwise, placing a trade will reset your inactivity period.
Activity like platform logins, orders, deposits, and withdrawals every 12 months will not make a client exempt from inactivity fees.
After the account is suspended, you will need to complete the Reactivation Request Form.
What are the qualifying trade requirements?
A Qualifying Trade for each market is equal to the volume stated in the following table. Any combination of opening and closing trades, in any markets, can be used to meet qualifying trade requirements. For example, opening and closing a standard lot FX trade equals 200,000 in volume. Further examples can be found below the table.
Currencies
MARKET | VOLUME REQUIRED | UNIT TYPE |
---|---|---|
All currency pairs (excl HKD) | 200 | Micro Lots |
Metals
MARKET | VOLUME REQUIRED | UNIT TYPE |
---|---|---|
Copper | 100,000 | Pounds |
Palladium | 200 | Troy Ounces |
Platinum | 200 | Troy Ounces |
Spot Silver (all XAG pairs) | 10,000 | Ounces |
Spot Gold (all XAU pairs) | 200 | Ounces |
Commodities
MARKET | VOLUME REQUIRED | UNIT TYPE |
---|---|---|
Corn | 50,000 | Bushel |
Cotton | 350,000 | Pounds |
HTGOIL | 100,000 | Gallons |
Sugar | 1,500,000 | Pounds |
Soybean | 20,000 | Bushel |
UKOIL | 5,000 | Barrel |
USOIL | 5,000 | Barrel |
Wheat | 50,000 | Bushel |
Indices
MARKET | VOLUME REQUIRED | UNIT TYPE |
---|---|---|
AUS200 | 50 | Contract |
ESTX50 | 50 | Contract |
FRA40 | 50 | Contract |
GER30 | 20 | Contract |
HK50/td> |
60 | Contract |
JPN225 | 2,000 | Contract |
JPN226 | 50 | Contract |
JPN227 | 50,000 | mmBTU* |
SPX500 | 100 | Contract |
UK100 | 20 | Contract |
JUS30 | 10 | Contract |
*million British Thermal Units
Example: The example below represents a customer’s trade activity in fulfilling a 25 Qualifying Trade requirement.
Example Qualifying Trades
MARKET | VOLUME | QTR* | |
---|---|---|---|
REQ'D | TRADED | ||
EUR/USD | 200,000 | 2,100,000 | 10.5 |
XAG/USD | 10,000 | 160,000 | 16 |
USOIL | 5,000 | 30,000 | 6 |
Corn | 50,000 | 430,000 | 8.6 |
SPX500 | 100 | 440 | 4.4 |
TOTAL QUALIFYING TRADES EARNED | 26.5 |
*Qualifying Trades Earned
How are positions rolled on weekends and holidays?
A holiday rollover will occur when the currency traded has a major holiday and the banks are closed. A holiday rollover will typically be applied two days before the holiday.
What is the cost to trade?
If you have a retail account, FOREX.com only charges commissions on shares CFD trading.
Do you offer fixed spreads?
Fixed spreads don’t change according to market conditions such as volatility or liquidity. Depending on the market, fixed spreads may either be offered for a defined period of the day, or throughout trading hours.
Variable spreads may fluctuate throughout the day according to different factors such as underlying liquidity or market volatility. With variable spreads, FOREX.com will quote you the minimum spread it could be, plus an average spread for a defined historical period of time. View our live spreads.
What is the back to base currency conversion charge?
When Back to Base charges are applied, we use commercially reasonable rates (which may be up to and including +/- 0.5% away from our quoted prices or rates from time to time). Any conversions and the rates applied will be disclosed on your contract notes and statements.
How are non-FX overnight financing charges calculated?
Short Positions F = V × I / b
Long Positions F = V × I / b, where:
F = Daily Financing Fee
V = value of equivalent (quantity x end of day closing price)
I = applicable Financing Rate
b = day basis for currency (365 for GBP, HKD and AUD, 360 for all other currencies)
The daily financing fee will be applied to your account each day that you hold an open position (including weekend days). The financing rates are set at benchmark regional interest rate +/- 2.5%.
For example, you are long €10 on the France 40 and hold the position overnight. France 40 closes at 6500.
The LIBOR rate for that day is 0.33.
F = V x I/b
V = 10 (quantity) x 6500 (end of day closing price ) = 65000
I = 0.33 + 2.5% = 2.88%
V x I = 65000 x 2.88% = 1872
F = 1872 / 365 = €5.12 (Financing paid by you per day)
What time is overnight financing charges applied?
Financing is applied from 5pm ET each day for most markets. For details of the times for all of our available markets, please view the Key Market Information on the platform.
What is the difference between an intraday position and overnight position?
Overnight positions are positions that are still on at the end of normal trading hours (5pm ET), which are automatically rolled by FOREX.com at competitive rates (based on the currencies' interest rate differentials) and applied directly to your account balance.
What are borrowing costs?
Are there overnight financing charges on hedged trades?
Why do rollover costs widen at the end of the quarter or year?
Are there any data exchange fees associated with forex trading?
If I place a large trade, will the spread increase?
Do I need to pay taxes on my trades and transactions?
When is rollover applied?
What is a spread?
Margin and Leverage
How can I avoid margin close outs (liquidation) on my account?
There are several proactive measures that you can employ to reduce the risk of liquidation and manage your account:
- Actively monitor the status of your open positions.
- Set a stop-loss order for each open trade to limit downside risk. You can set the stop-loss level at the time you place a trade, or add a stop-loss order at any time for any open trade. You can also change your stop-loss orders at any time to take current market prices or other conditions into account. The use of stop loss orders may not necessarily limit your losses.
- Keep your account funded in excess of your required margin. These extra funds act as a cushion, protecting you if the market moves against you. If you are in danger of breaching your margin limits, either incrementally reduce the size of your position or add funds to your account as soon as possible. However this measure is not a guaranteed method that limit your losses.
What is a margin close out?
If your margin drops below 100% of your total requirement, then your positions are at risk of being closed. We’ll usually start automatically closing trades when it hits 50% of your total requirement. The calculation for the margin level indicator is determined by the net equity in your account divided by your total margin requirement, multiplied by 100.
Please be aware that during times of high volatility market prices can gap and this may affect the prices at which your positions are closed out.
Can my account go negative?
Please note Professional Clients are not covered under negative balance protection and their account balance can go below zero. For more information, click here.
What is leverage?
Please note that increased leverage increases risk.
What are the margin requirements at FOREX.com?
To calculate the amount of funds required to cover the margin requirement when you open a trade, simply multiply the total notional value of your trade (quantity x price of instrument) by the margin factor.
For example, say the margin requirement for EURUSD is 3.33%. The current buy price of EURUSD is 1.300 and you wish to buy 1 standard lot (100,000).
The total value of the position is $130,000 (100,000 x 1.300). The equivalent of $4329 would therefore be allocated from your account to open the position ($130,000 x 3.33%).
Keep in mind that when you have open positions, your margin requirement for those positions will adjust to the current market pricing.
With FOREX.com platforms, you can calculate the required margin before placing a trade through the platform’s margin calculator, monitor each position’s margin requirement separately or review your account’s total margin requirement through the Margin Indicator.
What are step margin levels?
Step margins are not present in MetaTrader platforms.
What is FOREX.com's liquidation process?
By default, FOREX.com accounts have a 50% margin requirement level (this may vary with your level of leverage and account type). This means that, if at any point, the equity available in your account drops below 50% of the margin required, you will be subject to auto liquidation and all open positions will be closed.
When your account falls below 100% margin, your account will be set to reduce only and you will not be able to enter into new positions.
While our 50% margin requirement level and real-time margin system is designed to limit your trading losses, your capital is at risk, especially during periods of extreme market volatility. For this reason, we strongly encourage you to manage your use of leverage carefully. Increasing leverage increases risk.
Does the margin change for hedged trades?
For example, you are trading CFDs and have two open Wall Street positions, originally selling a quantity of 10 and then buying a quantity of 5. In this case, only the margin for the larger side of the trade will be applied: the Wall Street short 10 position. Assuming that the margin for selling 10 Wall Street is €1,691.45 and the margin for buying 5 Wall Street is €845.70, you would only need to provide enough margin to cover the original, larger sell position for both of the trades in this market.
Hedging margin on MetaTrader is set to net position, whereby the margin for each net position will be applied, no matter their size.