Q. Suppose I place a bet at +100 point on PartyGaming when this was trading at 201 – what would be the equivalent holding in shares? Suppose I place a bet at +100 point on PartyGaming when this was trading at 201 –...
Latest Posts
Spread Betting on UK and US Stocks
Q. How do providers calculate the bid-offer spread for shares? A: To price shares a spread betting provider will typically take the underlying bid price and the underlying ask price and then add their spread around this...
Financing Charges in Spread Betting: What Are They and How Do They Work?
Q. What is financing? A: Financing is the cost of borrowing or lending that is attributable to a position you may hold. When you open a spread bet, the cost of running that bet to its expiry date is factored into the quoted price...
Margin Calls in Spread Betting: What You Need to Know
Q. What is a margin call? A: Like buying shares, profits or losses from financial spread betting are only realised when you close the trade. However, with a spreadbet you must always ensure that you have sufficient funds on your...
How the Spreads are Calculated for Futures
Q. How are the spreads determined for stocks? A: The bid-offer spreads for individual stocks are calculated as a percentage of the stock price. The main factor affecting the percentage is the liquidity in the market. If...
How do Financial Spread Betting Companies Make Money?
Q. How does a spread betting company make its money? A: Spread betting providers make money in a variety of ways. Spread betting brokers make the most of their money from the spread; they typically add a small margin above...
Margin Requirements in Spread Betting: Your Top Questions Answered
Q. I still don’t get initial margin requirement – what is it? A: ‘Dealing on margin’, ‘margin trading’ or ‘gearing’ are all terms associated with spread betting and CFDs. When a...
FTSE Futures: How Daily Trades and Futures Contracts Differ
Q. Where’s a good place to look at the futures? A: IG Index‘s homepage gives FTSE’s futures prices, just check where it says live prices, you can even trade the FTSE out of hours just with a bigger...
Intelligent Ways of using a Spread Bet
Q: Show me some intelligent ways of using a spread bet… A: Erm…where shall I start. Apart from using spread betting to save taxes and short shares in a bear market and using margins to boost gains you can use...
But aren’t they just Bucket Shops?
But aren’t they just Bucket Shops? Q: A thing I’ve been seeing in reading reviews of spread betting brokers is the word bucket shops… From what I gather these were joints in the late 19th century where they...