Competitive margins

When you spread bet, you don't pay the full underlying value of the trade. However, before you trade you need to deposit money into your trading account. This is called initial margin or 'notional trading requirement' (NTR).

Initial margin rates vary between instruments and are calculated as a percentage of the overall value of the trade, typically between 1% and 10%.

An example

When you deposit £10,000 into a trade that requires a 10% margin, you can hold positions worth a total of £100,000. This means you gain 10 times the leverage on the money in your account.

However, the full value of any running losses must be met daily. This means you might need to deposit additional funds to support a position. This is known as variation margin.

We aim to offer some of the most competitive margins available on the market - typically margins are 10% or lower for individual shares. We use NTRs to margin all Equity Indices, Foreign Exchange, Bullion, Commodities and Treasury bets.