How to Spread Bet

Spread betting is the act of speculating on the future price movement of a financial market such as a share, index, currency, commodity, etc.

For example, if you believe a company’s share price will rise in value, you can go long or place a buy spread bet and your profits will rise in line with each increase in the price of the underlying market – in this example, that would be the company’s share price.

Alternatively, if you think prices will fall, you can go short or place a sell spread bet and your profits will rise in line with each fall in the price of the underlying market, i.e. the company’s share price.

However, if prices move against the way you had speculated, you stand to make a loss for each price movement against your position.

Below, we offer an introduction to the basics of placing a spread bet and how the spread itself works.

Before placing a trade, read our Spread Bet Examples section where we offer you a 3-step guide to spread betting the UK 100.
 

How to Spread Bet: the Basics

When taking a position on a market through our range of trading platforms, you will be offered two prices – the ‘sell’ and ‘buy’ price and the difference between these two prices is known as the ‘spread’.

For example, let’s say the UK 100 is available at a spread of 5250/5251, the sell/buy price.

If you were to go long and buy this market, you would buy at 5251.

If you were to go short and sell this market, you would sell at 5250.

Tip: The difference between the buy and sell price changes with each market.

At Finspreads we offer some of the tightest spreads around, keeping your dealing costs as low as possible.

For example, we offer a 1 point spread on the 4 major indices - the FTSE 100 (UK 100), Wall Street, Germany 30 and France 40 - as well as forex spreads from 0.8 pips including EUR/USD.

Find out more today about our Range of Markets.