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Commodities Spread Betting: Markets, Costs & Leverage (2026)

Commodities spread betting is a spread bet priced per point on the underlying futures or spot price of an energy, metal or agricultural market. Your profit or loss is the points moved multiplied by your stake per point. Markets include crude oil and natural gas, gold, silver and copper, and wheat, coffee and sugar. As a UK retail client you must post a minimum margin of 5% on gold and 10% on other commodities under FCA rules, though a broker may ask for more.

Justin Grossbard, co-founder of Spread Bet UK

Written by Justin Grossbard

Updated:

What Changed?

Updated on 22 Sep 2026: The note on how figures are checked now says spreads are re-read monthly at each broker’s own UK site, most recently on 18 Sep 2026, and that every other broker figure was last checked on 22 Sep 2026. ThinkMarkets’ commodity count, still three, all metals, was re-counted, and ActivTrades’ commodity figure is now the total ActivTrades publishes rather than our own count. The author box now matches Justin Grossbard’s author page: a Master of Marketing from Monash University.

Fact Checked

Our spread bet content is supported by broker partners, who pay us on a retainer basis rather than per referral. This page is information rather than financial or tax advice.

Published Commodity Spreads And Market Counts

Published gold spreads by broker, read on the date shown
MarketClassPoint definitionPublished spread (broker, read on)
Gold (XAU/USD) Metal varies by broker from 0.1 points (Pepperstone, read 22 Sep 2026); from 0.3 points (IG, StoneX Trading, read 22 Sep 2026)

Each broker defines the gold point in its own contract terms, so where two brokers define it differently, the same stake per point means a different exposure. For the gold figures and the page each was read from, see spread betting on gold.

Commodity market counts, the broker's own total or our count marked †, read on the date shown
BrokerCommodity marketsRead onSource
CMC Markets 100+ 22 Sep 2026 cmcmarkets.com
Pepperstone 40 22 Sep 2026 pepperstone.com
IG 35 22 Sep 2026 ig.com
StoneX Trading 20+ 22 Sep 2026 cityindex.com
ActivTrades 18 22 Sep 2026 activtrades.co.uk
ThinkMarkets 3† 22 Sep 2026 thinkmarkets.com

† The figures for ThinkMarkets are our own count, made on 22 Sep 2026 from the commodity rows of each broker's published spread betting instrument table. Neither broker publishes a total. A variable spread moves during the day with liquidity and volatility, and a fixed spread is set per trading session, so we re-read the published figures monthly. To compare brokers on the current figures, use the ranked table of UK spread betting brokers.

What Commodities Can You Spread Bet With

Silver

A silver spread bet is priced on the spot silver price, quoted in US dollars per troy ounce, and staked in £ per point.

Silver trades as XAG/USD on most platforms. It moves with industrial demand as well as with the safe-haven flows that drive gold, because electronics, solar and jewellery consume it.

Other metals include:

  • Platinum
  • Palladium
  • Copper
  • Iron Ore

Energy Markets

Energy markets for commodity spread betting include:

  • Brent Crude
  • US Crude
  • Natural Gas
  • London Gas Oil
  • Heating Oil

Agricultural Commodities

Agricultural markets for commodity spread betting include:

  • Wheat
  • Corn
  • Soybeans
  • Cotton
  • Coffee
  • Sugar
  • Orange Juice

Not every broker we rank offers agricultural markets; ThinkMarkets' spread betting contract specifications list 3 commodities, all metals, by our count on 22 Sep 2026.

Commodity Futures

Some brokers like IG Group provide spread betting on commodity futures contracts, which reduces the nightly rollover fees but widens the spreads.

Commodity Options

Buying an option through spread betting options costs a premium, and that premium is the most you lose. Selling an option carries far larger risk, theoretically unlimited on a sold call.

Commodities are one of the five classes on our Spread Betting Markets hub, beside indices, currency pairs, shares, and bonds and interest rates.

What Leverage Applies To Commodity Spread Bets?

The leverage on a commodity spread bet is set by the FCA's retail margin rule, COBS 22.5.11R, which places gold in a lower margin tier than other commodities. The same chapter of the FCA Handbook sets the level at which a broker must close a retail client's positions.

FCA minimum retail margin, maximum leverage and close-out rule, read 19 Sep 2026
UnderlyingMinimum retail marginMaximum leverageFCA rule, read on
Gold 5% 20:1 COBS 22.5.11R,
Commodities other than gold 10% 10:1 COBS 22.5.11R,
Close-out level 50% of the margin required COBS 22.5,

Leverage, Tax And Stops Are Covered Once

Spread betting is leveraged, so losses can exceed what you set out to risk on a bet. Across the 14 providers we compare, between 61% and 76.6% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs.

Commodities Spread Betting FAQs

Yes, commodity spread betting is legal in the UK. The FCA regulates spread betting, capping retail margin on commodity bets under COBS 22.5, and the rules are covered on our page on UK spread betting regulation.

About the author:

Justin Grossbard

Justin Grossbard co-founded Spread-Bet.co.uk with Noam Korbl in 2024 and holds a Master of Marketing from Monash University. He has written for Kiplinger, Entrepreneur, Finance Magnates and MoneyShow since 2022, with articles on forex and trading at MoneyShow, Finance Magnates and Kiplinger.

Risk Warning: Spread betting and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You should consider whether you understand how spread betting and CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Change history: 2 earlier dated notes

  1. Updated on 19 Sep 2026: Pepperstone's gold spread now shows its spread betting figure, not its Razor account CFD figure. The claims that gold alone has a published spread, and the broker counts behind them, were removed. ActivTrades' and ThinkMarkets' commodity counts are now marked as our own, with the method and date. The FCA margin rules for gold and other commodities now cite the Handbook rule and the date it was read. Unsourced claims on metals, soft commodities and futures were removed, along with three FAQ entries that repeated the page.

  2. Rebuilt on 2 Sep 2026 as the commodities hub. The title now says what the page covers and the en dash is gone from it. The opening states how a commodity bet is priced and the FCA leverage limits, and two tables now carry what the brokers we rank publish: the gold spread of the three that state one, and the commodity market count of the six that state one, each with the date it was read. The benefits section, the five-step walkthrough, the worked example, the brokers section and five FAQ entries were cut: the first two restated the tax, leverage and beginners pages, the example priced a point at a dollar, which no broker we track has confirmed, and the rest belong to other pages. The silver section is unchanged from 2 Sep 2026. No published figure changed.

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