Betfair Official Blog

Market Jargon Buster 3

This week, equity markets as explained by John Maynard Keynes. Not really - he's sadly dead. But this is how he would have explained it...

Think of global finance, and the first word to shoot into your cranium is probably 'FTSE'. In itself not really a word as the pedants from the Oxford dictionary would no doubt point out, but such an observation in the first line of this piece would have made it all a bit clunky. Whereas now, oh forget it.

Anyway, what are these equity markets, and how do I go about betting on them?

Even on lowbrow brain-eviscerating radio stations such as Heart 106.2 (the musical equivalent of the Slimfast diet minus the Shakes), the news bulletins will always finish with a line as to how the FTSE is doing. Like the weather and the 'flying eye', the old FTSE is just too important to ignore. Even for housewives.

As well as the FTSE, Tradefair Binaries also lets you bet on four other equity markets. Lets explain them all:

FTSE 100:

An acronym for the Financial Times Stock Exchange, the FTSE is an index of the 100 highest-capitalised companies on the London Stock Exchange. Because these 100 make up approximately 80% of the entire LSE capital, this single number serves as a good barometer of how the British economy is shaping up.

Tradefair offer weekly, daily, hourly and 20 minute markets as to whether the FTSE will rise or fall. The daily market closes at 4:30.

DAX 30:

Short for Deutscher Aktien-Index 30 (I know the abbreviation doesn't makes sense, but they're German so allow some leeway), and consisting of the 30 largest German companies trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the DAX30 is continental Europe's most significant exchange.

Tradefair offer a daily market up/down on the DAX which also closes at 4:30, presumably with typical Germanic precision.

NASDAQ 100:

Ah, our old friend the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotient, how nice to see you again. The NASDAQ is the largest electronic screen-based equity securities trading market in the United States and with approximately 3,200 companies, it lists more companies and on average trades more shares per day than any other U.S. market. The real big boys such as Google, Ebay, and er Virgin Media all feature prominently in this index.

Tradefair offer a daily Nasdaq market on whether the stock will go up or down, and the market closes at 8pm.

S&P 500:

Standard & Poor's Index, containing 500 American corporations, selected by a secretive committee who dress as wizards. Possibly.

Tradefair offer a daily market on the S&P 500.

Wall St 30:

Which pretty much does what it says on the tin.

Tradefair offer hourly, daily and weekly markets on whether this market will head North or South.

All sorts of things can affect equity markets, from the general economic climate, to the more specific individual leading firms' trading updates. If you have any knowledge, get involved. The markets are always moving, perfect for a quick five minute 'in-out' bet, and can be terrific fun.