Daily FTSE
Our daily stock index markets allow you to bet on the intraday movements of a particular index. Daily FTSE is one of our most popular markets, with tight in-hours spreads of just 1 point.
In this example, you decide you want to bet on the short-term direction of the FTSE 100. For details of how the bet deposit is calculated, visit the Deposit Rates section of our FAQs.
Our Daily FTSE price in mid March is quoted at 5634 – 5635.
This means you can ‘sell’ at 5634 or ‘buy’ at 5635 (‘buy’ transactions are made at the higher end of the spread and ‘sell’ at the lower end).
Sell
You think the market is going to fall, so you choose to ‘sell’. You decide to risk £10 per point.
You ‘sell’ £10 per point at 5634
Against your expectations, the market rises. You opt to cut your losses and close your bet in case the market moves further against you.
At midday the price we quote is
5652 – 5653
To close a ‘sell’ bet you simply ‘buy’ at the top end of the spread
You ‘buy’ £10 per point at 5653
Your loss is calculated as follows:
| Opening price | 5634 |
| Closing price | 5653 |
| Difference | 19 |
Loss: 19 x £10 = £190
Buy
You think the market is going to rise, so you choose to ‘buy’. You decide to risk £10 per point.
You ‘buy’ £10 per point at 5635
As you predicted, the market rises in the afternoon and you choose to take your profit
At midday the price we quote is
5652 – 5653
To close a ‘buy’ bet you simply ‘sell’ at the bottom end of the spread
You ‘sell’ £10 per point at 5652
Your profit is calculated as follows:
| Opening price | 5635 |
| Closing price | 5652 |
| Difference | 17 |
Win: 17 x £10 = £170
Buying the euro
A Controlled Risk bet, using a Guaranteed Stop, is the ideal way to put an absolute cap on your risk.
The example below shows you how this device can help you guard against losses. For details of how the bet deposit is calculated, visit the Deposit Rates section of our FAQs.
It is December and you believe that Wall Street is set to fall over the next few months. You check our live price for Daily Wall Street Future (March) and we are quoting 10398 – 10402.
You make the decision to ‘sell’ £15 per point, but want to limit your risk. The opening price for a Controlled Risk ‘sell’ is our bid price minus our Controlled Risk premium of 3:
10398 – 3 = 10395
You do not want to lose any more than £900 on this bet, so at £15 per point you can only afford the market to move 60 points against you – in this case up to 10455 from your ‘sell’ price of 10395.
You eventually decide to put your Guaranteed Stop at 10453, risking a move of 58 points or £870 (58 x £15) against you. This ensures your bet will be automatically closed if the market rises to this level.
A few days after opening the bet, Wall Street does fall. Do you want to take your profit?
Yes
You check our current Daily Wall Street Future (March) price. We quote
10194 – 10198
To close this 'sell' bet you 'buy' £15 per point at the offer price of 10198
Your profit is calculated as follows:
| Opening price | 10395 |
| Closing price | 10198 |
| Difference | 197 |
Win: 197 x £15 = £2955
No
You decide to leave your bet open, but your decision seems to be the wrong one as Wall Street makes rapid gains and trades up strongly to 10550.
With no risk control in place, you would be running a significant loss. However, your Guaranteed Stop kicked in and your position was automatically closed when Wall Street reached 10453.
Your loss is calculated as follows:
| Opening price | 10392 |
| Closing price | 10450 |
| Difference | 58 |
Lose 58 x £15 = £870
Sector bets
Our sector bets give you exposure to those FTSE 350 companies focussing on a single industry, letting you take advantage of strength or weakness in a particular sector.
It is May. You take a view that the recent woes of UK airlines are set to continue through the summer tourist season, hitting tourism-related companies. As such, you decide to take a short Quarterly position on the Leisure, Entertainment and Hotels sector, which includes FTSE 350 airlines and travel companies.
Our September Leisure, Entertainment & Hotels price, as at late May, is quoted at 4316.96 – 4347.28.
This means you can ‘sell’ at 4316.96 or ‘buy’ at 4347.28. You are looking to go short, so sell £5/point at 4316.96.
Your prediction turns out to be correct, and over the summer the sector suffers a slow fall. In July another cloud of ash from the Icelandic volcano leads to mass cancellations of flights across western Europe, and the sector drops sharply to 4184.34 – 4214.66. You see this as a likely low for the sector, and close your bet at 4214.66.
Your profit is calculated as follows:
Profit on deal
| Opening price | 4316.96 |
| Closing price | 4214.66 |
| Difference | 102.30 |
Profit: 102.30 x £5 = £511.50
Alternatively, if you had expected the price to drop further you could have kept your bet open. In this scenario, the Leisure, Entertainment and Hotels sector shows a steep rise in early August on news that the Icelandic volcano has become inactive. You manage to close your position when our quote is 4400.03 – 4430.35, 'buying' £5/point at 4430.35.
Your loss would be calculated as follows:
Loss on deal
| Opening price | 4316.96 |
| Closing price | 4430.35 |
| Difference | 113.39 |
Loss: 113.39 x £5 = £566.95