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[Glossary] What are major, minor, and exotic pairs?

Major Since the Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944, the United States has been the global reserve currency, which makes the US dollar (USD) the currency of choice in international trade. The US dollar is on one side or the other of around 88% of all global FX transactions. In other words, it’s the most important of the majors. The euro (EUR) is the second most traded currency, making up around 32% of all global FX transactions. The Japanese yen (JPY) is third, coming in at 17%. The pound sterling (GBP) is fourth at 13%.The Australian dollar (AUD) is fifth at 7%, the Canadian dollar (CAD) is sixth at 5%, and the Swiss franc (CHF) is seventh at 5% of global FX turnover. A major currency pair is basically the US dollar paired against any of the above currencies. And since the exchange rate refers to how many units of the second currency in the pair (quote) are required to buy a unit of the first currency in the pair (base), the exchange rates of most major pairs tell you how much in that second currency a single US dollar is worth. This is true of all pairs except the euro, which since its inception in 1999 always takes precedence as the base currency, despite being second to the dollar in terms of turnover. Minor The minor, or cross, currencies comprise all of the above major currencies when paired against each other without the US dollar. Exotic The exotic currency pairs are those that feature the currency of an emerging market or less liquid currency in terms of global turnover on one side of the pair. Currencies such as the Chinese reminbi (CNY), Mexican peso (MXN), Turkish lira (TRY), Singapore dollar (SGD), Russian ruble (RUB), and Norwegian krone (NOK) are all considered exotic currencies. Related Articles How do currency pairs work? What are shares, and how does trading shares work? What’s the difference between Brent Crude and Light Crude? What moves the Forex markets? Why should I trade Forex?

Last updated on Oct 15, 2025

[Glossary] What are shares, and how does trading shares work?

When a company wants to raise capital, usually in order to take their operations to the next level, its directors may opt to “go public,” which is also known as holding an IPO, or initial public offering. This involves selling shares in the company to public investors. Once these shares are floated on public stock markets, they are available for all registered traders to buy and sell. A stock, or a share, is essentially just a small fraction of a company. So, if a company only issues 100 shares and you purchase ten of them, then you own 10% of the company. This is obviously a vastly simplified example. Apple, for example, currently has around 17.5 billion outstanding shares. Now, depending on the stock in question, holding shares can entitle holders to a dividend payment, as well as a voting say in board meetings (proportional to the amount of stock that is owned). Most traders, however, are more interested in trading the price swings rather than holding for long periods of time. The world’s largest and most developed stock market in the world is in the United States, which accounts for almost 60% of all global stock market activity. Just to give you a sense of how big US stock markets are, they are ten times larger than the number 2 stock market in the world, which belongs to Japan, but only accounts for around 6% of the global market. Historically, too, the practice of holding a portion of one’s net worth in stocks has been much more prevalent in the United States than elsewhere. In Europe, investors are much more familiar with foreign exchange, owing to the fact that they have historically had to be much more aware of the changing value of all the different national currencies. Even after the inception of the euro, foreign exchange plays a bigger role for European investors than it does for those from the US. This is because the US dollar is the world’s reserve currency and so US investors rarely have to take foreign exchange into account. The stock market is enormously important to the economy of the United States and has been massively influential in the development of trading itself. Contrary to popular belief, much of technical analysis, which is the study of chart patterns and how market cycles and trader sentiment are reflected in chart price action, was actually pioneered by stock traders. Related Articles What are bonds and what role do they play in a portfolio? What are ETFs and how do they work? What are indices, and why should I care about them? What Indices does ActivTrades offer and what sectors do they offer access to? Why should I trade Forex?

Last updated on Oct 15, 2025

[Glossary] What are ETFs and how do they work?

An ETF, or exchange traded fund, is a type of investment fund that’s traded over an exchange, like an ordinary stock. These funds work by having an investment thesis of their own (e.g. green energy, or disruptive technology) which they use as a guide to purchase assets that fit into that specific thesis. In the case of green technology, this could be the stocks of companies involved in renewables, the production of solar panels, or even the underlying commodities such as copper and lithium, which are becoming ever more important to the green revolution. In the case of an innovative technology ETF, this could be anything from biotech stocks, semiconductors, electric vehicles, and even crypto. As you can see, an ETF can hold all manner of assets in its portfolio including stocks, bonds, currencies, commodities, crypto, and more. In this way, when you purchase the ETF, your capital is proportionally exposed to all the underlying assets that the ETF owns. The ETF itself tries to maintain its valuation at a level that’s comparable to the net asset value of all the assets it holds, however, depending on the sector, it’s not unheard of to have ETFs trade at a premium when compared to the assets held. Crypto-based ETFs are a case in point here, as the ease of access, and custody they provide non-sophisticated crypto investors comes at a price. ETFs provide useful diversification to your trading account, in a similar manner to indices. Indeed, the most popular US-based ETFs are actually index funds that hold the same securities in the same weightings as the popular indices they track (e.g. the S&P 500, or the Russell 2000). But since CFDs allow you to trade those indices without the need of an ETF, the real value of ETFs is that they allow investors to allocate capital to specific “themes” without having to trade the underlying assets they hold. ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) ETFs are an example of an investment that follows a specific philosophy. The same goes for crypto, or emerging market ETFs. Related Articles What instruments can I trade with ActivTrades? What’s the difference between an ETF and a Mutual Fund? What are the benefits of trading an ETF? I’m interested in trading crypto, is there anything else I need to know? What are the benefits of trading Indices?

Last updated on Oct 15, 2025

[Glossary] What’s the difference between an ETF and a Mutual Fund?

Both ETFs and mutual funds are investment vehicles specifically designed to provide investors with access to a basket of underlying securities. There are, however, some notable differences that investors ought to be aware of. ETFs are generally regarded as being far more transparent than mutual funds on a number of fronts. The precise mix of securities held by an ETF is published every single day, so as an investor you can know exactly what you are holding. Mutual funds, on the other hand, only publish their holdings once per quarter, which means that you can never really be sure of the exact asset mix you’re investing because by the time it is published, it can already be out of date. ETFs are also more transparent in terms of costs, due to the fact that all the costs of trading are present in the spread, plus the commissions paid by the trader. This means that the activities of any one investor do not affect the rest. The same cannot be said of mutual funds, where the trading costs related to inflows and outflows are borne by all the individual investors of the fund in question. The exchange-traded nature of an ETF means that its fee structure is far more transparent to investors than that of a mutual fund, which is not traded over an exchange. Finally, ETFs are also thought to be more liquid than mutual funds since they are traded over an exchange. This means that an ETF can be bought and sold all day long, whereas in the case of mutual funds, you are purchasing directly from the issuer, not the market itself, at the relevant price at the day’s end. Related Articles What are ETFs and how do they work? What’s the relationship between bond yields and bond prices? What are the benefits of trading an ETF? What Indices does ActivTrades offer and what sectors do they offer access to? What are the benefits of trading Indices?

Last updated on Oct 15, 2025

[Glossary] What are bonds and what role do they play in a portfolio?

Bonds are a type of debt-based security that’s issued by a government or a company, in order to finance its operations. In other words, a bond is a loan made by the investor, to the organisation issuing it. This bond entitles the investor to an interest rate payment, known as a coupon, throughout the duration of the bond, as well as the ability to sell the bond on the open market to others whenever the investor in question chooses to do so. At the end of the term, also known as the bond’s maturity, the issuer of the bond must pay back the initial amount. Bonds are usually considered relatively safe investments when compared to other assets like stocks. But this depends on the type of bond. There are different qualities of bond that relate to the credit-worthiness of the institution that issues them. You may have heard of the term “junk bond” in the financial media. Junk bonds are basically bonds issued by an organisation that has been given a low credit rating by a credit rating agency like Standard and Poor’s. This is a signal to investors that the possibility that the organisation will default on its obligations is higher than in the case of other, higher-rated bonds. The benefit of holding bonds in a portfolio is that they are considered much safer than stocks, but unlike holding cash, they benefit from the yield of the coupon payment. Longer term bonds tend to have a higher coupon because of the opportunity cost of having your capital locked up, but, as we’ve seen above, this is also true when the issuer has a lower credit rating (i.e. it’s a riskier investment). A traditional “set it and forget it” portfolio for US investors has been the 60/40 portfolio, in which 60% of an investor's capital is invested in stocks for the opportunity that arises in that particular market, and 40% is invested in bonds for the relative safety, as well as the yield. Related Articles What are ETFs and how do they work? What are indices, and why should I care about them? How do interest rates influence bond markets? What’s the relationship between bond yields and bond prices? What are the benefits of trading Indices?

Last updated on Oct 15, 2025

[Guides] Why should I trade Forex?

nicholas-cappello-Wb63zqJ5gnE-unsplash.jpg There are a number of compelling benefits to trading forex as an asset class. Unlike other markets, it trades around the clock throughout the working week, meaning that you can trade any currency pair of your choice from Sunday night all the way through to Friday evening. Forex is also the most liquid market in the world, by far. Over $6.5 trillion is exchanged on the global currency markets each and every day. The more liquid a market is, the less of an effect any one party can have over the price, which means that it’s far less prone to manipulation. Forex is also the original decentralised market, long before crypto even existed. FX isn’t traded on a single venue, but over-the-counter wherever two parties are prepared to exchange one currency for another, this is why you can trade it round the clock. It’s the lifeblood of the global economy, and touches all other markets as every single transaction, whether it’s the procurement of commodities, the purchasing of bonds, or the trading of stocks, involves a foreign exchange component, especially if your national currency is not the US dollar. Finally, forex is a great training ground for traders. As well as touching all other markets, FX tends to be less volatile than other asset classes, so potential drawdowns tend to be smaller than in other asset classes. Currencies are always traded in pairs, so it’s always the fate of two nations or economic unions that are held in balance in any currency trade. In contrast, a stock can go to zero if the company behind it fails. FX is more complicated than that. Take EURUSD as an example, the exchange rate for this pair refers to the relative strength of the currencies of the world’s superpower, versus a monetary union comprising 19 countries, one isn’t likely to bankrupt the other overnight. This is useful to all types of traders. Beginners benefit from gentler price swings, and experienced traders are able to use leverage to increase their potential returns when they have a high degree of conviction. Related Articles What are indices, and why should I care about them? What are major, minor, and exotic pairs? How do traders perform analysis on stocks? Is it different from FX analysis? I’m interested in trading crypto, is there anything else I need to know? What moves the Forex markets?

Last updated on Oct 15, 2025

[Guides] What moves the Forex markets?

One of the reasons many traders are drawn to FX, is that there are so many different approaches one can take when it comes to developing a trading strategy. Currency valuations are driven by many factors, chief among them probably being interest rate differences. A nation offering a higher interest rate than its trading partners will tend to see the value of its currency rising as investors sell low or non-yielding currencies for higher yielding ones. Then you have economic performance. A country exhibiting robust growth, with rising GDP, and a healthy labour market, will tend to have its currency outperform trading partners that may be experiencing economic contraction and unemployment. A country that is comparatively more indebted, can also see its currency depreciate relative to a less indebted nation. These data are crucial to a certain contingent of FX traders who follow economic data releases closely and trade the volatility surrounding them. But currencies also exhibit other features and allow investors to gain exposure to the changing tides in other markets. For instance, currencies like the Aussie dollar (AUD), the Canadian dollar (CAD), and the New Zealand dollar are tightly correlated with certain commodities and so offer a means of exposing a portfolio to those assets without trading them directly. The Australian dollar is often traded as a proxy for gold, and the Canadian dollar for oil. Then you have the US dollar, that can be played as a bet on the US economy, but also as a risk-off asset. We often think of gold as the ultimate safe haven, but investors will tend to cash-out to the US dollar en masse when they feel there’s an uncertain path ahead. All the above just scratches the surface of the intricacies of trading currencies, but the trick is to start small, with a pair that you’re familiar with or interested in, and gradually build your general knowledge around it. Those lessons can then be applied to other currencies as you gradually broaden your focus and start to understand the ebb and flow of how currencies perform against each other. Related Articles What are indices, and why should I care about them? What are major, minor, and exotic pairs? What’s the relationship between bond yields and bond prices? How do traders perform analysis on stocks? Is it different from FX analysis? Why should I trade Forex?

Last updated on Oct 15, 2025

[Guides] What are the benefits of trading Indices?

There are many benefits of trading indices, chief among them being diversification. Unlike trading an individual symbol like a currency pair, stock, commodity, or cryptocurrency; when you trade an index, you’re dividing your exposure among a variety of individual symbols. Depending on the index in question, there could be tens (e.g. the GER40) or hundreds (e.g USA500) of underlying stocks. This means that your capital won’t fluctuate based on the fortunes of any one company, rather, you’re investing in a sector, or an entire stock market depending on the index in question. Passive investors have historically favoured indices for this very reason. Secondly, indices tend to be more liquid than individual stocks, which means that if you’re trading as opposed to passively investing, it’s both easy to get in and get out of a position at any time that your strategy gives you the signal, without having to deal with wide spreads, slippage, or poor order fills. Finally, another great reason to trade indices is their usefulness as a hedging tool. For example, say your core position is bearish on the prospects of the US economy, going long a US stock index is an easy and affordable way to hedge this position so that if your thesis proves to be wrong, at least part of your trading portfolio can make up for the losses you are experiencing elsewhere. The same is, of course, true in the opposite way. Your core position could be heavily long risk assets, for example crypto (which has been highly correlated with US stocks in recent years). In this case, a strategic short position on an index like (USATEC) may stand you in good stead should the risk-on portion of your portfolio take a dive. Related Articles What are ETFs and how do they work? What are indices, and why should I care about them? What are the benefits of trading an ETF? What commodities does ActivTrades offer? What Indices does ActivTrades offer and what sectors do they offer access to?

Last updated on Oct 15, 2025

[Guides] What Indices does ActivTrades offer and what sectors do they offer access to?

What Indices does ActivTrades offer and what sectors do they offer access to? S&P 500 (USA500) Tracks 500 of the largest publicly traded US companies and is widely regarded as a benchmark for the overall US stock market. Nasdaq 100 (USATEC) Tracks 100 of the largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq exchange, with a strong focus on technology and growth sectors. Dow Jones Industrial Average (USAIND) Tracks 30 major US companies and is one of the oldest and most widely followed US stock market indices. Russell 2000 (US 2000) Tracks approximately 2,000 small-cap US companies, providing exposure to the smaller end of the US equity market. DAX 40 (GER40) Tracks 40 leading German companies and is a key benchmark for the German and European economies. Euro Stoxx 50 (EURO 50) Tracks 50 of the largest blue-chip companies across the Eurozone, offering broad exposure to European equities. FTSE 100 (UK100) Tracks 100 of the largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. CAC 40 (FRANCE 40) Tracks 40 leading French companies listed on Euronext Paris. IBEX 35 (SPAIN 35) Tracks 35 of the most liquid and largest companies listed on the Spanish stock market. FTSE MIB (ITALY 50) Tracks leading Italian companies and serves as the primary benchmark of the Italian equity market. Nikkei 225 (JAPAN 225) Tracks 225 major Japanese companies and is one of the most widely followed indices in Asia. Bovespa (BRAZIL 50) Provides exposure to major Brazilian companies and is a key benchmark for the Brazilian stock market. US Dollar Index (DOLLAR INDEX) Measures the value of the US Dollar against a basket of major global currencies. VIX S&P 500 (VIX ST500) Measures expected volatility in the S&P 500 and is often referred to as the market's "fear gauge". Related Articles What are ETFs and how do they work? What are shares, and how does trading shares work? What are indices, and why should I care about them? What are the benefits of trading an ETF? What are the benefits of trading Indices?

Last updated on Jun 08, 2026

[Guides] Everyone in crypto talks about decentralisation, should I care?

Rather than thinking of decentralisation as being against centralisation, or bitcoin and crypto being against our global institutions, it may be helpful to think of them as a counterbalance. Not many people would argue that as we have moved so much of our daily lives into the online world, we’ve also given a tremendous amount of power to a small number of companies. This is true of our data, and it is becoming increasingly true of our money. All crypto is, when you look at it dispassionately, is an attempt to prevent power finding its way into fewer and fewer hands, often in the form of unaccountable (and unelected) organisations that have come to hold an incredible amount of power and influence. The network is entirely permissionless. Which means that you don’t need an invitation to join, you don’t have to fill in an application and wait to be approved. Anybody can participate, either as a miner, or as an account holder, without needing to ask, undergo a credit check, or even reveal their identity. The complex sets of rules that govern how bitcoins are mined and distributed ensures that it’s incredibly costly (some would say impossible) to cheat the system because the cost of cheating is far greater than the cost of playing fair. The point of a permissionless network is that in a world where you can have your accounts frozen, nobody can prevent you from accessing it. On a global scale, this means that bitcoin can fill the role of a truly global asset, that no single country has the ability to control.. Related Articles I still don’t understand what cryptocurrencies are, can you help? I’m interested in trading crypto, is there anything else I need to know? Why should I trade Forex?

Last updated on Oct 15, 2025

[Guides] Why are there big gaps in my price chart when viewing stocks?

Unlike FX, stocks don’t trade around the clock during the working week. They usually trade throughout the business day of the region they’re listed in. This is because there aren’t usually markets in other countries offering the same stocks throughout the day as in the case of Forex (Asian/European/North American sessions). This means that there are long periods in each day, and also over the weekend, where no trading activity is taking place. Now, even though the stock market may be closed, this doesn’t mean there’s no new information coming out that will change investors’ beliefs or appetites for risk. These changes in outlook and sentiment are the main reasons for market gaps. A market gap will occur when the stock reopens for trading and the market is struggling to price-in the developments that have taken place since the last time that market was live. If the news is good, you may notice a gap up on the chart between the last close and new opening price. In other words, the new price opens higher than it closed, causing a gap in the price action. If, on the other hand, the news was bad, then the opposite may occur, with the opening price gapping down compared to the last price it closed at on that previous trading session. Gaps take place for many reasons, one of the most common being earnings announcements. At the end of each quarter, publicly traded companies are obliged to announce their earnings. These periods are known as earnings season, they are widely traded and can be the catalysts for large swings in price. If a company announces its earnings after the closing bell, and the numbers come as a surprise to market participants, either positively or negatively, it’s not uncommon for there to be a gap in the price at the next market open. Related Articles How can I make my first trade in MT4/MT5? Order Types Why was my order executed at a different price than the one I requested (slippage)? How do traders perform analysis on stocks? Is it different from FX analysis? I’m interested in trading crypto, is there anything else I need to know?

Last updated on Oct 15, 2025

[Guides] How do traders perform analysis on stocks? Is it different from FX analysis?

Before we go into the differences, it’s a good idea to outline a type of analysis that’s the same for both shares and forex (and indeed all other asset classes). Broadly speaking, there are two main types of market analysis, technical and fundamental. We’ll focus on fundamental analysis in a moment, for now, it’s important to understand a few things about technical analysis. Technical Analysis Technical analysis is simply the study of price action on the chart. Technical analysts do not concern themselves with geopolitical news, economic data, or anything else other than what the chart itself says. They believe that all information is either priced-in to the chart, or in the process of being priced-in, so they concern themselves exclusively with price action and use their own combinations of support/resistance levels, moving averages, and other technical indicators to determine the most likely path ahead for the asset’s they’re trading. Technical analysis was actually born in the US stock markets, so if you’ve been using this type of analysis to trade FX, gold, crypto, or anything else for that matter, your knowledge is totally applicable to the trading of shares. Fundamental Analysis Fundamental analysis, as you might expect, does differ between asset classes, because you’re dealing with the fundamentals of supply and demand, as well as the economic inputs and broader conditions that influence a specific asset’s value. For FX this may be interest rates and other economic data, for crude oil it tends to be inventories and new wells. In the case of shares, traders pore over the financial statements of the companies they are trading, which those companies are obliged to provide. Fundamental analysts of stocks are interested in a company’s balance sheet, which details the business’s assets, liabilities and shareholder equity. They are also interested in company cash flow, which includes the cash generated from the business’s day to day operations, as well as any cash earned from investments, sales of assets, or borrowed capital. Some of the metrics investors use to compare companies against each other are the price to earnings ratio (known as P/E, which compares the stock price to the company’s earnings), price to free cash flow, debt to equity, and revenue growth. These metrics are all available for all publicly traded companies and tend to be scrutinised around earnings season. Related Articles What are ETFs and how do they work? What are shares, and how does trading shares work? What are indices, and why should I care about them? Why are there big gaps in my price chart when viewing stocks? Why should I trade Forex?

Last updated on Oct 15, 2025

[Guides] Why trade commodities?

Commodity markets are crucial to the global economy because they determine the price of all the raw materials that go into the manufacturing of finished goods, but also their refining and distribution. Every single product you consume, the fuel used to heat and cool your home, and the fuel used to power whatever vehicle you may own, all start out as raw materials traded on the global commodity markets. Generally speaking, commodities are divided into the two categories of hard and soft: - Hard commodities are the raw materials that are usually mined from the earth, such as oil, gas, precious metals like gold and silver, and industrial metals like iron and copper. - Soft commodities tend to be agricultural products, or other materials that are cultivated. As you can see, there’s not much that you come into contact with throughout your day that doesn’t have a commodity market component. As such, this is an incredibly tradable asset class that provides exposure to all the materials that keep the global economy going. Thanks to the US dollar’s reserve currency status, commodities are priced in US dollars on the global markets, this means that a strong dollar makes commodities cheaper, and a weak dollar makes commodities more expensive. Perhaps central to all the commodity complex, is energy. This is because it’s the one commodity that all other commodities require in their production, but also their transportation. So, the cost of oil has direct consequences for every other commodity on the planet. This also goes for food, as energy is required in farming, as well as food production, packaging, and distribution. Gold, on the other hand, is almost the opposite of oil in that it doesn’t have a massive number of uses in industry, only around 11% of all the gold mined finds its way into industry. As a rare and highly valued element, gold has historically served as a store of value going all the way back to the ancient world. One upon a time, central bank reserves were backed by gold and silver, but this hasn’t been the case since the Nixon Shock of 1971, when US President Nixon removed the US dollar’s convertibility to gold. Today, gold is traded as a safe haven, investors flock to it at times when confidence is low in the prospects of the global economy, as well as when inflationary fears surface. The fact that the US dollar is also used as a safe haven, sometimes complicates this relationship, so it’s often useful to chart gold against currencies other than the US dollar when wanting to find out how it has truly performed. Related Articles What are shares, and how does trading shares work? What’s the difference between Brent Crude and Light Crude? What commodities does ActivTrades offer? What moves the Forex markets? Why should I trade Forex?

Last updated on Oct 15, 2025

[Guides] What commodities does ActivTrades offer?

At ActivTrades, we understand the importance of portfolio diversification. To this end, we’ve ensured that our traders have access to a comprehensive range of commodity markets across both the hard and soft commodity sectors. In this way, ActivTrades clients are able to take advantage of a wide variety of market scenarios and opportunities. Gone are the days when gold, silver, and crude oil CFDs were all traders expected of their brokers. In today’s unpredictable and rapidly shifting markets, retail traders are far more educated, capable, and demanding when it comes to the individual markets they wish to trade. ActivTrades currently offers CFDs on 13 spot commodities and 17 commodity futures, allowing traders to express commodity views, both long and short, in a much more targeted and sophisticated way. ActivTrades Hard Commodity Markets Spot Commodities: Brent Crude, Crude Oil (WTI), Gold, Platinum, Palladium, Silver, Natural Gas, Diesel. Commodity Futures: Brent Crude Futures, Crude Oil Futures (WTI), Natural Gas Futures, Gasoline Futures, Copper Futures, Carbon Emissions Futures. ActivTrades Soft Commodity Markets Spot Commodities: Coffee, Coffee Robusta, Sugar, Cocoa, Cotton. Commodity Futures: Cotton Futures, Cocoa Futures, Coffee Futures, Orange Juice Futures, Sugar Futures, Oats Futures, Wheat Futures, Corn Futures, Soybeans Futures, Soybean Oil Futures, Soybean Meal Futures. As you can see, ActivTrades customers enjoy the ability to be far more surgical in their commodities positioning due to the broad range of tradable markets available. Commodity markets continue to offer opportunities across a variety of economic environments, allowing traders to gain exposure to sectors ranging from precious metals and energy to agriculture and environmental products. Related Articles How Can I Start Using ActivTrader? What instruments can I trade with ActivTrades? What’s the difference between Brent Crude and Light Crude? Why trade commodities? I’m interested in trading crypto, is there anything else I need to know

Last updated on Jun 08, 2026

[Guides] What’s the difference between Brent Crude and Light Crude?

Like FX and crypto markets, commodity markets are decentralised in that there’s no central venue that sets the price of any global commodity. This poses the obvious question: if that’s the case, then how do commodities traders know what they’re getting when they actually want to take possession of the underlying commodity? Commodities are traded on global markets according to certain quality benchmarks. This allows producers from all over the world to sell their goods on the global market, as long as they ensure that their products, be they crude oil, wheat, or orange juice, are of a comparable grade to everyone else’s. These markets require that the commodities they list are standardized, so that any unit can be interchangeable and of equal quality with any other. In the case of crude oil, the sulphur, wax, and metal content of a type of crude oil can vary greatly from another. This can make it harder and costlier to refine certain crude oils into the petrol used to power consumer vehicles. A region’s crude oil can be measured for quality and compared to that of a different region, and over the years, different benchmark grades have developed. - The most popular of these grades are West Texas Intermediate crude oil, which is also known as “light sweet crude,” meaning that it is less dense, less viscous, and lower in sulphur and heavy metal contaminants than “heavy crudes.” - The second most popular premium grade crude oil is Brent Crude, which is considered a light crude despite being slightly heavier than WTI. WTI (LCRUDE) is extracted from the North American Permian basin, whereas Brent crude is extracted from over a dozen wells in the North Sea of England. These offshore wells are harder and costlier to mine, which causes Brent crude to trade at a slight premium as compared to WTI. Related Articles What commodities does ActivTrades offer? What moves the Forex markets?

Last updated on Oct 15, 2025

[Guides] What are the benefits of trading an ETF?

One of the most obvious benefits is that ETFs are probably the most cost-effective way to expose your account to all those underlying securities held by the ETF in question. This is because a single share of an ETF can cost as little as $50, meaning that with that sum, you can hold a stake in the fortunes of all the individual names that compose the ETF. It would be impossible to purchase a fractional share in all those individual securities with the same amount. Another benefit is the diversification offered by ETF investing. ETFs, especially ones that hold a mix of different asset classes, offer a kind of diversification that’s difficult to match. Rather than having your account exposed to the fortunes of a handful of securities that you’re trading individually, an ETF allows you to passively allocate capital to a large number at once. Furthermore, when trading an ETF (or indeed an index), you only have a single trade to manage. For example, imagine having to open, manage, and close positions on 100 individual securities rather than allocating capital to an ETF that holds all 100 securities in its portfolio. In addition, ETFs also distribute the dividends of the underlying securities held in the ETF portfolio proportionally to its investors, and there may also be some tax advantages to trading an ETF depending on your jurisdiction. Finally, ETF investing is much more suited to beginners, due to the inherent diversification of the product. This is because the sheer number of assets in the ETF portfolio can balance out any drawdowns being experienced by individual stocks. Of course, this doesn’t mean that ETF investing doesn’t come without its risks. A highly thematic ETF can undergo large drawdowns should that theme fall out of favour, or find itself in an unconducive macro environment. Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest ETF is a good example of this. In the post-pandemic bull market, it experienced extraordinary growth, however in the environment of monetary tightening that followed in 2022, Ark Invest’s holdings went from around $50 billion, to $16 billion. Related Articles What are bonds and what role do they play in a portfolio? What’s the difference between an ETF and a Mutual Fund? What are ETFs and how do they work? What are indices, and why should I care about them? What are the benefits of trading Indices?

Last updated on Oct 15, 2025

[Guides] What’s the relationship between bond yields and bond prices?

Bond yields and bond prices are inversely correlated. When the yield goes down, the price goes up. On the other hand, when the price goes down, the yield goes up. This may seem confusing at first glance, but it starts to make a lot more sense when you consider the supply and demand characteristics of bond investing. Investors flock to bonds in uncertain times. This is because they tend to offer a higher yield than holding cash, and if the issuer has a high credit rating, they can be considered almost as safe as being in cash. But when there’s more demand than supply (i.e. everybody wants to invest in bonds), then the yield drops because the issuer has no trouble raising cash in such circumstances. Conversely, when nobody wants to invest in bonds, perhaps because other areas of the market such as stocks are performing well and so look much more attractive, then the only way to attract capital to the bond market is to raise the yield to a level that becomes attractive to investors. This is why, when bond yields are rising, the bond market is thought to be in trouble, and when bond yields are falling, the bond market is thought to be in good health. Of course, this can be taken to the extremes. During the pandemic, bond yields reached all-time lows due to how overcrowded that particular trade was. With all bets off the table at the time, the only viable place to have your money for a period of time was either in cash or bonds, and that’s largely why the US dollar appreciated so sharply, while bond yields fell so . Related Articles What are bonds and what role do they play in a portfolio? What’s the difference between an ETF and a Mutual Fund? What are ETFs and how do they work? How do interest rates influence bond markets? What moves the Forex markets?

Last updated on Oct 15, 2025

[Guides] How do interest rates influence bond markets?

The prevailing interest rates at the time of investment are a key driver of bond prices and yields. Keep in mind that bond issuers are always competing with the yields offered in the broader economy. If the prevailing bank interest rate is at 2%, then a bond issuer isn’t likely to find much interest in their bond if it’s also offering a 2% yield. Why? Because if holding onto your cash gets you the same result, why would you take the risk of lending it out for the same yield? This dynamic becomes more complicated when interest rates change. Say you invested in a bond that yields 2%, but halfway to its maturity the interest rate offered by the banking system rose from 1.5% to 2%. The issuer of the bond you purchased must now compete with the interest rate offered by the banking sector and so will issue new bonds with a higher yield. This puts the holders of the first 2% yielding bond at a disadvantage as they effectively paid the same for less yield. The only way to redress this imbalance, since the coupon is fixed, is for that first bond to drop in price until its price to yield is the same as the newer, higher-yielding bond. The same occurs in the case of interest rates falling over time. If wider interest rates fall, then newer bonds will be issued with a lower interest rate. Since coupons are fixed, the older bonds issued at the higher interest rate will have their price go up in order for the coupon payment on the older, higher-yielding bond to match the lower yield of the newer bonds. Related Articles How do currency pairs work? What are bonds and what role do they play in a portfolio? What’s the relationship between bond yields and bond prices? How do traders perform analysis on stocks? Is it different from FX analysis? What moves the Forex markets?

Last updated on Oct 15, 2025

[Glossary] I still don't understand what cryptocurrencies are, can you help me?

Cryptocurrencies, or simply cryptocurrencies, represent a relatively new class of digital assets that operate without a central controlling authority. Unlike traditional currencies, which are issued by central banks and managed by the banking system, cryptocurrencies use mathematical algorithms and cryptography to decentralize and secure transactions, eliminating the need for a centralized entity. Your traditional checking account functions as a digital ledger, managed by the bank. This ledger records both your balance with the bank and any obligations, such as overdrafts, mortgages, or credit cards. The bank maintains similar ledgers for all its customers. So, when you ask the bank to transfer money to your aunt, the amount is deducted from your account and added to hers. In this case, you might want the bank to act as an intermediary to ensure the money is deducted and credited to the correct accounts. You wouldn't want every bank customer to be able to access and modify the bank records themselves, right? Bitcoin introduced an incredible innovation as the first cryptocurrency: it created a global, public, and secure ledger, without the need for a central authority. In other words, the Bitcoin protocol functions as a ledger accessible to anyone in the world, displaying all accounts on the network and how many bitcoins each holds. It also establishes clear rules regarding the total amount of bitcoins, their issuance, and their management. The real magic of Bitcoin lies in how it solves an age-old problem in computing: digital scarcity. As you know, in the digital world, it's very easy to copy things. For example, when you send a photo via email, you don't just take the image from your computer and give it to the person; you keep a copy, and they receive one too. This problem is, in part, why all the sectors that have entered the digital world (publishing, music, film) have had to change their business models, because once their products went digital, they became easy to copy and distribute without having to pay for them. Bitcoin changed this landscape with a brilliant solution combining cryptography, mathematics, and incentives. It was the first digital asset that could be truly considered scarce and non-copiable. This opened the doors to the transfer of value over the internet in ways previously impossible. Related Articles Everyone in crypto talks about decentralisation, should I care?

Last updated on Jun 08, 2026