How to buy and short Aviva shares
Aviva plc is a leading retirement, savings and insurance business – one of the largest of its type in the UK. Find out how to buy and short Aviva shares in this step-by-step guide.
How to buy Aviva shares
Investing means taking direct ownership of Aviva (AV) shares; buying means that you’re trading on the Aviva share price with CFDs.
With us, you will buy Aviva shares trading on the Aviva share price with derivative products: CFDs. This means that you’ll be trading with leverage – giving you full exposure for an initial deposit – and you may be eligible, in some territories, to receive tax benefits, which differ depending on the product you choose.
'Learn more about how to trade out of hours'
Trading Aviva shares
- Create or log in to your CFD trading account and go to our trading platform
- Search for ‘Aviva’
- Choose your position size
- Select buy and monitor your trade
Trading Aviva shares
- Create or log in to your trading account and go to our trading platform
- Decide whether you want to trade spread bets or CFDs
- Search for ‘Aviva’
- Choose your position size
- Select buy and monitor your trade
When you trade on the Aviva share price with CFDs, you’ll be able to:
- Get full exposure with a 20%-25% deposit on almost all of our tier-one shares1
- Hedge your positions with CFDs and, in some territories, offset losses against profits for tax purposes2
Open an account now to get started
How to short Aviva shares
Selling Aviva shares is different to shorting Aviva shares. A trader would short Aviva shares if they had a pessimistic outlook for the Aviva share price. Shorting means that you are taking a speculative position on a stock falling in value. Just like buying with derivatives, shorting with derivatives lets you open a position with leverage – granting you full market exposure for an initial deposit.
Shorting Aviva shares
- Create or log in to your CFD trading account and go to our trading platform
- Search for ‘Aviva’
- Choose your position size
- Choose ‘sell’ in the deal ticket to go short and speculate on the price falling
- Confirm and monitor your short position
Shorting Aviva shares
- Create or log in to your trading account and go to our trading platform
- Search for ‘Aviva’
- Choose your position size
- Choose ‘sell’ in the deal ticket to go short and speculate on the price falling
- Confirm and monitor your short position
Aviva shares: the basics
Aviva plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker 'AV'. It is a component of the FTSE 100, one of five life insurance companies on the index at the time of writing (19 May 2020).
In the insurance world, Aviva is a multinational provider, with operations in the UK, Canada, France, Italy, Poland, China and South East Asia – among others.
Aviva business model
The Aviva business model is to ensure that Aviva remains a leading international savings, retirement and insurance business that delivers for their customers, shareholders and communities.3 Aviva is putting a greater focus on achieving sustainable growth and increasing returns for shareholders in the coming years.
Aviva key personnel: who runs the company?
There are nine people on the board of Aviva:
| Sir Adrian Montague, CBE | Chairman |
| Maurice Tulloch | Chief executive officer |
| Jason Windsor | Chief financial officer |
| Amanda Blanc | Independent non-executive director |
| Patricia Cross | Independent non-executive director |
| George Culmer | Senior independent non-executive director |
| Patrick Flynn | Independent non-executive director |
| Belén Romana García | Independent non-executive director |
| Michael Mire | Independent non-executive director |
Aviva share price analysis: how to analyse the Aviva share price
Aviva share price analysis can be technical and fundamental, and you should carry out both before investing in or trading Aviva.
With technical analysis, you’ll be looking at price action in the Aviva share price, using technical indicators to assess whether the shares are currently overbought or oversold.
Popular technical indicators include the parabolic SAR, Williams %R, stochastic oscillators, channel trading indicators and moving averages.
With fundamental analysis, you’ll be looking at company announcements, financial statements, leadership changes and wider macroeconomic factors in the economy to assess whether the shares are currently overvalued or undervalued.
Popular fundamental metrics include looking at a company’s profit and loss statement, cash flow statements, the demand for a company’s stock compared to the supply, and the educational background, notable achievements and experience of senior leadership.
Create an account now to trade
Footnotes
1Deposits on leveraged trades are 20%-25% for 99.14% of tier-one shares (correct as of 1 June 2020). For more information, view our share trading margin rates.
2Tax laws are subject to change and depend on individual circumstances. Tax law may differ in a jurisdiction other than the UK.
3Aviva, 2020
This information has been prepared by IG, a trading name of IG Markets Limited. In addition to the disclaimer below, the material on this page does not contain a record of our trading prices, or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instrument. IG accepts no responsibility for any use that may be made of these comments and for any consequences that result. No representation or warranty is given as to the accuracy or completeness of this information. Consequently any person acting on it does so entirely at their own risk. Any research provided does not have regard to the specific investment objectives, financial situation and needs of any specific person who may receive it. It has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such is considered to be a marketing communication. Although we are not specifically constrained from dealing ahead of our recommendations we do not seek to take advantage of them before they are provided to our clients.
Explore the markets with our free course
Discover the range of markets and learn how they work - with IG Academy's online course.
