CFDs and futures both provide exposure to price changes, but they are different contracts. A CFD settles a price difference with a provider; an exchange-traded futures contract has standardised terms and a specified expiry or settlement process. Deliverable spot forex exchanges currencies for near-term settlement. A retail product labelled “spot” may instead be a rolling derivative, so the contract terms matter more than the chart name.
This guide is part of the trading mechanics library. For automation, the question is whether the instrument producing the signal matches the instrument receiving the order in price, units, trading hours and lifecycle.
CFDs, futures and spot forex at a glance
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| Product | What the contract represents | Counterparty and lifecycle |
|---|---|---|
| Retail OTC CFD | A cash difference based on the change in an underlying reference price; no ownership of the underlying asset. | The CFD provider is the contractual counterparty. ASIC’s guide says CFDs have no expiry date like futures; fees and overnight interest follow the provider’s terms.[1] |
| Exchange-traded futures | A standardised contract for future delivery or cash settlement under exchange rules. | Trades are centrally cleared through clearing members. Each contract specifies its settlement and expiry terms.[2] |
| Deliverable spot FX | An exchange of one currency for another for near-term delivery. | An over-the-counter foreign exchange transaction. Settlement is distinct from holding a rolling derivative.[2] |
This comparison covers retail OTC CFDs, exchange-traded futures and deliverable spot FX. Other structures exist; an asset's name does not identify the legal contract.
What is a CFD, and who is on the other side?
A contract for difference, or CFD, is an agreement with a provider to settle the difference between opening and closing values. The provider's product terms define the reference market, contract size, quote construction, charges and closing conditions. Buying a share CFD, for example, does not transfer ownership of the share.[1]
ASIC's MoneySmart material distinguishes the CFD provider from the underlying market. Its product explanation also notes that a CFD's value need not track the underlying exactly and that market makers quote their own CFD prices.[1] A provider may hedge its exposure, but that does not turn the customer's CFD into the hedge instrument.
ASIC’s guide says the provider charges interest on long CFD positions held open overnight, and that CFDs “do not have an expiry date like options or futures contracts”.[1] That 2012 Australian description is not a universal rule, so read your provider’s terms. Neither “CFD” nor the absence of an expiry in a short symbol name establishes the funding method. The swap and rollover guide explains why the charge convention needs its own check.
How do futures differ from spot forex?
A futures exchange specifies a contract's unit, price increment and delivery or cash-settlement arrangements. Trading a particular expiry creates exposure to that dated contract. The clearing structure sits between the market's buyers and sellers, while the customer's account remains subject to its broker or clearing-firm agreement.[2]
Deliverable spot FX instead exchanges currencies on the agreed near-term value date. A currency futures contract and a spot currency transaction can reference the same currencies while retaining different settlement dates and obligations.[2]
Rolling spot is a separate distinction. A retail position can remain open through repeated adjustments without delivering the currencies. ESMA's March 2018 intervention FAQ included rolling spot forex in its CFD scope.[3] That jurisdiction-specific classification does not mean every transaction called spot FX is a CFD.
For a displayed forex symbol, the necessary evidence is the account agreement and contract specification: delivery or cash settlement, financing treatment, margin calculation and the entity providing the contract.
How do contract size and tick value change the arithmetic?
For a linear contract with a constant tick value in the calculation currency, the price contribution to profit or loss can be expressed as follows. A long uses exit price minus entry price; a short reverses that difference.
Gross price P&L = price change ÷ tick size × tick value per contract or lot × quantity
Currency value per price unit = tick value ÷ tick size
MetaQuotes documents contract calculation modes and tick-size/tick-value properties separately. The appropriate formula depends on the symbol's calculation mode.[4] The expression above excludes costs and currency-conversion changes; it is not a formula for inverse or otherwise nonlinear contracts.
Here, a price point means one whole price unit. An MT5 quoting point is the symbol's decimal quoting unit, and its minimum tradable tick can differ again.[9] Keep all three units explicit when comparing contracts.
The lot size and contract size guide explains why one lot is not a universal economic unit. A price moving one point also means different money on contracts with different multipliers.
Worked example: the same move on two different contracts
Illustrative fictional contracts, not live specifications or a recommendation. Both contracts are linear, settle their price result in USD and move 20 price points favourably. Costs, funding, margin and currency conversion are excluded.
| Property | Illustrative futures contract | Illustrative CFD lot |
|---|---|---|
| Tick size | 0.25 price point | 0.10 price point |
| Tick value | 1.25 USD per contract | 0.10 USD per lot |
| Value per price point | 1.25 ÷ 0.25 = 5 USD | 0.10 ÷ 0.10 = 1 USD |
| 20-point move, quantity one | 20 ÷ 0.25 × 1.25 = 100 USD | 20 ÷ 0.10 × 0.10 = 20 USD |
Five of the illustrative CFD lots have the same 100 USD sensitivity to that 20-point move as one illustrative futures contract. Matching this sensitivity does not match the entry price, funding, liquidity, margin or settlement obligation. A volume conversion alone is not an instrument conversion.
Why can TradingView futures prices differ from an MT5 CFD?
- Different contracts: a dated future and a provider's cash CFD need not have the same price. The difference, often called a basis in futures comparisons, is not automatically an execution error.[1][2]
- Different quote sides: a last-traded futures price, a bid quote and an ask quote answer different questions. MT5 documents exchange-specific order-trigger rules separately from the bid or ask used to execute a deal.[5]
- Different data treatments: TradingView documents back-adjustment for continuous futures data and a settlement-as-close option for supported futures symbols on daily and higher timeframes.[6]
- Different sessions and timestamps: TradingView documents session-specific futures data. PineConnector's FAQ also identifies data feeds, quote sides, spreads and timestamps as reasons TradingView and MetaTrader prices can differ.[7][8]
As of 25 September 2026, TradingView's release notes document an underlying contract identifier for continuous futures symbols.[6] A continuous series and a specified expiry therefore need separate identification in a rule. The chart-to-broker price comparison guide covers the remaining feed checks.
A difference that stays small for part of a sample does not establish a permanent conversion offset. Record the two exact instruments and their observation times before interpreting a price gap.
What do expiry and rollover mean for an alert?
Futures expiry is the dated contract's endpoint under its settlement terms. Maintaining exposure beyond that contract generally requires a separate position in another expiry. The new contract can have a different price.[2] A continuous chart joining contract history does not, by itself, document what happened in a broker account.
A CFD rollover can instead refer to overnight financing or to the handling of a dated underlying contract under the provider's rules. A spot FX value date refers to currency settlement. Those meanings should not share one unspecified “rollover” setting.
For a rule specification, record which contract the alert observes, which broker symbol it requests, the expiry or financing event and the intended handling of open positions. Historical price adjustment changes the chart context; it does not prove that a receiving order, stop or position was updated.
What changes when a futures signal requests a CFD order?
Illustrative price mismatch. Suppose a futures observation is 5,000 and a rule sets a stop at 4,980, a 20-point distance. At that moment, the receiving CFD's entry reference is 4,992. Copying 4,980 as the CFD stop creates a 12-point distance, not 20. Spread and fills are omitted to isolate the contract difference.
Sending a 20-point distance instead would preserve that distance under the illustration, but place the level at 4,972. It would not preserve the futures rule's original price level. Neither mapping is automatically equivalent to the original strategy.
As of 25 September 2026, PineConnector's syntax reference distinguishes exact-price stops from distance-based stops. A PineConnector pip is 10 quoting points, and quoting point and minimum tick size are separate properties.[9] A futures tick count cannot simply be pasted into a pip field.
The PineConnector FAQ explicitly warns that feed differences matter for fixed entry, stop and target prices.[8] Automatic conversion of futures prices, multipliers and roll rules into an equivalent CFD contract is not documented; test on demo.
- Condition and alert: record the source symbol, contract, data treatment, timeframe and the condition that triggered.
- Webhook and processing: inspect the delivered instruction and PineConnector processing record.
- EA request and broker response: inspect the receiving symbol, requested volume, price increments and accepted protection.
- Deal and position: verify the fill, actual volume, stop and remaining exposure. A broker-side stop is separate from a close rule still running on the source chart.
PineConnector's demo verification procedure distinguishes checking the message path from checking a broker order.[10] An alert can be delivered correctly while requesting the wrong economic exposure.
What are the limits of comparing CFDs, futures and spot?
Availability, legal classification and customer protections vary by country and client category. ASIC's 2012 product guide and ESMA's 2018 intervention FAQ describe particular regulatory contexts.[1][3] These historical sources explain the mechanics; current eligibility requires the applicable regulator's rules and the provider's terms.
No product label determines the full cost or risk of a particular position. The comparison needs the exact specification, execution arrangements, financing, account currency and settlement terms. The transaction cost guide separates spread, commission, swap and slippage. Platform availability alone does not establish identical contract behaviour.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between CFDs and futures?
A retail OTC CFD is a contract with a provider to settle a price difference, without owning the underlying asset. An exchange-traded future uses standardised contract terms and central clearing, with a specified expiry and settlement process. Contract size, funding, quote construction and execution rules can differ even when both reference the same market.
Is spot forex the same as a CFD?
Deliverable spot forex exchanges currencies for near-term settlement and is distinct from a CFD. A retail product labelled rolling spot may instead maintain leveraged price exposure without currency delivery. The account agreement and jurisdiction determine that product's classification. ESMA's March 2018 intervention FAQ included rolling spot forex within its CFD scope.
Can a TradingView futures alert execute on an MT5 CFD?
The source chart and requested broker symbol are separate parts of an alert workflow. Sending an instruction does not make a futures contract and a CFD equivalent. The mapping needs verified price levels, units, contract values, sessions and roll handling, followed by a demo-order check. Automatic conversion of all those properties is not documented by PineConnector.
Which is better for automated trading, CFDs or futures?
No contract type is universally better for automation. The relevant comparison is whether the strategy's source data, instrument definition and order rules match the receiving contract and account. Assess contract units, price increments, expiry, financing, trading hours and jurisdictional availability. A connector executes instructions; it does not choose the product or establish a trading edge.
Reviewed 25 September 2026. Facts were checked against the linked sources on that date. Nothing in this article was tested on a trading account and no code was compiled.
Related reading
- Trading mechanics library
- Lot size, contract size and lot step
- Why TradingView prices differ from the broker
- Swap, rollover and overnight fees
- Broker symbols, prefixes and suffixes
Sources
- ASIC MoneySmart – Thinking of trading in contracts for difference (CFDs)? (March 2012 product guide), accessed 25 September 2026.
- CFTC – Glossary: futures, spot, basis and clearing, accessed 25 September 2026.
- ESMA – Product intervention measures: CFD and binary option FAQ (27 March 2018), accessed 25 September 2026.
- MetaQuotes – MQL5 Reference: symbol properties and calculation modes, accessed 25 September 2026.
- MetaQuotes – Basic principles: exchange triggers, quotes, orders and deals, accessed 25 September 2026.
- TradingView – Pine Script release notes: futures contract identifiers and data adjustments, accessed 25 September 2026.
- TradingView – Sessions, accessed 25 September 2026.
- PineConnector – Frequently asked questions: price differences, accessed 25 September 2026.
- PineConnector – Syntax: prices, distances and broker specifications, accessed 25 September 2026.
- PineConnector – Test your setup, accessed 25 September 2026.
PineConnector executes the instructions you send it. It does not select trades, manage money, or hold funds. Trading carries risk, and past performance of any strategy does not indicate future results.
