5 Best UK Spread Betting Brokers and Platforms for 2026

If you’re looking for the best overall spread betting broker, then ActivTrades could be for you. Founded in 2001, I found you can spread bet on over 1,100 markets from the MT4, MT5, TradingView, and ActivTrader platforms, and access helpful market research, trading signals and daily market breakdowns. You can also access enhanced protection of your funds and spread on stocks, which some brokers don’t offer.

Key Spread Betting Features

• Entity: ActivTrades PLC
• Tradable Instruments: 1,100+ 
• Leverage: Up to 1:30 (retail)
• Platforms: MT4, MT5, TradingView, ActivTrader web and mobile
• Minimum Spread: 0.5 pips EUR/USD
• Minimum Deposit: Zero
• Minimum Bet Size: 10p per point

During my live test, I found that you can use an ActivTrades spread betting account and trade from the TradingView platform. I enjoy using TradingView due to how user-friendly the web platform and mobile apps are, and find the built-in technical analysis scanners great for finding trading opportunities across all the asset classes available. 

The broker’s own proprietary ActivTrader web platform is also very good and has charts powered by TradingView, one-click trading, the ability to trade from the chart and built-in market research and news. The in-house research includes daily, weekly and macro breakdowns of market trends and also includes a Trading Central package which offers actionable trading signals. I found the research high-quality and useful for trading the 1,100+ tradable instruments available for spread betting.  

Founded in 2003, FxPro offers one of the best proprietary spread betting platforms for trading forex, indices and commodities. I found that the FxPro Edge Platform is feature-rich and caters to beginner and advanced traders with customisable watchlists, built-in news feed and useful trading tools. 

Key Spread Betting Features

• Entity: FxPro UK Limited
• Tradable Instruments: 100+ 
• Leverage: Up to 1:30 (retail)
• Platforms: FxPro Edge web and mobile
• Minimum Spread: 0.6 pips EUR/USD
• Minimum Deposit: Zero
• Minimum Bet Size: 10p per point

During my live test, I was most impressed with how user-friendly the FxPro Edge platform is. The one-click trading feature is great for reacting to news announcements and works well with FxPro Squawk which delivers real-time alerts on market-moving events. I find this makes the platform particularly useful for day traders and scalpers on the forex, indices and commodities markets. 

I also found an excellent range of 50+ technical indicators, 13+ drawing tools, 6 chart types, and multiple timeframes. Where FxPro really stands out is the speed of execution, which I found is less than 8 milliseconds, which is another useful feature for short-term trading styles. I was also impressed with the FxPro mobile app, which has charts powered by TradingView and offers over 100 technical indicators, 30 drawing tools, and 12 chart types. I found the FxPro app is easy to use and helpful to spread bet while on the move. 

Founded in 1999, I found that Spreadex is the best spread betting broker for those seeking a large and diverse range of tradable instruments. I counted over 10,000 instruments available to spread bet covering forex, indices, commodities, bonds, ETFs, shares and options, with access to out-of-hour sessions on popular indices, UK, US and German shares. 

Key Spread Betting Features

• Entity: Spreadex Ltd
• Tradable Instruments: 10,000+ 
• Leverage: Up to 1:30 (retail)
• Platforms: TradingView, Spreadex web and mobile 
• Minimum Spread: 0.6 pips EUR/USD
• Minimum Deposit: Zero
• Minimum Bet Size: 10p per point

The number of tradable instruments at Spreadex is very impressive and is one of the largest ranges of markets I’ve seen among spread betting brokers. The most unique feature is the ability to trade out-of-hours on selected UK, US and German shares. I find that by trading during the pre-market and post-market sessions, you can get ahead of the big moves that happen during earnings releases and other news announcements. 

Another standout feature is that you can deal in small-cap stocks, including those listed on the AIM exchange that have a market capitalisation of £5 million+. This opens up a world of opportunity to capitalise on the share price of smaller companies that can often produce larger moves than blue-chip stocks. I enjoyed using the proprietary Spreadex web platform as it has a built-in candlestick pattern recognition scanner and VWAP tools that are not seen on other platforms. I found it useful to identify trading opportunities more quickly across all the markets available. 

If you’re looking for a spread betting broker that offers some of the lowest spreads in the industry, then IG could be for you. Founded in 1974, I found that IG offers the lowest spreads on major forex pairs, stock indices and shares, with industry-average spreads on minor forex pairs and commodities. 

Key Spread Betting Features

• Entity: IG Index Ltd
• Tradable Instruments: 17,000+ 
• Leverage: Up to 1:30 (retail)
• Platforms: MT4, TradingView, IG web and mobile
• Minimum Spread: 0.6 pips EUR/USD
• Minimum Deposit: Zero
• Minimum Bet Size: 1p per point

During my live fee test, I found the spread on EUR/USD on IG’s spread betting account averaged 0.6 pips during the London and New York trading sessions. This is much better than the industry average of 1.08 pips from our database of brokers and their spreads on live trading accounts. I also found industry-beating spreads on stock indices with the DAX40 at 1.6 pips compared to the industry average of 2.4 pips. 

The spreads on some of the US shares I tested were mixed, with some better and some worse than the industry average, but this could also be due to spreads widening in response to news announcements related to the individual stock. Spreads on commodities like WTI oil were in line with the industry average, with some commodities like gold a little higher. With no inactivity, deposit or withdrawal fees, an excellent range of trading platforms and comprehensive market research, IG is a top broker to consider.

Founded in 2009, I found that Vantage is the best spread betting broker offering the full functionality of the MT4 trading platform. With access to daily and weekly market research, a comprehensive trading academy and useful trading tools like client sentiment data, Vantage is a top MT4 broker to consider. 

Key Spread Betting Features

• Entity: Vantage Global Prime LLP
• Tradable Instruments: 110+ 
• Leverage: Up to 1:30 (retail)
• Platforms: MT4, MT5
• Minimum Spread: 1.4 pips EUR/USD
• Minimum Deposit: $50
• Minimum Bet Size: 10p per point

The MT4 platform has been the gold standard of forex trading for decades. I found that Vantage offers spread betting accounts via the MT4 desktop, web and mobile platforms. I prefer to use the desktop platform as it offers the most amount of features, including over 80 built-in technical analysis indicators, 30+ drawing tools, one-click trading and customisable watchlists. However, the desktop platform has a steep learning curve, whereas the web platform and mobile app are better suited to beginners. 

I found the market research Vantage provides is helpful for both beginner and advanced traders as it covers daily and weekly breakdowns of market-moving events. What really impressed me the most was the client sentiment data indicator as it provides detailed information on the net long and net short positions in forex, indices, and commodities, as well as changes in longs and shorts. This is really helpful in identifying overbought and oversold conditions that are due for a market reversal.