Latest news with #CFDs
Malay Mail
5 days ago
- Business
- Malay Mail
Crypto CFD as a safe, flexible and efficient trading alternative: explained by Octa broker
Disclaimer: This content is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, a recommendation, or an offer to engage in any investment activity. It does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation, or individual needs. Any action you take based on this content is at your sole discretion and risk. Octa and its affiliates accept no liability for any losses or consequences resulting from reliance on this material. Trading involves risks and may not be suitable for all investors. Use your expertise wisely and evaluate all associated risks before making an investment decision. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. Availability of products and services may vary by jurisdiction. Please ensure compliance with your local laws before accessing them. KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - Media OutReach Newswire - 11 June 2025 - Bitcoin keeps reaching new ATHs (All-Time Highs) in 2025 and fosters bullish market sentiments, yet volatility remains significant. This ramps up the risks for crypto traders, who use traditional spot trading tools. Experts at Octa Broker explain how CFDs—Contracts for Difference—allow traders to decrease risk exposure while offering more trading majority of crypto traders believe the market will remain bullish in 2025. Bitcoin shows new ATHs, which stimulates altcoin price increases. The Trump administration's crypto-friendly policies are often perceived as triggers for crypto market growth. Yet, despite the crypto-positive U.S. president and the increasing Bitcoin price, the market remains relatively unstable and prone to significant the past six months, the crypto market has suffered significant turbulence. For example, at the end of 2024, the market capitalisation surpassed $1.6 trillion (Bitcoin excluded), only to later drop by 41% to $950 billion in Q1 2025. At the same time, venture capital investments returned to the levels of 2017-2018. Due to such negative dynamics, macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty, and a more restrictive monetary policy, reputable crypto experts like Coinbase institutional assumed that a crypto winter took place instead of the anticipated bull run and an alt Q1 2025 showed the worst first-quarter performance in seven years with a dominating downtrend and high volatility, crypto traders struggled to identify potential trades and faced increased risks. What is more, funds were more vulnerable due to increased cyber threats. Chainalysis discovered a 60% rise in crypto hacks in Q1 2025. The total value of lost assets surpassed $2.2 billion. Traders suffered because of exploited protocols, key mismanagement, and mere phishing are overall a safer, more flexible and affordable alternative to traditional tools offered by crypto exchanges. While spot trading limits traders to capitalising on cryptocurrency price increases, CFDs allow them to benefit from the price difference between entry and exit positions. The trend doesn't matter: one can open long positions, assuming price increases, and short ones, expecting an asset value to decrease. Moreover, when opening a contract, a trader doesn't purchase a token. Such an approach allows crypto traders to eliminate several trading tools of the spot market imply that traders purchase an asset at a lower price and then sell it when the value increases. Doing so requires freezing funds until the cryptocurrency is sold. In times of high volatility and downtrend, traders end up in a situation where their trading opportunities are scarce, especially if they invested all their finances before the bearish trend suddenly began. Crypto CFDs don't limit potential trades to the bullish market only: traders can also open positions to benefit from potential asset price an asset requires significant finances to enter the crypto market. CFDs offer traders leverage: a financial tool that requires a margin, a relatively small deposit, to open a trade for a larger amount of crypto. As a result, traders can enter a crypto market with far fewer resources. The trade conditions are transparent and competitive. Regulated brokers like Octa provide flexible leverage and low spreads on CFD pairs specified before trade CFDs eliminate the need for direct asset ownership, traders reduce the risk of token losses or theft. There is no need to manage hot or cold wallet accesses, including private keys, mind faulty smart contracts, or exchange security. CFDs are processed across broker infrastructure, which is regulated by reputable financial institutions. They require brokers to set up a reliable trading environment, adhere to responsible trading policies, and provide transparent are known as a more efficient financial tool, especially in times of market volatility. CFD brokers provide access to a wide variety of assets beyond the crypto landscape, thus allowing traders to diversify their portfolios with currency pairs, commodities, and indices. For instance, Octa Broker offers CFDs on over 30 popular digital assets: fiat currency pairs, global indices, commodities, stock derivatives, and shares. All of them are traded across a transparent ecosystem where traders are aware of leverage, fees, and spreads before opening a trade. This enhances risk management and allows to better calculate risks and adjust them, if necessary, before market allow traders to efficiently combat risk exposure, which is inevitable when operating with traditional crypto trading tools. When entering a contract, one can benefit from a bullish and bearish market and navigate across a transparent environment without actually owning the asset. This also allows traders to minimise security risks like asset theft or loss and facilitates entry into the crypto market. Moreover, CFDs provide access to various asset types that aren't limited to cryptocurrencies. Traders can diversify their portfolio and opt for a wider variety of assets to enhance risk management.___Hashtag: #Octa The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. Octa Octa is an international CFD broker that has been providing online trading services worldwide since 2011. It offers commission-free access to financial markets and various services used by clients from 180 countries who have opened more than 52 million trading accounts. To help its clients reach their investment goals, Octa offers free educational webinars, articles, and analytical tools. The company is involved in a comprehensive network of charitable and humanitarian initiatives, including improving educational infrastructure and funding short-notice relief projects to support local communities. In Southeast Asia, Octa received the 'Best Trading Platform Malaysia 2024' and the 'Most Reliable Broker Asia 2023' awards from Brands and Business Magazine and International Global Forex Awards, respectively.
Telegraph
08-06-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Cash savers exposed to risky investments by popular Isa providers
Have you or a loved one lost money trading CFDs or other complex financial products? Get in touch at money@ to share your stories. Cash savers attracted by competitive interest rates are being exposed to high-risk investment products by popular Isa providers, experts have warned. Two popular Isa providers, Trading 212 and IG Group, offer a product that results – according to their own research – in the majority of investors losing money. Contract for differences, or CFDs, are complex and highly risky trading products that allow investors to speculate on the price movement of an underlying asset without actually owning it. Traders can also use leverage to boost their potential winnings, but this in turn raises the chances they will lose money. According to trading platform Trading 212, 77pc of its retail customers lose money when trading spread bets with CFDs. IG pegs its own figure at 71pc. Trading 212 is a popular savings and investment app, with its cash Isa and stocks and shares Isa promoted across personal finance websites including MoneySavingExpert and Which?. The app pays 4.35pc interest annually on uninvested cash in its stocks and shares Isa. This figure was 4.6pc until recently, just shy of the top-paying cash Isa at 4.85pc. Trading 212's cash Isa, meanwhile, pays just 4.1pc, meaning its customers are better off keeping their money uninvested in its stocks and shares Isa. Yet savers with a stocks and shares Isa who opt not to invest and solely earn interest on cash may be chided by the following notification: 'Keep your benefits active. We noticed you haven't traded for a while, yet you are still earning interest on your cash. 'We wanted to remind you that your Trading 212 account is primarily an investment account. It's designed for investing, rather than for holding cash as in a traditional savings account.' IG – another trading platform that primarily offers high-risk products such as CFDs – offers a stocks and shares Isa that pays interest of 4.25pc on uninvested cash. Savers that signed up in May could earn a market-busting 8.5pc, but they are forced to trade to earn the cash interest rate. Savers may also be unaware that interest paid on these savings is not necessarily earned in the traditional sense, and comes with fewer protections. Those who opt into earning interest on uninvested cash see their money – at least in part – invested in qualifying money market funds. While these funds are low-risk, cash held within them is not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, unlike the interest offered for cash Isa savers. Trading 212 customers with a cash or stocks and shares Isa will also frequently see the CFD section of the app when switching between their accounts, or accessing menu screens. Darius McDermott, managing director of Chelsea Financial Services, said: 'Trading 212 has built much of its platform on its cash [Isa] product. You get into the market with one competitive product and then transfer your customers to other kinds of products.' Since IG launched its stocks and shares Isa in 2014, it has seen a 175pc increase in active clients, according to analysis of its data by investment platform Lightyear. Holly Mackay, founder of independent financial platform Boring Money, said: 'Trading 212 [has] had success in attracting and engaging new investors – whether through cash Isas or just better apps and user experience than traditional players. 'This better digital experience combined with very low costs – in some cases no costs at all – has seen [these platforms] add huge numbers of new customers.' In line with Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) rules, if users opt to start trading CFDs in the Trading 212 app, they are warned that '77pc of retail investor accounts lose money when trading with this provider'. Before they can start trading CFDs, users must also answer just five multiple choice questions about the investment product, and disclose whether they have any experience in the area. But these steps can be breezed through quickly, and the platform carries out no other checks to verify whether a customer is a professional with trading experience or not. The FCA's Consumer Duty, which took effect in July 2023, states that firms should aim to continuously address issues that risk causing consumer harm, and must act to deliver good outcomes for retail customers. McDermott said: 'I do not believe that CFDs should be readily available to the majority of retail investors – you should be a professional trader with a high net worth to use them. People who are saving for medium and long-term goals shouldn't be exposed to CFDs.' Mackay added: 'I think we do need to reconsider the disclosures around CFDs and crypto, which are increasingly being offered up alongside much less spicy investment products, but have the potential to go very wrong, very fast.' 'CFDs have their roots in gambling' In April, IG Group completed its acquisition of Freetrade, a popular stocks and shares Isa and investment app, gaining access to the platform's 720,000 customers. Freetrade, like Trading212, is known for its low fees, and is a popular option for retail investors. Freetrade has not previously offered CFDs, and the platform has not hidden its disapproval of such high-risk products in the past. One blog post on the Freetrade website from 2017 warned customers that 'CFDs are hazardous to your wealth'. Another, from 2024, read: 'CFDs have their roots in the UK gambling sector and they are designed for people to take short-term, high-risk bets on price movements in the financial markets. 'Freetrade does not offer CFD margin trading accounts as we believe they do not provide value to investors or encourage the sort of investing habits that usually provide positive financial outcomes over the long term.' A spokesman for Trading 212 said: 'Each product that Trading 212 offers has its own specific target market, i.e. what type of customer we consider the product has been designed for, and how the product will deliver on the customer's expectations. 'In order to ensure those products reach the intended target market, we have created a clear separation between each product type via separate onboarding journeys and distinct accounts. 'Each onboarding journey incorporates specific hurdles, such as risk tolerance, investment objectives, experience, knowledge tests and vulnerability assessments to ensure the customer is aware of the product risks and sufficiently capable, both in knowledge and financial resilience, to accept those risks. 'If a prospective client does not meet the requisite thresholds, they will not be able to use the product. This is in line with the FCA's Consumer Duty.' A spokesman for the FCA said: 'All financial promotions must be fair, clear and not misleading. Trading platforms must make sure that their customers can make well-informed investment decisions by providing appropriate risk warnings.'
Malay Mail
22-04-2025
- Business
- Malay Mail
JustMarkets Introduces Comprehensive Trading Guide for Newcomers
JustMarkets new Guide KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - Media OutReach Newswire - 22 April 2025 - Global multi-asset broker JustMarkets has launched an educational initiative to support newcomers' online trading journey. The broker has developed a comprehensive, step-by-step guide designed to equip aspiring traders with essential knowledge of the financial trading has become increasingly accessible recently and attracts millions of new enthusiasts. However, the complexity of financial markets – including the importance of understanding global economic trends, technical terms, and trading strategies – continues to present serious challenges for beginners. Without a clear foundation and key knowledge, many new traders struggle to navigate Forex and CFDs efficiently. JustMarkets has created a full-scale educational guide specifically tailored to beginners to remove this gap. The guide offers structured lessons and actionable insights covering trading terminology, macroeconomic fundamentals, risk management, and practical trading strategies. It serves as a valuable resource for individuals seeking a solid start in their trading journey, regardless of prior access the guide, interested individuals are invited to follow the official JustMarkets Instagram pages and send a direct message with the phraseUpon verification, the guide will be shared directly with eligible initiative is part of JustMarkets broader mission to create a convenient and transparent trading environment so that everyone can reach their full investment potential. The company continues to invest in trader education, providing tools and insights that help clients develop their skills and achieve long-term #JustMarkets The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. JustMarkets JustMarkets is a globally recognized multi-asset broker that has been providing reliable and transparent trading services since 2012. The company has earned over 60 industry awards, highlighting its excellence in the financial sector. JustMarkets offers diverse trading instruments, including forex, stocks, commodities, indices, metals, energies, and cryptocurrencies, serving clients in over 160 countries.
The Sun
22-04-2025
- Business
- The Sun
JustMarkets Introduces Comprehensive Trading Guide for Newcomers
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - Media OutReach Newswire - 22 April 2025 - Global multi-asset broker JustMarkets has launched an educational initiative to support newcomers' online trading journey. The broker has developed a comprehensive, step-by-step guide designed to equip aspiring traders with essential knowledge of the financial markets. Online trading has become increasingly accessible recently and attracts millions of new enthusiasts. However, the complexity of financial markets – including the importance of understanding global economic trends, technical terms, and trading strategies – continues to present serious challenges for beginners. Without a clear foundation and key knowledge, many new traders struggle to navigate Forex and CFDs efficiently. JustMarkets has created a full-scale educational guide specifically tailored to beginners to remove this gap. The guide offers structured lessons and actionable insights covering trading terminology, macroeconomic fundamentals, risk management, and practical trading strategies. It serves as a valuable resource for individuals seeking a solid start in their trading journey, regardless of prior experience. To access the guide, interested individuals are invited to follow the official JustMarkets Instagram pages and send a direct message with the phrase 'How to start trading.' Upon verification, the guide will be shared directly with eligible users. This initiative is part of JustMarkets broader mission to create a convenient and transparent trading environment so that everyone can reach their full investment potential. The company continues to invest in trader education, providing tools and insights that help clients develop their skills and achieve long-term success.
