Your ultimate guide to Alibaba stock trading

Why is Alibaba important to traders?

Alibaba Group Holding Limited is a Chinese multinational corporation, specialising in e-commerce, retail, technology and artificial intelligence solutions. The leading e-commerce provider in China and abroad, Alibaba offers a broad range of B2B, B2C and C2C e-commerce, mobile payment and logistics services. The company also operates cloud infrastructure services and the most popular Chinese online video site Youku Tudou.

Alibaba group was launched in 1999 and has grown from a standalone B2B e-commerce portal to the leading e-commerce provider in Asia. Its C2C marketplace Taobao and B2C retail platform Tmall are key players in their respective markets.

Alibaba stock trading started in 2014 with its IPO in New York, which resulted in the record valuation of 25 billion – bigger than Facebook, Google and Twitter combined. By that time Alibaba proved to be the world’s largest online e-commerce platform for small businesses. Today, Alibaba is ranked among the top 10 most valuable companies globally.

Alibaba stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol BABA and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (SEHK) under the ticker 9988.

Alibaba shares trading hours

If you choose to trade CFDs, you can follow the Alibaba stock price live in US dollars with the comprehensive BABA stock price chart at Capital.com:

• Monday to Thursday from 08:10 to 00:00
• Friday from 08:10 to 21:00

This gives you plenty of time to monitor the company’s activity and keep an eye out for any events that may affect short-term movements in the Alibaba stock value.

How to trade Alibaba shares with CFDs

An individual has two options when trading in the stock market. Firstly, they can buy shares in companies on the exchanges where they are listed. For instance, investing in Alibaba stock on the NYSE stock exchange, so you actually own a share in the company. This can be considered a long-term investment, as the individual is usually waiting for the price to rise over time.

Alternatively, they can trade a contract for difference (CFD) on a particular stock, and speculate on the price difference of the underlying asset, without actually owning the asset. A CFD is a financial contract, typically between a broker and an investor, where one party agrees to pay the other the difference in the value of a security, between the opening and closing of the trade. You can either hold a long position (speculating that the price will rise) or a short position (speculating that the price will fall). This is considered a short-term investment or trade, as CFDs tend to be used within shorter timeframes.

Trade Alibaba Group Holding Limited - BABA CFD

The key difference between Alibaba share trading through a long position with a CFD and buying a security is the leverage that is employed. CFDs are traded on margin, which means that a trader can open larger positions with their capital.

You can trade Alibaba shares with CFDs right now. Just sign up at Capital.com and use our advanced web platform or download the best-in-class investment app to trade on the go. It will take you just 3 minutes to get started and access the world’s most traded markets.

Why trade Alibaba CFDs with Capital.com

Advanced AI technology at its core: A Facebook-like News Feed provides users with personalised and unique content depending on their preferences. If a trader makes decisions based on biases, the innovative News Feed offers a range of materials to put you back on the right track. The neural network analyses in-app behaviour and recommends videos, articles, news to polish your investment strategy.

Trading on margin: Providing trading on margin (up to 5:1 for individual equities), Capital.com gives you access to the Alibaba shares trading with the help of CFDs.

Trading the difference: When you invest in Alibaba stock with CFDs, you don’t buy the underlying asset itself, meaning you are not tied to it. You only speculate on the rise or fall of the Alibaba stock performance. CFD trading is nothing different from traditional trading in terms of strategies. A CFD investor can go short or long, set stop and limit losses and apply trading scenarios that align with their objectives.

All-round trading analysis: The browser-based platform allows traders to shape their own market analysis and forecasts with sleek technical indicators. Capital.com provides live market updates and various chart formats, available on desktop, iOS, and Android.

Focus on safety: Captal.com puts a special emphasis on safety. Licensed by the FCA and CySEC, it complies with all regulations and ensures that its clients’ data security comes first. The company allows you to withdraw money 24/7 and keeps traders’ funds across segregated bank accounts.

Alibaba stock history

Alibaba was created in 1999 in Hangzhou Zhejiang, China. It all began with a small B2B marketplace, launched by Jack Ma and 17 of his closest friends. Later the same year, the company got its first large investments from Goldman Sachs (GS) and SoftBank who invested $5 and $20 million respectively.

In 2002 the China-based e-commerce business achieved profitability for the first time. Starting from 2003 the company gradually launched its most famous brands, including retail marketplace Taobao, online payment platform Alipay, instant messaging tool Aliwangwang and a digital marketing platform Alimama.com.

In the course of its history, the company has made a number of successful acquisitions to diversify and enlarge its business offering and expand the global market present. Some of the most notorious Alibaba’s acquisitions include AutoNavi (2014), the South China Morning Post (2015), Eleme (2018), NetEase’s Koala (2019) and Keruyun (2020).

Today, Alibaba Group Holding operates a vast array of businesses in different sectors internationally. It is one of the largest retailers and e-commerce providers, which is also involved in internet and artificial intelligence technologies. Moreover, Alibaba works as a prominent venture capital company and investment corporation across the world.  

With Capital.com’s streaming Alibaba stock chart, you can quickly view the price of BABA stock in real time, and also trace the company’s share value in historic terms.

Alibaba share price history dates back to 2007, when the company first went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2007. Later in 2012 it was delisted.

In September 2014, Alibaba debuted in New York and was listed on the NYSE under the ticker symbol BABA. The Alibaba stock was priced at $68 per share and the company raised an unprecedented amount of $25 billion, which marked the biggest IPO of that time. The next day Alibaba started the trading session on the New York Stock Exchange with the opening price of $92.70.

Since its launch on the US market, Alibaba shares have faced many price fluctuations. The stock soared from $56 per share in September 2015 to $208 per share in June 2018. It then swung back and forth, with the price of BABA shares falling as low as $132 in December 2018 and rising to its all-time high of $228.66 in January 2020.

In 2019, Alibaba got $12.9 billion from its secondary listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, where its shares were priced at HK$176, or $22.5 per share.

Is Alibaba stock a good investment? 

When it comes to finding liquid, blue-chip stocks from China, it's hard to choose a more prominent name than Alibaba Group. The BABA stock has proved to be a big winner since its public launch on the NYSE in 2014.

In its fiscal year report ending 31 March 2020, Alibaba announced that its annual revenue amounted to around 509.7 billion yuan, which is approximately 72 billion US dollars. The net income comprised 140.4 billion yuan ($19.6 billion). The major part of the company’s revenue derives from various e-commerce marketplaces, with local e-commerce accounting for 65 per cent revenue share. Meanwhile, the cloud computing sector is also growing at its fastest, almost doubling every year since 2017. 

Commenting on Alibaba performance, Daniel Zhang, chairman and chief executive officer of Alibaba Group, mentioned: “Alibaba achieved the historic milestone of $1 trillion in gross merchandise volume across our digital economy this fiscal year. Our overall business continued to experience strong growth, with a total annual active consumer base of 960 million globally, despite concluding the fiscal year with a quarter impacted by the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic”.

If you are interested in Alibaba stock trading and are wondering “should I invest in Alibaba stock?”, follow the BABA stock price live and spot the best trading opportunities at Capital.com.

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