The safest spread betting brokers in the UK are FCA-authorised, and all 14 we rank are. The table shows each firm’s register entity, reference number and authorisation status, read on the Financial Services Register on 3 Sep 2026.
Updated on 24 Sep 2026: The illustration of the retail protections no longer says Financial Ombudsman Service access normally goes when you elect professional client status. The FCA Handbook’s complaint rules (DISP 2.7.9AR) keep that access for a complainant acting as a consumer. The page’s tables now carry captions saying what each table shows. No other statement on the page changed. A sentence was added that links our guide to what spread betting is and how it works.
Our spread bet content is supported and we may receive payment when you visit a partner site. This page is information rather than financial or legal advice.
Financial spread betting is the FCA’s; sports spread betting is the Gambling Commission’s. Section 10 of the Gambling Act 2005 draws the line, and this site covers the FCA side only.
The Safest Spread Betting Brokers: All 14 Firms On The FCA Register
All 14 providers we track are authorised by the FCA, and between them they hold 15 authorisations, because one of them operates two entities. The name on the register is frequently not the name on the website.
Each of the 14 providers, with its authorised entity and FRN, register status, authorisation date, the date the register was read and the captured entry.
Pepperstone: Pepperstone Limited, FRN 684312, authorised since 5 Aug 2015
Spreadex: Spreadex Limited, FRN 190941, authorised since 1 Dec 2001
Capital.com: Capital Com (UK) Limited, FRN 793714, authorised since 26 Oct 2018
IG: IG Index Limited, FRN 114059, authorised since 1 Dec 2001 and IG Markets Limited, FRN 195355, authorised since 1 Dec 2001
ThinkMarkets: TF Global Markets (UK) Limited, FRN 629628, authorised since 23 Jan 2015
OANDA: OANDA Europe Limited, FRN 542574, authorised since 17 May 2011
StoneX Trading: StoneX Financial Ltd, FRN 446717, authorised since 24 Mar 2006
Trade Nation: TRADE NATION FINANCIAL UK LTD, FRN 525164, authorised since 9 May 2011
FXCM: Stratos Markets Limited, FRN 217689, authorised since 27 May 2003
CMC Markets: CMC Markets UK plc, FRN 173730, authorised since 1 Dec 2001
ActivTrades: Activtrades Plc, FRN 434413, authorised since 27 Oct 2005
Spread Co: Spread Co Limited, FRN 446677, authorised since 6 Oct 2006
Vantage: Vantage Global Prime LLP, FRN 590299, authorised since 1 Jul 2013
FxPro: FXPRO UK Limited, FRN 509956, authorised since 10 Sep 2010
Five of those rows carry a brand that does not by itself identify the authorised company you contract with:
IG:two entities are authorised and IG’s own footer cites both: IG Markets Ltd under FRN 195355 and IG Index Ltd under FRN 114059. They are not interchangeable. Spread bets are placed with IG Index Ltd under FRN 114059, and the CFD account sits with the other one. Which entity your terms name depends on which product you opened.
FXCM:the brand is FXCM and the authorised name is Stratos Markets Limited, under FRN 217689. It was renamed from Forex Capital Markets Ltd in September 2023, so an older article citing the previous name is citing the same firm.
StoneX Trading:StoneX Trading is a trading name rather than an authorised company: a register search for it returns StoneX Financial Ltd under FRN 446717, listed as also known as StoneX Trading, and the name in your account terms is the one to match.
FxPro:two regulators hold a record, and only one of them is the FCA. The UK firm is FxPro UK Limited under FRN 509956. FxPro Financial Services Ltd is a separate company on the CySEC register in Cyprus under licence 078/07. That Cypriot entry lists the fxpro.co.uk domain among its approved domains. Checking the UK web address against the Cypriot register therefore returns a firm that cannot take UK retail clients. Match the regulator as well as the name.
ThinkMarkets:the brand appears nowhere in the authorised name. The firm on the register is TF Global Markets (UK) Limited under FRN 629628, and a register search for the brand returns that firm, listed under the brand as a former or other name. The name in your account terms is the one to match.
A group can hold authorisations in more than one country and under more than one company. Only the entity named in your account terms is the one you are contracting with. Match the entity, not the logo. Our spread betting broker reviews directory records the same entity details per provider, including the six brands that are no longer offering UK spread bets. Every one of the UK spread betting brokers in our ranking is authorised by the FCA.
Who Regulates Spread Betting In The UK
Financial spread betting is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, not by the Gambling Commission. Section 10 of the Gambling Act 2005 excludes a bet whose making or accepting is a regulated activity under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Spread betting is one. In practice that means your leverage is capped, your account cannot go below zero, and your money is held apart from the firm’s own.
The FCA authorises the firms that take the other side of the bet, and our guide covers what a spread bet is before the rules that govern it.
How To Check A Broker On The FCA Register
The register is free, public and authoritative.
Find the authorised entity name. In our re-reads on 22 Sep 2026, the UK website footer of every one of the 14 providers we track carried its six-digit Firm Reference Number. Both are in the table above.
Search by reference number, not by brand. Go to register.fca.org.uk and search the FRN.
Match the entity name exactly. The name on the register must be the name in the firm’s terms. Trading names are listed separately on a firm’s register entry and are not authorisations in themselves.
Check the status. The entry must read Authorised.
Contact the firm using the register’s details. A clone firm copies a real firm’s name and number and substitutes its own website and phone number. Using the details on the register is what breaks that.
How To Spot A Clone Firm Or Unauthorised Spread Betting Broker
A clone firm is a fraudster posing as a genuine firm the FCA authorises, according to the FCA’s guidance on clone firms, read . Contact the firm only through the details the FCA register lists.
Clone firms copy a genuine firm’s name and address, or its firm reference number. Some copy the authorised website with a changed phone number; others point you to the genuine site, then contact you from different details. A claim that the register’s details are out of date is unlikely to be true, because the FCA updates the register and its Firm Checker on average every 24 hours. (FCA, clone firms, read )
An unauthorised firm is one operating in the UK without FCA permission, and the FCA Warning List named 18,683 such entries on . A firm missing from the list still proves nothing, because unauthorised firms often change their names. A client of an unauthorised firm has no access to the Financial Ombudsman Service for complaints and no FSCS protection if the firm fails.
A bonus offer is itself a warning sign. COBS 22.5 bars an FCA-authorised broker from offering a UK retail client a monetary incentive, including a bonus for opening a new account. No authorised firm may pay a UK retail client to open or fund a spread betting account.
The warning signs in the left column are ours; the right-hand column quotes the FCA’s own pages, which we read on .
You can report a suspected clone to the FCA’s consumer helpline on 0800 111 6768. The FCA removed its ScamSmart references on 19 Jan 2026, and the same checks now sit on its page Protect yourself from scams. (FCA, read )
Whether a brand can take a UK spread bet is settled by the FCA register. At one end sit the FCA-authorised brokers in our safety table, whose 15 firm reference numbers we re-read against the register on . At the other sit the three brands with no FCA-authorised UK entity in our reviews directory, which cannot take a UK retail client’s spread bet. Authorisation is only the start, and the retail rules below set what a broker must then follow.
What FCA Regulation Gives You
The rules that matter to a spread bettor are in COBS 22.5 of the FCA Handbook, in force for spread bets since 1 August 2019 under policy statement PS19/18. Five of them apply to every retail account.
Capped leverage. The FCA sets a minimum initial margin per asset class, which is a leverage cap stated the other way round. Read on 19 Sep 2026 from COBS 22.5.11R:
The four FCA asset classes, with the minimum initial margin and maximum leverage under COBS 22.5.11R.
What you are betting on
Minimum initial margin
Maximum leverage
Major currency pairs, and relevant sovereign debt
3.33%
30:1
Major stock indices, minor currency pairs and gold
5%
20:1
Minor stock indices and commodities other than gold
10%
10:1
A share or an asset not otherwise listed
20%
5:1
Negative balance protection. A retail account cannot end below zero, and how the rule works explains the funds the FCA counts.
Margin close-out at 50%. The firm must close your positions when your funds fall to half the margin needed to keep them open.
A standardised risk warning. Every promotion must state the percentage of that firm’s own retail accounts that lose money. Those figures are on our statistics page for all 14 firms.
No inducements to trade. Cash bonuses and similar incentives to open or fund an account are banned for retail clients.
The five retail protections in one column and the professional column beside them. Electing professional status lifts the leverage caps and removes the other four in the same step.
One further restriction removes a market rather than limiting it. Since 6 January 2021, under policy statement PS20/10, derivatives referencing unregulated cryptoassets may not be sold to UK retail consumers at any leverage. How that works in practice is on our spread betting markets page.
What Negative Balance Protection Covers
What Is Negative Balance Protection?
Negative balance protection is the FCA rule in COBS 22.5.17R in the FCA Handbook, read , limiting a retail client’s losses to account funds. Your spread betting account never ends up owing the broker money.
Each part of COBS 22.5.17R, with the Handbook's words and the source with the date read.
The funds the rule counts are the cash in your account and the unrealised net profits from open positions. Money held in the account for other purposes is left out. The protection is a retail one, and a client who elects professional status gives it up. It does not stop you losing the whole balance. Between 61% and 76.6% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with the providers we compare.
All 14 ranked brokers state negative balance protection for retail clients in their own UK terms, read on , and the wording differs between them.
Each row is the broker’s own statement, with its source link and the date we read it.
Broker
Its own statement
Source, read
Pepperstone
Retail clients are not liable for a negative equity balance; it is reset to zero within 1 business day
Each ranked broker’s client-money, negative balance and FSCS reads, with the source and date of each, are downloadable as a dataset on our spread betting statistics page.
What Regulation Does Not Protect You From
Losing money. No rule caps a loss inside your own balance.
A market gapping through your stop. An ordinary stop is an instruction to close at the next available price, not at your price. Only a guaranteed stop holds its level, and it carries a premium. Our stop-loss guide sets out which providers offer one.
Professional Client Status, And Why Most Should Not Elect It
A professional client is a category under the FCA’s conduct rules, not a level of skill and not a job.
To be reclassified as an elective professional client you must pass a qualitative assessment by the firm. You must also meet at least two of the three tests in COBS 3.5.3R, read on 26 Aug 2026:
You have carried out transactions in significant size on the relevant market at an average of ten per quarter over the previous four quarters.
Your portfolio of financial instruments, including cash deposits, exceeds EUR 500,000.
You have worked in the financial sector for at least one year in a professional position requiring knowledge of the transactions concerned.
What you gain is leverage. ActivTrades offers up to 1:400 on its professional account, read on 22 Sep 2026.
Spread Betting Regulation: FAQs
Is Spread Betting Legal In The UK?
Yes. Financial spread betting is legal in the UK, and it is legal as a regulated investment rather than as a licensed gambling product. Section 10 of the Gambling Act 2005 excludes a bet whose making or accepting is a regulated activity under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, and a financial spread bet is exactly that. Every one of the 14 firms we rank holds an FCA authorisation and a Firm Reference Number, each read against the FCA Register and shown on that firm’s review.
Is Spread Betting Regulated By The FCA Or The Gambling Commission?
By the FCA. Section 10 of the Gambling Act 2005 excludes a bet whose making or accepting is a regulated activity under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Financial spread betting is exactly that. The product is taxed like a wager and supervised like an investment, so every firm on this page holds an FCA authorisation. Spreadex also holds a Gambling Commission licence for fixed odds betting, under account number 8835.
What Happens If A Spread Betting Broker Goes Bust?
Under the FCA’s client assets rules (CASS), client money sits in segregated accounts, so your balance is not the firm’s property and its creditors cannot claim it. The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) covers eligible investment claims up to £85,000 per eligible person, per firm, for a firm that failed after 1 April 2019. It pays when an authorised firm fails and cannot meet claims against it. It does not cover poor investment performance, so losses on a losing bet are not a claim. A complaint short of the firm failing goes to the Financial Ombudsman Service at no cost after the firm’s complaints process.
What Leverage Can A UK Retail Client Use?
Between 30:1 and 5:1, depending on what you are betting on. The FCA sets it as a minimum initial margin in COBS 22.5.11R. The floors are 3.33% on major currency pairs, 5% on major indices, minor pairs and gold, 10% on minor indices and other commodities, and 20% on individual shares. Cryptoasset derivatives are not available to UK retail clients at any leverage.
Should I Become A Professional Client To Get Higher Leverage?
For most retail traders, no. Electing professional status removes the leverage limits, and it removes the protections that come with them in the same step. Those are negative balance protection, the 50% margin close-out and the standardised risk warning. The leverage is the reason people ask and the protections are the reason the answer is usually no.
Sources
The leverage limits and the retail protections are COBS 22.5 of the FCA Handbook, given effect for spread bets by policy statement PS19/18 from 1 August 2019. The elective professional tests are COBS 3.5.3R. The cryptoasset derivative ban is policy statement PS20/10, in force from 6 January 2021. The compensation limit is the Financial Services Compensation Scheme’s own published cover for investment claims. The reason none of this sits with the Gambling Commission is section 10 of the Gambling Act 2005 on legislation.gov.uk.
The entity names, reference numbers, register statuses and authorisation dates in the table come from each firm’s own register entry. The read date beside them, 3 Sep 2026, is the day every entry was read. We are not a regulator and this page is not legal advice: the register at register.fca.org.uk is the authoritative record and it is the one to check.
Justin Grossbard co-founded Spread-Bet.co.uk with Noam Korbl in 2024, and co-founded the broker comparison network CompareForexBrokers with him in 2014. He has written for Kiplinger, Entrepreneur, Finance Magnates and MoneyShow since 2022, with articles on forex and trading at MoneyShow, Finance Magnates and Kiplinger.
Change history: 7 earlier dated notes
Updated on 23 Sep 2026: every claim on this page was re-checked against the FCA Register, the FCA rulebooks and the FSCS, and a large amount of text was removed, including passages that repeated what other pages own, unsupportable statements and duplicated explanation of client money segregation, the FSCS and the ombudsman. The register-search guidance was corrected, the professional-status section was trimmed, and the page now notes that Spreadex also holds a Gambling Commission licence, account number 8835. The author biography was updated.
Updated on 22 Sep 2026: The date the ActivTrades professional-account leverage figure was read at the broker’s own site was updated to 22 Sep 2026. No figure changed.
Updated on 21 Sep 2026: we added a section on spotting clone firms and unauthorised brokers, from the FCA’s Warning List, clone firm and scam pages read that day. A section on what negative balance protection covers was added from COBS 22.5, read the same day, with each ranked broker’s own statement. The rules-list bullet now points to it. The leverage FAQ and its figures did not change.
Also on 19 Sep 2026: the section on client money now points to the downloadable trust reads for every ranked broker. No figure changed. Earlier the same day: Updated on 19 Sep 2026: the FAQ on client money now asks what happens if a spread betting broker goes bust, in the searcher’s own words, and answers that question first. Its FSCS limit was re-read from the scheme’s own page on 19 Sep 2026. No figure changed.
Updated on 5 Sep 2026: the page now opens with the safety comparison. The table of all 14 firms gains each firm’s register status, authorisation date and read date from the FCA register, with a link to the captured entry on each review. The list beneath it states every entity and reference number in one place. The FCA and Gambling Commission split moved into its own section. No figure changed.
Updated on 3 Sep 2026: the page moved onto the site’s guide layout, with the FCA and Gambling Commission split drawn beside the answer and a diagram of the five retail protections against the professional column added under the rules section. No figure changed. Earlier the same day: every provider’s register entry was re-read and captured, the Checked column carries that date, and each review page now shows the capture of its own firm’s entry.
rebuilt on 26 Aug 2026 as the FCA layer page. The authorised entity and reference number for all 14 providers are now published in full with the date each was checked, the leverage limits are quoted from the FCA Handbook rather than paraphrased, a procedure for checking the register has been added, and our professional spread betting page has been folded in at the Professional Client Status section.
