Spread Betting with Trading View
Discover how to place spread bets directly through Trading View
Table of Contents
Can you spread bet with Trading View?
Short answer – YES! You can now place trades directly on the Trading View platform that will now be treated as a spread bet. See below for your broker options.
Spread betting through Trading View
You’ve long been able to trade CFDs through Trading View, but now you can also benefit from the tax treatment of spread betting and trade directly from your chart without having to switch between platforms.
The UK broker I recommend for spread betting through Trading View is Pepperstone
Open your account using this link, then once open simply connect your Trading View account to Pepperstone using the video above as a guide.
I also did a video covering how to place trades, stops and targets on Trading View below
CFD Trading vs Spread Betting UK
Spread Betting
- You trade in pounds per point
- Gains are not taxable
- Trade international markets in GBP
CFD Trading
- You trade in contracts (CFDs)
- Gains are taxable - you can offset losses/hedge
- Feels similar to trading the underlying
CFD Trading or Spread Betting
If you’re in the UK and your trading to speculate on major market direction. (IE not trying to hedge a portfolio or anything) then you need a good reason to trade CFDs and not UK Spread Bet in my opinion.
So if you’re a day trader or swing trade trying to make some money trading markets like FTSE, DAX, DOW, Nasdaq, GBP, USD, Oil, Gold etc then the tax advantages of spread betting are hard to beat.
If you make £100k you keep £100k (I’m not an accountant and all that, but here’s some info from HMRC about spread betting and tax)
Tax on Spread Betting
Betting and gambling
Financial Spread Betting and Futures
in particular “Though the terminology used in spread betting frequently echoes that of the derivatives market, no assets are acquired or disposed of and no chargeable gains or allowable losses arise from spread betting, see CG12602.”
Is CFD better than spread betting?
If you can’t open a spread betting account. They are usually for UK residents only then a CFD is a great way to speculate on short term price moves.
Holding trades overnight can incur a small charge, so if you were going to hold a trade for months you might be better buying the underlying outright. Do the sums.
But with regard to is CFD better than spread betting… my opinion is no. If you are a UK resident trading the major markets then the tax treatment of a spread bet is tough to beat.
If you have some unusual requirements like trading smaller niche markets not offered as a spread bet, or you want it to be treated as a taxable trade for hedging purposes then yeah maybe CFD is better.
What spread is the best for trading?
The spread is the difference between the bid and the ask. Ie the price you can buy at (ask) and the price you can sell at (bid)
Imagine you had a quote for 7564 – 7565
The bid is 7564 and the ask is 7565
The spread is the difference between the two. In this example 1pt.
So, if you bought £10pp and sold right away, it would cost you £10.
That’s basically how a spread betting broker makes money.
(read here how they used to screw us!)
Ok so the tighter the spread the better right?
Yep – if that spread was 0.5pts then it would cost you a fiver to trade rather than £10
Comparing apples to apples a tighter spread is better.
However…
Make sure the broker you use doesn’t slip your trades.
What is slippage?
And what I mean by slipping your trades or slippage, is moving the price from the moment you click the buy button to the time you get a fill.
In a fast market you’ll often get slippage on market orders.
That’s because a market order is an instruction to buy at the best price, and that best price may well have moved by the time your little electrical signal goes from your PC, down the street, to the green cabinet, down the line (you get the idea…)
So getting slipped is part of the game when trading quickly or scalping.
But if you’re always getting slipped for a worse price, then a tight spread is meaningless!
eg: You hit buy when the price is 7565 and get filled at 7566. You paid an extra point!
Like I said, it’s normal but a good broker will also give you a price improvement if that happens.
eg: You hit buy when the price is 7565 and get filled at 7564. You got a 1pt discount.
The market moved down in the time it took for your order to hit the market.
A good broker will give you the best possible price. (in fact I think they are legally bound to do so, I dunno I’m not a broker)
Anyway. Tight spread is good, as long as you get good execution too!
Is Spread Betting Risky?
Yes it is.
I won’t sugar coat it. You have a good chance of losing your money. So it pays to trade small and take your time when you start out. No need to rush into things.
Most brokers let you trade 10p a point, so you only need to risk very small amounts whilst you are learning.
Use a demo at first to get used to how everything works, how the market moves and how spread betting itself works.
But with great risk comes great potential reward right?
Margin and leverage give the trader a chance of making some big returns. But at the price of very high risk.
Most traders lose money, so go into this game with your eyes wide open and only risk money you can afford to lose.
Learn the ropes and scale up over time. (I’ve got loads of free resources to help you out, daily email, blog and webinars on specific topics.)
Is CFD trading risky?
Yep, my answer to this one is exactly the same as is spread betting risky?
It is. Anytime you are trading on margin or with leverage, things can move fast. That means losses and wins.
Of course you want it to be the wins, but just know how quickly losses can stack up.
Trade small.
Is Spread Betting Legal?
Yes!
I don’t know where this weird question comes from!
Perfectly legal, operated by regulated brokers (some of which are listed on the stock exchange)
Don’t let the name spread betting put you off. It’s simply a tax efficient way of speculating on market movements.
Just like a CFD, or futures contract.
Best Spread Betting Platform UK
This is a good question.
Now you can spread bet via Trading View that is a game changer. I really think Trading View is a great charting platform. The free version is more than adequate and even the top tier package is low priced.
I remember paying silly amounts each month for simple charting 20 years ago…
But what else is there?
A lot of brokers build their own platforms.
IG and CMC both have a custom solution.
That comes with pros and cons.
The pros are that it’s geared up for trading from.
The cons are that you generally don’t have the suit of add ons and scripts you get with platforms that accommodate other brokers.
Try them out on a demo for yourself and test drive the different platforms.
Trading platforms include: (some of these you can’t spread bet through)
- MT4
- MT5
- CTrader
- Pro Real Time
- Ninja Trader
- Tradovate
- MultiCharts
- Tradestation