Which financial markets can I trade with gnuTrade?
gnuTrade offers free access to the world's major stock indices, global currencies, popular commodities and bonds. We plan to offer trading in other markets and single stocks in the future, but we are currently focusing on the most commonly traded financial instruments in the world. These are: FTSE 100, CAC 40, ESTOXX 50, DAX, HSI, NIKKEI, EURO, YEN, GBP, GOLD, OIL, BOND 30, BUND 10, DOW, NASDAQ, S&P. If you want a more detailed explanation of what these markets represent, click here.
Is there a limit to how much money I can trade with?Yes, there are limits depending upon the type of trade you want to place. Currently, the maximum bet amount for a ‘per point’ trade is £2, €2 or $2 per point. For a 'basic' bet it is £10, €10 or $10, and for a 'back a player' bet the maximum is £10, €10 or $10. Play money bets are limited to a maximum of gnu 20 for per point trades and gnu 50 for basic bets. The minimum bet for a 'per point trade' is £0.10, €0.10, $0.10 or gnu 0.10 per point and the minimum for a 'basic' bet is £0.50, €0.50, $0.50 or gnu 0.50. For a 'back a player' bet, the minimum bet amount is £1, €1, $1 or gnu 1.
Do I have to pay taxes on my profits?This depends on which country you live in. For many people, trading through an offshore company like gnuTrade means they do not have to pay capital gains tax, as their profits are treated like 'gaming winnings'.You should check the rules for the area in which you live.
Do I have to pay commissions or stamp duty?No. Unlike traditional stockbrokers and banks, gnuTrade does not charge trading commissions or trading taxes such as stamp duty. Our internet based platform and low cost base allows us to pass on savings to our players via very competitive dealing prices.
Do you offer binary bets?We offer a type of binary bet called a 'basic bet', which is easier to place and is more straightforward than bets offered by our competitors. Instead of basing outcomes on complicated arbitrary spreads between 0 and 100, you simply bet on whether the markets will go up or down within a certain time frame. If you're right, you win.
How does your 'Back a Player' facility work?If other players look at your trading history and see that you are trading successfully, they can choose to 'back' you with money. If you continue to trade well, they will win money and you will receive a ‘bonus’ (in addition to your trading profits) because you were ‘backed’. If, however, your trades are not successful, your backer will lose money, but you will not suffer any extra losses.
Similarly, you can choose to 'back' other players if you like the way they are trading, giving you the opportunity to win money without actively trading the markets yourself. The ‘back a player’ facility applies to both real money and play money accounts.
How can I minimise my trading risks?With any kind of market trading or wagering, there is always a chance you could lose money. Most seasoned traders will agree that there’s no reward without risk. At gnuTrade, however, we make the risks clear to every player on every trade. You will know exactly what you're risking before you place a trade.
Our free "stop loss" service means you can limit your potential losses without putting a limit on your gains. With many other financial betting firms your losses are open-ended and you could lose more than your original betting amount.
Click here to find out more ways to minimise your trading risks.
What are your prices based on?We create and publish our own prices based on real-time feeds from a variety of institutional price contributors depending on the market. We have no 'influence' on any prices and in fact need to keep them based around mid market data as we allow both sides of a trade (buy and sell) to take place at any given time.
Our prices on some markets like major indices are based on the real underlying prices of the most actively traded instruments (futures) related to the market. For these markets, our daily price is calculated as the price of the relevant futures price adjusted by our daily fixed 'fair value' amount. This 'fair value' adjustment is normally set daily after the market has closed for trading, and is itself calculated from the theoretical value of the dividends payable between today and the expiry of the future and the cost of carry (interest) for the index over the same period.
The benefit of this, means very dynamic two way prices which react quickly to news and sentiment, and closely approximate the prices on the underlying markets you may see on television or other media sources.
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