So how does gnuTrade fit in?

gnuTrade is a service that provides live financial market prices and enables you to trade on the price movements without having to actually own any underlying stocks, commodities, bonds or currencies. This may sound confusing at first, but in fact gnuTrade provides a much simpler, modern way to trade if you are interested in making profits from rising and falling market prices.

Here are some example trades:

• Let’s say you think the price of oil is going to go up in the future. Instead of actually buying barrels of oil at a lower price and selling them when the price goes up, you can place a ‘buy’ trade with gnuTrade on the price of oil. If and when the oil price goes up, you simply place a ‘sell’ trade and collect your winnings, just as if you had bought and sold the oil through a commodities broker.

• Let’s say you think the share prices of some of the companies listed on the FTSE 100 Index will go up in the future and drive the price of the whole index up. With gnuTrade, you can place a ‘buy’ trade on the price of the FTSE 100. If and when its value goes up, you can then place a ‘sell’ trade and collect your profit, similar to the way you would collect your profit from buying and selling shares.

• Suppose you think the price of gold will go down at some point in the future. With gnuTrade, you can place a ‘sell’ trade on the price of gold; if and when its value goes down, you can then place a ‘buy’ trade and collect your profit.

• Suppose you think the value of the Japanese Yen will go down against the US dollar in the next few days. You can place a ‘sell’ trade with gnuTrade on the price of the Yen; if and when its value falls, you simply place a ‘buy’ trade and collect your winnings.

This type of 'trading on prices' in order to make profits, has long been established in the UK and provided by financial spread betting firms. However, gnuTrade also offers ways to make money through its unique ‘basic’ and ‘back a player’ bets. You can find out more about these types of bets in the 'How to use gnuTrade' section of the Learning Centre.

gnuTrade allows you to trade the world's major stock indices, global currencies, popular commodities and bonds without having to go through brokers. What’s more, our completely on-line system means no paperwork is required and there are no transaction fees or commissions to pay. 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 markets. These are: FTSE 100, CAC 40, ESTOXX 50, DAX, HSI, NIKKEI, EURO, YEN, GBP, GOLD, OIL, BOND 30, BUND 10, DOW, NASDAQ, S&P. For a more detailed explanation of what these markets represent click here.

If you are new to trading or don't want to trade with real money, gnuTrade lets you trade the live markets with play money. This will help build your knowledge and experience of how market prices change, and help you feel more comfortable about the risks.

gnuTrade is designed for people with any level of financial experience who want an easy, enjoyable way to trade and learn about the financial markets.

Take me to module 2 - Trading Basics >>