Category: Spread Betting

Margin FX Review: Barclay’s Margin FX

Posted on by Admin in CFD, Reviews, Spread Betting
Important Facts 
  • Regulation: Barclays Margin FX is a trading name of Barclays Stockbrokers Ltd. who are regulated in the United Kingdom. 
  • Instruments: 50 Forex Pairings. 
  • Features: Foreign Exchange service provided by a well known international bank. 
  • Leverage: Flexible leverage up to a maximum of 100:1 
The Platform 
Barclays Margin FX provides two platforms to those wishing to trade Foreign Exchange with them. The first is a WebTrading program that I had a play around with. To be honest I wasn’t particularly impressed with the program. While it was perfectly functional and allows for traders to open and close positions. It was then I noticed that the Barclays platform was powered by FXCM. Apparently back in October 2012, Barclays chose FXCM as their technology provider. This essentially means those who trade with Barclays Margin FX are using FXCM’s price feed and platform with Barclays operating as its own liquidity provider. While this doesn’t present any real problems it does mean you stuck with using a relatively weak web or download platform. For instance there is no option to use the ever popular MetaTrader platform when trading with Barclays Margin FX. This is a bit annoying and significantly limits the kind of trading activity you can engage in. There is also no support for Mobile Trading something which is becoming increasingly popular.

Special Features 
There is nothing particularly Special about the Barclays Margin FX offering. Your essentially just trading with the FXCM Web and Download platforms with Barclays acting as the counter party. Barclays Margin FX operates with the Market Model brokerage model so it is unable to offer the incredibly tight spreads you would expect from such a major a banking institution. The main attraction for potential customers is the possibility of trading Forex with a well known and well regarded international bank, with Barclays having a very strong reputation when it comes to brokerage services. 

Spreads 

The Spreads at Barclays Margin FX aren’t bad and are among the better Spreads to be offered by brokerages operating using a Market Maker Model. For instance, the target Spread on the EUR/USD is 2.1 Pips which while not mind blowing isn’t bad either. However Spreads are often significantly wider than the quoted target spreads featured on the Barclays Margin FX Website. As there are a number of other brokerages who offer similar if not tighter spreads it makes me question why individuals would choose to deposit cash at Barclays, considering the lack of a sophisticated trading platform and the limited leverage offered by the service. I can think of a number of MiFID regulated brokerages who offer equally as tight spreads, while also offering their customers significantly more leverage. 

Customer Service 
This has to be one of the bigger selling points of the Barclays Margin FX service. Barclays Margin FX is operated by Barclays Brokerage arm, in general Barclays has built a good reputation as a financial broker offering a variety of financial instruments including Stocks, CFD’s, ETF’s and Financial Spread bets. I know a number of people who use Barclays Brokerage services and all of them have been happy with the level of service they have provided. I would suspect that this high standard of service is extended to those using it’s Margin FX platform.  

Regulation
As already mentioned Barclays Margin FX is a trading name of Barclays Stockbrokers Ltd. who are based in the UK and regulated by the FSA. While the main arm of Barclays has got itself into a number of regulatory scrapes recently Barclays Margin FX has a totally clean regulatory record with no disciplinary action having ever been taken against them. A clean regulatory record in a country with a strong reputation for financial regulation should be enough to alleviate the concerns of many potential customers. 

Overall, Barclays Margin FX offer a high level of service, however the platform is let down by its weak user interface.

Spread Betting Review: tradefair

Posted on by Admin in Reviews, Spread Betting
Important Facts 
  • Regulation: tradefair is the financial spread betting arm of well known betting exchange and fixed odds bookmaker Betfair. However it appears tradefair is simply a white label platform supported by the London Capital Group who run a number of Spread betting services including ProSpreads and Capital Spreads. 
  • Instruments: Indices, Commodities, Forex, Bonds and Interest Rates. 
  • Features: Decent range of markets and reasonable Spreads. 
  • Minimum Deposit: None Stated, Deposit dependent on the Minimum Margin Requirements of the various instruments. 
The Platform 
As a white label of London Capital Group, the platform offered at tradefair is very similar to the platform offered at Capital Spreads. This is nothing to moan about as the platform on offer at Capital Spreads is pretty decent and the offering at tradefair reflects this. The platform is easy to navigate, with it being easy to open and close positions in any of the instruments offered on the platform. They charting features may be pretty light but they are still functional and will allow a trader to undertake all the different types of technical analysis needed to successful trade the financial markets. The other area where the tradefair platform is pretty basic is when it comes to mobile trading, at the time of writing their was only an iphone mobile trading platform on offer. While the platform was perfectly functional, it is a shame that tradefair only support mobile trading on the iPhone excluding android and Blackberry powered smart phones. 
 
Special Features 
There’s nothing much which makes the tradefair platform unique in comparison with the other Spread betting platforms offered by companies in the London Capital Group, however many new clients may feel happier dealing with a well known company like Betfair. Thankfully due to the fact that tradefair is powered by London Capital Group clients also have the opportunity to trade a wide array of instruments with very reasonable spreads. 
 
Spreads 
The Spreads on offer at tradefair are very competitive with Spreads on major Indices such as the FTSE100 being as low as 1 point. While their are a few brokerages that outdo this, including ProSpreads another company part of the LondonCapital Group. However the Spreads on offer at tradefair are pretty competitive with a number of the serious industry players, meaning that tradefair offers pretty good value for money even if they don’t offer the best value for money out there. 
 
Customer Service 
I have both direct experience with LondonCapital Group and with Betfair. I have to say that my experiences with both companies have been very positive. I would imagine that any experiences people had with tradefair would be similarly pleasant. General opinion on the internet seems to concur with my experiences of the company. This gives me some peace of mind and would probably recommend people consider tradefair as an option when opening a financial spread betting account. 
 
Regulation 
As a white label of London Capital Group, tradefair are regulated by FSA. The FSA is considered one of Europe’s tougher financial regulators and those who have accounts with London Capital Group will be pleased to hear that they have a completely clean regulatory record with not one penalty against them during the now 12 years that they have been regulated by the Financial Services Authority. 
 
Overall, while tradefair won’t set the world alight it is a perfectly reasonable place to trade financial spread bets.

Spread Betting Review: Pro Spreads

Posted on by Admin in Reviews, Spread Betting

Important Facts 

  • Regulation: ProSpreads, is part of the London Capital Group who operate Capital Spreads but is incorporated and regulated in Gibraltar by the Gibraltar Gaming Commission, as well as Gibraltar’s Financial Services Commission.
  • Instruments: Indices, Commodities, Currency Futures and Forex. 
  • Features: Tight Spreads and Direct Market Access to order flows. 
  • Minimum Deposit: Initial Deposit £500, top up minimum of £100. 

The Platform 
ProSpreads offer their own unique platform which allows their customers Direct Market Access, so the trader can see the current underlying price as well as seeing the order flow. While the platform isn’t the prettiest thing around, it still allows the trader to undertake full charting and other forms of analysis. The real bonus to the ProSpread platform is the access to the Direct Market which allows you to see the bids and offers, this gives a trader another tool to trade with which is not available at the majority of Spread betting firms. Looking at order flow can be very beneficial and is something that is often considered vital to trading success. As far as I can tell their is no mobile trading support, though I presume that ProSpreads probably allows their clients to open positions over the phone. While the ProSpreads platform may not be the most accessible trading platform it is clearly aimed at the professional or serious Spread bettor. For those interested in the ProSpreads platform I recommend that they check out the intro videos at the ProSpreads website. 

Special Features 
The real special feature at ProSpreads has already been talked about the access to real market order flows and bid and offer prices. This information can really help inform your trading and is highly recommended.  

Spreads 
The Spreads at ProSpreads are very competitive for example their Spread on the FTSE is only half a point. The Spreads on the majority of instruments offered on the platform are very competitive and are hard to beat. It should be mentioned that ProSpreads do not offer a huge array of instruments meaning that you can’t trade individual stocks on the platform, however their are a wide range of Forex, Futures, Commodities and Indices availiable to trade. If your only interested in trading these instruments ProSpreads may be a very good choice for you.  

Customer Service 
I have no direct experience with the customer service at ProSpreads, but I do have some experience with the customer service provided by the London Capital Group. All my experience with London Capital Group has been positive and I imagine that ProSpreads offer the same high quality of service as the other companies within the group. It appears the ProSpreads is relatively small company but offer a high quality of service to their limited customer base. 

Regulation 
One downside to ProSpreads is that they are not regulated by a financial services authority but are rather regulated by the Gibraltar Gaming Commission. While Gaming regulation does ensure some client protection it is not quite as all encompassing as financial regulation, which may give some customers a bit of a concern. However, it should be pointed out that London Capital Group is itself regulated by the FSA and has a fine regulatory record, this fact may alleviate some peoples doubt about depositing with ProSpreads.

Overall, the Direct Market Access features at ProSpreads are very impressive and should be of interest to any serious Spread bettor. The only downsides to ProSpreads is the lack of financial regulation and the limited instruments available for trading.

Trading Site Review: CMC Markets – Financial Spread Betting

Posted on by Admin in Platforms, Reviews, Spread Betting
Important Facts 
  • Regulatory Authority: Financial Services Authority (FSA UK) 
  • Instruments: Indices, Stocks, Commodities, Forex  
  • Features: An easy to use platform with an attractive design with a large amount of instruments available to trade and demo accounts available.  
  • Minimum Deposits: £100  

The Platform  

The platform on offer from CMC Markets is very sleek and easy to use. The platform is very newbie friendly and is easy to get gripes with so even the most inexperienced trader should be able to get gripes with the platform. Ordering and placing trades and placing stop losses are a breeze. The charting package on offer on CMC Markets spread betting platform is better than on some of the other competitors package. The platform also incorporates live news into the trading platform which is always nice for those who want to trade on news or momentum. The Spread betting platform is also available for ipad and iphone and on android. The apps for these various mobiles are functional and easy to use, alas there is no application for the Blackberry my smart phone of choice. 
 
Special Features 
There aren’t really any unique features to the CMC Markets platform or experience. But the things that CMC Markets does it does well. With both the platform and the charting on the platform being excellent. 
 
Other Features 
CMC Markets offer a free demo account  for newbies to try their hand at financial spreadbetting as you suspect from a large trading company such as CMC Markets. Also as you would expect from a company of CMC’s size and the educational information provided by the company is of reasonable quality but nothing exceptional. If you deposit £200 into a CMC account, they also offer there users a chance  to attend a day seminar in London on trading (was correct at time of writing). Some pretty decent stuff on offer really, but nothing extremely exciting. 
 
Spreads 
The spreads available on CMC are generally very competitive on all the various instruments they  offer on the website. While some providers may be able to beat the spreads offered by CMC on certain instruments, the spreads offered on the majority of instruments will be up there with the best providers. So anyone who wishes to trade with CMC shouldn’t be put off by the spreads. 
 
Customer Service 
The customer service on is pretty much the standard affair when it comes to a spread betting company, 24/5 telephone lines for you to call. A decent complaints procedure which generally see’s you complaint being resolved in a amicable way. Again they are regulated by the FSA so have to be careful how with they deal with customers in order not to be reported to the Financial Ombudsmen. 
 
Regulatory Authority 
CMC Markets financial spread betting service is regulated in the UK by the Financial Services Authority. CMC Markets has a pretty good regulatory reputation without any blemishes on their record. Having a much better reputation than many other regulatory authorities throughout the European Union. 
 
Overall, CMC provides a professional spread betting service for customers who reside in the UK. Regulated by the FSA and offering decent spreads, CMC Markets might just represent a good choice for your trading needs.
 

Trading Site Review: Capital Spreads – Spread Betting Review

Posted on by Admin in Platforms, Reviews, Spread Betting
Important Facts 
  • Regulatory Authority: Financial Services Authority (FSA UK)
  • Instruments: Indices, Stocks, Forex, Commodities, Futures 
  • Features: Easy to use platform and resources for new traders, comprehensive demo account 
  • Minimum Deposit: Dependent on Instrument being traded 
The Platform 
The Capital Spreads platform is web based but is fast, easy to use and clear. It is possible to quickly search the various instruments on offer and place bets without any hassle. The charting tools on offer are pretty reasonable, though they don’t offer lots of advanced charting techniques they are functional and allow you to do some on the fly charting analysis. The platform is also available on Mobile in both applications for the iphone and android based phones. Which is good allowing to trade on the move, it’s just a shame that there is no application for Blackberry’s. 
 
Special Features
Not much special here compared with Capital Spreads competitors which offer similar educational programs and other features. Trailing Spreads are available on Capital Spreads, something that is not offered by all Spread betting providers.  
Other Features 
The site seems to have some good educational features and tools for traders which is always welcome. Including an economic calender and some other quite useful features. The demo account on offer is also pretty good mimicking a real money account very closely (only difference being Stop Losses are automatically guaranteed on demo). Will there are some nice features there is nothing that will particularly blow your mind.   
 
Spreads 
Capital Spreads offer some very competitive spreads, I would say that the vast majority of Spread on offer at the site are competitive with the best Spread betting providers around. Having a site which offers great Spreads is always a plus. Though some Capital Spreads competitors offer better Spreads on some major indices, though the difference is not huge. 
 
Customer Service 
The Customer Service offered by Capital Spreads is generally considered to be top notch. With Customer service available 24/5 when the markets are open. Disputed trades are normally resolved fairly and the company is very transparent with all of its dealings. The company is run by London Capital Group which also operates some other companies which also have good reputations. 
 
Regulatory Authority 
Capital Spreads is based in the UK and is regulated by FSA, its parent company London Capital Group has had no serious run ins with the regulator. The only blemish on their record was problems with client contracts which was resolved all the way back in 2005. I would say Capital Spreads would be one of the safer places to put your money. 
 
Overall, I would offer a broad recommendation to Capital Spreads if anyone was to ask me my thoughts on the company.