Introduction to CFDs

Since their introduction in the UK in 1998 and Australia in 2002, CFDs have become one of the fastest growing financial products to enter the market place. The popularity of CFDs amongst both investors and traders is most likely due to their flexibility and simplicity when compared to other equity derivatives.

The exciting introduction of CFDs stems from MF Global's policy of continuous innovation and improvement for the benefit of our customers.

The combination of our experienced broking team and our state-of-the-art trading platform - eMPOWER - makes MF Global one of the leaders in the CFD market.

Maximising profits with limited resources can often be a problem for investors. CFDs offer the experienced trader a valuable solution. CFDs are a simple and flexible margined product. For a fraction of the outlay, CFDs provide individual traders the ability to mirror the trading strategies used by global institutions and hedge funds, making CFDs one of the most exciting trading advances in years.

CFDs give you the economic benefits of trading shares without having to actually buy or sell the shares. The initial outlay for CFD trading starts from as little as 10% of the value for shares which make up a recognised index.

You can take either a long or short CFD position with equal ease. If you consider a stock to be undervalued, you can go long with a CFD on leverage and benefit from a rise in its share price (or possibly lose if the underlying share price falls). Conversely, if you consider a stock to be overvalued, you can go short with a CFD on leverage and benefit from a fall in its share price (or possibly lose if the underlying share price rises). MF Global Singapore advises all customers via the trading platform margin table on a daily basis if any CFDs in the quoted list cannot be short sold on that particular day.

By doubling your opportunities you are able to profit from both bull and bear markets and unlike most other equity derivatives, CFDs do not have an expiry date.