One of the features of forex broker is the abundance of products it handles.
Brokers handle not only currency pairs but also attractive products called CFD (Contract for Difference).
CFDs include stock indexes, energy, metals (precious metals), commodity futures and so on.
In addition, some brokers handle cryptocurrencies, individual stocks, ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) and bonds.
Cryptocurrencies and US stocks are very popular right now, so these brokers seem very attractive.
Moreover, these products can be traded with less risk by utilizing followings, which are the biggest features of forex brokers.
- High Leverage
- Negative Balance Protection System
Depending on the product, the leverage may be lower than that of the currency pair, but it is still very convenient to be able to trade various products in one stop just by creating one account.
In this article, for beginners, after giving a general explanation of each product, I will thoroughly explain the number of brands handled by each forex brokers and the characteristics of each broker!
Products on Forex Brokers
Forex brokers offer following products.
- Currency Pair
- Stock Index
- Energy
- Metal
- Commodity
- Crypto
- Stocks
- ETF
- Bond
Most of these products are so-called CFDs (Contract for Difference) financial products.
For example, with regard to cryptocurrency, it will be CFD instead of the actual one, so it will be a little different from buying Bitcoin on the cryptocurrency exchange.
Currency pair is the same too.
For example, even if you buy USD / JPY (US dollar / Japanese yen) in a currency pair, you cannot withdraw the purchased US dollar.
I will briefly explain each of these, such as product features and market price fluctuation trends.
What is CFD?
“CFDs” redirects here. For other uses, see CFD (disambiguation) and CFDS (disambiguation).
Wikipedia
In finance, a contract for difference (CFD) is a contract between two parties, typically described as “buyer” and “seller”, stipulating that the buyer will pay to the seller the difference between the current value of an asset and its value at contract time (if the difference is negative, then the seller pays instead to the buyer).
It is called financial product.
Currency pair is also a type of CFD, but in general, it is often referred to separately as currency pair and CFD.
The biggest difference from spot trading is that orders can be placed from “sell”.
If you think that the price will go down, you can place “Sell” order, and when the price goes down in the future, you can close the position (buy back), and you can get the difference as a profit.
Of course, the same is true if you enter from “buy”.
By closing a position (selling), the difference becomes a profit (or loss).
Stock indexes do not have the concept of physical products in the first place, but it seems weird to “buy and sell” them.
However, in the financial world, a market can be established if there are sellers and buyers. Whatever it is.
Simply remember that CFDs is the financial products that you can place order by both sell and buy.
It is similar to margin trading of stocks in the sense that it can be placed from selling, but margin trading involves borrowing stocks from a securities company and buying and selling stocks.
It’s easy to get confused, but not exactly.
However, it is okay to think that it is almost the same in the sense that you can sell it even if you do not have the physical one.
Precautions for CFD products
CFDs have their own characteristics for each product and brand, but there are two main points to note in common.
Pay attention to dividends! Payment is obligatory for sell position!
Some CFDs have dividends.
Stock indexes and stocks.
One thing to keep in mind here is that if you have a position in a buy order, you will get a dividend, but if you have a sell position, you will have to pay a dividend.
Dividend dates vary depending on the brand, such as once a month or once a week.
Please be sure to check the dividend schedule as it is disclosed on the website of each forex broker.
Pay attention to the settlement date for futures products!
For energy and commodities, there are products called futures.
In the case of futures, there is a settlement date (contract month).
On the settlement date, the position will be forcibly closed even if there is an unrealized loss.
In the case of futures, the product name displayed on MT4 and MT5 often includes the settlement month.
The screenshots below are from XM.
You can see WTI (OIL) futures products dated January 2021.
For futures products, please check the settlement date before purchasing.
Description of each product
From here, I will briefly explain the characteristics of each product and what brands it has.
If we go deeper, I need to explain enough to write one book for each CFD product, but I will briefly summarize only the outline.
I think that it is enough for beginners who are learning forex from now on.
Currency Pair
It is called Forex.
Correctly, Foreign Exchange.
By exchanging (buying and selling) different currencies, the price difference becomes a profit (or loss).
The combination of currencies is called a “currency pair”. For example, in the case of trading US dollars and Japanese yen, the currency pair is expressed as “USDJPY”.
The exchange rate of the currency pair is displayed as the amount when the currency on the left side is 1, for example, if USDJPY = 105.00, it means 105.00JPY for 1USD.
Currency pairs are the most traded products in the forex trading world.
All forex brokers always handle major currency pairs (e.g. USDJPY and EURUSD), and some brokers hundle currency pairs called minor currency pairs and exotic currency pairs.
minor and exotic pairs have large volatility, sometimes it provides traders big profit, but they tend to have wider spreads due to low liquidity in the market.
Please refer to another article regarding spreads.
Stock Index
A stock index is an index that shows the price movements of a stock market as a whole.
For example, Nikkei Stock Average in Japan, S&P500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the United States.
Traders can trade this stock index as CFD.
If you think the NY Dow will go up, you can enter from the buy order, and if you think it will go down, you can enter from the sell order.
After that, if the price rises / falls as you intended, the difference will be profitable.
The stock price index is not affected by the performance or reputation of individual company, so I think it is a product that is relatively easy for beginners to trade.
The Nikkei 225 and US stock indexes are still on the rise, so if you think the upward trend will continue for a while, I think it’s a good idea to hold it in the medium to long term.
Energy
Energy refers to crude oil, gas, and so on.
Energy has a long history as a commodity that can be traded in the futures market.
Crude oil is especially popular, and there are brands such as WTI and BRENT whose names are derived from the place of origin.
In some broker you can also trade natural gas.
There are not so many types, and crude oil is the main energy brand, so energy CFD is often called “crude oil” or “oil”.
The characteristic of crude oil as a CFD product is that the price fluctuates greatly.
For example, prices fluctuate rapidly due to the situation in the Middle East.
In April of this year, WTI’s price hit minus $ 40 per barrel.
It’s minus $ 40.
It plummeted by about $ 50 in a week, but at that time traders holding sell positions were able to make huge profits.
In this way, energy CFDs with large price fluctuations, but on the contrary, the direction of fluctuations can be understood to some extent from the world situation, and in such cases, the direction of price fluctuations is one-way. That’s why energy is very popular with traders who like to invest into such products.
Metal
Metal CFDs are as popular as energy CFDs.
In particular, gold is attracting attention as a risk hedge product, and its price soared in 2020.
The main products of metal are gold, silver, platinum and palladium.
Gold is the most popular and usually trades with the US dollar. (Symbol name is XAUUSD)
Commodity
Futures trading for cereals, including corn, soybeans, sugar, barley, cotton, coffee and cocoa.
Commodities, like energy, are futures products, so they have a contract month.
The screenshots are from HotForex, but the settlement month is from February 2021 coffee.
Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency, that is becoming more popular these days.
Since this is also a CFD, we do not own the actual Bitcoin or Ethereum itself, but aim to earn profits by the price difference at the trading timing.
Therefore, even if you buy Bitcoin, you cannot use it for shopping or send money to anyone with a Bitcoin address.
It is said that there are tens of thousands of types of virtual currencies around the world, but only famous cryptos can be traded on forex broker.
Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash and so on.
Cryptocurrencies, like other CFD products, are popular because of their large price fluctuations.
For example, if you look at the recent movement of Bitcoin, you can see that it has been raised significantly, then lowered once, and then raised again.
In February 2021, there was a price fluctuation of $10,000 in a week.
If you leverage and ride the waves well, you can make a lot of money.
FXGT is by far the most popular cryptocurrency trading with high leverage.
Forex brokers who offer cryptos are summarized in a separate article, so please refer to it.
Stocks
You can trade stocks of companies listed on the stock exchanges of the world stock market such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and Hong Kong.
US stocks have been getting a lot of attention lately, but you can also trade the most popular Tesla, Google, Apple and so on.
In addition, there are forex brokers that handle excellent stocks in Europe and the Middle East, which are rarely handled by domestic securities companies, so when you find a company that is likely to grow in the future, leverage it and hold it in the medium to long term.
Unlike currencies, individual stocks cannot be traded with such high leverage like currency pairs.
The maximum is about 1:50.
However, it is very valuable to use because it can be traded with a small amount of money and there is no debt risk due to negative balance protection system.
If you want to trade individual stocks on forex broker, iFOREX is one of the best choice.
iFOREX stands out and handles over 800 stocks in stock markets around the world.
I will introduce the details later, but there are other forex brokers handle individual stocks, but there is no one that is on the right side of iFOREX.
ETF
ETF means Exchange Traded Fund.
There is also private fund.
ETFs are listed on the stock market, so I think you can roughly imagine ETF is a mix of individual stocks and stock indexes.
The stocks incorporated into ETFs are characteristic, so the point is to read the ETF description carefully and choose the ETF you want to invest in.
There are few forex brokers that handle ETFs.
Among the brokers I am introducing, iFOREX is the only one.
Bond
A bond is a security issued by a company or country instead of raising funds.
HotForex is the only forex broker I’m introducing that handles bonds.
HotForex handles three types of bonds, Euro, UK and US bonds.
The characteristics of bond are that price fluctuations are not so large and that there is a maturity date.
Please note that the maturity date is similar to futures products and will be forcibly settled when the maturity date arrives.
All Products on Each Forex Broker
From here, I will introduce the products handled by each forex broker.
Below is a list.
You can see that there is a great difference in the products and numbers handled by forex brokers.
| Total | Currency | Index | Energy | Metal | Commodiy | Crypto | Stocks | Bond | ETF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| XM | 98 | 57 | 24 | 5 | 4 | 8 | – | – | – | – |
| FXGT | 144 | 48 | 8 | 3 | 2 | – | 30 | 53 | – | – |
| FBS | 92 | 37 | 4 | 2 | 4 | – | 5 | 40 | – | – |
| GEMFOREX | 45 | 31 | 10 | 2 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – |
| HotForex | 162 | 53 | 23 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 12 | 56 | 3 | – |
| TitanFX | 179 | 60 | 21 | 4 | 11 | – | 18 | 65 | – | – |
| LAND-FX | 89 | 67 | 11 | 3 | 8 | – | – | – | – | – |
| Axiory | 158 | 61 | 10 | 5 | 4 | – | – | 78 | – | – |
| Tradeview | 82 | 61 | 10 | 3 | 3 | – | 5 | – | – | – |
| iFOREX | 1,046 | 83 | 33 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 18 | 845 | – | 47 |
| TMGM | 94 | 60 | 19 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 5 | – | – | – |
I will show it in a chart for the sake of clarity.
iFOERX is by far the number of products.
The very largest one.
iFOREX handles more than 1000 brands in total.
This is because iFOREX offers more than 800 individual stocks.
Since it is difficult to understand other companies, I tried to make a chart excluding individual stocks.
Still, iFOREX is by far the best.
However, from this chart, you can see that HotForex and XM also have a relatively large number of products compared to other vendors.
The less of GEMFOREX and FBS stands out.
On the other hand, it does not mean that the broker that offers large number of products is the best.
The most important thing is whether the broker offers a product you want to trade.
However, handling various products means that you can make various trades just by opening one account.
It will inevitably become one of the points of evaluation.
Features of each forex broker
From here, I will briefly explain the characteristics of the products handled by each forex broker.
Please refer to the separate articles for detailed explanations of the products handled by each broker.
XM Products
XM offers following products.
- Currency pair : 57
- Index : 24
- Energy : 5
- Metal : 4
- Commodity : 8
- Total : 98
XM is at an average level in terms of number of products and brand types.
Regarding commodity futures, XM offers slightly more than other contractors.
Please refer to another article for a detailed explanation of the products handled by XM and the terms and conditions of the transaction.
FXGT Products
FXGT offers following products.
- Currency pair : 48
- Index : 8
- Energy : 3
- Metal : 2
- Crypto : 30
- Stocks : 53
- Total : 144
The number of FXGT products and brands is also at the average level, but the feature of FXGT is the trading of cryptocurrencies.
There are more cryptocurrency pairs than other brokers, and only FXGT can trade cryptocurrencies with 1:1000 high leverage.
There are many other attractive products, so I think it’s not a bad choice to make FXGT the main broker.
Please refer to another article for a detailed explanation of the products handled by FXGT and the terms and conditions of the transaction.
FBS Products
FBS offers following products.
- Currency : 37
- Index : 4
- Energy : 2
- Metal : 4
- Crypto : 5
- Stocks : 66
- Total : 118
FBS also handles individual stocks and offers attractive products.
FBS also handle 66 US individual stocks, mainly popular stocks,
and also cryptocurrencies.
I have the impression that FBS is selecting popular products.
Please refer to another article for a detailed explanation of the products handled by FBS and the terms and conditions of the transaction.
GEMFOREX Products
GEMFOREX offers following products.
- Currency : 31
- Index : 10
- Energy : 2
- Metal : 2
- Total : 45
GEMFOREX has the smallest number of products in brokers I have introduced.
However, the transaction costs of currency pairs are relatively low, so I think GEMFOREX will be a main option for those who trade mainly on major currency pairs.
Please refer to another article for a detailed explanation of the products handled by GEMFOREX and the terms and conditions of the transaction.
HotForex Products
HotForex offers following products.
- Currency : 53
- Index : 23
- Energy : 4
- Metal : 6
- Commodity : 5
- Crypto : 12
- Stocks : 56
- Bond : 3
- Total : 162
HotForex handles a large number of products.
It’s a very attractive broker.
HotForex handles all kinds of products, not just large numbers.
In addition, the number of brands of each product is relatively large.
Among the forex brokers I am introducing, HotForex is the only one that handles bonds.
Bonds are not suitable for scalping because the daily price fluctuation is not so large, but the price will still move in the medium to long term, so it is a product that can be asset-formed by leveraging and holding it for a long time.
Please refer to another article for a detailed explanation of the products handled by HotForex and the terms and conditions of the transaction.
TitanFX Products
TitanFX offers following products.
- Currency : 60
- Index : 21
- Energy : 4
- Metal : 11
- Crypto: 18
- Stocks : 65
- Total : 179
The total number of products handled by TitanFX is at the higher level, the number of currency pairs handled is slightly higher as well.
TitanFX handles many exotic currencies and European currency pairs.
Also, this is one of the features of TitanFX, most of products can be traded with 1:500 of higher leverage.
With other forex brokers, the leverage of stock index and energy is limited, but TitanFX is 1:500 the same as the currency pair.
TitanFX is a recommended trader for traders who want to trade most of products with high leverage.
Furthermore, TitanFX started offering cryptocurrency trading in June 2021.
All Crypto can be traded with 20x leverage.
Please refer to another article for a detailed explanation of the products handled by TitanFX and the terms and conditions of the transaction.
LAND-FX Products
LAND-FX offers following products.
- Currency : 67
- Index : 11
- Energy : 3
- Metal : 8
- Total : 89
The number of products handled by LAND-FX is rather small.
Although the number of currency pairs is relatively large, LAND-FX does not handle commodity futures or cryptos. It is a very average level of products.
LAND-FX has very low commissions, so I think it is a good broker that can be used for a long time for those who mainly trade major currency pairs.
Please refer to another article for a detailed explanation of the products handled by LAND-FX and the terms and conditions of the transaction.
Axiory Products
Axiory offers following products.
- Currency : 61
- Index : 10
- Energy : 5
- Metal : 4
- Stocks : 78
- Total : 158
The number of products handled by Axiory used to be at a normal level, but in November 2020, Axiory started handling CFDs for US stocks, making it a very attractive broker.
Currently, the only individual stocks are US stocks, but it is said that stocks from other countries will be added in the future. It seems to become more and more popular.
Please refer to another article for a detailed explanation of the products handled by Axiory and the terms and conditions of the transaction.
Tradeview Products
Tradeview offers following products.
- Currency : 61
- Index : 10
- Energy : 3
- Metal : 3
- Crypto : 5
- Total : 82
Tradeview is a bit confusing as it doesn’t have a list of stocks on its official website.
The total number of products Tradeview handles is small compared to others.
However, since the handling of currency pairs is a little large and the costs such as spreads and transaction fees are low, I think that it is a good broker for long-term use mainly for trading currency pairs.
Please refer to another article for a detailed explanation of the products handled by Tradeview and the terms and conditions of the transaction.
iFOREX Products
iFOREX offers following products.
- Currency : 83
- Index : 33
- Energy : 6
- Metal : 7
- Commodity : 7
- Crypto : 17
- Stocks : 845
- ETF : 47
- Total : 1,045
iFOREX boasts an overwhelming number of products.
845 individual stocks are particularly noticeable, but even if they are excluded, both the product type and the number of stocks are overwhelming.
It’s also interesting to handle 47 ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) around the world.
iFOREX also offers popular cryptocurrencies.
iFOREX offers not only major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, but also Dogecoin (DOGE), which became famous when Elon Musk invested in it.
iFOREX has low transaction costs and its own trading tools are very easy to use, so it can be said that iFOREX is well worth using as a main broker.
Please refer to another article for a detailed explanation of the products handled by iFOREX and the terms and conditions of the transaction.
TMGM Products
TMGM offers following products.
- Currency : 60
- Index : 19
- Energy : 2
- Metal : 3
- Commodity : 5
- Crypto : 5
- Total : 94
The number of products handled by TMGM is slightly higher than the average.
However, the number of stocks handled by currency pairs is a little larger than others, and cryptocurrencies can also be traded, so it can be said that TMGM is a very attractive broker.
Personally, I was surprised to find “orange juice” in commodity futures.
I was ashamed to say that I didn’t know that orange juice could be traded in futures … I was very surprised because I thought most of commodities are grains.
Please refer to another article for a detailed explanation of the products handled by TMGM and the terms and conditions of the transaction.
Summary
How was it?
You can see that there is a considerable difference in the number of products handled and brands depending on the forex brokers.
Again, it doesn’t mean that the broker that handles more products are the best.
The most important thing is whether the broker has the product you want to trade and whether the terms and conditions are favorable.
Please refer to the characteristics of each broker and the detailed articles of each broker mentioned above, and select a broker that can be used for a long time.
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