User Manual

Making a trade

Click the TRADE button and the trade ticket will appear in a new column to the right-hand side.

Now all you need to do is adjust your stake and decide if you wish buy or sell. Live prices will continue to update until you click the buy or sell button.

You can choose your stake by either using the up or down arrow or typing in the stake manually.

At the same time as placing your trade you can set the level at which you wish your mandatory stop loss and limit order (if you want one) to be.

Remember, stop losses* are automatically allocated to every open trade, but you can specify the level yourself at the time of opening a trade.

* Stop losses are not guaranteed so are subject to slippage, but we do offer the ability to place guaranteed stop losses on some markets and there is a premium for this extra protection (see the Market Information).

Once you’ve clicked either the buy or sell button and your trade has been accepted you will get on screen confirmation plus confirmation by email.

Trade confirmation

If you notice any discrepancies, please contact us immediately, preferably by telephone.

Multiple trade tickets and tear-off

If you already have a trade ticket open, you can click on TRADE next to another market in order to launch another trade ticket. The second one will be launched above the previous trade ticket in the column on the right-hand side.

You can open as many trade tickets as you want, but it is not possible to open more than one trade ticket in the same market.

You can click the tear-off icon and your trade tickets will be opened in a new window.

Closing a trade

If you decide to close your trade, you can do this by clicking on the “Open Positions” tab to view your open positions. In this page you will see a CLOSE button on the right hand side. If you click this button, you will only be given one option either a buy or a sell depending on the direction of your original trade. For example, if you had a buy position you would need to sell to close so only the sell button will appear when you click on the close button.

Alternatively, you can close your trade by finding the original market that you traded, ensuring that the stake size is equal to your original open position and then making a trade in the opposite direction. For example, if you make a £5 buy to open, you will need to make a £5 sell to close.

Cherry picking which trade you want to close

If you have opened more than one individual trade in the same contract, the total stake will be shown with the average opening price. For example, if you bought £1 per point on the FTSE Rolling at 5050 and then bought another £1 per point at 5100, your open position would show a buy of £2 per point at 5075.

Each open position has a “+” symbol next to it which will reveal each individual trade if you have a position with multiple individual trades (as explained in the paragraph above). This allows you to close your trades in any order you want.

If you do not want to cherry pick which trade you want to close, the closing trades work on a first in, first out basis. This means that if you initially buy £1 a point in the FTSE Rolling Daily at 6000 and then subsequently by another £1 a point in the same market at 6005 (leaving you long £2 per point) the first sell you make will close out the first position opened, in this case the buy at 6000. So, if your first sell was at £1 per point at 6010 then you would realise a profit of £10 on that trade. (6010 – 6000). If your second sell was at 6007 then this would close out you second buy (6005) and you would realise a profit on this trade of £2 (6007 – 6005).

Partially closing an open position

If you decide you want to lower your initial stake and partially close a position you can do this by either finding the original product that you traded and adjusting the stake size (which will be less than your original stake) and then making a trade in the opposite direction or by clicking on the close button in Open Positions and using the down arrow to adjust your stake lower. In the example above, you initially made a £5 buy to open and then you decide you want to partially close your position to make your stake size £2. You would need to sell £3 to close this part of your position.

Close and reverse an open position

If you decide you want to change the direction of an open position by closing it and reversing in just one trade you can do this by finding the original product that you traded, adjusting the stake size (which will be more than your original stake) and then making a trade in the opposite direction. So, using the example above, you initially made a £5 buy to open and then you decide you want to close and reverse your position by selling £8. By doing this action your £8 sell would close the original £5 buy position and instantaneously open a new £3 sell position, at the same price.

A Stop Loss Order is the method used to limit the losses on an individual trade. It literally means ‘when the loss on a trade reaches the point where I no longer wish to risk any more money then close me out of my position (or ’stop’ me out).

Capital Spreads automatically apply a Stop to every new trade. It is important to note that Stops will be filled at the level you request, but in the rare event of the market gapping you will be filled at the next best level. We also offer the ability to place Guaranteed Stop Orders on some markets which will protect you against any market gapping.  There is a small premium for this extra protection (see the Market Information).

Every market has a minimum distance from the current price at which any stop will be accepted. You may move the stop further from the current market price provided your account has sufficient funds to do so. The system will not permit you to move your stop level beyond such available margin.

When a position is closed, the stop loss relating to that trade will be automatically cancelled and you will receive an email to confirm this.

All stops are set to Good Till Cancelled ‘GTC’, however you can amend this on the order screen.

In order to amend your stop loss and add a limit order right after you have placed a trade, you need to go to either the Order Book or the Open Positions window.

When you click on the AMEND button, you will see this new ticket:

If you do not amend your stop loss level after you’ve traded, your stop loss will be based on 80% of the funds available in your account or it will be set at 80% of the maximum IM (Initial Margin). Details of the maximum IM for each product can be found in our Market Information.

On accessing the Order Book on the trading screen you will be able view all the current stop losses and limit orders that are running against your open positions.

Add products to “My Portfolio”

Once you have located a market, you can click the “+” symbol to the right of each market to save it to My Portfolio. This information will be stored in the My Portfolio section of your account for the next time you log in.

To access My Portfolio you need to click on the button in the top right-hand corner of the trading platform.

You can remove markets from My Portfolio you simply click on the - symbol to the right of the market and it will disappear.

Trading Tools

Your Capital Spreads account also provides you with an extensive research area that gives charting and fundamental data as well as extensive technical analysis information.

Technical Analysis

Although we cannot advise clients about what to trade in we can provide you with the very best technical research from third party providers. Their trading models provide many recommendations each day on the major markets that we offer.

Fundamental Data

There is also a full research area providing you with an economic calendar detailing all the economic and corporate data due to be released, heat maps, historical charting, top and bottom market movers and UK sector analysis.

Capital Spreads accepts no responsibility for and has no control over the content (including legality, suitability, accuracy, timelines, reliability or availability) of any linked websites.

The provision of third party content is for general information purposes only and nothing in this section should be construed as providing investment advice or a solicitation to purchase or sell any investment.