5 Best UK Spread Betting Brokers and Platforms for 2026
Spread betting is a very popular and tax-efficient method to trade the financial markets in the UK and Ireland. However, it can be challenging to find the best spread betting broker which offers the best fees, trading platforms, range of markets, customer service and helpful trading tools.
- Rankings are not for sale — the order comes from our test scores; no broker can pay for a higher spot.
- The authority on broker reviews since 2011 — traders have relied on our independent broker testing for over a decade.
- 80+ brokers tested every year — we test the whole market, so we know the benchmark — and which brokers actually beat it.
- Every broker takes the same test — one published scoring system: 9 weighted categories, 250+ variables, measured hands-on by our analysts.
- Every fact is checked twice — a dedicated editor re-verifies each data point, from licenses to spreads, before publication.
As our team has reviewed over 80 brokers each year since 2011, it gives us a deep understanding of which brokers are the best. Using my 18 years of experience trading with spread betting brokers, I have identified the top 5 forex brokers for spread betting below.
List of Top Brokers and Platforms for Spread Betting
Compare All Listed Brokers
| Broker | Score | Fees Score | Min Deposit | Max Leverage | Platforms | Visit Broker |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ActivTrades | 4.3 | 3.4 | $0 | 1:30 (CMVM) 1:200 (BCB) · 1:200 (SCB) · 1:400 (FSCM) · 1:30 (FCA) | MT5, MT4, ActivTrader | CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 82% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. |
FxPro | 4.3 | 3.0 | $0 | 1:30 (FCA) 1:10000 (FSA) · 1:200 (SCB) · 1:30 (CySEC) | MT5, cTrader, MT4, FxPro Trading Platform, FxPro Mobile App, TradingView | 73% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing money. (EU, UK) |
Spreadex | 4.3 | 3.7 | $5 | 1:30 (FCA) | Spreadex Web Platform, Spreadex Mobile App, TradingView | Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 62% of retail investors lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how spread bets and CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. |
IG | 4.7 | 3.8 | $50 | 1:30 (FCA) 1:30 (JFSA) · 1:200 (BMA) · 1:30 (BaFin) · 1:50 (NFA) · 1:30 (ASIC) · 1:30 (FINMA) · 1:20 (MAS) · 1:30 (DFSA) · 1:30 (FSCA) | MT4, ProRealTime, L2 Dealer, TradingView, IG Online Platform | 69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money |
Vantage | 4.6 | 4.4 | $50 | 1:1000 (FSCA) 1:1000 (CIMA) · 1:30 (ASIC) · 1:30 (FCA) · 1:2000 (VFSC) · 1:1000 (FSCM) | MT4, MT5, TradingView, Vantage App, Vantage Web Trading | Trading derivatives carries significant risks. It is not suitable for all investors and if you are a professional client, you could lose substantially more than your initial investment. When acquiring our derivative products, you have no entitlement, right or obligation to the underlying financial assets. Past performance is no indication of future performance and tax laws are subject to change. The information on this website is general in nature and doesn't take into account your personal objectives, financial circumstances, or needs. Accordingly, before acting on the advice, you should consider whether the advice is suitable for you having regard to your objectives, financial situation and needs. We encourage you to seek independent advice if necessary. Please read our legal documents and ensure that you fully understand the risks before you make any trading decisions. |
How Did I Choose the Best Brokers for Spread Betting?
- I ensured that each broker is actually licensed by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which is the financial body that regulates spread betting brokers.
- By opening a live trading account, I checked how each broker’s trading fees stacked up against the industry average.
- As the quality of the broker’s trading platform can make or break your experience, I checked how user-friendly and feature-rich they were, as well as the number of spread bet markets available to trade on.
- I also examined the quality of the broker’s customer support, payment methods available and any helpful trading tools that are available.
Best Overall
- $0Min Deposit
- 1614Tradable Instruments
- HighFees
Why We Picked It
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.
Pros and Cons
- Multiple spread betting platforms
- Wide range of instruments
- Helpful market research tools
- Fast order execution
- Commodity spreads higher than industry average
Best Spread Betting Platform
- $0Min Deposit
- 2090Tradable Instruments
- HighFees
Why We Picked It
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.
Pros and Cons
- Feature-rich Edge Spread Betting platform
- Charts powered by TradingView in app
- Fast execution
- FxPro Squawk
- No spread betting on stocks
Best Range of Tradable Instruments
- $5Min Deposit
- 1390Tradable Instruments
- HighFees
Why We Picked It
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.
Pros and Cons
- 10,000+ tradable instruments
- Out-of-hours trading
- Small-cap stocks available
- Spread bet spot, futures and options
- No demo account available
Best Low Spreads
- $50Min Deposit
- 19234Tradable Instruments
- MediumFees
Why We Picked It
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.
Pros and Cons
- Competitive spreads
- No deposit or withdrawal fees
- Large range of instruments
- Feature-rich spread bet platforms
- Average overnight swap fees
Best MT4 Spread Betting
- $50Min Deposit
- 1056Tradable Instruments
- LowFees
Why We Picked It
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.
Pros and Cons
- MT4/MT5 spread betting accounts
- Desktop, web and mobile platforms
- Detailed market research
- Trading Academy
- Limited number of spread betting instruments
All the Brokers We Tested
Update history
Related Guides
About the Authors
Jitan Solanki is a professional trader, market analyst, and educator. He day trades major currency and index markets and focuses on swing trading US equities and commodities. A qualified Market Technician, Jitan also works with trader education and brokerage companies on various projects. These include market analysis, live trading events, and broker reviews. As an experienced trader and educator, Jitan brings all his qualities in action when reviewing and recommending brokers.
As a Senior Content Editor at FXEmpire, Ola has revised and fact-checked over 200 broker reviews and guides. Her profound understanding of financial markets has been crucial in developing the proprietary rating system.
Aviva is a Senior Content Editor at FXEmpire. Her substantial contributions include refining over 150 broker reviews and 'Best Brokers Guides,' enhancing our proprietary methodology, and ensuring every fact is meticulously verified.