- 1.79 ptsnine-pair average of the brokers that publish one, read 18 Sep 2026
- 10 of 14brokers publishing a spread figure for spread betting, read 18 Sep 2026
- 8 of 14ranked brokers offering guaranteed stop-loss orders
- 3datasets published, each downloadable as CSV
This page holds three datasets from published sources. The spread figures come from what each broker publishes on its UK website, and the retail-loss figures from each broker’s own published disclosure. The trust reads come from the FCA Financial Services Register, Companies House, broker sites and legal documents, and fscs.org.uk. Every figure is one a broker, the FCA or another public source published, and each carries the date we read it. Each dataset downloads as a CSV file and may be cited with attribution and a link to this page.
According to spread-bet.co.uk's UK spread betting statistics, read September 2026, the EUR/USD average of the five brokers that publish a comparable figure is 0.7 points. The widest pair is USD/SGD, where the average across the three brokers that publish one is 6.3 points. Taken across all nine pairs, the brokers’ average is 1.79 points. The figures are spreads only: they carry no commission, no overnight funding and no platform fee. Of the two brokers with a nine-pair average, Pepperstone (1.7 points) is the tightest and Spread Co (2.26 points) the widest.
This page does not forecast. It reports what brokers published on a stated date, and what the FCA-authorised firms among them disclose about their own clients. Where a figure came from someone else, the block it sits in says so.
Our spread bet content is supported by broker partners, who pay us on a retainer basis rather than per referral.
Our Datasets In One Place
Every dataset on this page sits in one table below, with what each one records, the date each one covers and its raw file. You can download any dataset and check the figures against the source yourself.
| Dataset | What it records | Coverage | Raw file |
|---|---|---|---|
| FCA retail-loss disclosures | Each ranked broker’s own published share of retail accounts that lose money | Collected 22 Sep 2026, 14 brokers | CSV, 14 rows |
| What each broker publishes about its spreads | The kind of spread figure each broker publishes, from comparable figures to none | Read 18 Sep 2026, 14 brokers | CSV, 82 rows |
| Broker trust reads | FCA register details, client money arrangements, negative balance protection and FSCS cover per broker | Read 19 Sep 2026, 134 rows; 14 brokers | CSV, 134 rows |
How We Read Broker Spreads
What we read is the spread figure each broker publishes for spread betting on nine currency pairs: EUR/USD, GBP/USD, EUR/GBP, USD/JPY, AUD/USD, USD/CAD, AUD/JPY, EUR/JPY and USD/SGD. We read it on the broker's own UK website, never a comparison site. The current figures were read on 18 Sep 2026.
Each figure is one of five kinds:
- Average: a mean over a stated period.
- Typical: labelled typical by the broker, with no method stated.
- Fixed: a fixed spread the broker charges, which is the price you pay.
- Target: a spread the broker says it aims to execute at, a statement of intent.
- Minimum: a "from" floor, the tightest spread possible.
Averages, typicals and fixed spreads count towards the average of the brokers that publish one, because all three describe what a pair is actually priced at. A fixed spread is the price paid, so it belongs in a mean alongside averages. Minimums and targets never count, and we never compare them with an average: a floor and an intention are not prices. Where a broker publishes more than one figure covering different windows for the same pair, we take the main-session figure.
Two brokers publish a comparable figure on all nine pairs: Pepperstone and Spread Co. Three publish one on some pairs: IG, StoneX Trading and Trade Nation. Three publish minimums only: Spreadex, OANDA and CMC Markets. Two publish targets only: ThinkMarkets and ActivTrades. Four publish nothing for spread betting: Capital.com, FXCM, Vantage and FxPro. Three have no UK spread betting account and sit outside every figure: AvaTrade, Admirals and Markets.com. Each pair's average of the brokers that publish one states how many brokers are behind it, between three and five. The overall five-broker average of 1.79 points is the mean of the nine pair averages.
Two brokers publish an average over a stated period. Pepperstone's covers all trading sessions from 1 to 31 August 2026. IG's is dated by IG's own footnote, which reads: “Average spread (between 00:00-21:00 GMT Monday to Friday) for the 12 weeks ending 8th January 2021.”
The series breaks here. The set dated 1 Aug 2026 came from an internal sheet of thirteen rows and is not comparable with our own read, so no trend is drawn across it. The full detail is in how we read broker spreads.
| Read | Method | Brokers in the averages | Nine-pair average (points) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-18 | Our own read of each broker’s UK site | 5 | 1.79 |
| 2026-08-01 | Internal sheet, not comparable | 13 | 1.7 |
The two rows use different methods, so no trend line is drawn between them, and a blank cell means nothing was published.
The Spreads Each Broker Publishes, 18 Sep 2026
One row per broker with a UK spread betting account, nine pairs, in points except where marked in pips. An average, typical or fixed figure shows as a number. A minimum shows as "from" and a number. A target shows the number marked "target". A blank cell means nothing published. The Avg column appears only where a broker has a figure on all nine pairs. The last rows are the brokers' average for each pair and the number of brokers behind it.
| Broker | EUR/USD | GBP/USD | EUR/GBP | USD/JPY | AUD/USD | USD/CAD | AUD/JPY | EUR/JPY | USD/SGD | Avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pepperstone | 0.5 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 1.2 | 1.9 | 2.1 | 6.3 | 1.7 |
| Spreadex | from 0.6 | from 0.9 | from 0.9 | from 0.7 | from 0.6 | from 1.3 | from 1.3 | from 1.5 | from 2.5 | |
| Capital.com | ||||||||||
| IG | 0.85 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 0.94 | 0.82 | 1.77 | 1.97 | 4.7 | ||
| ThinkMarkets | 1.1 pips target | 1.1 pips target | 1 pips target | 1.4 pips target | 1.2 pips target | 1.2 pips target | 1.4 pips target | 1.4 pips target | 1.8 pips target | |
| OANDA | from 0.6 pips | |||||||||
| StoneX Trading | 0.8 | 1.8 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 0.9 | |||||
| Trade Nation | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 1 | 0.7 | ||
| FXCM | ||||||||||
| CMC Markets | from 0.5 | from 0.9 | from 0.7 | from 0.7 | from 0.6 | from 1.3 | ||||
| ActivTrades | 0.5 pips target | 0.8 pips target | 0.8 pips target | 0.5 pips target | 0.6 pips target | 1 pips target | 1 pips target | 1 pips target | 2.2 pips target | |
| Spread Co | 0.8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2.5 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 2.26 |
| Vantage | ||||||||||
| FxPro | ||||||||||
| Brokers’ average | 0.7 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 1.5 | 2 | 1.7 | 6.3 | 1.79 |
| Brokers in the average | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
Read on 18 Sep 2026. Figures are as the broker states them, in points except where marked in pips. The kind and window of each figure are set out in the method section above.
This table and our platforms comparison share one monthly read of published spreads (18 Sep 2026); which trading platform publishes the tightest spread answers which accounts publish below the average of the brokers that publish one.
The spreads on this page are in points, the unit every spread bet is settled in, and our guide is where we have spread betting explained with worked examples.
Brokers’ Average Spread By Currency Pair
The average per pair of the brokers that publish one, the number of brokers behind it, and the tightest average, typical or fixed figure published beside it. Pairs with few comparable figures carry a count beside the average, so you can see how thin each mean is.
| Pair | Brokers’ average (points) | Brokers in the average | Tightest published |
|---|---|---|---|
| EUR/USD | 0.7 | 5 | 0.5, Pepperstone, Trade Nation |
| GBP/USD | 1.2 | 5 | 0.8, Trade Nation |
| EUR/GBP | 1.1 | 5 | 0.5, Trade Nation |
| USD/JPY | 0.8 | 5 | 0.6, Trade Nation |
| AUD/USD | 0.8 | 5 | 0.4, Trade Nation |
| USD/CAD | 1.5 | 4 | 0.7, Trade Nation |
| AUD/JPY | 2 | 3 | 1, Trade Nation |
| EUR/JPY | 1.7 | 4 | 0.7, Trade Nation |
| USD/SGD | 6.3 | 3 | 4.7, IG |
EUR/USD is the cheapest pair at 0.7 points and the one where accounts differ least. USD/SGD is the most expensive at 6.3 points, and the gap between the tightest and widest account on it exceeds the whole EUR/USD range.
- Pepperstone: 20+ indices, 40 commodities (read 22 Sep 2026)
- Spreadex: 30+ indices (read 22 Sep 2026)
- Capital.com: 35+ indices (read 22 Sep 2026)
- IG: 69 indices, 35 commodities (read 22 Sep 2026)
- ThinkMarkets: 18 indices*, 3 commodities* (read 22 Sep 2026)
- StoneX Trading: 40+ indices, 20+ commodities (read 22 Sep 2026)
- Trade Nation: over 40 indices (read 22 Sep 2026)
- CMC Markets: over 80 indices, 100+ commodities (read 22 Sep 2026)
- ActivTrades: 18 commodities (read 22 Sep 2026)
- Spread Co: 12 indices* (read 22 Sep 2026)
Values marked * are counts we made from the instrument list each broker publishes, read on 22 Sep 2026; unmarked values are the broker’s own published figures.
What Each Brand Publishes About Its Own Spreads
What a firm publishes about its own pricing is a fact about the firm, and it is the fact the table above had been assuming. On 18 Sep 2026 we read 17 UK spread betting brands one at a time, each on its own UK property and nothing else. Of the 17, 7 publish a static per-pair figure for a UK spread betting account. Of the rest, 2 publish a static table that prices a different product, 3 publish a minimum only, 1 quotes live and 4 publish nothing.
| Brand | What it publishes | Product that pricing covers | Pairs published (of 9) | Read |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pepperstone | An average | Spread betting | 9 | 18 Sep 2026 |
| Spreadex | A minimum only | Spread betting | 9 | 18 Sep 2026 |
| OANDA | A minimum only | Spread betting | 1 | 18 Sep 2026 |
| Capital.com | Quoted live | No table to cover | 0 | 18 Sep 2026 |
| IG | An average | Spread betting | 8 | 18 Sep 2026 |
| ThinkMarkets | A target spread | Spread betting | 9 | 18 Sep 2026 |
| StoneX Trading | A typical spread | Spread betting | 5 | 18 Sep 2026 |
| Trade Nation | A fixed spread | Spread betting and CFD, one table | 8 | 18 Sep 2026 |
| FXCM | No figure | No table to cover | 0 | 18 Sep 2026 |
| CMC Markets | A minimum only | Spread betting | 6 | 18 Sep 2026 |
| FxPro | An average | CFD | 0 | 18 Sep 2026 |
| ActivTrades | A target spread | Spread betting | 9 | 18 Sep 2026 |
| Spread Co | A fixed spread | Spread betting | 9 | 18 Sep 2026 |
| Vantage | No figure | Not stated | 0 | 18 Sep 2026 |
| AvaTrade (no UK spread betting account) | A typical spread | CFD | 0 | 18 Sep 2026 |
| Admirals (no UK spread betting account) | No figure | CFD | 0 | 18 Sep 2026 |
| Markets.com (no UK spread betting account) | No figure | No table to cover | 0 | 18 Sep 2026 |
One brand per read, on the brand’s own UK property and on no comparison site, 18 Sep 2026. A brand with no UK spread betting account keeps its row: what it publishes, and for which product, is part of the answer rather than a reason to leave it out.
The account we rank first now publishes a spread betting average on all nine pairs. Pepperstone's figures cover all trading sessions from 1 to 31 August 2026, in a SpreadBet Avg Spread column on its UK pairs and spreads page. On 5 September 2026 that column was not there and its costs page showed minimums only.
Download The Raw Data
- Spread figures read 18 Sep 2026 (CSV, 82 rows) holds one row per account and pair: 82 rows across eleven accounts, 73 with a published figure, each with its value, kind, unit, window and source.
The spread file is generated from the same data the tables above render, so the download and the page cannot disagree.
Citing This Data
Anyone may reference the data on this page with attribution and a link to the page. For the spread data, cite it as “Spread-Bet.co.uk published spread read, September 2026”.
Our methodology page documents how we read spreads, and we read each figure on the broker’s own UK website and record the date of each read.
What UK Spread Betting Firms Disclose
- Retail accounts losing money: 61% to 76.6%. The lowest disclosed figure is Spreadex’s at 61%; the highest is OANDA’s at 76.6%. Each figure is the firm’s own published disclosure.
- Guaranteed stop-loss orders: 8 of 14 offer them. Published terms or help pages offer none for five brokers, and for one the published spread betting terms do not say, so we leave that broker unmarked rather than assume. How each charges the premium differs, and our page on stop-loss orders sets out the models.
- Minimum stake per point: 4 of 14 publish one. Only Spreadex, IG, CMC Markets and Spread Co state a per-point minimum on their own UK site.
- Brands offering no UK spread betting account: 6 of the 20 we have reviewed. One has withdrawn from UK retail service, two remain FCA-authorised but publish no spread betting product, and three have no UK entity able to take retail clients. Each was checked against the firm’s own property on 22 Sep 2026, and each is listed in our spread betting broker reviews directory.
Retail leverage is capped at 30:1, negative balance protection means an account cannot go below zero, and crypto derivatives have been off-limits to UK retail clients since 6 January 2021. Our regulation page covers what those rules mean in practice.
How Profitable Is Spread Betting?
The FCA rules require a loss disclosure, not a profitability figure: a firm that has offered these products for 12 months must state the share of its retail client accounts that lost money over the last 12 months, and one without that history uses a standard warning with no percentage. No firm must say what the rest made. What you can read from the loss disclosures above is the floor, and what you cannot read from them is how much anyone lost or how long they traded.
Each firm’s loss-percentage warning, COBS 22.5.6R (read ), attributes the high risk of losing money rapidly "due to leverage"; an account loses when its net result, after "all costs, fees, commissions and any other charges", is below zero.
Third-Party Statistics
The figures below come from other organisations. We have not verified them and they are not part of the dataset above; each is given with the source that published it and the period it covers, so you can judge how current it is.
| Statistic | Source | Period |
|---|---|---|
| 0.34% of adults in Great Britain had spread bet in the past four weeks in the year to March 2022, down from 0.39% in the year to March 2019 | Gambling Commission | Years to March 2019 and March 2022 |
The Gambling Commission’s series ran to the year to March 2023, when 0.29% of adults had spread bet in the past four weeks, and it counts spread betting as a gambling activity rather than an investment.
Who Spread Bets In The UK
What the table above supports is narrow: participation is small, measured as a share of adults.
How Big Are UK Spread Betting Companies?
IG Group publishes its customer count and revenue, and Pepperstone its client count, but neither splits out UK spread betting. A ranking of providers by size would be an estimate rather than a measurement, and this page does not publish one.
Between 61% and 76.6% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with the providers we compare, and that band is the whole distribution across the 14 firms rather than a selection from it. Our guide explains what that figure measures.
A Short History Of UK Spread Betting
Financial spread betting began in 1974, when Stuart Wheeler founded Investors Gold Index, later IG Index, to let British clients take a position on the price of gold. Under HMRC’s BIM22020, the tax treatment of a spread bet rests on the terms of the contract and the economic substance of what is done. For most UK retail traders, a profit sits outside Capital Gains Tax under HMRC’s CG56105, and no Stamp Duty is paid because no asset is owned. Tax treatment depends on your individual circumstances and can change, and our tax page sets out when a spread bet can be taxed.
The last broad structural change came from the regulator: the FCA’s 2019 rules capped retail leverage, required negative balance protection and made the loss-percentage disclosure mandatory, which is why every broker page here carries one. The retail ban on crypto derivatives followed on 6 January 2021.
How This Data Is Compiled
ActivTrades' nine figures came off on 27 Aug 2026 because nobody could say how they were collected. A figure whose method cannot be stated is not one we publish. On 18 Sep 2026 its own spread bet pages publish a target spread on all nine pairs, so we list those targets in the table and keep them out of every average. The row is restorable as comparable figures the day ActivTrades publishes an average, typical or fixed spread.
The Avg column and the brokers’ average rows are computed at build time from the figures beside them, and the build fails if a stored average disagrees with the numbers it averages. That check exists because it caught one: until 26 August 2026 the averages published here covered eight of the nine pairs while being described as nine-pair figures.
The dataset is free to cite with attribution to spread-bet.co.uk and a link to this page. For the underlying pricing pages, the broker reviews name the source for each firm; our spread betting platforms UK page ranks the same accounts on cost. This page is information rather than financial advice.
Reader Questions
With inflation and rising costs pushing traders to switch brokers, how can I tell if a broker’s fees are fair before I commit?
You could look at live spreads using a demo account.