How to buy and short Didi shares

How to buy Didi shares: investing or trading

You can buy Didi shares through outright investing in the stock, which gives you direct ownership, or you can trade the company’s shares by speculating on its price movements without having to own the underlying.

Investing in Didi shares

Investing in Didi’s shares means that you become its owner. As a shareholder you’ll have voting rights and be eligible to receive dividends, if the company offers them. We enable you to get direct ownership of Didi shares from zero commission.¹

With us, you can follow these steps if you want to be a Didi shareholder:

1. Create an account or log in
2. Search for ‘Didi’ on our share trading platform
3. Select ‘buy’ in the deal ticket
4. Choose the number of shares you want to buy
5. Open and monitor your investment position

Here’s a comparison between our commission rates and our competitors’:

Buying Didi shares outright means that you need to commit the full investment value upfront. The share price can swing in either direction, so you may get back a lesser amount than your initial outlay – but your maximum potential losses can’t exceed your total investment amount (excluding additional fees).

You can profit if Didi happens to offer dividends or if you sell your shares at an increased share price (compared to the one you bought them at), or both.

Trading Didi stock

Trading Didi stock means that you’re taking a position on the company’s share price, whether it’ll rise or fall, without having direct ownership of the underlying. You’d ‘buy’ (go long) if you think that the share price will rise and you’d ‘sell’ (go short) if your prediction is that it’ll fall.

We enable you to trade Didi shares in these steps:

1. Create an account or log in
2. Search for ‘Didi’ on our trading platform
3. Select ‘buy’ to go long or ‘sell’ to go short in the deal ticket
4. Set your position size and take steps to manage your risk
5. Open and monitor your position

With us, you’ll trade Didi shares using leveraged derivatives such as CFDs, with possible tax benefits.²

Using leverage when trading means that you only need a small deposit, known as margin, to open your positions, while getting full exposure. Leverage increases both your possible profits and losses to the full value of the trade, so it’s important to take steps to manage your risk properly.

See our full trading costs and charges

How to short Didi shares

You can short Didi shares via CFD trading with us. Short-selling means that you’re taking a ‘selling’ position (going short) on a company’s shares in an effort to make a profit from a falling share price.

With us, you can short-sell in these steps:

1. Create an account or log in
2. Search for ‘Didi’ on our platform
3. Select ‘sell’ in the deal ticket
4. Choose your position size
5. Open and monitor your position

Naturally, the share price could go either way – therefore, you’d incur a loss if it rises when you’re short-selling. But if your prediction that it’ll fall is correct, you’d make a profit.

As you’d be using CFDs when short-selling, you’d be trading with leverage. So, you’d need to commit an initial deposit to get full exposure to your selected position size of Didi shares. But remember, when trading with leverage, both possible profits and losses are increased to the full value of your trade.

Find out more about short-selling

How to sell or close your Didi position

You can sell your Didi investment or close your trading position if you want to limit potential losses or secure possible profits. Here’s how:

A brief history of Didi

Didi was formed by Cheng Wei in 2012 (named Didi Dache at the time) as an app where the user can hail a cab immediately.

In 2015, the company merged with Kuaidi Dache – with a combined valuation of $6 billion, the company became one of the largest ride-sharing apps. By 2018, the company was valued at $56 billion.

After having Uber China as a rival, Didi acquired Uber China in 2016. Didi listed in New York in June 2021.

What’s the Didi business model?

The Didi business model is based on connecting its customers with its drivers through an app. The company has more than 450 million users. Didi also makes money from car rentals, a bus booking service, chauffeur and delivery services.

Didi share price: how to analyse Didi shares

You can analyse Didi shares in one of two ways – technical or fundamental analysis – but a combination of the two is generally more effective.

• Technical analysis consists of chart patterns, technical indicators and historical price action that is useful in predicting future price movements
• Fundamental analysis takes elements such as a company’s net revenue, profit and loss statements, as well as wider macroeconomic factors into consideration – these can help you determine likely share price movements

Footnotes:

¹ Commission rates differ for UK and US shares. Trade in your share trading account three or more times in the previous month to qualify for our best commission rates. Please note published rates are valid up to £25,000 notional value. See our full list of share trading charges and fees.
² Tax laws are subject to change and depend on individual circumstances. Tax law may differ in a jurisdiction other than the UK.