Define Stock Spread Bet

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Dan Blystone is the founder and editor of TradersLog.com, as well as the founder of the Chicago Traders Meetup Group.
Spread betting is a derivative strategy, in which participants do not own the underlying asset they bet on, such as a stock or commodity. Rather, spread bettors simply speculate on whether the asset's price will rise or fall, using the prices offered to them by a broker.
As in stock market trading, two prices are quoted for spread bets—a price at which you can buy (bid price) and a price at which you can sell (ask price). The difference between the buy and sell price is referred to as the spread. The spread-betting broker profits from this spread, and this allows spread bets to be made without commissions, unlike most securities trades.
Investors align with the bid price if they believe the market will rise and go with the ask if they believe it will fall. Key characteristics of spread betting include the use of leverage, the ability to go both long and short, the wide variety of markets available, and tax benefits.
Spread betting allows traders to bet on the direction of a financial market without actually owning the underlying security.
Spread betting is sometimes promoted as a tax-free, commission-free activity that allows investors to speculate in both bull and bear markets, but this remains banned in the U.S.
Like stock trades, spread bet risks can be mitigated using stop loss and take profit orders.
If spread betting sounds like something you might do in a sports bar, you're not far off. Charles K. McNeil, a mathematics teacher who became a securities analyst—and later a bookmaker—in Chicago during the 1940s has been widely credited with inventing the spread-betting concept. But its origins as an activity for professional financial-industry traders happened roughly 30 years later, on the other side of the Atlantic. A City of London investment banker, Stuart Wheeler, founded a firm named IG Index in 1974, offering spread betting on gold. At the time, the gold market was prohibitively difficult to participate in for many, and spread betting provided an easier way to speculate on it.
Despite its American roots, spread betting is illegal in the United States.
Let's use a practical example to illustrate the pros and cons of this derivative market and the mechanics of placing a bet. First, we'll take an example in the stock market, and then we'll look at an equivalent spread bet.
For our stock market trade, let's assume a purchase of 1,000 shares of Vodafone (LSE: VOD) at £193.00. The price goes up to £195.00 and the position is closed, capturing a gross profit of £2,000 and having made £2 per share on 1,000 shares. Note here several important points. Without the use of margin, this transaction would have required a large capital outlay of £193k. Also, normally commissions would be charged to enter and exit the stock market trade. Finally, the profit may be subject to capital gains tax and stamp duty.
Now, let's look at a comparable spread bet. Making a spread bet on Vodafone, we'll assume with the bid-offer spread you can buy the bet at £193.00. In making this spread bet, the next step is to decide what amount to commit per "point," the variable that reflects the price move. The value of a point can vary.
In this case, we will assume that one point equals a one pence change, up or down, in the Vodaphone share price. We'll now assume a buy or "up bet" is taken on Vodaphone at a value of £10 per point. The share price of Vodaphone rises from £193.00 to £195.00, as in the stock market example. In this case, the bet captured 200 points, meaning a profit of 200 x £10, or £2,000.
While the gross profit of £2,000 is the same in the two examples, the spread bet differs in that there are usually no commissions incurred to open or close the bet and no stamp duty or capital gains tax due. In the U.K. and some other European countries, the profit from spread betting is free from tax.
However, while spread bettors do not pay commissions, they may suffer from the bid-offer spread, which may be substantially wider than the spread in other markets. Keep in mind also that the bettor has to overcome the spread just to break even on a trade. Generally, the more popular the security traded, the tighter the spread, lowering the entry cost.
In addition to the absence of commissions and taxes, the other major benefit of spread betting is that the required capital outlay is dramatically lower. In the stock market trade, a deposit of as much as £193,000 may have been required to enter the trade. In spread betting, the required deposit amount varies, but for the purpose of this example, we will assume a required 5% deposit. This would have meant that a much smaller £9,650 deposit was required to take on the same amount of market exposure as in the stock market trade.
The use of leverage works both ways, of course, and herein lies the danger of spread betting. As the market moves in your favor, higher returns will be realized; on the other hand, as the market moves against you, you will incur greater losses. While you can quickly make a large amount of money on a relatively small deposit, you can lose it just as fast.
If the price of Vodaphone fell in the above example, the bettor may eventually have been asked to increase the deposit or even have had the position closed out automatically. In such a situation, stock market traders have the advantage of being able to wait out a down move in the market, if they still believe the price is eventually heading higher.
Despite the risk that comes with the use of high leverage, spread betting offers effective tools to limit losses.
Risk can also be mitigated by the use of arbitrage, betting two ways simultaneously.
Arbitrage opportunities arise when the prices of identical financial instruments vary in different markets or among different companies. As a result, the financial instrument can be bought low and sold high simultaneously. An arbitrage transaction takes advantage of these market inefficiencies to gain risk-free returns.
Due to widespread access to information and increased communication, opportunities for arbitrage in spread betting and other financial instruments have been limited. However, spread betting arbitrage can still occur when two companies take separate stances on the market while setting their own spreads.
At the expense of the market maker, an arbitrageur bets on spreads from two different companies. When the top end of a spread offered by one company is below the bottom end of another’s spread, the arbitrageur profits from the gap between the two. Simply put, the trader buys low from one company and sells high in another. Whether the market increases or decreases does not dictate the amount of return.
Many different types of arbitrage exist, allowing for the exploitation of differences in interest rates, currencies, bonds, and stocks, among other securities. While arbitrage is typically associated with risk-less profit, there are in fact risks associated with the practice, including execution, counterparty, and liquidity risks. Failure to complete transactions smoothly can lead to significant losses for the arbitrageur. Likewise, counterparty and liquidity risks can come from the markets or a company’s failure to fulfill a transaction.
Continually developing in sophistication with the advent of electronic markets, spread betting has successfully lowered the barriers to entry and created a vast and varied alternative marketplace.
Arbitrage, in particular, lets investors exploit the difference in prices between two markets, specifically when two companies offer different spreads on identical assets.
The temptation and perils of being overleveraged continue to be a major pitfall in spread betting. However, the low capital outlay necessary, risk management tools available, and tax benefits make spread betting a compelling opportunity for speculators.
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Options Trading Strategy & Education
Spread betting refers to speculating on the direction of a financial market without actually owning the underlying security.
A seller is any individual or entity, who exchanges a good or service in return for payment. In the options market, a seller is also called a writer.
Index arbitrage is a trading strategy that attempts to profit from the differences between actual and theoretical prices of a stock market index.
A box spread is an options arbitrage strategy that combines buying a bull call spread with a matching bear put spread.
Put-call parity is the relationship between the price of European put and call options with the same underlying asset, strike price, and expiration.
A leg is one component of a derivatives trading strategy in which a trader combines multiple options contracts or multiple futures contracts.
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Akhilesh Ganti is a forex trading expert who has 20+ years of experience and is directly responsible for all trading, risk, and money management decisions made at ArctosFX LLC. He has earned a bachelor's degree in biochemistry and an MBA from M.S.U., and is also registered commodity trading advisor (CTA).
Spread betting refers to speculating on the direction of a financial market without actually owning the underlying security. It involves placing a bet on the price movement of a security. A spread betting company quotes two prices, the bid and ask price (also called the spread), and investors bet whether the price of the underlying security will be lower than the bid or higher than the ask.
The spread bettor does not actually own the underlying security in spread betting, they simply speculate on its price movement.
Spread betting should not be confused with spread trading, which involves taking offsetting positions in two (or more) different securities and profiting if the difference in price between the securities widens or narrows over time.
Spread betting refers to speculating on the direction of a financial market without actually taking a position in the underlying security.
The investor does not own the underlying security in spread betting, they simply speculate on its price movement using leverage.
It is promoted as a cost-effective method to speculate in both bull and bear markets.
Spread betting allows investors to speculate on the price movement of a wide variety of financial instruments, such as stocks, forex, commodities, and fixed income securities. In other words, an investor makes a bet based on whether they think the market will rise or fall from the time their bet is accepted. They also get to choose how much they want to risk on their bet. It is promoted as a tax free, commission free activity that allows investors to profit from either bull and bear markets.
Spread betting is a leveraged product which means investors only need to deposit a small percentage of the position's value. For example, if the value of a position is $50,000 and the margin requirement is 10%, a deposit of just $5,000 is required. This magnifies both gains and losses which means investors can lose more than their initial investment.
Spread betting may not be available to residents of the United States due to regulatory and legal limitations.
Despite the risk that comes with the use of high leverage, spread betting offers effective tools to limit losses.
Risk can also be mitigated by the use of arbitrage, betting two ways simultaneously.
Let’s assume that the price of ABC stock is $201.50 and a spread-betting company, with a fixed spread, is quoting the bid/ask at $200 / $203 for investors to transact on it. The investor is bearish and believes that ABC is going to fall below $200 so they hit the bid to sell at $200. They decide to bet $20 for every point the stock falls below their transacted price of $200. If ABC falls to where the bid/ask is $185/$188, the investor can close their trade with a profit of {($200 - $188) * $20 = $240}. If the price rises to $212/$215, and they choose to close their trade, then they will lose {($200 - $215) * $20 = -$300}.
The spread betting firm requires a 20% margin, which means the investor needs to deposit 20% of the value of the position at its inception, {($200 * $20) * 20% = $800, into their account to cover the bet. The position value is derived by multiplying the bet size by the stock’s bid price ($20 x $200 = $4,000).
Investors have the ability to bet on both rising and falling prices. If an investor is trading physical shares, they have to borrow the stock they intend to short sell which can be time-consuming and costly. Spread betting makes short selling as easy as buying.
Spread betting companies make money through the spread they offer. There is no separate commission charge which makes it easier for investors to monitor trading costs and work out their position size.
Spread betting is considered gambling in some jurisdictions, and subsequently any realized gains may not be taxable. Investors who spread bet should keep records and seek the advice of an accountant before completing their taxes.
Investors who don’t understand leverage can take positions that are too large for their account which can result in margin calls. Investors should risk no more than 2% of their investment capital (deposit) on any one trade and always be aware of the position value of the bet they intend to open.
During periods of volatility, spread betting firms may widen their spreads. This can trigger stop-loss orders and increase trading costs. Investors should be wary about placing orders immediately before company earnings announcements and economic reports.
Many spread betting platforms will also offer trading in contracts for difference (CFDs), which are a similar type of contract. CFDs are derivative contracts where traders can bet on short-term price moves. There is no delivery of physical goods or securities with CFDs, but the contract itself has transferrable value while it is in force. The CFD is thus a tradable security established between a client and the broker, who are exchanging the difference in the initial price of the trade and its value when the trade is unwound or reversed. Although CFDs allow investors to trade the price movements of futures, they are not futures contracts by themselves. CFDs do not have expiration dates containing preset prices but trade like other securities with buy and sell prices.
Spread bets, on the other hand, do have fixed expiration dates when the bet is first placed. CFD trading also requires commissions and transaction fees be paid up-front to the provider; in contrast, spread betting companies do not take fees or commissions. When the contract is closed and profits or losses are realized, the investor is either owed money or owes money to the trading company. If profits are realized, the CFD trader will net profit of the closing position, less opening position and fees. Profits for spread bets will be the change in basis points multiplied by the dollar amount negotiated in the initial bet. Both CFDs and spread bets are subject to dividend payouts assuming a long position contract. While there is no direct ownership of the asset, a provider and spread betting company will pay dividends if the underlying asset does as well. When profits are realized for CFD trades, the investor is subject to capital gains tax while spread betting profits are usually tax-free
The offers that appear in this table are from partnerships from which Investopedia receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where listings appear. Investopedia does not include all offers available in the marketplace.
A seller is any individual or entity, who exchanges a good or service in return for payment. In the options market, a seller is also called a writer.
A contract for differences (CFD) is a marginable financial derivative that can be used to speculate on very short-term price movements for a variety of underlying instruments.
An assignable contract has a provision allowing the holder to give away the obligations and rights of the contract to another party or person before the contract's expiration date.
A leg is one component of a derivatives trading strategy in which a trader combines multiple options contracts or multiple futures contracts.
Futures are financial contracts obligating the buyer to purchase an asset or the seller to sell an asset at a predetermined future date and price.
A commodity futures contract is an agreement to buy or sell a commodity at a set price and time in the future. Read how to invest in commodity futures.
Investopedia is part of the Dotdash publishing family.

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