Compared to short selling traditional shares, CFDs are a revolution for traders who want to make money in a falling market. Short selling with a traditional stock broker is a complicated and costly process, starting with the brokerage. Generally it is charged at full-service rates to short sell. Traders can spend around $75 a trade to enter a short position in a traditional stock. Short selling shares also attracts a higher margin rate. Generally it requires 25% of the value of the underlying position to go short compared to around 5% with a CFD provider. Short selling with a stockbroker is also dependent on the availability of stocks to borrow. If the stock is not available to short sell the position cannot be taken. If the company decides to recall the stock at any time, then the short position is closed out. Short selling a traditional share is also bound by the downtick rule. This means a trade cannot be taken in a stock unless it is the result of an up-tick in the price activity. In a rapidly falling market going short using CFDs has a big advantage, as short selling traditional shares is prohibited.
There is a famous saying, 'markets go up by the stairs and down by the escalator'. This means a rise in prices is likely to take longer than the equivalent size of losses. However a market in a downtrend is often subject to sharp rallies also known as the dead cat bounce. A dead cat bounce in a bear market is usually followed by a resumption of the losses. The bear market rally or dead cat bounce can cause, or can be the result of short covering. This is known as a short squeeze and occurs when short traders close out their positions by buying.
All serious traders must be prepared to go short when the market signals the uptrend is over. Every market will enter a downtrend. No stock will rally always and forever, and every bull market is followed by a bear market. A general bear market will provide abundant shorting opportunities. In a bull market there are fewer shorting opportunities, therefore a trader must be more cautious about taking short positions. As a general rule the safest shorting opportunities in a bull market are on the worst performing stocks in the worst performing sector. Traders earn interest from holding a short position. This is a consideration if a trader wants to have a short position for the long term. For example, long term corrections on stocks like Telstra, AMP, Lend Lease provide traders with extra income on top of the profits as a result of the falling price.
Example - short position in Telstra Corporation
On 24 June you believes TLS is in a downtrend and take a short position in TLS share CFDs. You decide to hold the position using a 50c trailing stop loss.
Opening the position
Telstra Corporation is quoted by your CFD provider at $3.13 bid.
You sell 10,000 Telstra share CFDs at $3.13. The total value of the trade is:
$3.13 x 10,000 = $31,300
The margin required to open the position is 10% of the total value of the trade and is calculated as follows:
$31,300 x 10% = $3130.00
Whist short you will earn interest on the trade at a rate of 3.24% per day calculated as follows:
$31,300 x 3.25% / 365 = $2.78 per day*
*This will vary according to the daily closing price of TLS
Closing the position
Telstra Corporation makes lows of $2.25 in August. A stop is then moved down 50c above this level at $2.75. The market does not go any lower before reaching the level of $2.20 on 24 August.
You now buy 10,000 TLS share CFDs at $2.20. Profit is calculated as:
($3.13 - $2.20) x 10,000 = $9,300
The position earns interest of $2.78 per day for two months:
$2.78 x 60days = $166.80 approximately
Your total profit on the trade is:
$9,300 + $166.80 = $9,466.80 approximately*
*should the position have moved against you, you would have incurred a loss on the trade.