10 Best Spread Betting Platforms for 2025

The best Forex broker for spread betting in the UK is IG. IG combines FCA regulation, tax free spread betting and access to more than 17,000 markets across forex, indices, commodities and shares to stand out for UK traders.These tight typical EUR/USD spreads around 0.85 pips, the £0 minimum deposit and the huge product range offered by IG give UK spread bettors low costs, flexibility and plenty of choice when building and managing their positions.

Strong FCA oversight, a broad range of instruments and competitive EUR/USD spreads are often featured in the best UK spread betting brokers. Pepperstone is a good alternative to IG thanks to its ultra tight around 0.6 pip EUR/USD spreads with no commission, a very fast execution infrastructure suited to active traders and support for MT4, MT5, cTrader and TradingView for spread betting. CMC Markets also rivals IG as another UK choice for those comparing the best Forex brokers in the UK, since its FCA regulated London base, roughly 12,000 instruments on the Next Generation platform and typical 0.8 pip EUR/USD spread with no minimum deposit appeal to traders who want a long established spread betting specialist.

The best spread betting broker for beginners is OANDA. OANDA offers an intuitive OANDA Trade web and mobile platform, no minimum deposit with micro bet sizes from about £0.01 per point and a free unlimited demo account that mirrors live market conditions, which makes it particularly beginner friendly. These small position sizes, realistic demo trading and simple platforms provided by OANDA help new traders learn how spread betting works, practise strategies safely and move to live markets at their own pace.

For novice spread bettors, user friendly platforms, low or zero minimum deposits and realistic demo accounts are the features that distinguish the best brokers. Capital.com offers similar features to OANDA like a low minimum deposit from about £20, an intuitive proprietary platform plus MT4 and TradingView and integrated educational and AI driven tools that support beginners. IG offers a £0 minimum deposit, simple yet powerful web and mobile platforms and a free demo account for practising spread betting, placing it among the top Forex brokers for beginners.

The best spread betting broker for scalping is Pepperstone. Pepperstone stands out by combining ultra tight around 0.6 pip EUR/USD spreads on spread betting accounts, a very fast and stable execution infrastructure and full support for MT4, MT5, cTrader and TradingView for algorithmic and high frequency strategies. These low transaction costs, rapid fills and advanced trading platforms offered by Pepperstone allow scalpers to enter and exit trades quickly, minimise slippage and implement automated systems efficiently.

Scalping traders look for tight spreads, rapid execution speeds and robust support for algorithmic trading tools in the best spread betting Forex brokers. A similar alternative to Pepperstone is FXCM for its competitive around 0.9 pip EUR/USD spreads on standard accounts, the combination of Trading Station, MT4 and Capitalise.ai for building rules based systems and the Active Trader programme that can reduce effective spreads for high volume scalpers, making it a notable choice as one of the Forex brokers for scalping. Capital.com offers similar features to Pepperstone like an average 0.6 pip EUR/USD spread with commission free pricing, a responsive proprietary platform plus MT4 and TradingView and access to more than 2,500 markets including over 120 FX pairs for fast moving scalping opportunities.

The best spread betting broker with low spreads is Pepperstone. Pepperstone consistently delivers some of the lowest spreads in the market with around 0.6 pips on EUR/USD, uses a spread only pricing model with no extra commission on spread betting and offers a broad platform choice across MT4, MT5, cTrader and TradingView. These razor sharp spreads, commission free pricing and flexible platform options from Pepperstone keep trading costs down, which is particularly important for traders who place frequent spread bets.

Among brokers focused on low costs, very tight core spreads, transparent pricing without high commissions and competitive rates across many instruments are what make a spread betting account attractive. Capital.com is an appealing alternative to Pepperstone because its EUR/USD spread averages about 0.6 pips on a commission free model, while the low minimum deposit and more than 2,500 markets help many traders benefit from that low fee structure. CMC Markets likewise competes with Pepperstone on pricing, as its typically around 0.8 pip EUR/USD spreads on standard accounts, FX Active tier that can bring effective FX costs to roughly 0.61 pips via commissions and wide 12,000 instrument range give cost conscious traders strong value among leading Forex brokers with low spread.

The best Forex broker for spread betting with a demo account is OANDA. OANDA provides a free unlimited demo account with no strict time limit, a practice environment that closely mirrors live market conditions for spread betting and support for OANDA Trade, MT4 and TradingView. This realistic, time unrestricted demo access across multiple platforms from OANDA lets traders thoroughly test strategies, get used to the tools and build confidence before committing real money.

Realistic demo pricing, access to the same platforms used for live trading and an easy transition path from demo to real accounts of the best Forex brokers for spread betting with a demo account are highly regarded by Forex traders. Capital.com is a notable alternative to OANDA because it offers an unlimited free demo account on its web platform and MT4, covers more than 2,500 markets for practice and uses tight spreads with an identical pricing structure so moving from demo to live feels seamless. IG also stands as an option alongside OANDA and it is widely mentioned as one of the leading demo FX Brokers, since its free practice accounts on the IG platform and MT4, combined with a £0 minimum deposit, allow traders to test spread betting strategies and then start live trading with small stakes when ready.

The best Forex broker for spread betting with the MT4 platform is Pepperstone. Pepperstone fully supports MT4 for spread betting alongside MT5, cTrader and TradingView, delivers ultra tight around 0.6 pip EUR/USD spreads and runs infrastructure that is optimised for expert advisors and algorithmic strategies on MT4. These low costs, multi platform flexibility and MT4 specific performance enhancements offered by Pepperstone enable traders to run EAs efficiently, backtest and automate their spread betting strategies with confidence.

When choosing a spread betting broker for MT4, full native MT4 support, competitive spreads and account conditions that work well with automated trading are the features that matter most. Capital.com offers MT4 alongside its proprietary platform and TradingView for spread betting, EUR/USD spreads around 0.6 pips on a commission free model and a low minimum deposit from about £20 that make it an alternative to Pepperstone. A similar alternative to Pepperstone is ActivTrades for its support of MT4, MT5 and TradingView in addition to ActivTrader, variable EUR/USD spreads that can fall to about 0.6 pips and no minimum deposit across more than 1,000 markets including over 50 FX pairs and 600 shares, make it one of the top MT4 Forex Brokers.

The criteria for choosing the best spread betting brokers are listed below.

• Regulation strength: Choose brokers supervised by top-tier regulators, prioritising UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) entities such as IG Markets, CMC Markets, City Index, OANDA, Capital.com, ActivTrades and FXCM, and recognising that AvaTrade operates EU spread betting via the Central Bank of Ireland. Verify that the specific account you open is FCA-regulated (or equivalent), that client funds are held in segregated accounts, and that negative balance protection is in place. For example, IG holds licences from eight Tier-1 regulators worldwide and operates an FCA-regulated UK spread betting arm, which materially reduces counterparty and legal risk for retail clients.
• Trading costs: Quantitatively compare average spreads on your main markets before deciding. Prefer brokers whose typical EUR/USD spreads are clearly below the0 pip industry norm: Pepperstone and Capital.com average about 0.6 pips, CMC Markets and OANDA around 0.8 pips, while IG is roughly 0.85 pips. Treat wider spreads such as 1.2 pips at ActivTrades or 1.4–1.5 pips at FxPro and 1.4 pips at City Index as meaningfully higher long-run costs. Compute your own expected monthly trading cost by multiplying average spread (in pips) by your usual stake size and trade frequency, and systematically favour the broker offering the lowest all-in spread on the instruments you trade most.
• Market coverage: Select brokers whose product range matches your strategy in both breadth and depth. If you require multi-asset diversification, prioritise firms like IG with over 17,000 markets or CMC Markets with nearly 12,000 instruments, followed by City Index at 8,500+ and Capital.com with 2,500+ markets. If you primarily trade forex majors and indices, narrower offerings such as ActivTrades’ 1,000+ markets, FXCM’s 440 instruments, or FxPro’s 100 spread betting markets may still be sufficient. Check explicitly whether you need single-share bets (offered by IG, CMC Markets, City Index, Capital.com, ActivTrades and FXCM but not by OANDA), bond markets, or futures/forwards, and rule out any broker that does not list the instruments central to your trading plan.
• Platforms and tools: Require robust, feature-rich trading platforms, especially if you rely on technical analysis or automation. Evaluate proprietary platforms such as IG’s web/mobile suite, CMC’s Next Generation (with 80+ technical indicators and 40 drawing tools), City Index Web Trader, Capital.com’s web platform and ActivTrader, and weigh them against multi-platform brokers like Pepperstone, ActivTrades and Capital.com that support MetaTrader 4/5 and TradingView integration. If you use algorithmic strategies or Expert Advisors, prioritise brokers like Pepperstone, ActivTrades, Capital.com and FXCM (via Trading Station and APIs) that explicitly support automated trading. Always test at least one demo account per broker to assess charting quality, order entry workflow and platform stability during volatile sessions before committing real capital.
• Capital requirements: Align broker choice with your available capital and position-sizing rules. If you are capital-constrained or wish to start cautiously, favour brokers with no formal minimum deposit such as IG, Pepperstone, CMC Markets, OANDA and ActivTrades, or very low thresholds like Capital.com (around £20 for most payment methods) and FXCM (£50). Recognise that higher minimums at FxPro and AvaTrade (around £100) effectively raise your initial risk exposure. Examine minimum stake sizes as well: brokers like OANDA, which allow micro stakes (e.g. £0.01 per point), and Capital.com or CMC Markets, which support small per-point bets, are better suited to strict risk-per-trade constraints than firms that require larger notional positions.
• Execution quality: Give preference to brokers with consistently fast, reliable execution and limited requotes or slippage. Treat statements about “high-quality execution” at IG, “among the fastest in the UK market” at Pepperstone, “no requotes in normal conditions” at FxPro, and stable fills at OANDA and FXCM as initial indicators, but verify them via your own demo or small-size live testing at your typical trading times. Monitor fill speed, frequency of slippage and the behaviour of spreads during news events; spreads that regularly blow out far beyond their quoted averages (for instance, EUR/USD widening well above the 6–0.9 pip ranges advertised by Pepperstone, Capital.com, CMC Markets and FXCM) should be treated as a warning sign and may justify choosing a different provider.
• Risk management: Insist on strong built-in risk controls and analytical tools. Prioritise brokers such as City Index, which offers guaranteed stop-loss orders and PlayMaker/Performance Analytics, and CMC Markets and IG, whose proprietary platforms include detailed position analytics and alerting. Consider whether the broker provides spread bet futures or forwards (as at CMC Markets and City Index), allowing longer-term positions without overnight financing charges, which can materially reduce swap costs for swing or position traders. Confirm that negative balance protection is standard (as with FCA-regulated entities like IG, CMC Markets, City Index, OANDA, Capital.com, ActivTrades and FXCM) and incorporate these protections into a formal risk plan that caps your per-trade and per-day loss as a percentage of equity.

To check regulation when choosing the best forex brokers for spread betting, you should verify each broker directly on the official register of a top-tier financial authority, especially the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) if you are a UK or Ireland resident.

First, take the broker’s legal entity name and FCA reference number from the website footer or “About us” page. Genuine firms always show this clearly. Then search that name or number in the FCA Firm Checker or Financial Services Register and confirm the firm is “Authorised”, the website, address, and contact details match, and it has permissions for CFDs, rolling spot forex, or spread betting.

Next, check for warnings about “clone firms” and avoid entities that are authorised only in offshore jurisdictions that do not match where the broker claims to be based. For EU-authorised forex and spread betting providers, repeat the same process on registers maintained by the Central Bank of Ireland, CySEC (Cyprus), or BaFin (Germany).

You should also confirm key investor-protection features: segregated client money, negative balance protection for retail clients, and participation in compensation schemes such as the UK’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). Established FCA-regulated spread betting brands such as IG, CMC Markets, Pepperstone and City Index publicly highlight these protections.

The number of forex pairs the best forex brokers for spread betting should ideally offer is at least 40–60 pairs, with 70–100 or more being preferable for advanced diversification.

Most mainstream UK spread betting providers now list between 40 and 100 FX pairs, which matches current industry practice for retail forex spread betting. This range comfortably covers the major pairs (EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY, USD/CHF), key minors (EUR/GBP, EUR/JPY, AUD/USD, NZD/USD, etc.) and several liquid exotics, which is enough for most strategies.

High-end multi-asset brokers go further. IG offers about 80 currency pairs, while CMC Markets lists more than 300 FX pairs in its broader forex offering, far above the industry average. Some specialist or newer platforms, such as Capital.com, provide 120+ pairs, giving deep coverage in emerging-market and cross-currency instruments.

In practice, you are unlikely to monitor more than 15–20 actively traded pairs, so beyond 100 the marginal benefit mainly matters for niche EM or carry-trade strategies. When comparing brokers, prioritise tight spreads and reliable pricing on majors and key minors, and the availability of the specific pairs your strategy uses, rather than simply the headline count. Use broker product pages or comparison tools to check the exact FX pair list and spreads before opening an account.

Different account types affect choosing the best forex brokers for spread betting because they change your leverage, pricing model, margin requirements, and regulatory protections, so you must match the account to your profile.

Standard retail spread betting accounts at FCA- and ESMA-regulated brokers generally use spread-only pricing, include negative balance protection, and cap leverage (typically up to 1:30 on major FX and 1:20 or lower on minors and gold). This framework is designed for most private traders.

Professional or “pro” accounts raise leverage (often 1:100–1:500), may add volume-based rebates, and sometimes relax margin-close-out rules, but in return you may waive automatic negative balance protection and certain conduct-of-business safeguards. You should only request pro status if you clearly meet experience, volume, and portfolio-size criteria and can tolerate larger swings.

Some brokers introduce “active trader” or commission-based tiers. For example, FXCM offers an Active Trader programme, and CMC Markets runs FX commission structures that tighten effective spreads for high-volume clients. Base-currency choices (GBP, EUR, USD) influence conversion costs, while mini or micro-stake accounts (such as those with very small per-point minimums at OANDA and Capital.com) help you control risk when starting.

Overall, you should favour a regulated retail account unless you demonstrably meet professional criteria and fully understand the extra risks from higher leverage and reduced built-in protections.

The trading platform features and tools that are essential when choosing the best spread betting forex brokers are robust charting and order execution, strong risk-management controls, and reliable multi-device access on both proprietary and third-party platforms.

At execution level, you should prioritise platform stability, fast routing, one-click trading, and precise order types: market, limit, stop, trailing stop, and, where offered, guaranteed stop-loss orders (GSLOs) that cap downside at a predefined premium. Advanced charting is equally critical. Look for multiple timeframes, 40–80+ indicators, drawing tools, templates, and the ability to save layouts and watchlists across devices.

Leading spread betting entities provide this through proprietary platforms such as IG’s web platform with ProRealTime, CMC Markets’ Next Generation, City Index Web Trader, ActivTrader, and FXCM Trading Station, alongside MetaTrader 4/5, cTrader or TradingView connectivity for algorithmic and social trading. Many brokers also integrate research and analytics like Trading Central, pattern-recognition scanners, or AI-driven idea tools, together with economic calendars and real-time news.

For serious strategy development, you should favour brokers that add performance-analytics dashboards, margin and pip calculators, and open APIs or MT4/MT5/cTrader “Expert Advisor” support, so you can back-test, automate and refine your forex spread betting within a single coherent technology stack.

To compare overall trading costs across the best spread betting forex brokers, you should calculate the effective total cost per trade by combining spreads, overnight financing, and non-trading fees for the pairs and stake sizes you actually use.

Start with each broker’s average spread on a benchmark pair such as EUR/USD on its standard spread betting account. Top-tier providers like Pepperstone, Capital.com, IG, CMC Markets and OANDA often quote typical EUR/USD spreads around 0.6–0.9 pips, while others such as ActivTrades, City Index or FxPro may average nearer 1.2–1.5 pips. Convert this into money using your usual stake: at £10 per point on EUR/USD, a 0.6-pip spread costs £6, whereas a 1.4-pip spread costs £14, an £8 difference every time you open and close a position.

Next, compare overnight financing (swap) rates for the same pair and holding period; a broker with slightly wider spreads may still be cheaper for multi-day trades if its financing markup is lower. You should then factor in account-level items such as currency-conversion charges, deposit/withdrawal fees, GSLO premiums, inactivity fees, and the impact of execution quality (slippage, requotes, fill speed).

Finally, build a simple spreadsheet modelling your trade frequency, average holding time, and position size at two or three shortlisted brokers so you can see which one yields the lowest realistic monthly cost for your specific spread betting strategy.