Shares trading continues to grow at an unprecedented clip. Average daily volumes of shares have been increasing year after year, thanks largely to a boom in retail trading activity. Popular online brokers are contributing to the runaway growth in shares trading. Equities, stocks, and shares all refer to the same thing, and here at XTrade you can trade shares of popular listed companies at stock markets all over the world. Shares rank among the most popular financial instruments in the world. Indeed, the sheer size and scope of global equity trading is enormous.

According to Statista, the total value of worldwide shares trading in Q4 2020 was $34.8 trillion, with a full-year value of $137.64 trillion, all of that took place during the pandemic. Consider the annualized return on shares in the US between 2000 – 2019, at 4%. Shares trading bestows certain rights on shareholders such as ownership rights, voting, and dividend-related issues. Shares trading takes place at centralized stock exchanges such as the NASDAQ, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the London Stock Exchange (LSE), and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), among others.

Traders and investors are attracted to shares trading for many different reasons, foremost among them profit potential*. In-depth market analysis of technical and fundamental factors is required for successful shares trading. Fortunately, brokers like XTrade provide all the tools and resources you need to successfully trade shares online. It is a lot easier than you think to hit the ground running with a reputable trading platform. If you're prepared to put in the time, and perfect your trading techniques and strategies, you can do it. Trading shares online is secure, convenient, and fully controlled by you.

Gone are the days of blindly trading shares through institutional brokers in their ivory towers on Wall Street. Today's share trading activity takes place on Main Street, from the comforts of home, or on the go, right here at XTrade. You can successfully place trades on shares listed at exchanges all over the world. Plus, you can profit from price changes to the upside, or to the downside. Our reputable trading platforms guarantee rapid executions of trades, up-to-date pricing, and the most powerful trading tools and resources on the market. You have just taken your first step towards financial freedom. Take charge of your trading portfolio with XTrade.

*Be advised that trading CFD stocks is inherently risky and losses can result. Trade cautiously at all times.

How is Shares Trading Better at XTrade?

Think of a traditional stock purchase of Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) at $130 per share. As a trader or investor on a budget, you're limited to how many AAPL shares you can purchase. Perhaps you purchased 10 shares of AAPL for $1300, and tech stocks experience an unexpected sell-off. Perhaps AAPL drops $20 to $110 per share. With 10 shares of AAPL, the market value of your shares is now $1100. If you sell, you are out-of-pocket for $200. If the price of AAPL rises $10 per share, your total profit is $100 if you sell. Can you see the problems? You have to lay out the full value of the trade, and traditional profits can only be generated in one direction.

At XTrade, we believe that trading should be easier, and more flexible. We offer leverage of 20:1 on shares trading, which means that for every $1 of your capital, you get to trade $20 worth of shares. Leverage is a powerful resource available to retail traders. Recall the iconic expression, ‘With great power comes great responsibility’ – that's precisely how you should treat leverage. When used correctly, this can be the most beneficial resource in your trading toolkit. In this example, leverage can multiply your profits 20 X*. Use it judiciously, to guard against unwanted price movements.

*CFD trading with leverage is inherently risky and losses can result. Trade cautiously at all times.

Leverage of 20:1 also means that you have a 5% initial margin requirement. This simply refers to the amount of your own capital that must be deposited to open a trade. In a conventional portfolio, it is difficult to guard against asset concentration because of a limited budget. You can appreciate how much leeway leverage gives you in terms of asset diversification. Without leverage, you have to front the full value of the purchase price of the trade. With leverage your upfront responsibility is limited to 5% of the trade amount. Of course, if trades move against you, margin calls come into play, and you will need to front more money to keep the trade open. From a safety perspective, leverage allows you to spread your capital around. This is a highly effective portfolio management strategy.

CFD Shares Trading at XTrade

Our trading platforms are built upon a simple concept: make trading more accessible, easier, and better for clients. XTrade share trading offers generous leverage to help you maximize your potential when buying and selling shares. We offer derivatives instruments called CFDs (Contracts for Difference) for trading shares. CFDs are a game changer. CFD trading is a speculative market, where buyers and sellers speculate on future price movements of underlying financial instruments. CFDs are not limited to shares. You can also trade CFD indices, CFD commodities, and CFD forex at XTrade. Shares trading is incredibly popular, since we all use many of the products and services of the top-listed companies.

How does CFD shares trading work?

Recall that a CFD is a derivative product. The definition is easy to understand: the price of the CFD is derived from the price of the underlying financial instrument. Unlike traditional stocks trading and investing, you don't actually take ownership of the actual shares. You’re trading a contract that mirrors the price movements of the assets in question. In technical terms, when you trade CFDs, you agree to exchange the price difference of an asset at inception (point-of-purchase), and when it is closed (sold). By speculating on future price movements, you can go long (bullish) on share CFDs, or you can go short (bearish) on share CFDs. It's entirely at your discretion. In other words, assets don't need to appreciate in price for you to generate a profit. This is one of the biggest benefits of CFD shares trading.

The profits generated, or the losses incurred, are entirely dependent upon the accuracy of your speculative assessment. If your judgment is correct, you will finish in the money. If not, the difference between the price at which you open the contract and the price at which you close the contract will determine your losses. Many novice traders understand the linear model fairly well. You buy low and you sell high. But what happens if the price of the underlying instrument doesn't appreciate? Are you prepared to lose money in such a situation? Perhaps your analysis of the financial markets indicates that the price of AAPL stock will depreciate in the future. If so, you sell the AAPL share CFD. This is known as going short on AAPL. The difference between the price of the CFD when it is opened and closed will be a profit if AAPL decreases in price, and a loss if AAPL increases in price.

All CFDs at XTrade are leveraged products. Once you start trading lots of CFDs, you'll notice why leverage is necessary. It's simply too expensive to use your own capital to trade large volumes of AAPL shares, or any other shares in quantity. You gain exposure to the full trade amount, without having to front all the money. The margin requirement is intentionally low to facilitate the trade. Imagine having to pay the full cost of trading 1,000 AAPL shares upfront? It's a little bit expensive, to put it mildly.

But with leveraged CFDs, at a rate of 20:1, instead of fronting $130,000 of your own capital, it's $6,500 with exposure to $130,000 of AAPL. There are 2 unique types of margin requirements. The first of them is the upfront margin to open the position. In this case, it is 5% of the trade amount. There is a second type of margin required to maintain the CFD. This comes into play if the trade starts moving against you. It's known as a margin call, and brokers routinely require this to keep a position from closing out. In this case, you will be required to add funds to your account, which will automatically cover the CFD trading question. In the absence of requisite funding, positions can be closed out and losses will be realized.

What Types of CFD Shares Are Available at XTrade?

XTrade is an established broker with years of experience in the industry. As such, we provide you with access to a global market of shares. Our CFD shares cover the following broad categories:

• Cannabis
• US shares
• UK shares
• Italy shares
• Japan shares
• Spain shares
• Russia shares
• Germany shares
• Australia shares
• South Africa shares

Our list of available financial instruments is reflective of a cross-section of the global share market. Each category is populated with numerous shares, to allow you to diversify your portfolio.

Sampling of Popular Shares Available at XTrade

• US shares include all the heavy hitters such as eBay, Johnson & Johnson, Walt Disney, Bank of America Corporation, Coca-Cola, AMEX, MasterCard, Nike, Boeing, Apple, PayPal, Tesla, FedEx, Moderna, Costco Wholesale, Medtronic, Goldman Sachs, McDonald's, 3M Company, CVS Health, Coinbase, and ZOOM.
• UK shares include popular options like BP, British American Tobacco, easyJet, GlaxoSmithKline, ITV, Kingfisher, London Stock Exchange, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury, Standard Chartered, Anglo American, HSBC Holdings, Rio Tinto, Tesco, and Lloyds Banking.
• Germany shares include the likes of Adidas AG, Deutsche Telekom, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Merck KGaA, Siemens, Volkswagen, Heidelberg Cement, and Henkel AG & Company KGaA.
• Japan shares cover Toshiba, Nissan Motor, Toyota Motor, Sony, NEC, Mazda Motor, Shinsei Bank, Bridgestone, and Kawasaki.
• Russia shares feature Sberbank of Russia, PAO Tatneft, Rosneft Oil Company, and Gazprom.

Mobile Trading of Shares at XTrade

XTrade understands that traders are constantly on the go, chasing the next lucrative trade. That's why we've designed our mobile trading apps to be the best in the business. Feature-rich technology ensures rapid executions of trades, access to a global market of shares, and a user-friendly mobile trading platform. You can easily download and install the XTrade online trading app for Android smartphones and tablets at the Google Play Store. It's 100% free, and packed with features for quick and easy CFD shares trading. Charts, graphs, signals, buy and sell CFD options are available too. The app for iOS devices can also be downloaded with ease. It’s really easy to trade on iPhone or iPad at XTrade. Our award-winning trading platform guarantees rapid executions of trades, real-time quotes, and access to multiple global stock exchanges.

Be eceptional at XTrade with CFD Shares Trading Online

We are continually striving for excellence with our online trading platforms. Innovative technology has thrust us to the forefront of online trading, and we are actively engaged in the markets to ensure that you stay ahead of the pack. Powerful insights, in-depth trading education, and real-time news and analysis are provided to keep you in the loop. We encourage you to take full advantage of all the features of XTrade – that’s how winning trades are made.