Sector Trading | Trade Sector CFDs

Trading sector CFDs with IG Markets is a great way to take advantage of trends that aren’t necessarily reflected across a whole stock index.

Every share that’s traded on a stock market is allocated to a particular industry sector, depending on what type of business the company who issue the shares is involved in. The sectors IG Markets offer are based on the stocks that make up the FTSE 350 and ASX 200.

Why trade sectors?

The performance of certain sectors can sometimes buck the general trend of an index. For example, over the course of a few days the mining sector could see huge gains due to a sudden surge in demand for metals, but the FTSE 100 might remain fairly flat thanks to the relatively poor performance of all the other sectors that make up the index, diluting the miners’ successes. Choosing to trade the mining sector rather than the FTSE 100 would let you make the most of this industry-specific trend.

There also tends to be less volatility across a whole sector than in the individual shares that make up that sector, so you have less chance of being stopped out prematurely, and while most stocks will follow the general trend of the sector, there's always the chance that a few will not. Trading the entire sector reduces your exposure to this risk.

We offer over 35 different UK and Australian sectors, and with an IG Markets account you can gain precise exposure to the areas of the market you want. For example, if you believe an index is set to rise, but think that one constituent sector will fall, you can maximise your potential profit and go long on the index but short the sector.

No commission and limited risk

We charge no commission on our sector CFDs; all you pay is the dealing spread (normally 0.45% for all contracts on all sectors, but subject to variation).

With IG Markets you can use Limits and Stops as normal on sector CFDs, along with our Guaranteed Stops and Trailing Stops to limit your risk without capping any potential profit.

For a full list of the sectors you can trade on through IG Markets, visit the Contract Details page or find out more about Risk Management.