What Is Financial Spread Betting; A Brief Understanding

All in all spread betting is high risk gambling. Unlike traditional methods of gambling where you only lose your stake money, when it comes to spread betting profits and losses are potentially unlimited which makes them risky. If you have tried your hand at gambling whether that is in the form of actual casinos, bets or online casinos and are feeling confident then here is what you need to know about spread betting as well as the secrets of financial betting.

The most important thing to remember before you get involved in spread betting is to actually understand what you are doing. The basic explanation of spread betting is that it simply allows you to speculate on whether the price of an asset will rise of fall, depending on your opinion and predictions. You can gamble on almost everything from shares and commodities to stock market indices and house prices. The appeal with spread betting is you don’t actually have to buy the underlying asset you want to trade, you can just take a view on the prices offered by the spread betting provider as to whether the price will increase or drop.

How Spread Betting Works

A spread bet is a bet on the future movement of an underlying asset. In general terms if you believe the asset is going to rise you place a buy bet, if you think the asset is going to fall you place a sell bet. To place a spread bet, spread betting firm offer you a quote which consists of a bid depending on whether you think the asset is going to rise or fall. If you do choose to place a buy bet your profits will rise in line with any increase in that price. If you place a sell bet your profits will rise in line with any fall. However if you have chosen to sell and the asset falls you will have dramatic losses, there are many examples of spread betting with all outcomes.

Advantages of Spread Betting

One of the biggest advantages to spread betting is the tax break, with UK law there are no taxes on your betting profits either stamp duty or on capital gains. Another is that it can be an easy and cost effective way to trade if you know what you are doing. As when you buy shares through a broker you have to pay a fee. With spread betting that is not the case as the spread betting provider makes their money from the difference between the bid and offer prices. It isn’t just about the cost spread betting allows you to speculate on a whole range of markets that would be difficult to access otherwise.

Disadvantages of Spread Betting

The biggest disadvantage to spread betting is that if you have chosen a market that can be very volatile, unless you place a stop loss you could have a large amount of losses if you position moves against your prediction. As a long term investment it is not viable as if you hold a bet open over a long period of time the costs associated increase and it may be more beneficial to have bought the underlying asset. Ultimately you have no right as an investor, no voting right and you will not benefit from dividends.