Online Trading Introduction
To trade and track online, the state-of-the-art website at www.cityindex.com.au couldn’t be easier to use. CityIndex.com.au offers live streaming prices, which means that the prices you see update constantly and reflect the current market. But www.cityindex.com.au also provides you with:
- A “Watch List” service
- Free charts
- Trading demonstrations
- A comprehensive economic calendar
- The ability to deposit money into your trading account online.
- AFX Newswire
Logging onto www.cityindex.com.au
The site is available to anyone with a compatible computer. No downloading of software is required. Once you’ve signed on, our streaming prices can be viewed from anywhere in the world. All at blistering speed yet with the simplest navigation. Once in your personal Client Area you can take advantage of the optional three or four-screen layout. This enables efficient account management where you can view our tradable streaming prices, as well as letting you see your account summary or any open stops or limit orders you may have.
Trading Online
All areas are clearly signposted – just click your mouse to access information or trade. The streaming prices within the Client Area mean you can trade on a price that is constantly updating in front of you – the price you see on the screen is the price you will get!
Placing a trade is simple:
- Enter the Client Area (using your account number and password) and then;
- Select your market using the tabs on the Online Trading page
- Enter the trade size of your choice into the boxes provided and press “TRADE”
The site will immediately check that you have the financial facilities to place your trade and then send a live streaming price back to you – once you see the price you would like to trade on simply hit the “buy” or “sell” button.
You will then see a confirmation note listing details of the trade.
Choosing Your Amount
The minimum amount for online trading is 100 shares or $100 value of shares. However as soon as you open your City Index account you have the option to become a member of the Trading Academy. For members of the Academy the first eight weeks that your account is open, you can trade for as little as 1 share at a time or $1,000 value commission free. This lets you gain experience at trading in real-time markets while minimising any losses.
Telephone Backup
For those times when online trading is not always accessible, you can place trades over the telephone, where the minimum trade size is $1,000.
Placing Stop Losses
To help reduce risk, whether selling or buying, you can indicate on-line a level at which you would like your trade to be closed without further reference (either for a known profit or loss). You can leave your orders at any level that you wish and change your levels at any time. However, you must be aware that with a stop loss we cannot always guarantee to close your trade at the level you indicated, so the risk is not totally limited, unless you pay for a GSL.
Guaranteed Stop Loss (GSL)
A GSL does offer complete protection at your chosen stop loss level, but involves a small extra charge. The service can be applied when either selling or buying:
- Indices such as ASX, FTSE, DOW, S&P and NASDAQ
- Individual stocks and;
- Other markets on request.
A comprehensive guide on how to place a stop loss can be found within the Client Area of www.cityindex.com.au. We go into more detail about the benefits of placing stop losses and guaranteed stop losses in the Maximising Profit and Minimising Risk section below.
Creating Your “Watch List”
City Index offers a wide variety of markets that you can trade. Our website has them all clearly signposted so finding the market of your choice is easy. For a full list of all the markets on offer please refer to our Market Information Sheets which can be downloaded and printed via the above link.
To save yourself even more time the City Index site lets you place your chosen markets on the one page. Our system also allows you to configure your own “watchpage” of markets. Simply click the Watch List icon next to your chosen market. By selecting this option at the top of the trading page you will be able to view your selected markets with streaming prices at any time.
Placing Opening Orders
You can leave opening orders and attach closing orders to these on our state-of-the-art order system. You can also indicate a price at which you would like a trade to be opened should the market reach that level. Please refer to our market information sheets for a comprehensive guide on market opening times.
The Trading Platform
We offer 24 hour trading. You can trade with us from 8:00am Monday morning (open of New Zealand trading) until Saturday morning (close of New York trading).
Streaming prices. Over 8,000 markets.
Interactive tick charts. Live, fully interactive tick charts on every market we trade.
Advanced trade closure. Close trades in the same contract in any order, regardless of when they were opened.
Position almagamation. View trades in the same contract individually or as one complete position.
Accurate P+L. Your profit and loss is displayed accurately from the bid/offer rather than the mid-point of our quote.
The City Index trading platform has been fine-tuned over five years of operation. Our long term commitment to you is to continuously invest in and improve our technology and products. To provide the highest level of service City Index has invested in quality people and assembled a top trading team with an unrivalled background of experience in CFD trading. They are further supported by a client service team to match.
Of the 30,000+ clients using our platform, some are day-traders, whilst others use us for longer term investments, including hedging against existing equity or cash positions. All of the clients are taking advantage of many of the unique opportunities CFDs offer:
- The ability to make profits, simply and efficiently, when markets fall as well as rise;
- Utilising many of the benefits associated with leverage and margin trading.
Questions?
If you have any questions about our trading platform call us on 1800 139 103 (within Australia) or +61 2 9270 3696 (outside Australia), or email us at enquiries@cityindex.com.au.
City Index recognises that the more successful your investment approach, the more you will value our relationship. Please contact our team of supervisors whose aim is to ensure you receive the level of service that any serious trader expects.
Monitoring Your Investments
CityIndex.com.au offers you a secure and personal client area for you to control and monitor your investments with ease.
City Index believe it’s in everybody’s interests to improve the skill base of investors. So we offer our clients an array of operational means normally the preserve of industry insiders. With access to a greater depth of research, comprehensive charting and more sophisticated tools, the more robust your investment decisions can be.
Accessing Charts and ASX Latest News
City Index’s latest charting package has an array of features at your disposal. You can monitor the live movement of our prices with tick charts, across all our markets. Charts also allow overlays of a multitude of technical indicators (e.g. moving averages) to customise your trading.
Monitoring Your Account
Having placed a trade or order you should be careful to monitor it closely. Clicking Open Position provides you with an easy to understand summary of your current open positions, showing, amongst other things, the opening level of each position, the current mid price and the indicative profit or loss. Open Orders enables you to check on the opening and closing orders you currently have on your account; showing the level of the order, the type, stake and the current mid price of the market. Having placed a few trades you may find Account History to be a very useful section. Here you are able to view the last 50 entries of your account history including closed trades, expired trades, account adjustments and cash balance levels when statements were produced.
Detailed Market Information
Within the Client Area on www.cityindex.com.au you will find detailed information on each market we trade. Information such as market hours, margin requirements and settlement dates can be found here. The Market Information pages not only give you all the information you need about a particular market but also act as a handy reference of the 1,000s of markets we trade. For a full list of all the markets on offer please refer to our Market Information Sheets which can be downloaded and printed via this link.
Security
City Index uses the highest industry standard 128-bit secure socket layer (SSL) encryption for the website. This protects communication over the internet, and helps ensure that all your trading and account details are kept private.
Maximising Profit and Minimising Risk
Tools for the ‘Smart Trader’
Correctly predicting such market moves can be very profitable, however being caught on the wrong side can result in severe losses. The simplest method of minimising potential risks is to monitor your open positions and utilise stops.
City Index’s internet site and telephone system do give round the clock access to your account – so wherever you are in the world, you will be able to log into your account and trade or monitor all your open positions, simply by using our website anytime day or night. Your account details will be totally live.
Monitor Your Trades
The simplest method of minimising the risks when trading is to follow closely the market you have traded. Should you wish to either take a profit, or cut your losses, then close your open position. An open position can be closed at any time after the original trade has been placed and prior to the time of settlement. Market trading times, contract expiry dates and last time/date for closing a trade are listed in the Market Information Sheets.
To close an open position you simply make a trade in the same market in the opposite direction for the same size of position. So if you have bought 10,000 Telstra shares, then to close this position you sell 10,000 Telstra shares.
Stop Losses
Good account management involves the setting of profit goals and maximum losses allowed on a trade. Easy in theory, but implementing these in the heat of the moment takes great discipline. The best way to make sure you close out a trade at the intended level is to place a closing order at the same time as placing your opening trade.
A stop loss order means an instruction to us to close (or open) a CFD for you. The price of a stop loss order entered is worse than the current price of the market traded. Whether you are selling or buying, the stop loss order you give us indicates to our traders a level at which you would like your trade to be closed out without further reference. This “stop loss” is designed to mitigate risk or take known levels of profit.
Stop loss orders can also be used to allow entry into a market at a specified level.
Non guaranteed stop loss orders are vulnerable to ‘Gapping Through’. Gapping Through occurs where a market moves rapidly to a price which is worse for you than the level at which a Stop Loss order has been placed, that is, the level of your Stop Loss order is by-passed by the market. Gapping Through will usually result in your order being filled at a price worse than the price specified in the order. Optional Guaranteed Stop Loss (GSL) orders, which may be placed at a small premium in price or commission, prevent the unusual occurrence of a Stop-Loss order not being filled at the level requested. However, GSL orders are only available on selected markets.
You can leave your stop loss at any level that you wish, however, you must be aware that with a stop loss we cannot always guarantee to close your trade at the level you indicated, so the risk is not totally limited. If one morning the market opens dramatically down after some very bad overnight news your stop loss would not be activated at your stop loss level but at the opening spread. Such volatile markets are not the norm, but do occur from time to time.
In other words, stop losses are a limitation of risk, but are not as secure as “guaranteed stop losses”.
Guaranteed Stop Losses (GSL)
As the name suggests, this type of order offers complete protection at your chosen stop loss level, for a small charge. Orders which have a GSL put on them are not vulnerable to ‘Gapping Through’. GSLs are available on selected markets. The GSL can be placed when the CFD is open or on a subsequent date at a distance of not less than 10% from the price quoted or at a distance from the price quoted as otherwise defined in the Market Information Sheets. You may subsequently remove or adjust the level of the GSL during the life term of the trade. Click on the following link to find the Market Information Sheets.
This service is available on the majority of markets that we trade and can be applied when either selling or buying. To check on whether a GSL is available on your chosen market and what the charge will be, call Client Services on: 1800 139 103 or +61 2 9270 3696.
PLEASE NOTE: You can choose your guaranteed stop loss level, however it must be a certain number of points or ticks away from your opening level. The proximity of this level to your opening trade is highlighted in the Market Information Sheets which are regularly updated on the website.
Other ways that you can leave your order are:
- Limit Order – When City Index’s price is at the requested order level, your limit order will be executed/filled at that price.
- Market Order – When the market price is at or around your desired order level, your market order will be executed/filled where our quote is at that time of transmitting your order to us.
Example: Placing a Stop Loss
St George is trading at $30.00 and we are quoting $30.00/02
You think that St George share price is too high, and therefore you sell at 1,000 shares at $30.00. As it is an unpredictable market you decide to take out some insurance. So, in case you have misjudged the market you leave a stop loss order with our traders* at $30.70. This means that as soon as the City Index quote of St George rises to, or above $30.68 – $30.70, your position will be closed at the first trading opportunity. This protects you from losing more if the market continues to rise.
St George has risen over the last few trading sessions and currently it is trading at $30.68 – $30.70. Your stop loss order is triggered and your position is closed at $30.70, and your losses are limited.
You lose (30.00 – 30.70) x 1,000
YOU LOSE $700
*You can leave stop loss orders via the telephone or www.cityindex.com.au.