Trading on Falling Markets

A bear market doesn't always have to signify losses. Spread betting allows you to profit even when markets are falling by taking short positions.

Global regulators including the FSA introduced measures to restrict the short-selling of certain shares in September, but these are limited to a small selection of financial stocks. With IG Index you can still go short on a huge variety of indices, shares, commodities, options and more.

Volatile markets

Current economic conditions have produced periods of high volatility in a range of markets, with global indices and commodities - along with the share prices of several of the world's top companies - enduring dramatic rises and falls over recent weeks.

Crude Oil recently dropped below $73 a barrel, while gold prices generally edge higher with the yellow metal acting as a hedge against troubled shares. Mixed reactions over the US government's $700 billion financial bail-out, along with concerted government action in the UK, has caused indices and share prices to fluctuate violently as the credit crunch causes uncertainty in the world's markets.

Spread betting gives you the opportunity to take advantage of these trends by choosing to 'sell' or 'go short' – and you can learn more about how to profit from falling markets from our upcoming online seminar, or by checking our seminar archive, presented by our in-house specialists.

This 30-minute seminar, which can be accessed via your PC or Mac, demonstrates how easy it is to trade short and manage your risk.

Limit your risk with IG Index

Whatever your view you can take a position with IG Index and limit your losses with our range of risk management tools.

Along with a full set of Stop and Limit Orders we offer Guaranteed Stops, which allow you to specify a level at which you want your bet to be closed, should the market move against you. We then guarantee that your position would be closed at this level, even if the price gaps suddenly.

The above comments do not constitute investment advice and IG Index accepts no responsibility for any use that may be made of them.

Updated: 20/10/08