Our costs: spreads, commission & margin

Taking control of your trading costs can give you greater potential to profit

Presenting our tightest spreads ever

Narrow spreads keep your trading costs down in two ways. First, a narrow spread means that your CFD buy price and sell price are close together – you need fewer ticks in your favour before you can recoup your costs. Second, the smaller the spread the closer you can place your stop loss order.

Market Indicative spread cuts current at 12 September 2010

Indices

Aussie 200 was 2, now just 1

FX
  • NZD/USD was 4, now just 3
    (plus reduction in selection of NZD crosses)
  • AUD/EUR was 4, now just 3
    (plus reduction in selection of AUD crosses)
  • GBP/EUR was 6, now just 3
Commodities Reductions across wide range of popular commodities, including:

  • UKCRUDE was 0.05, now just 0.044
  • USCRUDE was 0.06, now just 0.044
  • USNATGAS was 0.04, now just 0.02
  • Gold (XAUUSD) was 0.5, now just 0.4
  • Silver (XAGUSD) was 0.05, now just 0.03

Call or email to find out more. Existing customers can see all our current spreads when they sign in to Marketmaker™.

Quick guide to spreads

  • The buy price is always higher than the sell price.
  • The spread will vary from market to market, and can sometimes change depending on market volatility. The wider the spread, the more the market will need to move before you can make a profit.
  • You can always see both the buy price and the sell price, so it’s easy to understand the spread for any trade.

You’ve got to love these low margins

You need low margins to get the best leverage, with maximum exposure to the markets for a minimal outlay. So it means a lot to know you can trade BHP, RIO and the Big Four banks – some of Australia’s most popular share CFDs – for low margins of just 5%. And you can trade index and FX CFDs for even less, with margins from just 0.5%. Your money can work harder across all your trades.

Market Margin
Aussie shares From 5%
Indices From 0.5%
Sectors From 3%
FX From 0.5%
Commodities & interest rate securities From 3%
Equity Index Futures From 1%

But take care: although lower margin provides potential to increase profits, greater exposure to the market also carries additional risk.

Quick guide to margin

  • The margin varies depending on the product you trade. Margin rates typically range between 0.5% and 20%.
  • Trading on margin gives you more profit (and loss) potential because the margin is less than the full value of the trade.
  • Because markets affect your account in real time, the margin amount has to be maintained throughout the lifetime of the trade.
  • If your trade loses money you may need to top up your margin to keep your trade open.

* For full range of margins, see relevant CMC Markets Product Schedule.

Go»

We keep commissions low

Of course low commissions are something you’re going to look for. We offer a minimum rate of just $7 per trade for Australian share CFD trades of $7,000 or less – one of the lowest rates in the market. Australian share CFD trades over $7,000 are just 0.1% of the amount of the trade, and you can trade FX and indices CFDs for no commission at all.

Market Commission
Aussie shares $7 or 0.1%
Indices No charge
Sectors No charge
FX No charge
Commodities & interest rate securities No charge
Equity Index Futures No charge