CFDs Made Simple

Peter is a former fund manager and stockbroker, and now an author and investor, whose columns in Saturday?s Financial Times often describe his own investments.

The first sections deal with how CFDs work and their arithmetic, against a background of Temple?s belief that investment returns may well be lower in future ? so that investors will need to able to take advantage of falling as well as rising markets by dealing in instruments such CFDs. He has a number of sensible ?CFD rules of the road? (such as ?integrate CFD trading with the rest of your investing?) and warnings on the risks that flow from the gearing inherent in CFDs.

Other sections deal with straightforward trading strategies (for example long only, short only, pairs trading, relative performance, hedging, ex-dividend anomalies), with a chapter on trading disciplines (keep notes on the reasons for the trade) and sensible trading tips (avoid opening and closing sessions). There is a chapter on timing trades that covers basic technical analysis (a very short chapter for a very big topic), with a final chapter on resources for CFD investors including plugs for interactive investor.

The book is what its title suggests – a simple, clear and straightforward introduction to CFDs from an experienced investor.