Indices & Bonds Trading With ActivTrades

The competitive online broker ActivTrades offers a great choice of instruments to enlarge your trading portfolio, including bonds and indices. Both instruments are not much popular probably due to their specific characteristics, but definitely deserve attention.

As a kind of investment bonds are known as „debt security”,  a sort of IOU, because when you buy a bond you’re actually loaning money to the entity that issued it. Also they are often called “fixed income” investments due to the fact that the amount of money you receive and the dates on which you receive payments are specified in advance, or „fixed”. And usually the fixed income securities are considered as less riskier than stocks.

Comparing to stocks again, which give insights to the financial conditions of a specific company, indices on the other hand provide a really good representation of markets’ nature and sectors as a whole. When trading indices, it’s very important to follow events that affect their values, such as geopolitical news, monthly employment reports  and economic reports. 

As you see bonds and indices are very interesting and broad matter that you can take advantage of.

Through ActivTrades you can access major indices and fixed incomes and trade for example the S&P500 from a competitive spread of 0.5 points and 0.02 on the Bond. The required margins to open a position are lower than the margins required for a standard Futures contract with 1:400 leverage and as the Futures, the ActivTrades CFDs contracts on indices and fixed incomes have expiry dates and no overnight fees.

Also you can trade bonds and indices with no hidden fees and leverage up to 1:400 and all these instruments are available on PC, smartphone and tablets through Metatrader 4, Metatrader 5 and of course with the devoted 24/5 client support.

To know more about trading bonds and indices with Activtrades, follow this link!

Live Trading Analysis - FX, Commodities & Indices

Yet another extremely helpful webinar was held yesterday by my online broker ActivTrades and led by the professional trader Malte Kaub - Managing Director at the Traders' Leadership Council in London. This time the topic was Live Trading Analysis - FX, Commodities & Indices. It was an amazing opportunity and I learned how to read the charts in better way and got practical insight into the application of proven technical analysis strategies for Forex, commodities and indices. 

You you have missed it, worry don’t, all is stored at webinar’s archive section.

For more details follow this link and enjoy!

Markets in Europe and the US are still under pressure because of the ECB's decision

European Stoxx Europe 600 index declined by 0.69 percent to 346.90 points against the background of ECB's decision to keep the key interest rates and the quantitative easing programme unchanged.

The German stock index DAX decreased by about 0.8 percent for a second consecutive session , the French CAC40 fell by 0.89 percent, the Italian MIB fell by 0.7%, while the Spanish Ibex-35 - with 0.54% .

US indices also suffered - the blue chip index Dow Jones Industrial Average fell nearly 400 points, as Boeing contributed the most to the decline. S & P 500 recorded a decline of 2.45%, as the telecommunications and utilities fell by more than 3 percent. The technological benchmakr Nasdaq posted decrease of 2.54% percent and Apple shares fell 2.2 percent.

Stock markets closed on Friday with sharp losses

European stocks closed with sharp losses on Friday. Most significant declines recorded the banking sector, resource companies and carmakers. Amid the intensive equity sell off, investors turned to the safer government bonds.

Stoxx Europe 600 fell 2.4% to 332.92 points, ending at the lowest level since 6th May. Moreover, the decline marked the biggest daily loss since February 11. Stoxx 600 Index marked the second consecutive week of losses, marking a weekly decline of 2.5%.

DAX 30 index plummeted with 2.5% to finish at 9,836.00, reaching a 3-week low. FTSE 100 index dipped 1.80% to 6,119.47 points. CAC 40 dropped with 2.21% to 4,3078.12, while the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 index fell 2.56% to close at 2,912.59.

US stocks reported losses for a second business day in a row on Friday, pressured by the Brexit uncertainty and the decline in oil prices.

Earlier in the week, S & P 500 almost reached its record high at 2,130.82 set in May 21, 2015.
On Friday, S & P 500 recorded a decrease of 0.9% to 2,096.07 points, falling below the psychological level at 2,100. The benchmark recorded a weekly loss of 0.2%, which was the first decline for the last  four weeks.
Among the other indices,  Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped with  0.66% to 17,866.71 and Nasdaq is down with 1.29% to 4,894.55 points.

Asian, European and US stocks in red

Asian, European and US stocks ended in red on Thursday. 

Germany’s DAX 30 index dragged down with 1.26% and Stoxx Europe 600 closed with a loss of 0.96%. The French CAC40 index decreased by 0.97%, Italy's MIB lost 0.76%, while the British FTSE100 index gave up 1.11%.

Wall Street also performed with losses on Thursday. Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.38 % to 17 985.13 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 0.42% to 2 115.95 points.

Bank of Korea cut the key interest rate to 1.25% in response to growing pressure to ease monetary policy and stimulate growth.

South Korea's Kospi index dipped with 2.91 points, or 0.14%, to 2 024.17 points. The Korean won weakened against the dollar, as the pair traded at 1160.30 after the decision against 1150.47 before the announcement of cutting the interest rate.

Japan's Nikkei 225 ended with a decline of 162.51 points, or 0.97%, to 16 668.41 points. In the early trading USD/JPY reached 107.80 but currently dropped to 106.80.

The Australian ASX 200 index closed with a drop of 0.15% to 5 361.93 points.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.14% to 2 1297.88 points, while the Chinese Shanghai Composite lost 0.32% to 2 926.70 points.

European stocks moved in green despite thin volumes

European stocks started the new week with good gains, marking fifth consecutive positive trading session. As stock exchanges in UK and US remained closed throughout the day and macro agenda offers nothing special, the trading volume was significantly lower.
The attention of market players this week will be mainly focused on the forthcoming data on US unemployment rate and the change in non-farm payrolls as well as ECB meeting on Thursday.
During the last trading session German’s DAX 30 index added 0.46% to finish at 10 333.23, while the French CAC 40 index increased 0.32% to 4 529.40 and the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 index rose 0.43% to 3,088.50.
Among the best performers that moved DAX 30 up are Volkswagen AG, Daimler AG and Bayer AG, as their shares rose respectively by 1.70%, 1.52% and 1.30%. On the downside with biggest daily losses rolled Thyssenkrupp AG, Siemens AG and Deutsche Post AG downgrading market capitalization respectively with 0.38%, 0.34% and 0.13%.

European stocks closed with strong gains

Since the beginning of the month, European stocks closed significantly elevated and pinned the best performance, despite opening in red on Tuesday.

The British FTSE 100 was up with 1.35% to 6219.26 points, the French CAC 40 leaped 2.46% to 4431.52 points and Euro Stoxx 50 jumped 2.76% to 3013.84 points. Best performed the Italian FTSE MIB with a growth of 3.34% to 17,903.97 points.

Germany’s  DAX climbed 2.33% to finish at 10,057.94 points and marked one-week high at 10,077.50

Technically speaking the index failed to break resistance at 11400 points and now gravitates within the range 9300-11400. Next resistance on upwards is the psychological level at 11700, where it is not excluded a false breakout. Even bulls are seen in a sluggish pace now, the uptrend is still in place. Eventual downward correction would lead the price to support levels located at 10000, 9300 and 8900.

US Stocks sharply elevated

Major US stock indices were trading sharply elevated on Monday amid the weak economic data and rising oil prices, which mainly drove the market.
The positive mood came largely from the news that Warren Buffett has bought $ 9.8 million worth of Apple shares in first for Berkshire Hathaway. The conglomerate, run by Warren Buffet acquired its stake at average price of $109 a share.
Apple’s shares bounced from 1 year low and were trading 3.71% higher to $93.88 per share.
Nasdaq finished 1.22% higher, to 4775.46 points,Dow Jones hiked 1.00% and closed at 17,710.23 points, while S & P 500 added 0.98% to finish at 2066.66 points.

European stock markets closed in green

On Tuesday session, stock markets in Europe were trading elevated, extending the  strong performance since the beginning of the week. Major stock indices closed higher, largely influenced by the sharp rise commodity and oil prices.

German DAX 30 index closed 0.65% higher, ending the day at 10 045.44, while FTSE 100 finished with a gain of 0.68% at 6 156.65. Best performers within DAX 30 index were Volkswagen AG, RWE AG and Deutsche Bank AG, as their shares rose respectively by 4.22 %, 2.46 % and 2.42 %. 

Technically speaking , the index failed to break resistance at 11400 and now gravitates within 9300-11400. Next resistance in the upward is a psychological level at 11700, where is not excluded a false breakout. Currently the bulls remain calm, but the uptrend is still in place. A possible downward correction would lead a price to the levels of support located respectively at 10000, 9300 and 8900.

To be a rock and not to roll

This passage evokes so many interpretations, 

but what I would label it now is stable.

China’s economy showed a sign of some stabilization,

that woke up the bulls and make them able 

to uplift the European indices and send them to profound elevation.

DAX 30 finished today 2.71% higher reaching 10,026.10 points, 

FTSE 100 jumped with 1.78% and crossed the finish line with 6,353.52 points.

CAC 40 flyed away with 3.32% to 4,490.31 points 

and Euro Stoxx 50 closed with a gain of 3.26% at 3,038.12 points.

The optimism glittered mostly over DAX, 

that was tagged on the stairway of April’s highs.

High risk event on 5th of July

In recent days we have witnessed an escalation of the Greek crisis, which causes very high volatility in currency markets. On 5th of July Greece will hold a referendum for approval or rejection of the austerity measures requested by EU. This very possibly will cause a significant impact on markets, especially on 5th and 6th of July!

My broker, ActivTrades,  again protects their customers by substantially limiting their potential losses and will temporarily increase the leverage required to 4 times for these instruments from 17:00 hours CET on Friday, 3 July 2015.

This measure was implemented on 15th of January when EUR/CHF fell more than 20% within minutes. It’s wonderful to have a reliable broker that warns on time about potential risks!

FOREX: EURAUD EURCAD EURCHF EURGBP EURHUF EURJPY EURNOK EURNZD EURPLN EURSEK EURSGD EURTRY EURUSD

INDICES: Blg20Jul15 Bra50Aug15 Esp35Jul15 Euro50Sep15 Fra40Jul15 Ger30Sep15 GerTecSep15 HKIndJul15 Ind50Jul15 Ita40Sep15 Jp225Sep15 Neth25Jul15 Nor25Jul15 Swi20Sep15 UK100Sep15 Usa500Sep15 UsaIndSep15 UsaRusSep15 UsaTecSep15 UsaVixJul15 USDIndSep15

FINANCIALS: EuBblSep15 EuBundSep15 EuStzSep15 UsaTBSep15 UsaTNSep15

METALS: Gold, Palladium, Platinum, Silver

Make sure you will have enough available margin in your account to support open positions on 3rd of July!

Full content of the notice you may find here.