Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 68% of retail investor accounts lose money when spread betting and/or trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how spread bets, CFDs, OTC options or any of our other products work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Watchlists in trading

A trading watchlist is a list of financial securities that is monitored for potential future trading opportunities. Watchlists can come pre-made by a financial broker, such as a list of the most popular current assets to trade on their platform, or traders can create their own watchlist, depending on their preferred asset class, timeframe and strategy that they would like to adopt.

Investors can monitor these watchlists for price action and trend direction in case they spot a potentially profitable trade. Watchlists can include a mix of asset classes, such as stocks, commodities, currency pairs, treasuries and indices, although stock watchlists are often the most common type. Watch our video below to get started with watchlists on our Next Generation trading platform.

What is an investor watchlist?

Watchlists are a useful way for investors to categorise their preferred instruments in one place. Rather than following a major stock index or exchange-traded fund (ETF), which may not present all the assets that you want to trade, watchlists are a more personalised option to suit your trading needs.

On our trading platform, we offer the chance for investors to create their own watchlists, as well as offering existing watchlists that are based on global indices. We also offer a ‘Popular Products’ list, which includes a number of well-known securities across all asset classes. This includes our UK 100 (based on FTSE index), major currency pairs such as EUR/USD and EUR/GBP, gold and Brent crude oil commodities, major international shares such as Apple and Boeing, and popular Gilt bonds in the UK.

Our ‘Popular Products’ watchlist

Stock watchlists

One of the most common types of watchlist among traders is a stock watchlist. This may be because the share market is influenced by a number of fundamental factors, which can cause a dramatic shift in share price and open up potential trading opportunities. Among these factors include earnings reports, economic announcements and political events, which should be analysed when performing company analysis. The stock market is also one of the most liquid and popularly traded across the world.

Live stock market watchlist

How to create a stock market watchlist

In order to create your own stock watchlist, register for an account and familiarise yourself with the platform. Along the top bar of the home screen, click on the ‘Watchlists’ tab and select ‘Create New Watchlist’.

Click on ‘Create New Watchlist’ to build your own

Your new watchlist will pop-up in a new window. You can adjust the settings by name, colour and table format, depending on how you wish to view the data. For example, you can choose to view your chosen stocks in a classic table, by trading chart, or with buy and sell quotes, as shown below.

Viewing a stock watchlist in ‘Chart Grid’ (left) and ‘Quote Panel Grid’ (right)

To add shares to your new watchlist, simply search for the instrument that you are looking for in the Product Library. Right click on the share and select ‘Add to Watchlist’. This is not limited to shares; you can also add ETFs if you are looking to trade on similar products.

Forex watchlist

Watchlists can be applied to the forex market. To create a forex watchlist with your preferred currency pairs, follow the same steps as above by searching within the Product Library. We offer over 330 currency pairs, which is the highest number in the industry*. Among these include major, minor and exotic crosses.

Forex watchlist template

Stock watchlist software

We offer free watchlists on our award-winning** Next Generation trading platform, which can be applied to stocks and other financial markets. Get started now by opening an account and browse over 10,000 securities that are available for spread betting and CFD trading.

It is possible to link your new watchlist with our other platform features, including the Reuters news module, as demonstrated in the video above. This saves you time from filtering through news results to find the asset’s information that you are interested in, as this feature only shows results that are relevant to your trading watchlist.

Our client sentiment tracker also works to demonstrate user behaviour and shows if our clients are taking long or short positions on the assets within your watchlist. This can help when deciding whether to buy or sell.

Best app for a stock watchlist

Our award-winning platform also comes with a spread betting and CFD trading app for ease of trading. Winner of multiple awards including Best Mobile/Tablet App, our technology can be utilised at home or on-the-go so that you never miss out on potential stock trading opportunities.

Explore our variety of trading tools with our platform tutorial guides.

*Most Currency Pairs, Forex Brokers 2020 Awards

**No1 Web-Based Platform, ForexBrokers.com Awards 2020; Best Telephone & Best Email Customer Service, based on highest user satisfaction among spread betters, CFD & FX traders, Investment Trends 2020 UK Leverage Trading Report; Best Platform Features & Best Mobile/Tablet App, Investment Trends 2019 UK Leverage Trading Report.

Disclaimer: CMC Markets is an execution-only service provider. The material (whether or not it states any opinions) is for general information purposes only, and does not take into account your personal circumstances or objectives. Nothing in this material is (or should be considered to be) financial, investment or other advice on which reliance should be placed. No opinion given in the material constitutes a recommendation by CMC Markets or the author that any particular investment, security, transaction or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. The material has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research. Although we are not specifically prevented from dealing before providing this material, we do not seek to take advantage of the material prior to its dissemination.