DAX
The DeutscherAktienindex, 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.
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.
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.