Rendered from our August 2026 data. The full list of 14, the comparison table and the cost board are on the ranking page.
See all 14 UK spread betting brokers ranked
Spread betting is leveraged, and between 61% and 76.6% of retail investor accounts lose money across the 14 brokers we compare. What that figure does and does not mean.
How a stake per point becomes a profit or a loss, then position sizing and where the stop goes. Start with our spread betting guide, then move on to spread betting strategies.
HMRC treats spread betting as gambling rather than investment, so for most UK individuals the profits carry no Capital Gains Tax and no Stamp Duty. The conditions, and the professional-trader exception, are in our spread betting tax rules.
Margin and profit per point on a specific bet are worked out by our spread betting calculator, on your own numbers and including the spread.
The write-up behind every score, covering costs, platforms, FCA entity and support, sits in our spread betting broker reviews directory.
We review 20 UK spread betting brands, and 14 of them currently offer an account you can open. Every one of those 14 is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority, and each is assessed against the same criteria. Bear in mind that there is always a risk involved with spread betting.
Three brands we have reviewed have stopped offering UK spread betting: Markets.com, ETX Capital and OvalX. They are covered in the reviews directory rather than listed here as accounts you can open.
Justin Grossbard and Noam Korbl founded Spread-Bet.co.uk in 2024, after watching traders try to work out a provider’s spread betting terms from a page written about its CFD account. Justin has spent over 20 years trading and investing; Noam has spent over 15 building fintech and business-finance ventures.
Every broker we rank is assessed against the same criteria, and the score is out of 100. Trading costs come from the average spreads each provider publishes on its own pricing page, re-read monthly and dated on every page that uses them: the current set was compiled on 1 Aug 2026. Everything else, from the FCA entity and reference number to what a demo account costs to open, is read from the provider’s own UK site and recorded with the date we read it.
Scores are independent of what a broker pays us. We are paid when a reader visits a partner site, and the ranking is not for sale; the arrangement is set out on our about us page and the criteria behind each score in our methodology. Where a provider publishes nothing we can quote, the cell stays empty rather than being filled from somebody else’s article.
Our head office is at 1/650 Inkerman Road, Caulfield North, Victoria, Australia, 3161. Contact us if you have a question about the site, its founders or spread betting in general.
Our spread betting calculator takes the guesswork out of spread betting by allowing you to explore margin requirements and calculate your profit and loss on a given spread bet.
You simply choose your currency pair, enter your position size, the opening and closing price of the trade and your margin requirement and a profit and loss will automatically be calculated.
The calculator uses industry average spreads drawn from more than 40 brokers and their end-of-day market prices.
When using the calculator, you can choose one of the six major currency pairs used in forex trading or you can choose ‘other’, if you want to spread bet on an alternative market like the FTSE 100 for example.
Spread betting is a derivative product that allows you to speculate on the price movements of financial markets without owning the underlying asset. You place bets on whether the price will rise or fall, and your profit or loss is determined by the accuracy of your prediction and the size of your bet.
Spread betting is the only derivative with a tax-free status in the UK, meaning you do not pay capital gains tax on your profits, or stamp duty when placing a bet.
In the UK, spread betting profits are tax-free for most retail traders, meaning you do not have to pay capital gains tax and stamp duty on your trades. However, if spread betting is your main source of income, your profits may be subject to income tax, although you will still be exempt from stamp duty.
We advise that you contact a tax professional if you have any specific questions on taxes and duties, as individual circumstances differ when it comes to spread betting.
Yes, spread betting is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK, and only brokers licensed and authorised by the FCA can provide spread betting markets.
All FCA-authorised spread betting firms must follow strict rules to protect clients, such as segregating client funds, providing negative balance protection, and offering transparent pricing.
Yes, some brokers offer MetaTrader 4 (MT4) for spread betting, but it’s not universally available. Most brokers prefer you to use their proprietary platforms, which are optimised for spread betting.
MT4 was designed for forex and CFD trading, so there may be limitations on spread betting. For instance, you may not be able to spread bet on equities or ETFs with MT4.
Instead of crunching headline numbers, we open the trading accounts ourselves to see the broker’s conditions and spreads. Scoring starts with cost per trade, taken from the average spreads each provider publishes and re-read every month.
We also assess the platforms each provider offers. Brokers with a wide range of quality platforms score higher, because they suit more betting styles: automated, copy trading and chart trading each need something different.
We then look at funding and withdrawal terms and at customer support, both of which say a great deal about how a provider operates and how well its staff know the product.
Points are added for what a provider gives you beyond the account: market analysis, rebate schemes and education. Out of those assessments comes a score out of 100 that reflects the value an account brings rather than a list of features. The full criteria are in our methodology, and the 14 accounts are ranked against each other in our UK platform comparison.
Disclaimer: Leveraged instruments are risky. Conduct your own research before trading on margin or with leverage. Trading with leverage is at your own risk. This page is information rather than financial or tax advice.
