Not sure what some of the terminology means? Here are the most important and relevant terms used in our review:
CFD: short for contract for difference. When you trade CFDs, you speculate whether the price of a particular financial asset (i.e. a stock index, commodity or a currency pair) will increase or decrease in value. You essentially bet on whether the price will rise or fall and if your bet is right, your trade will make a profit.
Deposit fee: a fee that is charged when you send money to your trading account at a broker. The fee may differ depending on the method of transfer (i.e. bank card, bank transfer, e-wallets, etc.).
Inactivity fee: a fee that is charged when a customer has not done any buying or selling on their brokerage account for a specific amount of time determined by the brokerage.
Investor protection: a guarantee that – up to a certain limit – you will get your money back if the broker goes bankrupt or commits fraud. Click on the link to find out more about investor protection.
Non-trading fees: charges not directly related to trading, such as deposit/withdrawal fees or the inactivity fee.
Overnight fee: also called overnight rate, financing rate or swap fee. It is a brokerage fee charged when you hold a leveraged position for more than a day. If you open an Islamic/swap-free account, you won’t pay overnight fees, but usually you will pay higher spread fees.
Regulators: entities typically established by governments to oversee the functioning and fairness of financial markets. They lay out rules and regulations for financial market participants to ensure investors are not fooled by scams, and in case of wrongdoing, they try to provide some level of financial and legal backing.
Spread: the difference between the buy and the sell price, or in other words, the bid and the ask price.
Trading fees: fees charged by your brokers when you make a trade. Trading fees include commissions, spreads, financing rates, margin rates or conversion fees. For a better understanding of these very important charges, head on to our article on brokerage fees.
Withdrawal fee: the amount that you need to pay your broker when you withdraw money from your trading account to your bank account (or electronic wallet).