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Hi Mislav, you can refer to what CFD(s) actually are and you will find that you are actually exploiting the difference in prices rather than the price itself, which will give much better returns. It works in a very similar way as an OTC trade would work, but is slightly different as compared to other methods of trading.

I have read articles on investopedia, wiki and some other sources. It doesn't seem complicated, from investor point of view. But, nevertheless, I can't explain above difference. You said Cfd's should have higher returns. But in this simple backtest it has lower returns.

CFD is a type of trading in which 70% of traders lose money, so at an exploration stage if you're getting anything which is above an investment strategy, that would work. 

Maybe I didin't post my question clearly.

I am confused why trading SPY gives much better returns than trading Cfd on SPX, when we buy and sell on same datetime ?

I would expect similar return, but return on strtagy trading SPY is much higher.

Hi Mislav and Manav

It is essential to understand that CFD is leveraged contracts, with (usually) a fixed spread between its bid/ask prices. So even if you're using 50% of your portfolio on a 2x leveraged CFD, it won't give you replicated results of the underlying asset because:

1. You paid the spread
2. If the asset drops by 10%, the price of your position will drop by 20%. While the asset needs an 11.1% rise to recover, you'll need a 12.5%. This will stack up more if the asset is more fluctuate.

Best
Louis

Louis Szeto ,

Thank you for reply. I think this explanation is close to truth. I am still amazed by the difference, but on long scales, maybe it is possible that bid-ask spreads make the difference. I haven.t use leverage in my algo (I set leverage to 0 and use SetHoldings(symbol, 1)).so I think this is not the reason.

Hi,

I did not do the maths but it seems like SPX500USD is not calculated by simply tracking SPY, at all. See Section 3. shrug

https://www.oanda.com/assets/documents/178/OANDA_Europe_Pricing_and_Charges.pdf

Fred

Thanks Mislav, Fred

The long-term result difference is much higher than I'd expect as well. The Section 3 notes are pretty insane. Given its buying and holding for the term, it looks like it's all the overnight holdings charge.