Foreign Exchange
- FX Trading Tutorial
- Our Trading Software
- Testimonials
- "The Spread Co trading platform is the simplest and most user-friendly trading platform I've seen,
and I've seen a few!"
Alpesh Patel,
Professional Trader
More Testimonials »
- Financial Markets
Example FX Trades
To help you understand how FX trading works, here are two example trades:
Currency FX - Example 1
Day 1: GBP/USD is trading at 2.0102/04. You decide to buy 100,000 GBP.
| Trade | Buy / Sell | Quantity | Price (p) | Trade Value | Margin Requirement (1%) |
| GBP/USD | Buy | £100,000 | 2.0104 | $201,040.00 | £1,000.00 |
You hold the position for 1 night and therefore receive 1 day's interest. Because the GBP interest rate is higher than the USD interest rate, you receive the interest differential.
| Interest received (%) | Value Of Position | USD equivalent |
| GBP 5.75% USD 4.75% Net Interest differential = 1.00% Net Interest received = 0.75% (haircut = 0.25%) |
£100,000 | $4.13 |
Day 2: GBP/USD is trading at 2.0140 and you decide to close the position.
| Trade | Buy / Sell | Quantity | Price (p) | Trade Value | Margin Requirement (1%) |
| GBP/USD | Sell | £100,000 | 2.0140 | $201,400.00 | £1000.00 |
Trading Summary
| Product | Buy / Sell | Quantity | Price | Value |
| GBP/USD | Buy | 100,000 | 2.0104 | $201,040.00 |
| GBP/USD | Sell | 100,000 | 2.0140 | $201,400.00 |
| Trade loss | $360.00 | |||
| Finance charge | $4.13 | |||
| Total loss | $364.13 |
Currency FX - Example 2
Day 1: EUR/USD: is trading at 1.4098/1.4101. You decide to sell EUR 100,000.
| Trade | Buy / Sell | Quantity | Price (p) | Trade Value | Margin Requirement (1%) |
| EUR/USD | Sell | €100,000 | 1.4098 | £140,980.00 | €1,000.00 |
You hold the position for 1 night and therefore receive 1 day's interest. Because the USD interest rate is higher than the Euro's interest rate, you receive the interest differential.
| Interest received (%) | Value Of Position | USD equivalent |
| EUR 4.00% USD 4.75% Net Interest differential = 0.75% Net Interest received = 0.50% (haircut = 0.25%) |
$140,980 | $1.93 |
Day 2: EUR/USD is trading at 1.4080 / 1.4083 and you decide to close the position.
| Trade | Buy / Sell | Quantity | Price (p) | Trade Value | Margin Requirement (1%) |
| EUR/USD | Buy | €100,000 | 1.4083 | £140,830.00 | €1,000.00 |
Trading Summary
| Product | Buy / Sell | Quantity | Price | Value |
| EUR/USD | Sell | 100,000 | 1.4098 | $140,980.00 |
| EUR/USD | Buy | 100,000 | 1.4083 | $140,830.00 |
| Trade loss | $150.00 | |||
| Finance charge | $1.93 | |||
| Total loss | $151.93 |
Choose Country [Change]
Open a Live
Account Now
Apply today to open your live account for Spread Trading, CFDs or Foreign Exchange
- Start from:
- GBP 100
- or currency equivalent
