Now i know SB isnt considering investing, but it is a great tool to complement your portfolio if you know how to use it and the tools it provides to minimise risk.
Just a simple Q…just curious if anyone SBs to complement their portfolio. If you do, which broker do you use?
I am looking at potentially pick a broker, but wondering if I could get some inputs from personal experience.
I used to use IG to spreadbet, I closed my account last week as I was going to be charged inactivity fees.
It can be kind of addictive and when I won I tended to throw away my winnings betting on something else. I’m doing far better with less frequent trades in Freetrade
I have a demo account with IG which is here:
Of course, this is a demo account and i really dont have access to 9.8 million!
Did you close your account because you didnt use it? Or was the fees due to you holding on to positions? I have heard about SpreadEx but IG seem to be the most rated…if I was to dabble id want one with the tightest spreads ofc
With IG, I’m only using the Smart Portfolio (automated portfolio allocation and rebalancing).
I don’t use their spread betting, the overnight rates are insane - What is overnight funding, how is it charged and how is it calculated? | IG UK
For complementing portfolio, it’s probably best to use Options or Futures with a proper broker like Interactive brokers or Tradestation.
OMG those over night Fees are outrageous!!!
IG have a good platform, good charting software etc. I just wasn’t using it. I think the inactivity fee was due to start because I hadn’t placed a bet for two years. so I just closed the account
I still have an IG spreadbet account. I use it for occasional investments in companies not on Freetrade. I mainly keep it around for shorting as near-term hedge. I’ve not need that for a while! The fees mentioned above are for daily funded bets. You can buy longer dated bets, which have a wider spread instead of overnight fees. These are cheaper over the long run. You can also roll-over these long dated bets for half the spread.
One of my biggest gripes is that the minimum bets sizes are too large on some instruments. £0.1 per point might not seem like much, but on a share like Amazon at $2149 it’s actually a total bet size of £21,490. I think a lot of people don’t understand this at the start, and it gets them into trouble. I don’t think spreadbet companies do enough to make this clear.
Using IG Index but I’ve recently been told that the spreads in Spreadex are better. I mainly use SB for any companies not on FT, but I prefer not to use them as the spreads can be massive so you take a loosing position as soon as you place a buy. The better FT becomes the less I invest elsewhere.
I am chatting with spreadex now about their over night fees. They seem pretty decent and cheaper than IG.
Taking a loosing position as soon as a you open a trade is how SB works as that’s where the company takes their comp from. 
There is always a spread when we buy a share or ETF, even on Freetrade. The spreadbetting companies just add point or two to the spread. It’s the same as a fee really.
Would you mind letting me know what their fees & spreads are?
Yeah I know the spreads, just a mental hurdle seeing reds on a position. Patience is the key, like most investing. Cheers
this is what I could find on the website:
The tightness of spreads can be critical to many spread betters as it can have a big impact on an individual’s style of trading.
Spreadex has spreads starting from just 0.6 in width on the SPX 500, 1 point on the UK 100, Germany 30, France 40 and US Tech 100 and 1.7 points on the Wall Street.
But this is what I got back from one of the support staff about overnight fees:
So for the UK 100 index our fee is 0.714 * stake. So the charge is independent of the current price of the market.
It sounds like you were more interested in the Equity side of things so let’s use an example of £10 per point of Barclays:
The close price yesterday was 179.02 and LIBOR is 0.70%. Therefore, the charge to your account would’ve been £10 * 179.02 * (0.007+ 0.03) / 365 = £0.18.
This would be applied each day at 16:30 with a 3 day charge applied on a Friday to account for the weekend.
this is also a selling point:
We do not charge you for holding an account with Spreadex or charge inactivity fees like some providers. There are no minimum deposit requirements, joining fees, contracts to sign or obligation to trade.
