Capital Spreads is one of the leading spread betting providers, and is based out of London. It is operated by London Capital Group – a financial services company founded in 1996 which specialises in online trading services for private, professional and institutional customers. Capital Spreads provides both spread betting and contracts for difference (CFDs) from a browser-based trading platform, and has recently updated its software, which was originally launched in 2003.
As the trading platform is browser-based, there is no need to download any software and you can control your account from any computer. A demo account is available, allowing you to try out spread betting before committing any money. In addition, to help you try out the features there are a number of online tutorials. If you’re not a visual learner, the documentation is comprehensive.
One feature of Capital Spreads is that it has very tight spreads on its products, and, as this is where trading costs occur with spread betting, tight spreads equate to a greater profit. The spreads are one point on the FTSE, DAX, and EUR/USD, and two points on the GBP/USD and Wall Street, and it is unlikely that you will find a provider to beat these, although some will match them. You should note that with 24 hour trading, such as Capital Spreads offers, the spreads will always increase out of market hours because of the inability of the broker to hedge any trades placed.
Somewhat unusually in this competitive marketplace, at the moment Capital Spreads offers no particular incentives to join although if you sign up from our link you are eligible to an exclusive £100 in extra monies. However, you can join without funding your account, and when you wish to trade you will only need to meet the margin requirements for the financial security you are betting on. The incentives offered by many other brokers are tied to minimum deposit requirements, so Capital Spreads may be more suitable for your budget.
It is interesting to note that Capital Spreads is user-friendly for the novice trader. The website has a wealth of training material, talking about spread betting in general as well as about using the trading platform. Another feature to assist the neophyte is that stop loss orders are automatically entered whenever you open a trade. While you may decide to alter the default stoploss levels to suit your trading plan, it’s comforting to know that a beginner who may forget to enter a stop loss on occasion will be saved from disastrous consequences if the market turns against him.
Capital Spreads is a well-capitalized, which is reassuring in current times. It boasts on the website that 89% of the clients regard it as having the tightest spreads, and it was named the Spread Betting Provider of the Year for 2009 by the Financial Times and Investors Chronicle. There is telephone support, which is reportedly very good, and this means that in the event your Internet connection or computer fails you are able to control and minimize any losses to open positions. Overall, Capital Spreads may be the only spread betting provider that you need, and we rate them as well worth a look.