Markets.com is a forex broker regulated across the UK and Europe providing CFD markets. Only recently it has stopped supporting spread betting and no longer accepts UK clients.
With Markets.com closing its doors to UK traders and spread betting, I have tested and found the best spread betting brokers you can use instead of Markets.com.
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Markets.com has stopped accepting new UK traders for spread betting as of late 2024. While there has been no official announcement, we found this information through contacting support after attempting to open an account.
If you do not currently have a Markets.com account, then you will not be able to use their services for spread betting or CFD trading. As the broker is still FCA-regulated, the door is still open for Markets.com to UK traders should the broker change its mind.
I’ve tried 16 spread betting brokers to find which gives the best performances with the lowest spreads. Based on my findings, here are the top 5 options with the broker’s key highlight below.
Pepperstone is my highest-rated UK spread betting broker achieving the best score of 98/100, outperforming in every category I tested them. With the broker hitting maximum marks for trading costs, best trading platforms, and trading experience I think it will be a broker that hits the right notes for most traders. A key factor for choosing a broker is how low its trading costs are and Pepperstone delivers in this department after comparing them with the rest of the industry.
Pepperstone offers variable spreads with no commissions which is standard practice for spread betting, but when I tested its spreads, the broker averaged 0.60 pips on EUR/USD. This was the lowest spread for EUR/USD out of the 16 brokers, and much cheaper than the industry average of 1.0 pip.
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Spread Bet Spreads
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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0.60 | 1.10 | 1.00 | 0.70 | 1.30 |
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0.90 | 1.20 | 1.40 | 1.10 | 1.80 |
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0.80 | 1.20 | 1.40 | 1.40 | 1.90 |
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0.85 | 1.40 | 1.40 | 0.82 | 1.77 |
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1.40 | 1.50 | 1.50 | 1.00 | 2.40 |
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1.10 | 1.30 | 1.40 | 1.40 | 1.60 |
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0.60 | 1.50 | 1.30 | 0.60 | 2.00 |
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0.90 | 1.70 | 1.00 | 0.80 | 1.90 |
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0.80 | 2.20 | 1.40 | 0.80 | 1.90 |
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1.20 | 1.80 | 1.70 | 1.10 | 2.70 |
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0.90 | 1.20 | 1.30 | 1.10 | 1.80 |
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0.80 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 2.50 |
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1.40 | 1.10 | 1.60 | 1.40 | 1.00 |
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1.90 | 1.20 | 2.00 | 1.00 | 1.70 |
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0.80 | 1.20 | 1.10 | 1.10 | 1.90 |
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1.40 | 1.60 | 1.80 | 2.10 | 1.80 |
Avg. spreads are taken from each broker's website and updated monthly. Last update on 07/01/2025
Low spreads were the common theme with Pepperstone in my tests as it also recorded better than industry average costs in 7/9 pairs tested. The standout results were from EUR/GBP, USD/CAD, and EUR/USD which had the lowest averages compared to the rest of the brokers tested.
| Pepperstone's Spread | Average Industry Spread | |
|---|---|---|
| EUR/USD | 0.6 | 1.0 |
| AUD/USD | 0.7 | 1.1 |
| EUR/GBP | 1.1 | 1.4 |
| GBP/USD | 1 | 1.3 |
| USD/JPY | 0.8 | 1.3 |
| AUD/JPY | 1.7 | 2.1 |
| EUR/JPY | 2 | 2.2 |
| USD/CAD | 1.3 | 1.9 |
| USD/SGD | 2.9 | 3.6 |
I was also impressed with Pepperstone’s costs for its shares spread bet markets, again the broker performed well in this category achieving the lowest average cost. On UK shares, Pepperstone charges a 4-point spread, while on international markets like US shares it charges 0.10% much cheaper than the 0.25% brokers like FxPro charge.
| Share Category | Pepperstone Spread | Industry Average |
|---|---|---|
| UK Shares | 4pt | 5.19pt |
| US Shares | 0.10% | 0.16% |
| Geman Shares | 0.10% | 0.15% |
| Hong Kong Shares | 0.10% | 0.20% |
| Australian Shares | 0.10% | 0.17% |
By offering such low spreads on UK and international shares, I think Pepperstone is one of the better choices if you want to spread bet on shares. Especially with the broker’s range of 1,000 share markets, while not the largest, it covers popular companies from the UK, US, EU, Hong Kong and Australia.
Amongst low trading costs, Pepperstone also excelled with its execution speeds ranking first place overall offering the best protection against market slippage and having a high fill rate for your orders. While testing the broker, Pepperstone averaged limit order speeds of 77ms meaning your stop-loss orders are more likely to get executed and avoid negative price slippage.
For market order execution (instant orders), Pepperstone averaged 100ms providing a great service if you’re a scalper or algorithmic trader.
| Execution Speed Tested Results | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Broker | Overall | Limit Order Speed | Limit Order Rank | Market Order Speed | Market Order Rank |
| Pepperstone | 1 | 77 | 1 | 100 | 1 |
| City Index | 2 | 95 | 2 | 131 | 2 |
| FxPro | 3 | 151 | 5 | 138 | 3 |
| Admiral Markets | 4 | 132 | 3 | 182 | 6 |
| CMC Markets | 5 | 138 | 4 | 180 | 5 |
| IG | 6 | 174 | 6 | 141 | 4 |
While reviewing Pepperstone, I found that the broker is the only one to offer TradingView, cTrader, MetaTrader 4, and MetaTrader 5 for spread betting. Barely any brokers I tested offer anything other than their proprietary platforms, so being able to use platforms I’m familiar with was a big positive in my book.
With a broad range of spread betting platforms, it opens up Pepperstone’s excellent services to more trading styles. For instance, if you want to automate your trades you need to use MT4, MT5, or cTrader, while proprietary trading platforms I’ve tested don’t have the features for automated trading. This leaves a large gap in the market to cater to automated trading, which I think Pepperstone fills with its tight spreads and fast execution speeds.
My Take on Pepperstone
I highly rated Pepperstone scoring 98/100 on my tests as I think it’s a broker that can accommodate every trader while supporting you with the best trading conditions. This is backed up in my testing with the broker achieving the lowest spreads (from 0.60 pips) for 7/9 currency pairs tested and the fastest execution speeds across.
To top it off, it’s the only broker to offer MT4, MT5, TradingView, and cTrader as platform options which are the best platforms in my opinion.
73.7% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider.
One thing I liked about Spreadex was its solid spread betting app which I found offered a smooth trading experience on the iPhone during my tests. Normally, mobile apps like MT4 frustrate me due to clunky designs and lagging between charts but Spreadex’s app felt fluid in comparison, with responsive charts and order tickets.
If you like to perform technical analysis on your mobile devices, Spreadex offers 35+ trading indicators which include Ichimoku and Bollinger Bands, as well as access to Fibonacci retracement indicators. So the mobile app certainly holds up well for its technical analysis tools.
An indicator that I found unique to Spreadex was the Pro Trend Lines feature that automates placing support and resistance levels in addition to trend lines to your charts. Pro Trend Lines uses multi-timeframe analysis and its algorithm to detect areas of the market where price will likely react, making it a great tool for breakout trading.
The trading conditions on the app were decent, but the broker impressed me with its low spreads from my testing. Spreadex recorded 0.90 pips average spreads for EUR/USD, placing it third best in this category and below the 1.0 pip industry average.
I also consider Spreadex to be a low-cost spread betting broker as 7/8 currency pairs were also cheaper than their industry averages as you can see from the table below:
| SpreadEX Spread | Average Industry Spread | |
|---|---|---|
| EUR/USD | 0.9 | 1.0 |
| AUD/USD | 1.1 | 1.1 |
| EUR/GBP | 1.2 | 1.4 |
| GBP/USD | 1.4 | 1.3 |
| USD/JPY | 1.1 | 1.3 |
| AUD/JPY | 1.8 | 2.1 |
| EUR/JPY | 1.8 | 2.2 |
| USD/CAD | 1.8 | 1.9 |
| USD/SGD | 2.6 | 3.6 |
You can benefit from the low trading costs on over 10,000 spread betting markets, positioning Spreadex as one of the top brokers for financial instruments. You can access all markets on the Spreadex mobile app, which includes forex, commodities, shares, ETFs, and indices.
If you are a professional trader, you may be interested that Spreadex is the only broker to provide spread betting markets on cryptocurrencies.
My Take on Spreadex
I gave Spreadex 96/100 in my review for its tight spreads from 0.90 pips, 10,000+ spread bet markets, and excellent trading platforms. If you like to bet through a mobile device, I think the Spreadex app is your perfect partner with its responsive charting and trade management tools.
65% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider.
While using OANDA, I thought the broker offers a great trading experience for beginners, especially with its OANDA Trade platform, balancing TradingView’s advanced charting with beginner-friendly risk management tools. As it leverages TradingView’s charts, you get access to 70+ indicators which is enough to test your trading strategies, but what stood out for me was its risk management features.
A feature unique to OANDA Trade was its low stake sizes from £0.01p providing a safe environment when you move from a demo account to a live trading environment. I think this makes the broker a great starting point with 1p per point stake sizes, allowing you to test your strategies with the lowest financial risk possible.
OANDA also has no minimum deposit, allowing you to open a live account with £10 if you want to and still open positions with 1p per point. This is just one of the reasons I rated the broker highly for beginners. In comparison, other brokers may require you to deposit £100 and start with a bet size of 50p per point, which could be expensive if you make mistakes.
I found that OANDA Trade had excellent risk management tools including standard, trailing, and guaranteed stop-loss orders (GLSO) for you to implement with each order. The GLSO is an excellent option as it will exit your bets at the price set, even in volatile markets saving you money on losses caused by negative price slippage.
The best feature about GLSOs is that you do not pay the premium if the stop loss is never executed. So as a beginner, it makes sense to use them until you have developed an airtight risk management strategy.
In addition to OANDA Trade, if you want more advanced features like custom indicators or automated trading tools then you should switch to MetaTrader 4 or TradingView.
All platforms have access to the broker’s 100+ markets which is limited compared to the rest of the industry, especially considering it doesn’t offer shares. However, it does have a solid offering of 68 forex pairs and 29 commodities, covering major markets like crude oil and gold.
My Take on OANDA
I gave OANDA a score of 91/100 in my broker review after being impressed with the broker’s high scores on my trust, customer service and trading costs categories. The broker’s strengths suit beginners as you can use low stake sizes from 0.8p, no minimum deposit required, and access to top risk management tools on its OANDA Trade platform.
76.6% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider.
I found IG Markets to have the most financial instruments in my testing, giving you access to 17,000 products, dwarfing its competitors that provide 1,000 to 2,000.
With such a range of products, you can bet on 100+ forex pairs, 130+ indices, 30+ commodities, 5,000+ ETFs, 14 bonds, and 13,000 individual shares. I liked the large selection as it lets you spread bet in a variety of markets using one account, instead of using different brokers for shares and another for forex.
Amongst the selection of markets included two extra product types including futures and options markets, offering you unique ways to bet on the markets.
The futures markets are a great alternative if you have a longer-term trading idea that may last weeks because you do not pay the overnight financing fees. Whereas with traditional spread bets, you will pay a percentage based on your margin every night while the bet is open, increasing your trading costs.
Options give you an alternate way of betting on the markets to profit from price direction and increased volatility with risk limited to the cost of opening an option (premium). These are good tools if you have a longer-term idea and want to benefit from announcements like GDP or earning reports to profit from the increased volatility.
Both of these options allow for longer-term trading while still exempt from capital gains and stamp duty, making them good tools to use for hedging your stock portfolios. One thing to point out is that you can only spread bet in these markets on the IG Trading platform.
The IG Trading platform has the core features you want from a platform including 50+ indicators and access to market news including IGTV which is like their own Bloomberg channel. It’s the only option if you wish to bet across its 17,000+ markets as the alternatives (MetaTrader 4 and ProRealTime) lack some of the markets.
MetaTrader 4 in particular doesn’t offer stocks, options or futures, but is an excellent option if you want to automate your forex trades by using expert advisors. While ProRealTime lacks futures and options markets, ProRealTime offers excellent technical analysis tools like ProReal Trend to automate finding support and resistance levels, allowing for quick market analysis.
What surprised me was how well IG Markets performed in my trading costs test with 9/9 currency pairs beating their industry averages. The broker average spread for EUR/USD is 0.85 pips, while it is 0.82 pips for AUD/USD.
| IG Average Spreads | Average Industry Spread | |
|---|---|---|
| EUR/USD | 0.85 | 1.0 |
| AUD/USD | 0.82 | 1.1 |
| EUR/GBP | 1.4 | 1.4 |
| GBP/USD | 1.4 | 1.3 |
| USD/JPY | 0.94 | 1.3 |
| AUD/JPY | 1.79 | 2.1 |
| EUR/JPY | 1.97 | 2.2 |
| USD/CAD | 1.77 | 1.9 |
| USD/SGD | 4.7 | 3.6 |
My Take on IG Markets
IG Markets delivered a decent trading experience on its IG Trading platform considering it offers 17,000 markets and tight spreads, the broker earned a solid 86/100 score. With access to futures and options markets, it gives you alternative ways to profit from the markets by using one spread betting account.
69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider.
Out of the 16 brokers I’ve tested, AvaTrade is the only one to offer fixed spreads that may appeal to you if you day trade or automate your bets. This is because fixed spreads do not widen during volatile times such as news announcements like non-farm payrolls, allowing you to enter bets at the same prices.
I found this useful if you overlook upcoming events and accidentally open a bet during an announcement, as with variable spreads this mistake could cost you a lot of money.
What impressed me is that the fixed spreads were competitive, if not better than some of the variable spread brokers in my tests. For example, AvaTrade’s spread on EUR/USD is 0.90 pips which is lower than 11 of the 16 brokers tested and below the industry average of 1.0 pip.
| AvaTrade Average Spread | Average Industry Spread | |
|---|---|---|
| EUR/USD | 0.9 | 1.0 |
| AUD/USD | 1.1 | 1.1 |
| EUR/GBP | 1.2 | 1.4 |
| GBP/USD | 1.3 | 1.3 |
| USD/JPY | 1.3 | 1.3 |
| AUD/JPY | 2.1 | 2.1 |
| EUR/JPY | 1.8 | 2.2 |
| USD/CAD | 1.8 | 1.9 |
| USD/SGD | 3.9 | 3.6 |
However, the broker’s spreads were slightly more expensive across the other 8 forex pairs tested but surprisingly 8/9 pairs performed better than the industry averages. With that said, I’d only look at betting on EUR/USD and EUR/JPY where it is most competitive as you can see in the table above. If you want to bet on other markets you’d find better value with a broker like Spreadex.
Interestingly, I felt AvaTrade missed the mark with its range of 150+ financial markets, one of the lowest selections I’ve seen, only just beating OANDA. You do get access to a variety of assets like forex, commodities, indices, and shares, but they are limited in numbers which may not be appealing.
One area that I ranked AvaTrade highly in was its trading platforms scoring 7/10 for offering MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5. You get a similar experience with both with 30+ indicators and drawing tools, automated trading tools, and custom indicators making them great platforms for analysing markets like EUR/USD.
If you want to bet on shares, I found you can only do this on MetaTrader 5 as the MT4 platform doesn’t support the price feed of shares.
My Take on AvaTrade
AvaTrade scored 48/100 in my tests as I thought the broker underperformed in major categories like range of markets and customer service. I think AvaTrade is a good platform if you want stable costs during your trading day thanks to its competitive pricing on forex majors. However, outside of these markets, I found the broker to be expensive which is why you may get better value from variable spread brokers like Pepperstone.
66% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider.
Markets.com is a forex broker that specialises in CFD trading for its 4.7 million clients across the world. Since launching in 2009, the broker has grown in popularity and gained licences in 5 major jurisdictions which include the UK, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. In our latest review, Markets.com no longer provides services to new UK-based traders which is a letdown if you want to spread bet with the broker.
With Markets.com pausing new clients in the UK, I have to recommend alternatives like Pepperstone, Spreadex, or OANDA which provide excellent spread betting services.
Spread betting can be worth it if you put in the time to practise and learn how to spread bet while understanding that it’s not a get-rich-quick scheme. If you develop a consistently profitable trading strategy and have decent risk management, you will have the potential to grow your capital.
Spread betting is a derivative financial product that you use to speculate on a market’s price direction without owning the underlying asset. You profit by predicting the direction of the asset, which scales for every point you are correct based on your stake size. The key advantage of spread betting is that it allows you to bet in bullish and bearish markets, letting you profit in any market condition.
You can lose money spread betting if you get the price direction wrong as you bet with your capital to open each position. You can limit your losses by using standard, trailing, or guaranteed stop-loss orders to ensure your bets exit at the price level you set.
Spread betting is tax-free in the UK, meaning you do not declare capital gains tax on profits and stamp duty on purchases. Spread betting is exempt from these taxes as the HMRC lists it as a “gambling” product, which is also tax-free from capital gains tax. As you do not own the underlying asset, spread betting is also relieved from stamp duty, making spread betting a cost-effective way of investing.
Yes, spread betting is legal and is overseen by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK as a regulated activity just like traditional investing markets like shares and investment funds. Only brokers that are FCA-regulated can provide spread betting services to retail and professional traders.
Spread betting can be seen as a better option compared to CFDs as you do not have to pay capital gains tax on profits. Plus, you do not pay currency conversion fees on international assets because all spread bet markets are based in GBP. However, CFDs can have lower trading costs through raw pricing and can also net off the losses against profits, reducing capital gains tax owed.
The FCA restricts retail traders from spread betting on cryptocurrencies in the UK as it is a high risk and unregulated trading activity. However, Spreadex offers professional traders (classed by the FCA) to spread bet on crypto markets.
Some brokers no longer offer UK residences spread betting facilities including OvalX, ETX Capital, Admirals and Trading 212. This is a reflection of the operating costs in the UK under FCA regulation and tight margins as new providers such as Pepperstone have offered lower fees.
