Advertiser disclosure: we have no affiliate or advertising agreements with brokers, and no click to a broker is paid. If that changes, this notice changes first. How we make money
Firms that list a spread betting account and an FCA-authorised company taking UK residents, sorted by the all-in cost of a EUR/USD trade from their published spreads and commissions. A firm that publishes no spread in pips goes last rather than being guessed.
Low Spread Brokers does not give personal investment advice.
A spread bet is a stake in pounds per point of price movement, and FCA PS19/18 gives it the same retail protections as a CFD: 1:30 on major pairs, negative balance protection and a standard loss warning. With the rules equal, the choice comes down to cost per trade, the platform and the loss rate each firm’s UK company publishes. Read first:our methodologyhow we make moneyhow regulation differs by country
On published prices, the firm in first place has the lowest all-in EUR/USD cost among spread betting firms with an FCA company in our data. That cost comes from each firm’s cheapest account, which can be a commission-based CFD account, so ask for the spread betting quote on the markets you bet on before you choose.
Check that the spread betting account is with the UK company, not an offshore company of the same brand.
Compare the spread in points on the markets you bet on, not the headline EUR/USD price.
Ask which of the firm’s platforms accept spread bets before you rely on MT4 or TradingView.
Try the demo with the same stake per point you plan to use live.
Not sure which broker fits you?
Pick what matters most and go straight to the ranking built for it.
Every ranking shows the company behind each broker and the loss rate that company publishes.
Best spread betting firms in the UK
Ranked by this page’s rule from published data, not by commission. Advertiser disclosure
Why this order: only brokers that list a spread betting account and an FCA-authorised company accepting UK residents, sorted by our costs score, which uses the cheapest published EUR/USD price on any of their accounts; a firm with no published spread sorts last instead of being guessed. Ranked from our data on 5 brokers, updated 19 Oct 2026. How we rank
Ranked by costs score · 19 Oct 2026
Every firm below lists spread betting through an FCA-authorised company that accepts UK residents.
Depends on entity: up to 1:30 (retail, per Pepperstone support FAQ) (FCA)
Funding methods
Debit card, Credit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Bank transfer
StandardRawSpread bettingProfessional5 of 8 licences checked on the register, 20 Oct 2026
Why #1its costs score comes from the Razor account (raw spread plus commission); the spread betting account is priced in the spread, so compare quotes on your markets.
0.0 pips (RAW ECN (inferred: unlabeled block), 17 Feb 2026)
Platforms
MT4, MT5, TradingView, proprietary
Max retail leverage
Depends on entity: up to 30:1 (major currency pairs, retail); lower for other instruments (FCA)up to up to 30:1 (retail clients) (ASIC)up to 100:1 to 500:1 (global help center, all account types; certain products fixed) (VFSC)
Funding methods
Debit card, Credit card, Bank transfer, Skrill, Neteller, E-wallets, Alternative payment methods
StandardRawECNIslamicCopyCentSpread bettingProfessional2 of 6 licences checked on the register, 20 Oct 2026
Why #4FCA company with spread betting, MT4, MT5 and TradingView; it states insurance above the FSCS limit through Lloyd’s of London.
Who each firm suits and its main drawback, in the order of the list.
1PepperstoneMT4, MT5, cTrader and TradingView under one FCA company; the cheapest price in our data is on a CFD account8.5/10
2CMC Marketsspread betting with no minimum deposit; MetaTrader 4 but no MT57.8/10
3IGProRealTime or L2 Dealer users; no raw-spread account7.9/10
4VantageMetaTrader and TradingView users; offshore company for clients outside the UK and Australia7.9/10
5ThinkMarketsa spread betting demo before funding; no published EUR/USD spread in pips7.6/10
Scores by criterion
Each criterion scored 0–10. Darker means a higher score; an empty cell means not measured.
Scores by criterion
Broker
Costs
Platforms
Regulation
Accounts
Research
Support
Pepperstone
8.2
9.5
9.0
7.0
Not measured
Not measured
CMC Markets
8.0
6.5
9.0
7.0
Not measured
Not measured
IG
7.6
8.5
9.0
6.0
Not measured
Not measured
Vantage
7.6
8.0
8.0
8.0
Not measured
Not measured
ThinkMarkets
Not measured
8.0
9.0
9.0
Not measured
Not measured
Preliminary scores from published broker data. Research and support are not scored until live-account tests, and a broker with no published EUR/USD spread in pips has no costs score.
At a glance · spread betting (UK)
Spread betting firms compared
What the table shows
Published minimum deposit, the lowest published EUR/USD spread with its account and check date, platforms, account types and retail leverage by company, from each broker’s own pages.
How to use this table
Sort by score, spread or minimum deposit. Deposits stay in the broker’s own currency, so compare them only within one currency.
0.0 pipsRAW ECN (inferred: unlabeled block) · 17 Feb 2026
MT4, MT5, TradingView, proprietary
Standard, Raw, ECN, Islamic, Copy, Cent, Spread betting, Professional
30:1 (major currency pairs, retail); lower for other instruments (FCA) · up to 30:1 (retail clients) (ASIC) · 100:1 to 500:1 (global help center, all account types; certain products fixed) (VFSC)
Spreads as each broker publishes them, latest check 19 Oct 2026. Minimum deposits are shown in the broker’s own currency and are not converted.
Lowest all-in cost on this list
First on published spread betting costs in October 2026
Pepperstone publishes Tier 1 licence numbers from 5 regulators and quotes EUR/USD from 0.0 pips on its Razor account (checked 19 Oct 2026). The trade-off: that price belongs to the commission-based Razor account; spread bets are quoted in the spread, so check the spread betting quote itself.
73.6% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider (Pepperstone Limited (UK)).
Further down the list
Firms past fifth place on the same costs rule.
Not published
How to choose a spread betting firm
Five checks, in the order that rules out the most firms.
1
Is the spread betting account with an FCA company?
Spread betting goes through the UK company; an offshore company of the same brand gives no FSCS cover and no Financial Ombudsman Service. Every firm on this list has an FCA company that accepts UK residents.
The cost is the spread, quoted in points. IG, for example, builds the whole cost of UK spread bets on forex into the spread, with no commission line in our data.
CMC Markets publishes no minimum deposit for UK accounts, and IG accepts card deposits from GBP 1. Your stake per point decides the margin a bet ties up, not the deposit.
Scores come from published data, not from sponsorship and not yet from live-account tests.
1Collect companiesEach company in the group, its regulator, licence number and the countries it serves, from the broker’s pages and registers where they opened.
2Record costsEUR/USD spreads and commissions as the broker publishes them, with the date of each check.
3Score four criteriaCosts, platforms, regulation and accounts, each from a fixed formula on the methodology page.
4Leave the rest unscoredResearch and support wait for live-account tests; a missing cost figure counts as neutral in the total.
5Rank per pageEach list filters by one fact and sorts by one criterion, written under its heading.
Rubric weights (research and support not yet scored)
Costs · 25%
Regulation & safety · 25%
Platforms · 15%
Accounts & funding · 15%
Research & education · 10%
Support · 10%
5brokers scored
6criteria in the rubric
19 Oct 2026latest data check
What does not affect a score
Partner status and advertising. We have no affiliate or advertising agreements with brokers.
Published spreads behind the scores
Checked
Quote
Spread
19 Oct 2026
EUR/USD, Razor account, Pepperstone
0.1 pips
19 Oct 2026
EUR/USD, FX Active account, CMC Markets
0.0 pips
19 Oct 2026
EUR/USD, UK spread bet/CFD account, IG
0.6 pips
Methodology v1 · scores stay marked preliminary until live-account tests
A desk ranking from published data, with its gaps shown.
Who writes it
The Low Spread Brokers team writes and checks every page; brokers do not see pages before publication and do not edit them. All lists read from one broker file, so a spread or licence number is the same on every page.
We have no affiliate or advertising agreements with brokers, and no click to a broker is paid. If that changes, the site will say so first; partner status is not an input to any score, whose formulas use spreads, platforms, licences and account terms only.
What we don’t do
No bonuses or sign-up offers. No offshore leverage presented as a feature. No claim that we tested an account we have not opened. No personal investment advice.
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Most retail investor accounts lose money. Consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford the high risk of losing your money.
Low Spread Brokers does not give personal investment advice.
HMRC’s Business Income Manual (BIM22015, read on 20 Oct 2026) says a person placing a spread bet is not normally carrying on a trade, so the profits are not taxed and losses get no tax relief. It can be different if spread betting is part of a business, and tax rules can change; ask a tax adviser about your own case.
Broker data checked 19 Oct 2026
2Spread betting or CFDs: what is the difference?
A spread bet is a stake in pounds per point of price movement; a CFD is a contract for the change in value of a position sized in units, sometimes with a separate commission. Both fall under the same FCA retail rules, 1:30 on major pairs included; the HMRC note above is about spread bets only.
Broker data checked 19 Oct 2026
3Can non-UK residents spread bet?
Not with the firms on this list: their spread betting accounts sit with FCA companies for UK residents. Elsewhere the same brands open CFD accounts with their local or offshore companies instead.
Broker data checked 19 Oct 2026
4Which spread betting app should I use?
5 of the 5 firms here offer their own app or platform. We have not tested the apps yet, so compare the platform lists in the table and try each demo.
Broker data checked 19 Oct 2026
5How much margin does a spread bet need?
Margin = stake per point × price in points ÷ leverage. A £5-a-point bet on EUR/USD at 1.1000 (11,000 points) is a £55,000 position, so at the 1:30 retail cap it ties up about £1,833.
Broker data checked 19 Oct 2026
6What happens if a spread betting firm goes bust?
Client money held by the FCA company must be kept apart from the firm’s own, and the FSCS may pay up to £85,000 per person per firm on eligible investment claims, according to our UK reference. Trading losses are never covered.
Broker data checked 19 Oct 2026
Who wrote and checked this page
Written and checked by
Low Spread Brokers team
Collects broker costs, account terms, entities and licence numbers from the brokers’ own pages and the regulators’ registers, records the date and source of every figure and compares each one with its source before a page is published.