Equity Indices Trading

About Equity Indices Trading
Equity indices or stock indices are actual stock market indexes.This measure the value of a specific section of a stock market. They are calculated based on a weighted average of the prices of selected stocks, Stock indices are either based on a specific stock market such as NASDAQ, or based on a specific set of the largest companies of a nation such as the American S&P 500, the British FTSE 100, or the Japanese Nikkei 225. Stock indices show the general direction of a specific stock market or of the general economy of a country.

The actual weight given to a stock index from the underlying basket of stocks varies between the indices. There are two main ways an index can calculate the weight a specific underlying stock is ‘price weighting’ and ‘capitalization weighting’.

Equity Indices – Who is Who?
We provide a great trading experience through derivatives based on the following indices and other indices).

S&P 500 (SPX500): The stock market index was introduced by the American financial services company Standard & Poor’s in 1957. The S&P500 is a leading indicator of US equities, and as one of the most frequently used benchmarks for the US stock market on the whole. It covers about 75% of the American equity market by capitalization.

Nikkei 225 (NIKJPY): The ‘Nikkei’ is a stock index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the world’s third-largest stock exchange.

HSI (HKG33): The Hang Seng Index, is a market capitalization-weighted index that has been used since 1969 to record the daily changes of the 50 largest companies on Asia’s second (and the world’s sixth) largest stock exchange, the Hong Kong Stock Market (HKEx).

DJIA (US30): The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the DJIA (US30), is the second oldest stock market index in the United States, shows the performance of 30 major American companies during a standard trading session in the stock market. It is calculated by dividing the total sum of all prices of all 30 stocks that it represents by a divisor that takes into account stock splits, spinoffs and other changes.

Germany 30 (DAXEUR): The Deutscher Aktienindex, is the principal German stock market index and represents 30 major companies that trade on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

CHA50 (A50): It is a stock market index by FTSE Group (FTSE–Xinhua joint venture until 2010), the components were chosen from Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange, which issue A-share; B-share (share for foreigners) were not included.

Nasdaq 100 (NAS100): It consists of around 100 equity securities issued by the most significant non-financial companies listed on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange.

Euro 50 (ESXEUR): The Euro 50 is based on the underlying performance of Europe’s market capitalisation weighted stock index, containing 50 large, blue-chip European companies operating in eurozone nations.

France CAC40 (F40EUR): It lists the 40 largest companies by market capitalization on the Euronext Paris. France represents one fifth of the total economy of Europe, therefore the F40 index can help traders ascertain where the European economy is heading.

UK FTSE100 (FTSGBP): This Index Futures are cash settled upon expiration. The FTSE 100 is a market-capitalisation weighted index of UK-listed blue chip companies.

IBEX 35 Index (IBXEUR): It is the official index of the Spanish Continuous Exchange. The index is comprised of the 35 most liquid stocks traded on the Continuous market.

Switzerland Blue Chip (SMICHF): The Swiss Market Index (SMI) is Switzerland’s blue-chip stock market index, which makes it the most followed in the country. It is made up of 20 of the largest and most liquid Swiss Performance Index (SPI) stocks.

Australia 200 Index (ASXAUD): This is Australia’s leading share market index and contains the top 200 ASX listed companies by way of float-adjusted market capitalisation.