Best UK Spread Betting Platforms

We placed Pepperstone as our best spread betting platform after achieving 10/10 in 5/6 categories tested while also winning the titles for “lowest spreads” and “fastest execution speeds”. Pepperstone also supports its traders with a great selection of 1,200+ markets and 4 platforms (TradingView, MT4, MT5, cTrader) that would appeal to every trading style.
Combining all of these factors, we gave Pepperstone 98/100 overall head and shoulders above its competition.

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75.1% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider.

Pepperstone is our best performer in the trading costs category with the tightest spreads on the 9 currency pairs sampled, making it a great option if you value low fees. We found that the lowest spread was on EUR/USD averaging 0.80 pips, 0.32 pips cheaper than the industry average of 1.12 pips.

Spread Bet Spreads	EUR/USDEUR/GBPGBP/USDAUD/USDUSD/CADEUR/JPYAUD/JPYUSD/JPYUSD/SGD	EUR/USDEUR/GBPGBP/USDAUD/USDUSD/CADEUR/JPYAUD/JPYUSD/JPYUSD/SGD	EUR/USDEUR/GBPGBP/USDAUD/USDUSD/CADEUR/JPYAUD/JPYUSD/JPYUSD/SGD	EUR/USDEUR/GBPGBP/USDAUD/USDUSD/CADEUR/JPYAUD/JPYUSD/JPYUSD/SGD	EUR/USDEUR/GBPGBP/USDAUD/USDUSD/CADEUR/JPYAUD/JPYUSD/JPYUSD/SGD
	0.80	1.10	1.40	1.00	1.40
	0.90	1.20	1.40	1.10	1.80
	1.00	1.10	1.50	1.20	1.50
	0.85	1.40	1.40	0.82	1.77
	1.10	1.30	1.60	1.20	1.60
	1.20	1.30	1.30	1.20	1.70
	1.00	1.50	1.50	1.00	1.80
	1.00	1.30	1.60	1.30	1.50
	1.30	1.50	1.50	1.50	1.50
	0.90	1.40	1.40	1.30	2.20
	0.90	1.20	1.60	1.50	1.80
	1.10	1.50	1.40	1.40	1.70
	1.20	1.50	1.50	1.40	1.80
	1.90	1.20	2.00	1.00	1.70
	1.40	1.70	1.60	1.40	1.80
	1.40	1.40	1.70	1.90	1.70

Avg. spreads are taken from each broker's website and updated monthly. Last update on 20/09/2024

These may appear like small numbers, but over time Pepperstone’s spreads will save you ~30% on your EUR/USD trading costs against the industry, helping you save a small fortune if you focus on this forex pair.

Pepperstone outperformed the industry in 7/9 forex pairs with USD/CAD (1.40 pips) and EUR/GBP (1.10 pips) standing out as being the tightest spreads available. To us, this reinforced that Pepperstone is a solid pick for forex spread betting as you won’t find tighter spreads based on our analysis.

We were also impressed that Pepperstone didn’t just focus on providing low costs on its forex pairs, but also across its assets including shares. The broker also provided the lowest spreads with 4 points on UK stocks and a 0.10% flat spread across international shares from the US, EU, Asia, and Australia.

We liked that Pepperstone gives you a choice of spread betting platforms, options being TradingView, MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, and cTrader which all provide decent technical analysis features. Not only did Pepperstone have the most platform options, but also the best trading tools with Smart Trader Tools for MT4 and Autochartist.

Smart Trader Tools is a set of 28 plugins and 30 indicators to provide better trade management and advanced indicators like pivot points, greatly improving MT4’s tools. Autochartist provides price action-based automated technical analysis which you can use to find new trade ideas during the day and can be a helpful tool if you day trade.

To help give you the best trading experience with the platforms, we found Pepperstone recorded the fastest execution speeds in our tests. Pepperstone averaged 77ms for its limit order speed and 100ms for market orders (instant), the lower these are the less likely you are to suffer negative price slippage.

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75.3% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider.

We liked how well Spreadex performed in its trading platform test scoring 10/10 for its excellent mobile app along with competitive spreads on 10,000+ markets. Scoring highly in these categories ensured the broker secured a 96/100 in our tests making it our second-best broker for spread betting.

64% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider.

Spreadex is our top pick for its spread betting app which provides a solid and responsive experience on the iPhone and Android devices in our tests. Analysing forex pairs like USD/JPY is great on the app with its 35+ technical indicators such as MACD and moving averages letting you apply your trading strategy on the go.

If you use support and resistance levels or trendlines, then the Pro Real Trend indicator is an excellent tool that automates this process using multi-timeframe analysis to pinpoint these levels. We thought this was a great addition, as plotting lines on charts can be problematic on a smaller device, while also providing some confirmation bias behind the price action levels.

We liked that the app has guaranteed stop-loss orders, giving you the option to secure your stop-loss for a small premium on markets that are sensitive to announcements like gold. The guaranteed stop-loss will close your position even if there is no current price (due to volatility), ensuring your losses are limited and do not suffer slippage.

Trading conditions on the app were decent too, while testing we found the broker produced reliable executions and decent spreads. Spreadex averaged 0.90 pips on EUR/USD, placing it third lowest of the 16 brokers tested, while all 9 pairs tested beat the industry averages in our tests.

Using the Spreadex app, you can tap into the broker’s range of 10,000+ financial markets, accessing over 70 currency pairs, commodities, 17 indices, 9,000+ shares, bonds and ETFs. If you have access to a professional spread betting account, then you can spread bet cryptocurrencies which is unique to Spreadex as no other broker allows spread betting crypto markets.

We gave OANDA a score of 91/100 in our tests thanks to its low spreads from 1 pip on EUR/USD and excellent trading conditions great for beginners. The broker’s OANDA Trade positioned itself as a top platform for beginners with its low minimum stakes from £0.01p, guaranteed stop-loss orders, and free Autochartist signals.

76.6% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider.

We awarded OANDA as the best spread betting broker for beginners for its excellent OANDA Trade platform which is bundled with features to help lower risk. A key highlight we found using OANDA was opening spread bets with £0.01p per point stake sizes, significantly lower than the £0.50p minimum brokers like IG Markets charge.

If you are taking the step to trade live and risking real money, this is the perfect platform to start small and avoid large financial losses from mistakes. This also means you don’t need to deposit large capital to open your bets if you choose to spread bet at this level, lowering the funding requirements for new traders.

When we opened our OANDA account we found that the broker does not require a minimum deposit, so you can start trading with funds you are comfortable to risk. Even if it’s £10 you’ll still be able to open a spread bet with £0.01p stake sizes.

OANDA helps keep your costs low to maximise your trading capital, so you can open more trades without the fees eating away at your account. The broker delivered low spreads in our trading costs tests, with EUR/USD averaging one pip beating the 1.12 pip industry average.

We found the broker also recorded strong results with 5/9 forex pairs outperforming the industry averages with USD/JPY averaging 1 pip, which is the lowest tested.

Surprisingly, considering how large OANDA is we found the selection of 150+ markets to be on the low side, especially considering most brokers offer 1,000+ markets. That said, the selection isn’t terrible as you get access to 68 currency markets covering the major and minor pairs, 29 commodities, and 16 indices.

We rated City Index 82/100 in our broker tests earning strong results in our trading platform, range of markets, and trading conditions categories with fast execution speeds (sub 130ms). With access to 8,500 markets, City Index Web Trader platform offers TradingView charting with strong risk management tools like guaranteed stop-loss orders to protect your capital.

69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider.

We were impressed with City Index’s Web Trader platform as it uses TradingView’s advanced charts, which we think are the best in the industry. By default, the platform gives you 100+ technical indicators like Bollinger Bands and access to top drawing tools including Fibonacci retracement which is ideal for price action traders.

Solid risk management is also built into the platform, including stop-loss options like guaranteed stop-loss orders (GLSOs) to offer maximum protection against volatile markets. If you day trade, then the broker’s trading signals from Trading Central an appealing too and can help you find trade ideas for forex, commodities, and indices like NASDAQ.

City Index is also one of the larger brokers with access to 8,500 financial spread betting markets that the signals can automatically scan. We found the broker had a decent choice of 84 forex pairs, which is one of the largest offered by brokers. In addition to forex, City Index has 4,700 shares, 20 indices, and over 14 commodity markets with additional futures markets on each of these asset classes.

We found City Index’s trading conditions provided a stable service for spread betting from our testing. The broker claimed second place in our execution speed tests with a 95ms limit order speed and 131ms market order speed, ensuring your orders are filled near-instantly.

Average spreads were also competitive, we recorded the broker’s EUR/USD to average 1.10 pips, only just lower than the industry average of 1.12 pips. That said, City Index generally outperformed the market averages across all 9 currency pairs we tested and finished fifth best overall for trading costs.

The IG spread betting account scored 86/100 in our reviews with solid results in our trading platforms, costs, and market selection tests with 17,000+ products, the best choice in our tests. What we loved was that their demo account has no expiry date and a pre-set balance of £10,000 in virtual funds.

69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider.

IG Markets has the best range of spread bet markets with over 17,000+ products, surpassing every broker we tested that averaged 2,000 markets. These markets are made up of 130+ indices, 13,000+ stocks, 100+ forex pairs, 5,000 ETFs, and 30+ commodities letting you bet on any market using one account.

What made IG Markets stand out with its markets was offering futures and options markets, giving you new ways to spread bet long-term ideas or hedge your long-only portfolios.

Futures markets are a great addition if you like to focus on longer-term trading ideas on markets like the FTSE 100 as you do not pay overnight fees on futures. Instead, you pay a slightly wider spread to open the bet, while still having the advantages of tax-free profits spread betting offers.

In our testing, we found you can only access the broker’s full catalogue of markets on the IG Trading platform. We felt like this wasn’t a bad thing as it is well-equipped for technical and fundamental analysis that competes with most web-based trading platforms.

With access to so many financial instruments, we like that IG Markets provides free trading signals to automatically scan and find opportunities across commodities, indices, and forex pairs. We found the Signal Centre easy to use but also provides a comprehensive commentary from providers Autochartist and PIA First, while also providing exact buy and exit prices.

If you want more advanced platforms, IG Markets provides ProRealTime and MetaTrader 4 giving experienced traders the option to customise their indicators or automate strategies.

We were also impressed with how low IG Markets’ spreads were in our testing. The broker averaged 0.85 pips on EUR/USD which placed it second lowest overall, and 4/9 pairs tested averaged tighter spreads than its competitors.

As you can see from the table below, IG Markets positions itself as a low-cost broker, which is impressive when you also factor in the range of markets available.

We scored FXCM 64/100 in our tests for providing decent trading conditions on the MetaTrader 4 and competitive spreads from 1 pip on EUR/USD. The broker provides a solid range of tools to boost the MetaTrader 4’s platform features including a VPS and Capitalise.ai to make automating bets easy.

64% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider.

We think that FXCM positions itself as a good MetaTrader 4 broker because of these great trading conditions and its extra trading tools if you become a client. MetaTrader 4 is a solid all-around trading platform with plenty of advanced features like 30+ indicators and automated trading tools, which not many platforms offer.

One unique feature we found was access to Capitalise.ai which provides a no-code solution to automating your strategies without knowing how to program them. We think this is a top feature as you can type your trading strategy rules to the AI and within minutes you’ll have it automated including risk management rules.

After testing FXCM, we felt the broker provided a solid trading experience after scoring 7/10 for its fast execution speeds and competitive spreads. FXCM averaged 1 pip on EUR/USD in our tests, better than the industry average saving you money every time you spread bet with FXCM.

If you want to maximise your automated strategies or fine-tune your execution times, you can choose a Virtual Private Service (VPS) to run your MT4 platform for £30 a month. Although this may not appeal to all traders, it gives you the option to spread bet the markets 24/5, especially if you automate your bets with Capitalise.ai.

You can spread bet on 450+ markets with FXCM, which isn’t the largest selection compared to brokers like Pepperstone or IG Markets, which have thousands. FXCM still offers a solid variety for high liquidity markets with 41 forex pairs, 15 indices, and 21 commodities covering major markets like EUR/USD, S&P 500, and gold. However, its 350 shares and 1 ETF is a letdown considering other brokers offer 1,000+ options.

CMC Markets scored 62/100 in testing for providing competitive spreads and the largest range of 330+ currency markets and over 12,000 financial instruments. The broker’s NGEN platform also stood out thanks to advanced charts and tools giving you access to its pattern recognition tools to automatically find new trading ideas.

68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider.

CMC Markets has a large pool of 12,000 markets covering everything from commodities to indices, including 330+ currency markets which is the widest choice from the brokers tested. This selection of currency pairs is more extensive compared to its peers that generally offer 70+ markets, and covers all majors, minors, and exotic pairs.

Considering how many forex pairs are available, we liked that the NGEN platform has filters for these products, allowing you to view different lists like USD, EUR, and JPY crosses. Having this feature, we think it makes it faster to find the right currency pairs while filtering currency pairs you’re not interested in, thus streamlining your watchlists.

In addition to customising your watchlists, the NGEN platform is a great platform for market analysis with its 60+ technical indicators including moving averages and pivot points.

A feature we used while testing the platform was the pattern recognition tool that automates analysing candlestick and chart patterns across the 12,000+ markets. The tool is customisable, so you can choose which patterns and what markets it scans.

So, if you find wedge patterns and engulfing candlesticks have the highest accuracy, then you can turn the other patterns off during the scan. Streamlining the tool and only showing you the signals with the highest probability based on your experience.

We chose FxPro for its great chart package on its Edge Web Platform, providing decent technical analysis indicators and performance management tools to help keep you on track. The broker also has fast execution speeds and trading signals, providing an ideal trading environment for day trading.

73% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider.

For a proprietary platform, the FxPro Edge Web Trader impressed us with its charts which we thought were better than MT4’s thanks to one-click trading on chart trading and responsive design.

You can tell when developing the charts FxPro had traders in mind with the one-click feature on the charts, making it easier for scalpers and day traders to place bets.

We liked that the FxPro’s platform comes with 50+ indicators built-in, which covers popular indicators like Donchian Channels along with momentum, volatility, volume, and reversal-based indicators. Plus, you can access 15 timeframes from 1 minute upwards to a month and 6 chart types, including candlesticks and Heikin Ashi, giving you the freedom to customise your charts.

A great addition we found on the platform was the ability to track your overall performance with graphs to see how you are performing. We think this is useful so you can analyse your trading to find your strengths and weaknesses, using it as a tool to improve as a spread bettor.

FxPro advertises you can trade 2,100 markets, but after opening a spread betting account it appears this is restricted to 100 markets covering forex, commodities, and indices.