Indices
Indices
BenchMark offers online trading on the most popular spot indices from Europe, North America, Asia and Australia, such as US30, SPX500, NAS100, GER30, UK100 and others. Spot indices are offered in the MetaTrader platform as CFDs. Competitive spreads and no commission trading are offered on all Spot indices.
World indices are an incredibly important part of the financial markets, representing the top shares of a particular exchange. The value of each spot index rises as the share prices of the respective companies increase, while a drop in share prices results in a drop in the specific index price as well.
| Commissions/Fees | NO |
| Spread | From 0.7 points |
| Min. trading volume | from 0.1 index (0.1 lot) |
| Margin requirement | from 0.5% |
| Long/Short positions | YES |
| Automatic execution | YES |
| Hedging without margin | YES |
| Stop/Limit restrictions | NO |
| Experts | YES, without restrictions |
| Real-time quotes | YES |
Margin groups
BenchMark applies different margins and stop-out conditions according to the client's categorization as retail or professional and the amount of the equity on the client's trading account. You can change your margin group by sending a request trough the client area. The conditions for each individual group are described in the table below:
| Margin group | Client's equity | Leverage | Stop-out level |
| Retail | Not applicable | from 1:20 | 50% |
| Professionals group 1 | <10 000 €/$ | from 1:200 | 30% |
| Professionals group 2 | 10 000 - 50 000 €/$ | from 1:100 | 30% |
| Professionals group 3 | 50 000 - 200 000 €/$ | from 1:50 | 30% |
| Professionals group 4 | >200 000 €/$ | from 1:25 | 50% |
- Switching from one margin group to another is not automatic. When switching to a higher group (increased client's equity), the client is notified of the change via a platform message or by a phone call. If client has more than one account, the margin group is applied on the basis of the sum of client's equity in all client's accounts in MetaTrader 4 and 5 platforms.
- BenchMark is not responsible for the stop-out of positions due to a transition to a higher group. It is client's duty to maintain a sufficient level of free margin to withstand the transition to a higher group.
- If client's equity becomes lower and this allows client's account to be moved to a lower group, the client must notify BenchMark that he/she is eligible to move to a lower group.
Indices trading conditions
Trading with indices in MetaTrader 4 and 5 is free of commissions. Spreads and margin shown in the following table can vary with the market changes:
| Code | Spread¹ | Min.volume | Margin Group 1 |
Margin Group 2 |
Margin Group 3 |
Margin Group 4 |
Margin Retail |
| US30 | 3.6 points | 0.1 indices | 0.5% | 1% | 2% | 4% | 5% |
| SPX500 | 0.7 points | 1 index | 0.5% | 1% | 2% | 4% | 5% |
| NAS100 | 1.7 points | 0.1 indices | 0.5% | 1% | 2% | 4% | 5% |
| GER30 | 1.7 points | 0.1 indices | 0.5% | 1% | 2% | 4% | 5% |
| UK100 | 1.7 points | 0.1 indices | 2.0% | 4% | 8% | 16% | 5% |
| FRA40 | 2.4 points | 0.1 indices | 2.0% | 4% | 8% | 16% | 5% |
| ESP35 | 6.5 points | 0.1 indices | 2.0% | 4% | 8% | 16% | 10% |
| EUSTX50 | 1.7 points | 0.1 indices | 2.0% | 4% | 8% | 16% | 5% |
| JPN225 | 11 points | 1 index | 0.5% | 1% | 2% | 4% | 5% |
| USDINDEX* | 4 points | 0.01 lots | 0.5% | 1% | 2% | 4% | 10% |
¹Typical spread in the active trading hours. During out of hours (OOH) sessions spread may widen, depending on the market conditions.
*The index USDINDEX expires. On the bottom of the page you can find the expiry dates for this instrument.
Please note that BenchMark strives to provide traders with tight, competitive spreads, however, there might be instances when market conditions cause spreads to widen beyond the spreads displayed here. For indexes with minimum trading volume of 0.1 index, this is equal to a deal of 0.1 lots. For SPX500 and JPN225 the minimum volume is 1 index, which is equivalent to a deal of 1 lot. For USDINDEX 1 lot contains 1000 indices and the minimum quantity is 0.01 lots which is equal to 10 indices.
The given margin requirements are related to the announced minimum volumes.
Trading hours
BenchMark offers trading with indices through the MetaTrader platform with the following trading hours (GMT):
| Code | Trading hours | Interruption |
| US30 | Sun 22:00 - Fri 20:59 | Daily from 22:00 untill 23:00 |
| SPX500 | Sun 22:00 - Fri 20:59 | Daily from 22:00 until 23:00 |
| NAS100 | Sun 22:00 - Fri 20:59 | Daily from 22:00 until 23:00 |
| UK100 | Sun 22:00 - Fri 20:59 | Daily from 22:00 until 23:00 |
| GER30 | Sun 22:00 - Fri 20:59 | Daily from 22:00 until 23:00 |
| FRA40 | Sun 06:00 - Fri 20:00 | None |
| ESP35 | Sun 06:00 - Fri 18:00 | None |
| EUSTX50 | Sun 06:00 - Fri 20:00 | None |
| JPN225 | Sun 22:00 - Fri 20:59 | None |
| USDINDEX | Sun 00:00 - Fri 20:59 | None |
Rollover interest for CFDs on cash indices
All open Index CFD positions at 22:00 GMT are rolled forward to the next trading day:
- If you hold a long (buy) position, then you will be charged financing based on Inter-Bank Offer Rate plus 2.5% to roll the position;
- If you are short (sell), you may receive/charged financing based on Inter-Bank Offer Rate minus 2.5%.
Dividends on CFDs on cash indices
Dividends are paid to the client's account for long positions in CFD on indices, pro rata to the weight of the shares, announced dividend payments in the aggregate index. Dividends are paid, net of all taxes due. Owners of short positions in CFD on indices will owe dividend, pro rata to the weight of the shares, in the aggregate index, which will be deducted from their trading accounts. In MetaTrader, dividend corrections are charged along with the Rollover interest in the "Swap" field. You can find the exact amount of the applicable swap in the MetaTrader 4 and 5 platforms.
Verification of the daily applied dividends and swap rates
The applied daily swap rates for both long and short position in indices can be checked on this link.
Note: Swap rates, which will be applied for the next day, are updated in the calculator after 16:00 GMT.
The rates are calculated at the beginning of the next business day (17:00 New York time). When opening and closing a position within the same business day, the position will not be swaped.
Expiration for USDINDEX
CFDs on USDINDEX is based on the price of the real futures contracts. This instrument has expiry dates (please see the tables below). BenchMark does not make physical delivery of the asset at the end of the futures contract. Therefore, before expiry date CFD positions for USDINDEX must be closed or rolled for the next month.
Clients that hold an open position in USDINDEX on the "Expiry date in MetaTrader" will be closed by Benchmark's client services in the last minutes of the trading session.
The new contract for USDINDEX starts trading at 00:00 GMT. After the trading starts, clients can re-open their positions again in the new contract. Please, contact us If you want BenchMark Finance to reopen your positions after the interruption.
Exipiry Date
The expiration date for USDINDEX is available in the instrument's specificaions in MetaTrader 4 and 5.
Demo Account
