The "CFD", or "Contract for Difference", was developed to allow investors to receive all the benefits of trading with stocks without having to physically own the stock itself. For example, instead of purchasing 1,000 shares of General Motors from a stock broker, a client could instead buy a CFD on General Motors on the Windsor Direct 4 trading platform. A US$5 per share rise in the price of General Motors would grant the client a US$5,000 profit, just as if he/she would have profited if he/she had purchased the actual shares that are traded on the exchange.

A major difference is that there are no exchange fees by trading CFDs and many of the inefficiencies of trading the underlying shares on the exchange are eliminated. CFDs have grown in popularity dramatically over the past few years, and this will increasingly be the preferred way to trade at the financial markets.

The other major benefit of trading a CFD is the fact that the client can trade on margin. CFD trading means clients can trade a full portfolio of shares without having to tie up large amounts of capital.

Windsor offers the following CFDs USA on the WD4: