Artículos (3)
How to trade indices
<p>Unlike many other financial markets, stock indices don't provide an option for their physical exchange. It is simply not feasible as indices are made of dozens and hundreds of stocks. It also means that direct investment in indices is not possible – you can't buy them like shares. However, there are various financial instruments that mirror the performance of indices and can be traded and invested in. One good example of such financial instruments is derivatives.<br /> <br /> With ThinkMarkets, you can trade stock market indices with derivatives called contracts for difference – CFDs. There are two types of CFDs – contracts on the current price and contracts on index futures. It may seem a little complicated, but all you need to do in both cases is speculate on price movements. In the first case, it’s the movement of a current price and in the second, the movement of a future price. If your prediction is correct – your trade is successful, and if the price moves in the opposite direction of your prediction, your trade incurs a loss.<br /> <br /> If you are new to derivative trading, check out our <a href="/en/trading-academy/cfds/what-are-cfds">CFD trading: a beginner’s guide</a> where we explain what derivatives are and how CFD trading works in detail.<br /> <br /> Keep in mind that brokers usually use different tickers to distinguish instruments. For example, on ThinkMarkets’ trading platforms, S&P 500 is marked as SPX 500 for CFD trades on the current price and ESH3 for CFD trades on the futures contracts.</p> <h2>How to trade indices with CFDs</h2> <h3>Going long</h3> <p>Assume you were to place a trade on the SPX 500 index. The current price is USD 4,000.00, and you think it will go up. You open a long CFD position (buy), and the price goes up to USD 4,010.00. The USD 10 is your profit. If the price goes down to USD 3,990.00 instead, USD 10 is your loss.<br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="/getmedia/d4e439ef-1d47-4500-9a69-cd9515fb48bc/article-how-to-trade-indices-long.webp" style="width: 552px; height: 434px;" /></p> <h3>Going short</h3> <p>In the opposite scenario, your prediction says the price will go down, and you place a short CFD trade (sell). If the price goes down to USD 3,990.00, as you predicted, USD 10 is your profit. If it goes up to USD 4,010.00 instead, USD 10 becomes your loss.<br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="/getmedia/8eac9b34-5ae0-4486-853d-01343c1207ea/article-how-to-trade-indices-short.webp" style="width: 552px; height: 442px;" /><br /> As you can see, it’s pretty straightforward. Now, let’s see the difference between trading CFDs on the current prices of indices and CFDs on index futures.<br /> <br /> When you trade CFDs on the current price of a stock market index, it means your contract follows its real-time price, and you speculate on the current price as well. On the other hand, a CFD on the index futures contract means speculating on the index's price at a certain date in the future.<br /> <br /> In both cases, trading indices with CFDs gives you extended trading hours, unlike some other types of trading. There is a simple explanation: while stocks are listed on the exchanges with fixed and limited opening hours, CFDs are not listed anywhere. As they only track the index's price, it remains set at its closing price while the exchanges are closed, making it available for trading. Once the exchanges are open again, the price is adjusted. You can find more info on the trading hours on the contract specifications page.<br /> <br /> Whichever way of trading you choose, there are a few more terms you need to know to understand your index CFD trade better.</p> <h3>Points and ticks</h3> <p>The price movements in index trading are measured in points and ticks. A point refers to the smallest price movement on the left side of the decimal point. A tick, on the other hand, refers to the smallest price movement on the right side of it. The value of one point equals USD 1, and one tick is USD 0.01.<br /> <br /> This terminology is not exclusive to stock indices and applies to all financial markets except forex, which measures price movements in pips. However, the values of a point and a tick vary depending on the market.<br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="/getmedia/c850f30e-f907-4925-89f3-2c8a218d3ff7/article-how-to-trade-indices-ticks.webp" style="width: 268px; height: 160px;" /></p> <h3>Spread</h3> <p>A spread in index trading, just like in any other financial market, means the difference between the buy (bid) and sell (ask) price. For example, on the image below, you can see that a spread of SPX 500 is 0.4 or 40 cents. Essentially a spread is the cost of any trade. That’s exactly why any new trade a trader opens starts at a loss – the spread amount gets deducted automatically and needs to be covered first before making a profit if the trade is successful.<br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="/getmedia/1c0a768a-b4a9-4fe0-9008-3e83bc9292d7/article-how-to-trade-indices-spread.webp" style="width: 552px; height: 152px;" /><br /> Keep in mind that the placement of a decimal point is different in index trading and trading stocks. The same 40 cents spread in stock trading would be marked as 40.0.</p> <h3>Lots</h3> <p>A lot in trading represents a trade size, or in other words, the number of units of a financial instrument. This number is different for every financial market. In the stock market, one lot contains ten contracts or ten CFDs in our case. When you trade indices, there are usually minimum trade size requirements set by the broker. With ThinkMarkets, some indices can be traded only in full lots and some in mini lots – 0.1 of a full lot (1 CFD). You can find these details on the contract specifications page as well.<br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="/getmedia/3c1474ed-b4ef-404b-a3a0-96cb488a79c9/article-how-to-trade-indices-lots.webp" style="width: 480px; height: 368px;" /></p> <h3>Leverage and margin</h3> <p>Trading indices with CFDs implies using leverage. It means traders borrow funds from a broker to open positions exceeding their account balance. To allow the utilisation of their funds, brokers require a deposit, called a margin. We explain both concepts in detail in the <a href="/en/trading-academy/cfds/what-are-cfds">CFD trading: a beginner’s guide</a>, too.<br /> <br /> When you trade with leverage, you don't need to pay the full price to place a position, only the deposit (margin). The amount of the deposit depends on how big your leverage is – bigger leverage means a smaller deposit, and vice versa. The level of leverage varies depending on the market and instrument and is usually set by a broker for each specific stock market index.<br /> <br /> Let's see how leverage works in index trading on the same example, where we placed a CFD trade at USD 4,000.00. If you open this trade with 200:1 leverage, you only need to pay 1/200th of the full amount, or USD 20.<br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="/getmedia/098e2e5b-7756-417c-bed7-29873b1b1c8c/article-how-to-trade-indices-leverage.webp" style="width: 459px; height: 308px;" /><br /> <br /> That's the main benefit of trading indices with leverage – you can open a much bigger position with a smaller deposit. Your potential profit is also multiplied. However, if you incur a loss, it does get multiplied too. That's why it's crucial to use <a href="/en/trading-academy/cfds/risk-management-tools-in-cfd-trading">risk management tools</a> like stop loss and take profit.<br /> <br /> Understanding this basic information is crucial to a successful index trading journey. Once you are confident with fundamentals, you can move on to creating a sophisticated trading strategy. However, it is highly advisable to practise on a demo account first before trading with real money.</p>
What is a stock market index?
<p>The stock market we know today is nothing like it used to be when the concept was born. Hundreds of years ago, the stock market started as a small institution created by agricultural traders and banks of Europe to manage and regulate commodity trading. Fast forward to the 21st century, it has transformed into a comprehensive global network of stock exchanges.<br /> <br /> The modern stock market, also called the share or equity market, offers various financial instruments (securities) on dozens of exchanges worldwide – stocks, shares, bonds, mutual funds and others.<br /> <br /> When a number of such securities are put together, it's called a stock index. In this article, we'll take a closer look at stock market indices, explain how they work and the benefits of index trading</p> <h2>What is a stock market index?</h2> <p>A stock index is a basket of various financial instruments. However, most indices that are available for public trading typically include only companies' shares. These companies have to be publicly listed on a stock exchange, meaning their shares can be bought, sold and owned by the public.<br /> <br /> There are different ways of organising these companies into stock indices – they can be grouped by financial market, country, industry or another differentiator. This allows analysts to track and measure the performance of the category they belong to and calculate market performance. For example, if an index value of the US major companies is going up in value, it usually means that the country's economy is expanding.</p> <h2>What is an index ticker?</h2> <p>An index ticker, also called a symbol or code, is a combination of letters and numbers used for the index's easy identification and tracking. Just like each currency has a code in the forex market – EUR for the euro, USD for the US dollar and so on, indices also have their own code. For example, S&P 500 stands for The Standard and Poor's 500 index. The term ticker is not exclusive to stock indices and used in other markets, such as stocks, futures and ETFs, too.<br /> <br /> Keep in mind that brokers usually use different tickers to distinguish instruments used to trade indices. For example, with ThinkMarkets, you can trade indices with CFDs, so to differentiate the actual S&P 500 index from a CFD contract on it, the latter has the SPX 500 ticker.<br /> <br /> <img alt="TM-Screen-What-is-a-stock-index-1.png" src="/getmedia/a5189b4f-bfff-48cf-b265-c184ed7acada/TM-Screen-What-is-a-stock-index-1.png" style="display: flex; margin: 20px auto;" title="TM-Screen-What-is-a-stock-index-1.png" /></p> <h2>What are the most popular indices in the stock market?</h2> <p>The popularity of a stock index depends on where the companies within it originate. For example, with the US being the largest economy in the world, American stock indices make up over 50% of the value of the global stock market. It is no surprise that these indices are the most popular and the most traded in the world, with S&P 500, Nasdaq 100 and Dow Jones usually leading this list.<br /> <br /> <img alt="01-map-1.png" src="/getmedia/3f976ffd-1a3e-4015-98e0-a1c5a6f1d6ea/01-map-1.png" style="display: flex; margin: 20px auto;" title="01-map-1.png" /></p> <h3>S&P 500 (SPX 500)</h3> <p>The S&P 500 is a stock market index that tracks the performance of the 500 largest companies in the US. It is considered the benchmark of the American economy because the aggregated value of the companies within it represents over two-thirds of the US stock market’s value.</p> <h3>Dow Jones Industrial Average (US 30)</h3> <p>The Dow Jones Industrial Average index is very similar to the S&P 500 but tracks only the 30 largest companies. Due to their similarity, these two stock indices are highly correlated and tend to move in the same direction.</p> <h3>Nasdaq 100 (NAS 100)</h3> <p>The Nasdaq 100 index consists of the 100 largest non-financial companies' stocks. The companies that make up this stock index represent various industries, but due to the dominance of major technology sector players, NAS 100 is tech-heavy.<br /> <br /> Other popular indices usually track the performance of large economies, such as the total market index of the UK – FTSE 100 (UK 100), Japan – Nikkei 225 (JPN 225), Germany – DAX 40 (GER 40), and others.</p> <h2>Why is index trading popular?</h2> <p>Index trading attracts a fair share of retail traders looking for personal gain. Here is why it's so appealing to them:</p> <h3>Diversification</h3> <p>Due to their nature, indices provide traders with greater exposure than any other financial market, limiting risk at the same time, as they are less likely to be affected by a sharp move from a single stock.</p> <h3>Comfortable volatility levels and consistent trends</h3> <p>Broad diversification results in more consistent trends and much milder volatility that rarely sees enormous price jumps, which can be very appealing for risk-averse traders.</p> <h3>Reliability</h3> <p>The stock market is well established. It's been around for a couple of centuries and has had enough time to set clear rules and regulations. Stock exchanges around the world are managed by reputable and trustworthy institutions that would crack down on fraud or price manipulation.</p> <h2>How are indices made?</h2> <p>The list of companies that make up a specific stock index is not permanent. Every index has a set of criteria a company needs to meet to be included in a certain stock index. The requirements may vary from index to index, but market capitalisation and liquidity thresholds are usually among the most common ones. As market conditions change and economies evolve, some companies may fall out of an index while others may become a better fit for it.<br /> <br /> The eligibility requirements also depend on the index's type. For example, indices that are weighted by company value may have very different prerequisites compared to indices weighted by stock prices. In our next article, <a href="/en/trading-academy/indices/stock-market-indices">Stock market indices: all the types you need to know</a>, we explore different types of indices and explain how they can be calculated.<br /> </p>
Cómo usar el índice de vigor relativo en el trading
<p dir="ltr">El<strong> índice de vigor relativo (RVI) </strong>índice de vigor relativo (RVI) <strong>fuerza</strong> detrás de los movimientos de precios. En resumen, el indicador RVI intenta evaluar cuándo el mercado podría revertirse de la tendencia actual alcista o bajista.</p> <p> </p> <p dir="ltr">En este artículo, analizaremos las características clave del indicador de vigor relativo, cómo se calcula, así como sus fortalezas y debilidades. Por último, compartiremos consejos sobre cómo diseñar una estrategia de trading sencilla basada en el indicador RVI.</p> <h2>La fórmula del RVI </h2> <p dir="ltr">El indicador RVI se basa en la idea de que la acción del precio tiende a cerrar más alto en comparación con los precios de apertura en una tendencia alcista, y a tener precios de cierre más bajos que los de apertura en una tendencia bajista.</p> <p> </p> <p dir="ltr">La fórmula para medir el RVI es la siguiente:</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>NUMERADOR </strong>= a + (2 × b) + (2 × c) + d</p> <p dir="ltr"> 6</p> <p> </p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>DENOMINADOR </strong>= e + (2 × f) + (2 × g) + h</p> <p dir="ltr"> 6</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>RVI</strong> = Media móvil simple (SMA) del NUMERADOR para N períodos</p> <p dir="ltr"> SMA del DENOMINADOR para N períodos</p> <p> </p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>Línea de señal</strong> = RVI + (2 × i) + (2 × j) + k</p> <p dir="ltr"> 6</p> <p dir="ltr">Donde:</p> <ul> <li>a = Cierre − Apertura</li> <li>b = Cierre − Apertura del período anterior a a</li> <li>c = Cierre − Apertura del período anterior a b</li> <li>d = Cierre − Apertura del período anterior a c</li> <li>e = Máximo − Mínimo del período a</li> <li>f = Máximo − Mínimo del período b</li> <li>g = Máximo − Mínimo del período c</li> <li>h = Máximo − Mínimo del período d</li> <li>i = Valor del RVI del período anterior</li> <li>j = Valor del RVI anterior a i</li> <li>k = Valor del RVI anterior a j</li> <li>N = Minutos/Horas/Días/Semanas/Meses</li> </ul> <p> </p> <p dir="ltr">Como se puede observar, el RVI también incluye una línea de señal que interactúa con el indicador. Basándonos en los cruces y las divergencias entre ambos, se obtienen las señales de trading.</p> <p dir="ltr">Muchas plataformas de trading, como <a data-di-id="di-id-6e0d35b7-1d3b3793" href="/es/metatrader5">MetaTrader 5</a>, tienen un indicador RVI incorporado. Solo hay que seleccionarlo desde el menú desplegable, y aparecerá automáticamente en tu gráfico. La configuración predeterminada está basada en 10 períodos, además de un color verde para el oscilador RVI y rojo para la línea de señal.<br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="/TMXWebsite/media/TMXWebsite/Image-1-Vigor-index.jpg" /><br /> <br /> El indicador RVI fluctúa alrededor de una línea central, moviéndose de arriba hacia abajo del nivel cero y viceversa. Como se muestra en la imagen, los valores aumentan cuando el precio opera en un entorno alcista y disminuyen en un mercado bajista. Este indicador es clasificado como un oscilador centrado, ya que oscila alrededor de una línea central en lugar de una banda.<br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="/TMXWebsite/media/TMXWebsite/Image-2-Vigor-Index.jpg" /><br /> <br /> </p> <h2>Fortalezas y debilidades del RVI</h2> El RVI compara el precio de cierre del activo con un rango de precios reciente y genera valores que reflejan la fuerza detrás de los movimientos de precios. Cuanto más altos sean los valores generados, más fuerte debería ser la tendencia. Por otro lado, valores más bajos del RVI indican un mercado tranquilo y lateralizado. <p dir="ltr"> </p> <p>El RVI a menudo alcanza niveles extremos tanto al alza como a la baja. Similar al <a data-di-id="di-id-e48f415c-dc5b1189" href="/en/trading-academy/forex/analysis/rsi-indicator">Índice de Fuerza Relativa (RSI)</a>, en estas situaciones el RVI señala que un cambio en la dirección de la tendencia es probable, lo que constituye su mayor fortaleza.</p> <p dir="ltr"> </p> <p dir="ltr">Sin embargo, la principal debilidad del RVI es que resulta prácticamente inútil en mercados en rango, cuando la acción del precio no se mueve claramente en una tendencia alcista o bajista. Por esta razón, los inversores suelen consultar el RVI cuando la acción del precio se mantiene en una tendencia por un período prolongado, intentando predecir cuándo terminará la tendencia actual.<br /> <br /> <br /> </p> <h2>Cruces y divergencias</h2> <p dir="ltr">Como se mencionó anteriormente, el indicador RVI interactúa con la línea de señal, generando distintos tipos de señales. Por ejemplo, se genera una señal de trading cuando el RVI cruza por encima de la línea de señal. Esta situación se denomina cruce alcista e indica que la acción del precio probablemente empiece a subir. El cruce bajista es lo opuesto al alcista, es decir, el RVI cruza por debajo de la línea de señal.</p> <p> </p> <p dir="ltr">Por otro lado, la interacción entre el RVI y la acción del precio puede producir <a data-di-id="di-id-201c69d3-252d29a6" href="/en/trading-academy/forex/analysis/bullish-bearish-divergence">divergencias alcistas y bajistas</a>. La primera ocurre cuando el RVI crea un mínimo o máximo más alto, mientras que la acción del precio alcanza un nuevo mínimo. Esto señala que la acción del precio probablemente comience a seguir al RVI al alza.</p> <p> </p> <p dir="ltr">La segunda ocurre en el escenario opuesto: la acción del precio continúa en una tendencia alcista, pero el RVI ya ha empezado a disminuir, lo que sugiere que el precio del activo comenzará a seguir al RVI a la baja.</p> <h2>Cómo operar con el RVI</h2> <p>Existen muchas<strong> estrategias de trading basadas en el indicador RVI</strong>, al igual que con el RSI y otros osciladores. La gran mayoría giran en torno a los cruces o las divergencias.<br /> <br /> Aquí compartimos una estrategia simple que combina estos dos escenarios: un cruce y una divergencia. De esta forma, obtenemos dos señales que apuntan hacia el mismo desarrollo futuro: una reversión.<br /> <br /> En el gráfico a continuación, puedes ver que el USD/CAD está bajando, situándose por debajo del mínimo más reciente. El RVI lo sigue y crea un mínimo de corto plazo, operando muy cerca de sus niveles mínimos. Recuerda que el RVI solo debe consultarse en mercados con tendencia.<br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="/TMXWebsite/media/TMXWebsite/Image-3-Vigor-index_1.jpg" /><br /> <br /> </p> <p>El RVI genera dos señales alcistas. Primero, se produce el cruce, ya que el indicador RVI (línea verde) cruza por encima de la línea de señal (línea roja), indicando que la tendencia probablemente cambiará de bajista a alcista.<br /> <br /> En segundo lugar, la acción del precio crea una serie de mínimos consecutivos más bajos, situación no confirmada por el RVI, que empieza a subir tras el cruce. Como mencionamos anteriormente, esta situación se denomina divergencia alcista y señala que la acción del precio puede comenzar a seguir al RVI al alza.<br /> <br /> En este punto, las dos señales alcistas nos convencen de abrir una operación buscando una reversión. Abrimos una posición larga para capitalizar el inminente cambio de tendencia, ya que los vendedores parecen haberse agotado.</p> <p> </p> <p>La entrada debe colocarse cuando tanto el cruce como la divergencia emiten señales alcistas. El stop loss (orden de detención de pérdidas) se establece unos 40 pips por debajo para permitir que la acción del precio pueda crear otro mínimo a corto plazo.<br /> <br /> El take profit (orden de toma de ganancias) se determina buscando un "nivel imán", un punto de precio importante que haya tenido relevancia en el pasado, como un <a data-di-id="di-id-9ff3eeec-f5d0272a" href="/en/trading-academy/forex/analysis/fibonacci-ratios">retroceso/extensión de Fibonacci</a>, media móvil, línea de tendencia, etc. En este caso, utilizamos el mínimo anterior, que ahora probablemente actúe como resistencia.</p> <p> </p> <p>Finalmente, <strong>la acción del precio genera una reversión abrupta</strong>, subiendo rápidamente y alcanzando nuestra orden de take profit en solo dos días. En esta operación, arriesgamos 40 pips para ganar aproximadamente 80 pips, lo que se traduce en una relación riesgo-recompensa de 1:2.</p>