Indices: four benchmarks that run the world
Each index tells a different story:
What each benchmark means
- S&P 500 — broad US equity health; the default risk barometer.
- NASDAQ 100 — growth and tech concentration; moves fastest on rate expectations.
- FTSE 100 — UK large caps with energy and commodity weight.
- DAX 40 — eurozone industrial pulse, sensitive to energy and exports.
Use them three ways: trend filter for stock picking, direct trend vehicle, and earnings-season context. A long stock book into a breaking index downtrend is a choice — make it consciously.
Energy and agriculture: trade the headlines
Oil and natural gas respond to supply decisions, inventories, geopolitics and weather — the exact forces dominating news flow. Agricultural commodities add a slower, weather-and-harvest cycle that diversifies equity-linked books.
Energy routine
- Check inventory and OPEC-calendar positioning.
- Read oil against the dollar — they usually pull opposite ways.
- Size smaller than equity index positions; energy gaps.
Gold, silver, platinum: the safe-haven shelf
Gold is the classic fear gauge and portfolio ballast; silver adds industrial leverage to gold's moves; platinum brings auto-catalyst and supply-concentration dynamics. Together they let you express caution (gold), cyclical optimism (silver) or idiosyncratic supply views (platinum) without leaving the platform.
Gold as a hedge, practically
- Pair equity longs with a standing gold watch — not always a position, always a quote.
- Watch real yields: rising real rates historically pressure gold.
- Size hedges to soften, not to profit — insurance thinking.
Cross-market reads the platform enables
| Signal | Read | Possible response |
|---|---|---|
| Indices up + gold up | Confident but hedging demand | Stay long, tighten stops |
| Oil spiking + indices soft | Inflation scare developing | Reduce duration-sensitive tech |
| Dollar surging + metals weak | Classic USD squeeze | Avoid fighting the dollar |
| DAX lagging + gas spiking | Eurozone energy pressure | Favour US over EU exposure |
Every row of that table is one glance on ICX Global — overview, heatmap, four charts — instead of four browser tabs and two logins.
Sizing macro positions
Macro instruments trend beautifully and gap brutally. Rules that survive contact with reality:
- Risk the same fraction per idea whether it is an index or an ounce of gold.
- Never hold full size into binary events (OPEC, CPI) unless the gamble is the thesis.
- Use the profit calculator before entry — know the money outcome of the technical level.
