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Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how spread bets and CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how spread bets and CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Force open definition
What is force open?
Force open is a function on IG's trading platform which enables you to open a position in the opposite direction to an existing bet on the same market. The result would be a long and short position on the same asset.
A force open should not be confused with a forced close, which occurs when a position is closed automatically without any action by you.
Discover the different ways to trade derivatives
Find out about the differences between spread bets and CFDs.
Force open vs net off
Force open enables you to maintain your exposure to a market while opening a new position in the same market, which can be a useful tool for hedging.
Without the force open function, most platforms will net off your positions. In a netted off trade, an existing position would be automatically closed if the new position would cancel it out.
Placing two trades of the same value using the force open function will create a net exposure of zero – the same as having no open positions. However, you would still pay any applicable overnight funding or spread, which is something to be aware of when using the force open feature.
Examples of force open
Let’s say that you have a short position on 100 shares of company X, but you believe that the stock is going to see a short-term rise in price. In such an instance, you might decide to open a buy position on 100 shares of company X to minimise your losses.
Normally, IG would net off the two positions which means that the first would be closed, but you decide to check the force open box. This means that both orders would be executed.
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