You can see clearly the prices you can trade at and can choose to deal straightaway or to place orders at those prices. You can trade everything from one account. You really are in control of your trading and not reliant on other people to undertake your trading for you.

Please see Market information for the list of financial instruments that you can trade with Spread Co. As you will see, you can trade individual shares, indices, currencies, commodities and bullion all from the same account and all in real-time.

Since you Spread Bet with margin, your capital can be spread more effectively over a wider portfolio. You only need to put down a percentage of the total value of your trades, that percentage or "margin" depending on what type of financial instrument you are trading. For example margins for foreign exchange and index trading are based on a fixed cost per currency unit per point (e.g. GBP 30 for a GBP 1 per point trade on the FTSE100), whilst margins for equity trading might range between 5 and 20% depending on the equity. These margins are known in Spread Betting as the 'Notional Trading Requirement' or 'NTR'.

Spread Co offers extended hours trading on certain markets, giving you more opportunity to trade. For example, Spread Co may quote Vodafone and Barclays prices even after the London Stock Exchange has closed for the day. You can trade many markets 24 hours a day at any time between 10pm on Sunday evening (London Time) and 10pm on Friday evening (London Time).

When you Spread Bet with Spread Co, your trade will usually be confirmed as soon as you hit the buy / sell button (this is subject to the deal or order size being within permitted limits and the instrument being priced correctly). You should not have to wait more than a few seconds for prices to be confirmed, except in unusual market conditions.

If you are a UK resident, you do not have to pay capital gains tax or income tax when you make profits from Spread Betting in the UK, as the profits are classed as the winnings of a "bet". This is in contrast to profits from CFD trading, which are taxable on a Capital Gains Tax basis for UK residents.

There is no stamp duty if you Spread Bet on individual shares in the UK, which may make Spread Betting a cheaper way to gain exposure to equities than trading physical shares.

Spread Betting never requires physical settlement. Trades are always settled in cash. For example, you will never have to buy physical shares or deliver physical coffee to settle a trade. Conversely, many options, warrants and futures require physical settlement.

You can go short as well as long on any financial instrument which means that you can benefit from both a rising and falling market. “Going long” means to buy an instrument with the intention of selling it back at a later date, if you believe the price is going to rise. “Going short” means to sell a financial instrument that you do not own, in order to buy this back at a later date if you believe the price is going to fall.

When you sell a financial instrument and enter into a short trade, you are treated as a lender of the asset. The borrower of the asset (i.e. Spread Co) will adjust your trade price with the interest that you are due to receive. If you are short, your trade price will be adjusted upwards by an amount that is equivalent to the interest. You will then be effectively selling at a higher price.

Spread Co offers you a stand-alone type of trading account called the ‘Limited Risk Account’. This type of account provides you with an additional feature where an automatic guaranteed stop order will be created whenever you place a long or short trade. The guaranteed stop order limits the worst case scenario for an open trade and eliminates the risk of any price gapping. Whether the market moves up or down, the protection from this order holds. To learn more about Limited Risk Accounts, click here. In addition, you are able to place guaranteed stop orders when you are a Standard Account holder on trades that you select.

You can choose to open your trading account in your preferred currency from a choice of Sterling, US dollars or Euros. You can trade all international markets in your preferred currency and you do not have to worry about costly foreign exchange conversion rates or about holding multi-currency ledgers.

Spread Betting carries above average risk and is not for everyone, so please ensure that you understand the risks fully before opening an account. You should be aware that because Spread Betting is a leveraged product, it is possible to lose more money than your initial deposit and that you may be required to make further deposits at short notice. Please read the risk warning.