A: The term spread betting is used because there is an additional spread around the market price (they make their money on the spread, hence the word) and the reason it is called a bet is because if that term is used it means you are exempt from all capital gains taxes!
Spreadbetting providers don't charge actual commissions regardless of the product you are trading, in order for the trade to qualify as a bet. They make money by posting larger bid/offer spreads than the underlying market.
The 'spread' is the difference between the current price market participants will give you if you sell the stock (aka as the Bid price) and how much they'll charge you if you want to buy (aka as the Ask price). In spread betting the difference between the bid and ask price is a little bit larger as prices are derived from the underlying stock's regular bid/ask spread plus a little difference constituting the provider's rake. This provider's slightly wider bid-offer spread is usually more than compensated for by not having to pay capital gains tax, stamp duty, or income tax on dividends on your spread betting dealings...
So just remember that with spread betting you are betting on the price rising above the spread or falling below the spread. At any given time you will always have to buy at a higher price than you can sell at.
A: A spread is the difference between the price your spread betting provider will sell to you, and the price the provider will buy from you. As an example, the typical spread on the FTSE daily rolling contract may be quoted as 5010 to 5012 representing two-point spread. You would 'sell' (go short / 'down bet') at 5010 or 'buy' (go long / 'up bet') at 5012.
So a bid/offer spread (also referred to as a sell/buy spread), is the difference between the prices at which you can purchase and sell spread bets. If the prevailing market price for silver is 18.75/85, the spread would amount to 18.85 - 18.75 = 0.10 (10 points) with the mid-price (18.80) usually being the prevailing market price. If you decided to go long at 18.85 you would not actually start making money from 18.80 (current market price) but will do so after the stock price has gone past 18.85. The difference in points between the bid and offer spread is the cost of executing that particular trade and is where the spread betting company makes its money.
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The workings of spread betting are very easy to understand. You simply have to go higher (long) or lower (short) than a price the bookie gives you. For instance, how many jelly beans fill in a one-litre bottle? If the spread betting provider offered a 240 to 250 range and you thought there were more than 250 you could go high (this is referred to as going long). On the other hand if you believed there were less than 240 you would go low (this is referred to as going short). To bet real cash you have to bet a certain amount per unit on the number of units in the bottle - the units in this case would be beans so if you went long at 250 at say £5 per unit and it later resulted that there were 280 in the bottle you would have been right by 30 beans. At £5 per bean you would win £150. Of course the opposite is also true and if there were just 230 beans in the bottle you would have been wrong by 20 beans implying a loss of £100
A: The spread betting company takes the prices of the various shares from the underlying markets and adds a little extra to the bid-offer spread. There is no additional commission or stamp duty so this represents the only cost of trade with any gains being tax-free. All bets are normally in pounds per point so the exposure and any gains are all in sterling.
So to conclude it doesn't cost anything per se, but you 'pay' the bid-ask spread. i.e. if for example let's say you are betting on the FTSE index and you can buy it at 3800 or sell it at 3801. The 1 pt difference is the margin and where the spread betting firms make their money.
Hope that answers some of your questions but feel free to send me queries, comments or concerns at traderATfinancial-spread-betting.com :-)
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