I’m too embarrassed to say that I am one of them, but the truth is that I started on a very good note, it’s perhaps overconfidence that took me down later on. My new plan is to play very safe with indices.
I might have some inputs on risk management. I find the use of stop loss, trailing stops and economic calendar most effective if dealing with indices. Helps a lot.
There is good leverage on indices. But that will also depend on your broker. I usually trade with XTB, Oanda and Fxview and they have pretty low margins. The spreads are quite competitive and the risk can be avoided if you are careful enough. I trade NASUSD and E35EUR most days.
Try not to worry about it much. It is not that difficult to trade indices. The commission rates on them are low if you trade on a stable platform. For 100GBP, the commission round trip for 1 lot should be about USD 0.168.
I prefer indices too. It’s good that you decided to collect information before stepping into it directly.
Yeah, you’ve pretty much summed it up. You can also speculate on both rising and falling markets with indices.
You can easily trade indices and there is not much you have to do with regard to them. They generally measure the performance of a group of stocks. There is a lot of exposure you get to the economy or a particular sector at once and that too by opening just a single position. You will have to keep an eye on the rising and falling of prices without taking ownership of any underlying asset.
Hope you know how to trade indices properly. It requires a lot of concentration and time. Only with a lot of practice as with other markets you would be able to get a hang of Indices market. It took me more than a month of continuous trades to make my first profit on Fxview, same was with my 2nd broker Oanda. And if I am to believe other traders, it can even take years before real profits start pouring in. So good luck with that!