Spread betting with IG
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Low spreads i A spread in trading is the difference between the buy (offer) and sell (bid) prices quoted for an asset. This is also our charge for executing your trade. and fast execution from the UK’s No.1 FX provider.
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| Market | Retail margin i CFDs are leveraged, meaning you can win, or lose, a significant amount more than you deposit initially. The initial deposit is called margin. | Leverage i Leverage is available on several financial products, including spread bets, CFDs and forex trades. When trading using leverage, the provider will only ask for a fraction of the total value of your position: the rest is effectively lent to you by the provider. equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Forex | 3.33% | 1:30 |
| Indices | 5% | 1:20 |
| Shares | 20% | 1:5 |
| Commodities | 5% | 1:20 |
| Market | Minimum spreads i A spread in trading is the difference between the buy (offer) and sell (bid) prices quoted for an asset. This is also our charge for executing your trade. from | Commision i Leverage is available on several financial products, including spread bets, CFDs and forex trades. When trading using leverage, the provider will only ask for a fraction of the total value of your position: the rest is effectively lent to you by the provider. per side from |
|---|---|---|
| Forex | 0.6 | - |
| Indices | 0.1 | - |
| Shares | - | EU and UK shares: 0.10% US Shares: 2 cents |
| Commodities | 0.3 | - |
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FAQs
Yes, if your prediction of whether the market will rise or fall is correct, you’ll profit and if it’s incorrect, you’ll lose.
Learn about how to start spread betting .
It is important to remember that all forms of trading carry risk. So, although spread betting provides opportunities for profit, you should never risk more than you can afford to lose.
When you hedge using a spread bet, you open a position that will offset negative price movement in an existing position. This could be trading the same asset in the opposite direction, or on an asset that moves in a different direction to your existing trade.
For example, if you were worried that inflation might impact the value of your share portfolio, you might decide to take a long position on gold – an asset that typically has an inverse correlation with the dollar and can protect portfolios from inflation. If your shareholdings did decline, the profits from your spread bet on gold could offset any losses. But if your shareholdings rose in value instead, this profit could offset any potential loss to your gold spread bet.
Spread bets are not taxed. 2 Traditionally, when you buy and sell shares you have to pay stamp duty and capital gains tax on any profits that you make, but spread bets are tax-free. And because you don’t take ownership of the underlying asset, you won’t have to pay stamp duty either.
Spread betting is a bet on the future direction of a market, while a CFD is an agreement to exchange the difference in the price of an asset from when the contract is opened to when it is closed. There are a range of similarities and differences between these two derivative products.
Leverage is an inherent part of spread betting, so you can’t open a position without it. Before you start trading on leverage, it’s a good idea to build up your knowledge on the subject and create a risk management strategy.
Discover more about risk management , including what leverage is and how it impacts your trades
Dividend payments have no impact on your spread betting position. If you hold a spread bet open on an equity or index when a dividend payment takes place, we’ll make an adjustment to your position. This means that capital will either be credited or debited to your account if a dividend is paid, depending on whether you have incurred additional running loss/profit.
You can hold a spread bet open until the expiry date that you have chosen. All spread bets do have a fixed timescale but this can be from a day to several months, depending on your preference. You’re free to close your position at any time before the date of expiry.
Bet sizes in spread betting are the amount of capital that you’re putting up per unit of movement of the underlying market. You can choose your bet size, as long as it is above the minimum required for the market.