The CMC Next Generation Platform is a web based online trading platform with numerous features. Since we use Safari on a Mac computer, we could not load the platform initially. This is due to the fact that the platform requires Adobe Flash, which we feel is a bit unfortunate and might explain in our opinion some of the complaints we encountered around Internet about freezing and affecting pricing. Adobe will discontinue flash within 3 years and the plugin itself was known to draw a lot of resources and has not be a stable companion, especially for mobile devices. Thankfully, the platform apps for mobile re native apps.
The overall look and feel of the platform will mostly depend on how you arrange it for yourself. This is one of the most important features. Layouts can be changed and saved and trader has the control of her trading interface. On the top there is a product selector. There one can choose among the instruments. Please mind we use the conventional name for financial instruments – meaning assets are underlying assets, while instruments are CFDs, Digital100s – or ways to trade based on those assets or to access prices on those markets.
CFDs are leveraged products that enable trading the whole range of assets, while Digital 100s are more akin to binary options, with expiry times and fixed investment sizes that cannot be changed through leverage. They always end on 100 value and the payout depends on the buy/sell price. Buy designates upward direction expectations, while sell means the trader expects prices to fall compared to the price when the order was placed.
With CMC Markets, traders have access to trading based on
- 339 currency pairs
- 95 indices
- 111 commodities
- more than 9000 stocks
- 46 treasuries
for total of more than 10000 individual financial assets. As mentioned in the intro, we consider this to be the most interesting aspect of this broker since not all assets are equally interesting around the world – CMC Markets gains a truly global presence this way.