The first and now largest spreadbet company around.Oh, and its British, yeah!! Open account online.
one of my favourites, bet from 50p. Fan-bloomin-tastic. Open account online- dead dead easy.
Ahh, now this is a different form of spreadbetting. One that i should explain in more detail. Click here to see why It make spreadbetting a lot simpler, and i think it could be the next big thing. Well worth it for the beginner, trust me. 50p points as well.
These guys offer free 8 week training courses, and 1p bets for those 8 weeks. Wouldnt open an account for me though, and the forms to fill were not the simplest.
Does exactly what it says on the tin!! I havent used these guys ...yet!!
I use cantor, the online trading platform is good, not as simple as IG or Spreadright, but easy enough. Downside is not all stocks can be done online.
One of the major players. I get an excellent daily report from Tom Houurgart from these guys. well worth the visit.
Seems to do more on the sporting side, not something i have got the faintest clue about. Anyone want to give a review?
I really dont know much about these guys. The website looks nice though!! reviews from any users would be nice.
I put these guys way down here as i am not really into the sports betting, but they are i think the biggest for sports spreadbetting. Seems everywhere i look on the net they are advertising. And you can bet through your SKY TV.
Ok Spreadbetting. Whats it all about?
Those of you who check the site regular will no doubt have noticed that at the moment i favour this form of trading the markets.
But why? Well ideally i wish to trade actual shares/stock as i am really looking to make longer term investments that will possibly look after me when i get old!!
Dont laugh, i've heard getting old can happen, and the idea of living on state pension... (shudder!!)
But my biggest problem is that i need to raise the money to be able to start buying shares, and at the min i dont have £10k plus.
In fact all i do have that i can afford to risk is £1000. So i have to look at other ways to raise cash i.e options, CFD's,
BetOnMarkets or Spreadbetting.
I am sure there are other forms of trading but thats enough for now eh!
Suggested reading - Spreadbetting
The Investor's Toolbox
Giles McMullen's Spread Betting Seminar - on Audio
Spread Betting Financial Markets Online
Cost of these books on the High Street: £47.97
Cost of these books bought from us one by one: £44.67
Cost of these books bought from us as a bundle: £39.67
Total saving of bundle over High Street price: £8.30
Spread Betting is not complicated. Like driving a car, many people decide that it is too difficult without even giving it a try. In fact, once the simple concept has been grasped, it becomes extremely easy to understand.
Your spreadbet market maker make a prediction on a particular aspect of a particular event, either financial or even sporting.
Such as will the Dow be above 10,000 by todays close, or how many goals will be scored in a game of football.
You simply decide whether the market makers prediction is too high or too low.
If you think that the figures they give are spot on, you don’t bet. It’s that simple.
Remember Bruce Forsyth’s, ‘Play Your Cards Right’? The basic concept is exactly the same. "Higher Higher! Lower! Lower! The amount you win or lose depends on how right or wrong you are.
With a basic understanding of this concept, spread betting is easy to understand.
Never lose sight of that image of Bruce Forsyth gesturing to the audience on whether a contestant should go higher or lower.
He could say, “I reckon the Footsie 100 index will crash below 4000 next week”, ‘what do you reckon? “higher or lower?”
HOW DOES IT WORK?
When you choose to bet against the market makers predictions, you must decide the size of your betting stake.
The amount you win or lose depends on the size of your stake multiplied by how right or how wrong you are.
Let’s say that the market maker predicts that the daily Dow (i.e the end of day value of the Dow Jones) will be 10,657.
You reckon that as the unemployment figures are released at 7pm (GMT) and you think it will have an adverse effect, causing the dow to drop.
The market-maker will show two figures for the end of day, looking something like this:-
Daily Dow
Period
Sell
Buy
1/4/04
10,650
10,663
As you think the value of the dow is to fall well below this you would place a "sell" order at 10,650. The difference between the two figures offered is "the spread" Thats the bit the market maker gets as his commission.
....get it!! Spreadbetting!!
OK, so you are happy to bet that the value will be less, and you are so confident you say to yourself, "for every point below this figure of 10,650 i want to make £5"
So you would then place your order to "SELL to open" at £5 per point. Now at this point you will be asked to ensure you have enough cash depositted to cover any losses.We'll come back to losses in a min.
Your hunch was right, the dow plummeted on the unemployment news, then raised a little before closing at 10,625.
Now the market maker is showing different figures for the daily dow.
Daily Dow
Period
Sell
Buy
1/4/04
10,618
10,632
Now in order to collect your earnings you need to do the opposite in order to close your bet, i.e "BUY to close" Your price for a buy is 10,632 meaning your profits are:-
10,650 minus 10,632 = 18 points.
At £5 per point thats a grand profit of = £90
Sounds too good eh! and in my example i am at least realistic. But there is a downside, what if you were wrong and the dow shot up to 10,695.
Daily Dow
Period
Sell
Buy
1/4/04
10,688
10,703
Oh Oh!! Not good. "BUY to close" is at 10,703, thats a 53 point rise at £5 per point:-
Thats £5 x 53 = £265 loss. BUMMER!!
Seems like a lot to risk yeah, for only £90 return. Well in reality you would have used a stop loss system, setting
the bet to automatically close above a certain point, say 25-35 points above your entry level. This prevents huge losses, but does have its drawbacks, i.e large movements can stop you out only to retrace within seconds.
I have been caught out several times because of this, and you will soon learn to "feel" for your comfort levels.
Now thats the billy basics of spreadbetting and there are huge choices of market makers out there in which to trade with.
On the left are some of my suggestions, no bias, and my personal reviews of those i use and why.
Note: there are a few companies i have try'd and abandoned for various reasons all shown on the left.
Charting Technical
