New to financial spread betting

Spread betting has opened up an unprecedented range of financial markets for everyone.

At the click of a mouse you can move in and out of individual shares and indices, currencies, commodities and interest rates - going long or short.

Watching the charts and seeing your trades move in or out of profit is compelling stuff. And there lies the danger: you may find you're having so much fun that you forget it's a serious business.

To win at spread betting, you must know what you're doing and plan your strategy.

To get a good feel for what it's all about, open a demo account. This means you can practise placing bets using real prices, without risking your cash. Or watch our free webinars. Alternatively, open an account.

Marketmaker® is one of the most advanced trading platforms available and can be customised to meet your needs.

There are two different versions of Marketmaker® to choose from:

1. Desktop Marketmaker®
Download this platform and install it on your PC

2. Marketmaker® Mobile
This platform works on your mobile phone

There are two types of spread betting contracts:

The Daily Rolling Cash bet has the narrowest spread and is the best contract to trade if you plan to hold a position you have bought (long position) for the short term.

If you want to hold an equity spread bet for the medium term and you don't want to keeping paying the interest each day, you could consider this type of contract. It has a slightly wider spread than the Daily Rolling Cash bet but has the overnight financing charges built in at a discounted rate.

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You can place a bet with a deposit known as initial margin. The exact size of this margin depends on the type of asset you've chosen to bet on, but it ranges from 1% - 10% of your total position value.

Remember, you don't pay stamp duty or capital gains tax on profit*. However, if you have trading losses you can't offset these against capital gains you might have elsewhere.

Also, if you hold a position overnight you'll be subject to financing charges.

*Tax laws can change

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Make sure you understand how risk management tools work and when you should use them. Most importantly, start trading with small amounts.

• Stop loss order
• Limit orders
• Controlled risk bet (CRB)
• One Cancels the Other (OCOs)

We hope you feel ready to start financial spread betting. If you are, here’s some options for you:

• Open an account
• Request a demo
• Free webinar
• Contact us