I just picked up this thread. @torval who did you end up going with? I've just opened an IG CFD account basically to use in exactly the way that @sharks37 describes, as an alternative to shares to enable me to get a bit more leverage. So if I had say $50k of shares I would be comfortable opening $30-50k of underlying asset CFDs backed by the shares. I.e. would withstand upto 50% drop.
So I'm using this as an alternative to a margin loan. The plan would be to implement in my SMSF as harder to use margin loans (needs to be non recourse and can be more expensive) whereas SMSF can use CFD if the trust deed allows.
In non super I'd prefer to use IB's margin lending as lower cost and means you can also get the CGT tax benefits of holding shares versus CFDs plus dividend franking, and access to any rights issues etc which have been lucrative for me in 2017 by oversubscribing.
