An index consists of company shares listed on the same exchange together. Best examples would be The Dow Jones (Boeing, Microsoft, Nike) or German DAX index (Adidas, Volkswagen).The German DAX index is made up of 30 businesses: including German car maker Volkswagen, sporting goods company Adidas, the Deutsche Lufthansa airline, the Bayer pharmaceutical company and the Allianz insurance firm.Instead of investing in these companies’ shares separately, you speculate the price change of a basket that contains all these companies.
Being one of the most common trading products, stock indices enable you to invest in an economy's opinion without having to select individual stocks. An index group comprises of prices shared by various businesses, creating a stock collection.Prices can be affected by a lot of variables such as major political events, major industry changes and significant fluctuations.
Investing in a diverse portfolio of multiple industries can be more beneficial than investing in a single company. If the share prices of listed companies rise, their indices rise in value as well! The increase is calculated based on a company’s share value. The more a company is worth, the more its share price will affect the index as a whole.
Why trade Indices with ASX Markets?
- Access Major Indices: ASX Markets clients have no restrictions trading major indices.
- Easy-to-Predict Trends: Indices usually follow stock market price moves, maintaining trends
- Simpler Trading: Tracking less companies makes it easier to create your strategy
With ASX Markets you get the diversity of trading a select list of multiple companies and indices around the world. You can profit by both buying from rising markets or from falling markets by short selling the indices.
ASX offers a free Demo Account with helpful tools to aid new traders test their strategies with indices. Check our Research & Education section to learn more about them.