Between 54-87% of retail CFD accounts lose money. Based on 69 brokers who display this data.
For our trading ftse 100 comparison, we found 20 brokers that are suitable and accept traders from United States of America.
EURUSD 1.0 points See all spreads
79% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Read our in-depth Forex.com review
Between 54-87% of retail CFD accounts lose money. Based on 69 brokers who display this data.
The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index more commonly known as the FTSE 100 or the “Footsie” index is a stock market index comprised of the 100 largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) in terms of market capitalisation. The FTSE 100 is now operated by FSTE Russell and was started in 1984 as a joint venture between the Financial Times and the London Stock Exchange.
As of the 31 January 2017, the 100 companies that make up the FTSE 100 had a market cap of over £1,795 billion pounds which represented approximately 39 % of the total London Stock Exchange market cap of £4,581 billion from a total of 2,261 companies.
The companies which make up the FTSE 100 Index span a wide range of industries including banking, mining, telecoms, oil and gas, as well as private equity. While many of the companies on this Index are headquartered in the UK, quite a few are international organisations with their headquarters located outside of the UK.
The constituents of the FTSE 100 Index are decided on a quarterly basis by a committee and the main basis for inclusion is the total market capitalisation of those companies at the end of the previous quarter. Companies from the FTSE 250 index that have experienced market capitalisation growth to the extent that they would occupy the 90th or better position on the FTSE 100 index, are listed on the FTSE index for the upcoming quarter.
At the same time, a company on the FTSE 100 index that experiences a market capitalisation reduction to the extent that it falls to the 111th or worse position, would be delisted from the index. If there are any mergers or acquisitions, the index is updated immediately instead of quarterly.
Top 20 FTSE 100 Companies as at 31 January 2017 by Market Cap
Rank (by mkt cap) | List Date | Company | Sector | Mkt Cap £m |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 20-Jul-05 | ROYAL DUTCH SHELL | Oil & Gas Producers | 178,879 |
2 | 08-Apr-91 | HSBC HLDGS | Banks | 131,854 |
3 | 20-Dec-54 | BP | Oil & Gas Producers | 91,804 |
4 | 29-Jan-62 | BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO | Tobacco | 91,191 |
5 | 22-May-72 | GLAXOSMITHKLINE | Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology | 72,512 |
6 | 26-Oct-88 | VODAFONE GROUP | Mobile Telecommunications | 56,095 |
7 | 06-May-52 | DIAGEO | Beverages | 54,607 |
8 | 01-Jun-93 | ASTRAZENECA PLC | Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology | 51,492 |
9 | 01-Nov-73 | RIO TINTO | Mining | 47,900 |
10 | 24-May-11 | GLENCORE PLC | Mining | 47,117 |
11 | 08-Oct-86 | LLOYDS BANKING GROUP PLC | Banks | 47,062 |
12 | 23-Oct-07 | RECKITT BENCKISER GROUP PLC | Household Goods | 46,481 |
13 | 11-Aug-39 | UNILEVER | Food Producers | 42,285 |
14 | 23-May-08 | SHIRE PLC | Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology | 39,485 |
15 | 29-Dec-78 | PRUDENTIAL PLC | Life Insurance | 39,093 |
16 | 01-Oct-96 | IMPERIAL BRANDS PLC | Tobacco | 35,015 |
17 | 31-Jan-02 | NATIONAL GRID | Gas, Water & Multiutilities | 34,661 |
18 | 28-Jul-97 | BHP BILLITON PLC | Mining | 30,361 |
19 | 03-Dec-84 | BT GROUP | Fixed Line Telecommunications | 30,033 |
20 | 31-Dec-53 | BARCLAYS PLC | Banks | 28,110 |
The value of the FTSE indices is calculated using market capitalisation, This means that the larger companies have a bigger influence on the value of the FTSE indices. The FTSE indices also take into account the free float capitalisation which means restricted stocks are ignored when calculating the market capitalisation using a Free float adjustment factor.
Three popular financial instruments to trade the FTSE 100 include ETFs, Futures and CFDs.
Stock Index futures are complex financial instruments that were initially developed as a hedging instrument for institutional traders to protect against a reversal in stock prices in a portfolio. However, with technological advances and tech-enabled trading, retail traders that have the required capital to trade futures have entered the market and speculate on Stock Index Futures like the FTSE 100 Future on The Ice Exchange.
CFDs offer retail traders much smaller contract sizes and therefore a smaller capital requirement. For example, a minimum trade of a UK 100 future, a derivative of the FTSE 100 would require a trader £14.57 at the current 7286 index points with a broker like London Capital Group compared to a single contract on the Futures exchange of £72,860. Unlike trading on an exchange, trading CFDs involves buying and selling the instrument from the broker, therefore find a trusted and regulated broker like London Capital Group is an important step for traders.
FTSE 100 min Trade Example | CFD Future | Futures Contract |
---|---|---|
Example Broker | London Capital Group | LSE |
FTSE 100 Index Value (as at 21 Feb) |
7286 | 7286 |
Unit of trading | £10 * index point | £10 * index point |
Contract Size | 0.1 lot | 1 Contract |
Minimum Trade Size | £7,268 (728.6*£10) |
£72,860 (7286*£10) |
Margin | .20% | £4,075 |
Deposit required | £14.57 (£7,286*.2%) |
£4,075 (scanning margin set by ICE) |
*All information collected from https://www.lcg.com/uk/, see website for full terms and conditions. Example is for illustrative purposes only. Your capital is at risk. Last updated on February 21, 2017.
ETFs or electronic traded funds are investment products made of a group of assets designed to track the performance of the underlying asset, for example, the FTSE 100. ETFs can be bought from share dealing brokers like IG.
Forex.com scored best in our review of the top brokers for trading ftse 100, which takes into account 120+ factors across eight categories. Here are some areas where Forex.com scored highly in:
Forex.com offers one way to tradeForex. If you wanted to trade FTSE100
The two most important categories in our rating system are the cost of trading and the broker’s trust score. To calculate a broker’s trust score, we take into account a range of factors, including their regulation history, years in business, liquidity provider etc.
Forex.com have a AAA trust score. This is largely down to them being regulated by Financial Conduct Authority, segregating client funds, being segregating client funds, being established for over 19
Forex.com | |||
---|---|---|---|
Trust Score | AAA | ||
Established in | 1999 | ||
Regulated by | Financial Conduct Authority | ||
Uses tier 1 banks | |||
Company Type | Private | ||
Segregates client funds |
Want to see how Forex.com? We’ve compared their spreads, features, and key information below.
Forex.com | |||
---|---|---|---|
Fixed Spreads | |||
Variable Spreads | |||
EUR/USD Spread | 1.00 | ||
GBP/USD Spread | 0.9 | DAX Spread | 250.0 |
FTSE 100 Spread | 150.0 | ||
S&P500 Spread | 50.0 | ||
Forex.com | |||
---|---|---|---|
Platform | MT4, Web Trader, NinjaTrader, Tablet & Mobile apps | ||
Services | Forex | ||
Base currency options | USD, GBP, EUR | ||
Funding options | Bank transfer, Cheque, DebitCard, | ||
Micro account | |||
ECN account |