Indices CFDs

The 7-Day US SP 500 and 7-Day US Tech 100 are standalone index cash CFD products that are available during standard weekday trading hours and remain open most of Saturday and Sunday, allowing you to react to geopolitical, economic, and market-moving events outside traditional exchange market hours. Trading pauses for a short period on Sunday before weekday market pricing resumes. 

When can I trade the 7-Day index markets? 

How does pricing work? 

During standard market hours, pricing follows our standard index pricing methodology, which references the underlying markets. When the traditional index futures market is closed during the weekend, pricing is derived from alternative index reference markets and other relevant market information available to FOREX.com. Pricing adjustments may be applied to reflect differences between weekend reference markets and the traditional index market. When the traditional index futures market reopens, pricing returns to the standard pricing methodology. 

Weekend spreads may be wider than during standard market hours. In exceptional circumstances, trading may be restricted, paused, or made close-only. 

How do positions work for the 7-Day indices? 

The 7-Day US SP 500 and 7-Day US Tech 100 are separate markets from the standard US SP 500 and US Tech 100 CFDs. Positions, margin requirements, and profit and loss are managed independently, and positions in one market will not offset, transfer to, or roll into the other. 

Why might weekend prices differ from standard weekday prices? 

The traditional index futures market is closed during portions of the weekend. As a result, weekend prices are derived from alternative index reference markets, which may not move in the same way as the traditional market. The 7-Day index price may therefore differ from the final weekday price or from the price available when the traditional index futures market reopens. Trading during the weekend may allow clients to respond to market developments before the traditional index futures market reopens, but it does not eliminate the risk that prices may gap when the traditional markets reopen. 

What events can affect the 7-Day index prices during the weekend? 

Index prices can respond rapidly to developments affecting investor sentiment and expectations for economic growth, interest rates, corporate earnings, and broader financial markets. These may include major economic data releases, central bank announcements, geopolitical events, earnings results from large-cap companies, and other significant market-moving events. These may occur while the underlying futures market is closed and can result in significant price movements. 

Will financing charges apply? 

Yes. Financing is applied to the 7-Day index positions on a daily basis, including weekends. Positions held through the applicable financing cut-off may therefore be subject to a financing adjustment. Please refer to the Market Information Sheet for current financing information. 

Can stop-loss orders be triggered during the weekend? 

Yes. If a stop level is reached based on the price quoted for the 7-Day indices, the order will be triggered as usual. Execution will occur based on available prices in the 7-Day markets at that time. Orders associated with the separate standard US SP 500 and US Tech 100 markets will not be triggered by movements in the 7-Day markets. 

Can trading be restricted or suspended? 

Yes. In exceptional circumstances, including significant market disruption, problems with available reference prices, or other conditions where reliable pricing cannot be maintained, FOREX.com may restrict trading, make the market close-only or one-sided, temporarily suspending trading or withdrawing pricing. In extreme circumstances, you may be unable to close a position until reliable price formation resumes. 

There are multiple ways to trade indices, including via futures, options and CFDs. Each has its own benefits and drawbacks, so it’s worth doing your research to decide which works best for you.

Trading index CFDs with FOREX.com, for example, enables you to go long or short on 20 major global indices.

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A benchmark index is a group of stocks that is used as a measure of the market as a whole. Most of the major indices you’ve heard of are benchmarks: including the S&P 500 (US 500), Dow Jones (Wall Street) and FTSE 100 (UK 100).

Benchmark indices are useful to traders as a way to compare an individual security against the wider market. For example, say that you’ve found a US stock that has grown 20% over the past four years. You might compare that growth to the S&P 500 to see how it fares against 500 of the biggest US stocks.

If the S&P 500 has grown 40% over the past four years, then your stock has actually underperformed the wider market.

Learn more about indices.

Indices are used in a variety of ways by traders. They can give an instant idea of how a country’s economy is performing, can provide a useful way of assessing multiple stocks at once and provide lots of powerful trading opportunities.

Indices were created for the purpose of evaluating the performance of a stock market. If an index is rising, it means that the stocks it represents are moving up overall, generally a sign that businesses are doing well and economic health is strong. A falling index, on the other hand, is a signal that stocks are struggling, which may hint at deeper problems within an economy.

Stock indices are still used for this purpose today, but they’re also a popular asset class in their own right. It isn’t hard to see why – they enable you to take your position of the biggest stocks in an economy with a single trade, as well as offering high volatility and liquidity.

Learn more about how indices work.