Spreadex was founded in 1999 by former city dealer Jonathon Hufford. Clients have been able to place trades online since May 2006. Spreadex clients can place trades over the phone or online. Spreadex is an interesting spread betting provider for the financial trader, as it still has a significant sports betting side. In fact the company offers financial spread betting, sports spread betting and sports fixed odds betting all from the same account. The company has been in business more than 10 years, and has demonstrated an active commitment to expanding its operation, providing new services at frequent intervals.
Pros – Personalised service and nice people to deal with. Offer some of the smaller cap stocks not covered by other providers. Some of the latest upgrades include:
- 1 point spreads† on UK 100, Daily, Germany 30, Daily and Spot EUR/USD
- 2 point spreads† on Wall St, Daily and Spot GBP/USD
- 24 hour trading on Spreadex’s FX and other popular markets
- Customisable trading platform with one-click trading, pairs/standard view
- iPhone trading app to access the markets and view charts on the move
- Extensive AIM stock provision, with stocks as low as £1m market cap
Cons
Connectivity issues can be a problem. If I have Spreadex open alongside two other spreadbet platforms, Spreadex is the one that is frequently interrupted by a pop-up message saying ‘server connection lost’ which typically lasts about 2-3 seconds, while my other live accounts are all working smoothly.
I love the people at Spreadex who are very human and you can use them as a broker. The company’s philosophy is that spread betting should be user-friendly, and this attitude has attracted over 10% of the UK’s spread betters to use it. Spreadex allows the accounts to be based on sterling, the euro, or the US dollar, so eliminating the risk of currency fluctuations. Being UK-based, the company is authorized and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
Don’t forget the benefits of financial spread betting with Spreadex:
- Financial spread betting on the go with Spreadex’s new app for iPhone.
- Access to hundreds of global markets including new indices and bonds via their fast, secure and easy-to-use trading platform.
- Expansive range of FX markets with 50+ currency pairs, minimums starting at just 10p.
- Some of the most attractive margin rates in the industry – particularly in relation to AIM stocks.
- Full suite of advanced charting tools to aid your market analysis.
- Bespoke phone service provided by experienced traders.
Clients at Spreadex are also able to take advantage of a credit facility (subject to your credit history etc) which permits you to open trades without having to fund your account.
The company’s sports betting covers thousands of matches and events worldwide including UK and Irish horse racing, global football games ranging from the Premiership to J-League, International and domestic cricket, golf, baseball, tennis and a whole lot more. On the other hand the firm’s financial trading platform allows traders and investors to speculate on the price movements of a vast range of global markets including indices such as the FTSE 100 or Dow Jones, individual equities, commodities such as gold or oil, currency pairs, interest rates, bonds and ETFs.
Spreadex has recently re-launched its trading platform which now is highly customisable and things like trade tickets, charts, watchlists and orders can be dragged and dropped around the screen to position convenient to the user. One-click execution is now also available while trading sessions are now saved so that when a trader exits the trading platform, the next login will restore the session with the last recorded settings from the earlier visit.
User reports of Spreadex have been generally favourable, and it has tight spreads and good customer service. The spread on the FTSE 100 is just 1 point, as is the spread on the EUR/USD. While spreads for other markets may not be as tight they are still reasonable. Unlike some other brokers, placing a stop loss order when you open a position is not automatic or easy. You have to open your position first and then set a limit order or stop loss to protect you from substantial losses.
The trading platform is browser-based, allowing you to spread bet from any Internet connected computer. Spreadex also offers mobile betting and is able to take bets over the phone via its team of friendly traders. For those who are not familiar with spread betting, and who might need some help, Spreadex have produced a series of training videos to help beginners get to grips with the features of the Spreadex trading platform.
On the downside there were some accusations flying around of front running and trading against one or two clients…but in the main their main aim is that spread betters make money as they bet more…they don’t want to be left holding the bath water….or in one case someone’s house they are also sensible and insist on 40% margin for aim stocks where as it used to be 20% and they got hurt… Having said that IG Index have also increased their margins via a tapered margin system………but if you can’t control your own margin/risk then it’s simple don’t touch spread betting with a barge pole and for that matters don’t T trade as you will lose a lot of money.
The philosophy with Spreadex is evident in their website. When you visit it, you are given a brief description and four choices. Three of them describe the process of applying for an account, trading on the platform (where they promise that traders will call you to explain how it works), and claiming your bonus as appropriate. The fourth is a simple “Apply Now!” button. All of them take you to the online application, and there is simply no distraction to filling it out.
Mobile Trading: Yes, Spreadex provide a usable mobile web betting platform facility; this supports Android, Blackberry (Torch and above) as well as iPhones. All you have to do is to visit their website from your mobile handset.
In this way, they avoid confusion and introduce you in a user-friendly way to setting up an account at Spreadex. After all, there’s no point in having all the other options to explore on the website until you have decided to use them for spread betting. If you are interested in sports spread betting as well as financial spread betting, then Spreadex should be top of your list. If you just want to financially spread bet, then they are certainly worth considering.