One live row

What is a CFD? On a phone, it is a row that will not sit still (Philippines)

Open a position and the app adds a line to a tab. That line is the whole thing — there is no certificate, no delivery, nothing arriving anywhere. Learning to read it is learning what a CFD is.

A CFD — a contract for difference — is an agreement about the change in a price. You never own the currency, the metal or the share behind the name; you hold a position on where its price goes, and when the position closes, the difference is settled in money. That is why the app can show it as a single row: there is nothing else to show. The row names what, which direction, how big, and what the difference currently comes to — and the last of those four is the only one that moves.

The row, field by field

Five things sit on that line, and they answer very different questions.

On the row	What it fixes	Changes while open?
The instrument name	What the position is about	No
Buy or sell	Which direction pays	No
The size	What each pip is worth to you	No — it was set at the open
The opening price	The point the difference is measured from	No
The result figure	What closing right now would settle	Constantly

Four fixed, one live. Almost every confusion about a phone position comes from reading the live one as if it were fixed — it is a quote for closing at this second, not a total that has been credited anywhere.

What the row does not put in your hands

Three absences that matter, and are invisible on a small screen precisely because there is nothing there to see.

Nothing is delivered

A position on gold puts no gold anywhere, and one on a share gives none of the things owning a share gives. The agreement is about the price only.
The result is not money yet

Until the row is closed, the figure beside it is a running quote. It becomes an amount at the moment of closing and not before.
The row does not stop by itself

It runs until closed, or until a level you set is reached. A phone going flat, an app being deleted and a night's sleep are all the same thing to it: nothing.

The two costs that ride along, and where each is visible

The first one is already paid before the row does anything. Every instrument quotes two prices, and a new position starts on the wrong side of that gap — so a fresh row usually shows a small negative figure with the market having done nothing at all. That is the spread, not a mistake.

The second arrives only if the row survives the end of the trading day: a swap, an overnight adjustment on the position. On a phone this is the cost that surprises people, because it lands while nobody is looking and shows up as a figure that drifted overnight. A trade closed the same day never meets it; one held across a week meets it repeatedly. Both are stated on the order screen before a confirm, for anyone who scrolls instead of tapping.

What a live row is doing while you are not looking at it

Moving. Both directions, at whatever speed the market has, including while the phone is face down.
Holding part of the account aside. The margin behind it is not spendable elsewhere while the position is open.
Collecting nights. Each one it survives can add or subtract a small overnight amount.
Ignoring your intentions. A level you meant to set is not a level you set. Many people lose money when they start trading, and this is a common route.

Questions about the open tab

The row went negative the second it opened. What went wrong?

Nothing. A position starts on the far side of the spread — the gap between the two quoted prices — so a small negative figure is the normal opening state.

Is the figure on the row money I have?

Not yet. It is what closing right now would settle. It becomes an amount only when the row is closed.

Do I own anything while the row exists?

No. A CFD is an agreement about a price change; nothing is delivered, held or registered in your name.

Can a CFD be traded in both directions?

Yes — a row can be a sell as easily as a buy, because there is nothing to own in either case.

What happens to my rows if the phone dies?

They carry on. Positions live with the broker; the app is only a window onto them.

Why did the figure move overnight when the market barely did?

A position kept past the end of the trading day can carry a swap — a small overnight adjustment. Held across several nights, it adds up quietly.

Which figure on the row do I actually control?

The size, set at the open, and the level where it closes. The rest is the market's arithmetic.

Does closing half a row work?

Partial closing exists on the order screen for the row. What matters more is deciding the exit before opening, not improvising it in a queue.

Why does a small movement change my figure so much?

Because of the size you chose. On a dollar-quoted pair one pip on a full lot is $10; on the smallest cent units it is about ten cents.

Can all of this be watched without money at stake?

Yes — a demo account produces the same rows in the same tab on virtual money, spread and overnight adjustment included.

Where the row comes from and where it goes

Before the row exists

The order screen, and the four fields that decide what the row will say.

See the fields

What the row ties up

The figures on the account screen that a live position keeps moving.

Read the figures

Size before opening

What one pip will be worth on the row, decided in advance.

Work it out

Open a row that costs nothing to get wrong

On a demo account the same tab fills with the same rows on virtual money — spread at the open, overnight adjustment on a trade left running, every figure in its usual place.

Open a free demo at Exness