Spreadex started business in 1999. The firm is authorised and regulated by the UK FCA Authority to operate in the sports and financial spread betting markets.

The spread betting firm was founded by former City dealer Jonathan Hufford who was hooked on the sheer fun offered by spread betting. He decided to set up his own company but to make spread betting much more user-friendly.

The business grew rapidly following a commitment to friendly and accessible service. In May 2006, Spreadex launched its online sports betting service, enabling customers to study markets and then place bets from their own PC using a totally safe and secure system.

Subsequently, in May 2007, the company launched online financial trading, allowing clients to place financial trades from any computer, and additionally place and edit stops, limits and orders to open.

Spreadex reported impressive growth in its financial performance for 2023, with total revenue reaching £88.8 million (USD $109 million), marking a significant 25% increase from £71.2 million in 2022. The company’s net profit also saw a notable rise of 26%, climbing to £28.2 million, compared to £22.5 million the previous year.

Spreadex Spread Betting Platform Review

What we say:

Spreadex is my financial spread betting company of choice for telephone trading. They spreadbet virtually any security with a market cap of £1m+ and the margins are competitive (All FTSE100 shares at 5% margin) – in fact Spreadex is one of the few that still offer significant amounts of leverage. Most shares can be built upon request (give them a call if in doubt) as long as they are of a certain market capitalisation and all are now tradable online including most small cap market makers. I have rarely if ever heard/read a bad word about Spreadex. The range of markets and products offered are good and the spreads (which are fixed) are quite competitive as well. Mobile trading is also supported – in fact Spreadex offer both an iPhone app and an Android one so this should cover most devices. On the downside no demo account is offered.

In the past the platform used to be prone to dropped connections but Spreadex have now launched a new platform and this should hopefully be a thing of the past. The new platform is HTML5 based apart from the charting on desktop which is powered by IT Finance at the moment but which we are told will soon become proprietary. The trading platform itself is quite easy-to-use with decent spreads and with the revamped platform you can even add stops and limits to orders. One nice thing about the new platform is the ability to customise the trading platform layout by simple ‘drag and drop’ functionality which makes it very easy to move charts, orders, trade tickets, watchlists and particular markets wherever you want them on the screen. Clients can even customise what information is displayed in the ‘open positions’ screen for even better control. The next time you log onto the platform all your settings will be restored as per the last visit to restore the your preferred layout. The platform now also supports the ability to switch on one-click dealing for those traders that want to execute their trading more quickly. One thing that I found confusing was the way the system closes positions when the stop loss is triggered. It takes a couple of minutes before the actual position is taken from your open position page, which makes you think it is still open… Having asked a Spreadex dealer directly, he replied that with shares they have to take additional time to ascertain that stops have indeed triggered and at what level so incorrect stops are not filled.

How many financial markets are covered at Spreadex? If you include the quarterly contracts it would be several thousand. In addition to indices and commodities, they offer a wide range of UK and US equities, including small caps. They regularly add new markets and clients are encouraged to contact the Dealing Desk if there are any markets they would like Spreadex to offer. Novelty markets include Politics, TV (Eurovision, X Factor, Sports Personality of the Year etc…)

Spreadex accept deposits by debit and credit cards, Skrill, online bank transfer and wire transfer. Spreadex does not charge for making payments using a UK debit card or for making bank transfers into your account. There is, however, a 2% administration fee for all credit card payments and CHAPS same-day transfers are subject to a £25 charge. There is also a 2.5% flat fee on all card transactions that are not in sterling.

Stops and limit orders at Spreadex are triggered when their bid or offer price hits the specific level. The price includes their spread so for example if you were trading the FTSE DEC and the market price is 5283 – 5283.5, Spreadex’s price would be 5281 – 5285, if your stop level was 5281 it would trigger when Spreadex’s price touched it. No trailing stops are offered presently. Spreadex offer guaranteed stops on major markets, so most indices, FTSE 350 companies, bonds, gold, oil and major currencies would be covered.

Financing and Charges at Spreadex (2024 Update)

Financing Costs:
Spreadex calculates financing costs differently depending on the asset being traded. Here’s the updated breakdown:

UK Equities: The financing cost for UK equities is calculated using the formula: Financing Cost=(3%+SONIA (Sterling Overnight Index Average))/365
This formula ensures daily financing is aligned with updated industry benchmarks. For EU and US equities, similar benchmarks like €STR (Euro Short-Term Rate) or SOFR (Secured Overnight Financing Rate) are used, with the calculation based on 360 days instead of 365.
Spot Currencies: Financing for currency trades is based on the interest rate differential between the two currencies in the pair, plus 2%. This ensures traders pay or receive interest depending on the underlying rates of the currencies involved.
Indices: Financing for index trades is applied at a fixed rate, specific to each instrument. These rates can be found on the Spreadex platform and remain consistent regardless of market volatility.
Monthly & Quarterly Contracts: No additional financing costs apply to monthly or quarterly contracts, making them a good choice for traders who prefer longer-term positions without rolling fees.
Rolling Daily Trades: Financing for rolling daily positions includes roll charges, dividend adjustments, and short borrow charges:
- These are debited or credited daily.
- Profit and Loss (P&L) is realised only when the position is closed, even though charges are applied daily.

Key Features of Short Positions at Spreadex:

Spreadex does not charge additional fees on short positions when the benchmark rate (e.g., SONIA, SOFR) is negative or zero. This can be advantageous compared to other spread betting firms that apply fees regardless of the benchmark rate.
Stock Borrow Charges: Applicable on certain short positions, particularly for hard-to-borrow stocks. These charges depend on the specific stock and market conditions.

Other Considerations:

Multiple Positions: Traders can open multiple long positions in the same contract. However, to open a short position on the same instrument, they must select a contract with a different expiry date to avoid automatically closing out an existing long position.

Spreadex quote the FTSE, Dow and Dax daily contracts out-of-hours; they do this based on their future counterparts which are open and which they use to price all Index daily contracts. 24 hour trading is now offered on all indices/currencies/commodities, spreads are at their narrowest during market hours then widen. They are at their widest between 9pm and 7am, UK Indices/Shares are rolled at 4.30pm, Currencies at 8pm and Commodities and US Indices/Shares at 9pm. The company has also recently introduced a range of spread bets on exchange traded funds (ETFs) and added several new daily futures markets to its current range of spreadbets. The advantage with exchange traded fund bets is that it allows clients to take positions over a basket of shares, commodities or bonds as opposed to individual stocks which can help smooth out short-term market volatility – with prices based on an expiry that can be months or years ahead.

Spread-Ex also give credit – if you open an account they will initially give you a credit ranging from £500 up to £2000, but, at the end of the day whether or not you fund the account, if you lose, they still want the dosh pretty quickly. To access credit beyond these limits Spreadex will require proof of funds in a bank account or portfolio or shares – wealthy clients have credit limits of up to £50,000. Note that account at Spreadex can be denominated in € or USD besides £