Lots to stake per point
What a forex lot is worth as a spread bet stake
Exchange rates from the Mon 21 Sep 2026 5pm New York close
One standard lot of GBP/USD moves 10.00 USD per pip, which is £7.47 per point at the dated rate.
A standard lot is 100,000 of the base currency; a mini lot is 0.10 and a micro lot 0.01 of that. Spread bets are placed in pounds per point, not lots, so the stake figure is the one that goes on the deal ticket. On four-decimal pairs one point equals one pip; see what a pip is.
Forex spread betting and forex CFD trading differ in pricing unit and tax, both leveraged with no currency owned. Spread bets are staked in pounds per point, CFDs in lots. For most UK retail traders, profits on a forex spread bet are free of Capital Gains Tax, while profits on a forex CFD are chargeable unless taxable as trading income. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and can change. Readers see the same tax difference and loss treatment for a spread bet and a CFD on any market, not only a currency pair, in spread betting against CFDs on any market.
What Is Forex Trading?
Forex CFD (Contract for Difference) trading is a way to speculate on the price movements of currency pairs without actually owning the underlying asset. CFDs are financial derivatives that allow you to take a position on the price movement of an asset, such as a currency pair, without actually buying or selling the asset itself.
Spread Betting vs Forex Trading: The Key Differences
1. Taxes
One of the stand-out differences between forex CFDs and spread betting is how each product is taxed. With spread betting, profits are not subject to capital gains tax for most UK retail traders, though tax treatment depends on your individual circumstances and can change.
2. The Spread On a Currency Pair
The spread on a currency pair is the gap between its sell (bid) price and its buy (offer) price, counted in points. One point on EUR/USD is a 0.0001 move. EUR/USD quoted at 1.0499 to sell and 1.0500 to buy is a 1-point spread, which costs £10 to open at a stake of £10 per point. For what the spread means on any spread bet, see the spread betting guide.
You can compare spread betting platforms on cost and markets before you open an account.
3. Position Sizing Units
Forex CFD accounts size a position in lots, where a standard lot is 100,000 of the base currency and a one-pip move is worth 10 units of the quote currency on a four-decimal pair, or 1,000 yen on a JPY pair, where a pip is 0.01. A spread bet is sized in pounds per point instead, so the same exposure is written as a stake. The converter above translates one unit into the other at a dated exchange rate.
Are Pips Used In Spread Betting?
Yes, pips are used in spread betting on forex, where a pip is the smallest standard price step on a currency pair. A pip is 0.0001 on a four-decimal pair and 0.01 on a yen pair. On the pairs listed below, one spread betting point equals one pip.
On GBP/USD, EUR/USD, EUR/GBP, AUD/USD and USD/CAD, one spread betting point means 0.0001, according to IG’s forex spread betting product details, read on 22 Sep 2026. On USD/JPY, EUR/JPY and AUD/JPY, the same source gives one point as 0.01. A spread bet is staked in pounds per point, so on these pairs a stake of £1 per point moves by £1 for every pip.
A £2 per point bet that USD/JPY rises from 150.20 to 150.50 is a move of 30 points, so it gains £60. The same move the other way loses £60.
Forex CFD accounts count size in lots instead, and the lot converter higher up this page turns a number of lots into a stake per point. Our guide to what a point means on any spread bet covers the point on every market, and that shared vocabulary is one part of the overlap between the two products. The overlap runs deeper than words, as the similarities below show.
Similarities of Forex Trading and Spread Betting
1. Both Are Leveraged Products
Forex CFDs and spread bets are both leveraged, so a deposit called margin opens a position worth more than that deposit. £100 of margin holding a £1,000 position is leverage of 10 to 1. The margin is a deposit held against the position, and leverage magnifies a loss as much as a profit.
2. Both Are Tax Exempt From Stamp Duty
Because forex CFDs and spread betting are derivatives, you never own the underlying market, exempting you from paying stamp duty on your purchases.
3. Both Can Profit In Rising And Falling Markets
Each product allows you to bet on an underlying market by going long (buy) or shorting (sell) the market.
Trading on Margin in Forex Spread Betting
Margin on a forex spread bet is a deposit held against the position. The FCA’s retail rules set the minimum as a share of the position’s value, lower for a major pair than a share. Nothing is repaid when the bet closes, and the margin returns to your account. A daily funded bet held past the daily cut-off pays overnight funding, a separate charge. Our leverage page explains how the margin on a spread bet is set.
Among the UK rules for spread betting, the Spread Bet UK home page sets out the FCA’s retail leverage cap and the margin held on major and non-major currency pairs.
Spread Betting Calculator
Our Spread Betting UK Calculator prices a bet from each broker’s own published spread, where it publishes one, read monthly and dated on the page, across nine forex pairs and three indices, and it takes your own levels and spreads for anything else.
Forex Spread Betting
A forex spread bet is a bet in pounds per point on one currency’s price against another, with no currency owned, and our guide sets out the mechanics of spread betting that apply to a spread bet on any market.
The spot price is the current market price, and a spot bet puts you in the market immediately. A forward is priced at an agreed rate for an agreed date in the future, and spread betting firms reduce or remove the nightly rollover charge on forwards, which is what makes them worth using on a bet you plan to hold past the end of the trading day. An option gives you the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell the pair at a set price on or before a set date. What you can lose on an option is capped at the premium you paid, and the trade-off for that is a product that takes longer to learn.
| Feature | Spot Forex | Forwards | Options |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you hold | Exposure to the current price | A contract to buy or sell at a future date | A right, not an obligation, to buy or sell |
| Settlement | Immediate (on the spot) | On a future date | On or before a future date |
| Price | Current market price | Forward price | Strike price, plus the premium |
| Risk | Market volatility | Market volatility | Limited to the premium |
The product range differs between firms, so check the market list before you open an account rather than after.
David Levy
David is the content manager at Spread-Bet.co.uk. In his role, David works with a team of writers to develop content for the site, this includes planning future content and editing and proofing existing works. David also has deep knowledge of the Forex industry and spends substantial time fact-checking the accuracy of the information about the brokers for the website.
