What is spread betting?

Spread betting allows you to trade on the price movements of financial markets including shares, indices, commodities and currencies.

  1. Select your product

    Find your product using the search tool or product library

  2. Select your stake

    Set your stake size - how much you want to bet

  3. Set your risk level

    When you open a new bet the platform will set a stop loss for that bet, equal to the margin requirement. You can adjust the stop loss before you place the bet, and you can also change it after your bet has been opened. Or, if you prefer not to use the transaction based stop loss feature simply turn it off in your account preferences.

  4. Place your bet

    If you think the price will go up, click ‘buy’ with the aim of selling it at a higher price. If you think the price will fall, click ‘sell’ with the aim of buying it back at a cheaper price

  5. Monitor your positions

    As soon as your trade is opened you can monitor your profit or loss in real time

Spread betting explained

To place a spread bet just decide whether the price of a product is likely to go up or down. You bet in pounds per point and your profit or loss is the difference between the price you buy at and the price you sell at, multiplied by your stake.

For example, if you bet £5 per point on Gold and the price rises 20 points you would make (£5 x 20) = £100. But if it falls 20 points you would lose £100.

Once you know what you want to bet, placing a spread bet online with us is simple.

Before opening a live account we recommend you practice on our demo platform.

The benefits of spread betting

You can bet on the price movements of global markets

Bet on the price movements of international companies, indices, commodities and currencies, all from one account.

It's simple to place a bet on our platform

With our platform you can click on any price you see to place a spread bet. You can also choose to turn on 1-click dealing.


Profits are tax free

Profits made from spread betting are exempt from capital gains tax (CGT) in the UK. Also, because you are not buying the underlying product, stamp duty will not apply. Tax treatment depends on your individual circumstances. Tax law can change or may differ in a jurisdiction other than the UK.

Make your money go further

When you spread bet you are trading on margin. If the margin for a bet is £10 and the margin rate for that product is 5%, this means you are actually placing a bet worth £200 - much more than the £10 margin. Margin rates typically range from 1% to 20%.

Profit when markets fall as well as rise

With spread betting it's just as easy to make (or lose) money from falling markets as it is from rising markets.

There's no currency risk

All your bets are in pound sterling, even for international markets. It doesn’t matter how the pound is faring against the dollar, the euro or the yen.

Remember - manage your risk:

To make money from spread betting you have to get the market direction right. This goes without saying. But it is equally important to understand how to manage your risk.

  • Transaction based stop loss. This is an important new feature we have added to our spread betting platform. It's there to help you manage your risk. Here’s how it works: When you open a new bet the platform sets a stop loss for that bet, equal to the margin requirement. You can adjust the stop loss before you place the bet, and you can also change it after your bet has been opened.

  • Set your own risk level. If you wish, you can turn off the transaction based stop loss feature in your account preferences. This means you can open and close bets without any stop loss orders. You can always select to add your own stop loss for any bet.

  • Practice on the demo account. We encourage you to practice spread betting using our demo account. It's free to use, risk free and is a fully featured spread betting platform.