Trading costs

There are no distinct commissions or transaction fees to pay when you trade CFDs with us. We have removed these individual charges and have built the cost of trading into the prices that are quoted on your screen, providing greater transparency so you always know what you’re paying for. By building this cost into the price, the effect is a slight widening of the spread between the buy and sell prices on company instruments. That said, we still offer some of the best spreads around!

The inbuilt commission on companies starts as low as 0.05%

The difference between the buy price and the sell price is called the spread. The smaller the spread, the less it will cost you to enter that transaction. Spreads are slightly wider outside of market hours for products like indices, which trade 24 hours a day. This is due to lower trading activity (liquidity) in the market during these times.

When looking at the price quote window, the spread can be calculated as the difference between the last large numbers within the buy and sell quote window. In the Crude Oil West Texas example below, as the price of oil is quoted in US dollars, the spread will be 4 US cents per unit (US$4 for 100 units).

Note: Unlike some of our competitors, many of our products offer additional decimal places within the price (as shown by the small 8 at the end of the Crude Oil price above). We do this to give our customers a more accurate view of the underlying price. It also allows us to offer fractional spreads on many instruments.

You can view historical spreads at any time using our spread charts:

For each transaction that remains open at the end of each calendar day, 17:00 New York time, a transaction holding cost will be calculated and applied. The transaction holding cost comprises two components: The borrowing cost and the carrying cost.

Holding Cost = Borrowing Cost + Carrying Cost

The borrowing cost is applied to the portion of the position covered by CMC Markets and the carrying cost, which is equivalent to the cost of holding the underlying asset, is applied to the total value of the position. If the instrument is not priced in your local currency, the current CMC currency conversion rate would be applied to the holding cost total.

These apply to indices, companies, treasuries and commodities only

When you buy or sell CFDs with CMC Markets, you can choose to borrow funds to finance the position. The borrowing cost is the cost of ‘borrowing’ the value of the unfunded portion of an investment. We calculate the rate for the borrowing cost based on Interbank lending rates. The borrowing cost will of course also depend on how much margin you choose to trade on. Remember, with our customisable margin you can choose how much you want to borrow.

Borrowing Cost = (Total Position Value – Margin Amount) x Borrowing Rate /
Number of days in the current calendar year)

These apply to commodities, treasuries and currencies only

Investing directly in some assets, like commodities, treasuries and currencies, carries an associated cost or benefit of physically holding that asset for a period of time. For instance, if you buy crude oil, there is interest, storage and seasonal costs (or benefits) associated with holding that crude oil until the delivery date. The carrying cost represents the cost involved in holding an asset.

Carrying Cost = Total Position Value x Carrying Rate long or Carry Rate Short /
Number of days in current calendar year

Note: For companies and indices, carrying costs do not apply. Price adjustments are applied when there is a price movement associated with a corporate action or dividend declaration.

Imagine that you decide to take advantage of a rising oil market so you buy the commodity Brent Crude Oil. Your trade’s total position value is £10,000 and the margin you choose to trade on for this product is 3%, so your initial margin is only £300. You have therefore borrowed the remaining amount from CMC Markets, a total of £9,700.

Borrowing cost:

Assuming that the borrowing rate is 4%, your borrowing cost will equal:

Carrying cost:

Theoretically, by buying this commodity, you would take on the cost of storing that crude oil until the delivery date. As such, there is a carrying cost which needs to be factored into the cost.

Holding rates vary between products but let’s assume the rate in this instance is 1.5%. Your holding cost will equal:

Total holding costs
Holding Cost = Borrowing Cost + Carrying Cost

Holding Cost = £1.06 + £0.41 = £1.47 per night

Note: If the instrument is not priced in your local currency, the current CMC currency conversion rate would be applied to the holding cost total.

You can view your trading costs any time you like by clicking on the Account icon, then the History tab. Each day, just after 17:00 New York time, any holding cost applicable for the previous day’s trading will be calculated and deducted from your account. Simply click on the summarised financing line and a detailed description of each charge with financing rates and carry costs will be available.

Note: You must have sufficient money in your account to meet the net holding costs.

Print this information?

There is an icon on each platform to print a complete history of your trading activity and any associated costs. Sort your History columns first using the heading options so only the information you need is printed, in the format you want.