FTSE 100 Trading

The FTSE 100 is an index that traces the top 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, and was launched and maintained as a partnership between the LSE and the Financial Times. The FTSE 100 is by far the most widely recognised measure of the health of the UK stock market. The FTSE 100 is comprised of securities from all industries, and the value of the 100 companies in the FTSE 100 accounts for roughly 81% of the total value of all companies listed on the London Stock Exchange.

The FTSE 100 was launched in January 1984 with a base level of 1,000, with the index trading today at over 7,300 points. Other related indexes are the FTSE 250, which is made up of the next 250 largest companies following the FTSE 100, and the FTSE 350, which is an aggregation of the FTSE 100 and the FTSE 250. The FTSE 100 has grown over time to become arguably Europe’s pre-eminent stock index, and has cemented its place as one of the leading stock averages throughout the global financial market. The FTSE 100 is composed exclusively of blue chip stocks.

The FTSE 100 is composed of the largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, and this includesrepresentation from sectors including financial services, mining, food producers, pharmaceuticals, life insurance,tobacco, real estate and chemicals. Being that London is a global hub for commerce and finance it is no surprise that many of the largest brands in theworld are included in the FTSE 100, including Coca Cola, Barclays, BHP, Burberry, GlaxoSmithKline, Imperial Brands,and Royal Dutch Shell.

The London Stock Exchange is one of the largest and most well-known stock exchanges in the world and was originally founded in 1571, making it also one of the oldest stock exchanges. Traders have long flocked to investing in the FTSE 100 because of its strong and consistent performance over time. Many of the world’s leading brands, firms and institutions are included in the FTSE 100, and FTSE 100 futures and options provide access to 100 of the biggest global companies with the use of a single instrument.

The FTSE 100 is a free float-adjusted, market-capitalization-weighted index. What this means is that the amount of a stock that is “floating”, or the number of shares publicly available for trading, determines the impact it has on the value of the index. As well as this, being market-capitalization-weighted means that the index value is first calculated by multiplying the total value of their outstanding shares by each of the securities’ last sale prices, and then weighting that in relation to the size of each of the other securities in the index.

The FTSE 100 is a stock index rather than a single company stock which means that the growth of the index is pushed along by a hundred companies. For traders, this means the risk is mitigated as one company’s poor performance won’t impact the index too much, and when there is a growth in macroeconomic factors, most of the top companies will benefit together. PrimeXBT’s ultra-fast order execution and its stable, reliable trading engine ensures the tightest spreads and best trading experience. The trading platform is packed with advanced trading tools, such as long and short positions, advanced order types such as stop loss and take profit orders. The platform is also safe, secure, and offers 24/7 customer support service via a live chat, community channels, and much more.

The best way to invest in the UK stock market is by gaining exposure to a UK-based stock market index, like the FTSE. This stock market index represents UK companies and their performance.

Trading the FTSE is possible using CFDs, which enable long and short positions to profit whichever way the trend turns. Platforms such as PrimeXBT offer CFDs on major stock indices such as FTSE, the Dow Jones, Nikkei, and several more.

Trading the FTSE always heats up around market open and close. During the one hour or so ahead of when traders arrive at and leave from their desks, volatility picks up. However, there is never a dull moment when it comes to trading the FTSE.

FTSE trades using the UKX ticker symbol in most cases. The UK is the country of origin, and 'X' denotes an index. However, it also trades as the FTSE, FTSE 100, and UK 100.