Your guide to trading the DAX 30 index

Why is the DAX important to traders?

The Deutscher Aktienindex, or DAX, tracks the value of the 30 biggest companies listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (FSE) and this is represented in real time by the DAX price.

As the listed companies that make up the DAX 30 index represent around 75% of the total market cap of the FSE, the DAX is often viewed as a gauge for the German economy. This is one reason why DAX trading is popular with many of our clients. You can track its price in real time on our platform using our DAX live chart.

The German economy is the largest in the European Union and the fifth biggest economy globally. It is an active and liquid market and this is why so many of our clients choose to trade DAX.

 DAX trading hours 

The main trading hours for the DAX 30 index are between 09:00 and 17:30 CET, though Deutsche Börse also calculates the early DAX (08:00 – 09:00 CET) and late DAX (17:30 – 22:00 CET) for trading out-of-hours.

You can trade the German DAX index 24 hours a day with Capital.com and monitor the price changes with our DAX live chart.

How to trade the DAX CFD

The DAX price typically provides traders with a high degree of liquidity, long trading hours and tight trading spreads. You can trade the DAX index today using CFDs (contracts for difference) or futures. Using CFDs to trade DAX will allow you to go long or short without having to deal with conventional exchanges, like Eurex.

Trade Germany 30 - DE30 CFD

Traders enjoy trading the DAX because trends can often be easy to spot on live charts. Traders who trade DAX 30 often find the trends to be well defined across a variety of timescales, making the DAX popular with CFD traders around the world.

You can trade DAX CFDs right here, 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.

How is the DAX calculated?

In order to trade on the DAX 30 index, a company must trade at least 15% of their market cap publicly and be listed for at least three years. They must also:

• Belong to the ‘Prime Standard’ segment on the FSE

• Represent the German economy

The DAX index is capitalisation-weighted, which means that companies with bigger market caps will have a bigger influence on the DAX’s share price. At the same time, any one company cannot have a weighting of more than 10% to trade on the DAX.

Companies trading on the German DAX are reviewed quarterly – they are added or removed based on the size of their order book and their market cap.

The prices used to formulate the DAX index are calculated by the second through trading platform Xetra. This makes the index a very liquid market - another reason why traders like to trade DAX.

• Start trading
• Go to market page

Why trade DAX CFD 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 SmartFeed offers a range of materials to put him back on the right track. The neural network analyses in-app behaviour and recommends videos and articles to help polish your investment strategy. This hopefully helps you refine your approach when you  trade DAX.

Trading on margin: Providing trading on margin (20:1 for major indices), Capital.com gives you access to the DAX 30 index with the help of CFDs.

Trading the difference: By trading CFDs on the DAX 30 index, you don’t buy the underlying asset itself, meaning you are not tied to it. You only speculate on the rise or fall of its share price. CFD trading is no different from traditional trading in terms of its associated strategies. A CFD investor can go short or long, set stop and limit losses and apply trading scenarios that align with his or her objectives. So whether your view is positive or negative, you can trade DAX in both directions.

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 CySEC, it complies with all regulations and ensures that its clients’ data security comes first. The company allows to withdraw money 24/7 and keeps traders’ funds across segregated bank accounts.

Businesses on the DAX

A list of the current companies trading on the DAX index today, correct as of September 2018:

If you trade DAX, you will notice that the listed companies are manufacturing-heavy. The DAX 30 is mostly comprised of automobile and chemicals manufacturers, like BMW and BASF.

The Big Three automobile manufacturers – Daimler (parent company of Mercedes-Benz), BMW and Volkswagen – hold a significant portion of the DAX’s weighting.

History of the DAX

The DAX index was first published on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on 1 July 1988 with a starting index level of 1,163 points. Frank Mella, who was then editor at German newspaper Börsen-Zeitung, is credited with the DAX’s invention, after his publisher gave him the task of devising a German stock market index.

The operator of the DAX 30, Deutsche Börse, has added several related indices since 1988. These include the MDAX, which represents the 50 biggest companies after the DAX; the TecDAX, which represents the 30 biggest technology companies outside the DAX; and the HDAX, which combines the DAX, MDAX and TecDAX.

The DAX share price often tends to be considerably volatile in comparison to its UK and US counterparts, making DAX trading an attractive opportunity for traders. As with any trading, however, it is not without its risk.

Performance of the DAX

In 2019 the DAX index performance grew by 30 per cent and the Germany 30 forecast for the first quarter 2020 looked bright. However, on February 19, 2020, when the index climbed up to its new all-time high of 13,789, the rally came to an end.

The DAX price spiked dramatically alongside with other popular stock market indices, including the Dow Jones, the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ 100. It found the bottom on March 18, 2020 at 8.441, which represented a devastating 39 per cent drop from the February’s high.

Since then, the index reversed to the upward and moved up to 10,650 by mid-April. The latest DAX 20 price as of June 17, 2020 is 12,315 and experts believe there is still room for further growth.

See the DAX index performance, historical data and chart below:

FAQ