Spreadco spread free trading

Thanks tomorton, since I am looking for a new spread betting service, could you tell me which one(s) you use and are happy with?


I really don't see much between the big 4 or 5 UK-based firms. I've got a live account with one and a demo with another. I could recommend one but it would be no better than another. Start with the biggest. Absolutely must be FCA-regulated.
 
Thanks for your advice but they tend to be variable spread with slippage (you click on a price and get a different price).
 
Since I did not get a clear answer from spreadco from either my account manager or the person who has put me on dealer referral, I have asked the CEO about whether FIFO (first in first out) means it would be wrong to open a trade and close the trade within 3 minutes on a loss-making trade? It is unimaginable that they would put a person that is making lots of losses even though trades are closed quickly on dealer referral, I stuck to this rule but caught me out by stating too many of my trades are under 3 minutes even though they were loss-making. I will post what the CEO/Founder's response but my conclusion so far is that it is an unfair company and you can only imagine some other unfairness may creep in. I don't know if there are fair trading companies out there but if there is evidence of unfairness, it is best to steer clear.
 
I have over the years used CMC, Capital Spreads, ETX Capital and IG Index. Due to the fact that they are a third party, by which I mean, they must get their prices from the actual markets before doing anything else, there is a natural lag. Then when you request a price for a trade they must then refer back to the price before allowing it or if the price has moved too much declining it or requoting. This leads to frustratingly chasing the markets or missing the trade entirely. The same can occur when you want to exit as the price starts to go against you and you try to get out before your profit disappears. Then there is dealer referral which is again a delay, which may be acceptable depending on your proposed time in the trade but not if you want a quick entry/exit. Then there is whether you are trading against the SB co. ie if they have hedged your trade they make sure they get in/out before you do. So if you think they have tight spreads that may not be the case in reality.

As far as being tax free, there are a couple of answers to that. First if you made more by going direct that might pay your tax.
You have a Capital Gains tax allowance of £12000 / yr and if you had a joint account £24000/yr.

Finally, I have a SIPP account where I can trade tax free directly. There are some restrictions on this though.
 
I'm told by traders who should know that unless you're scalping or similar, the differences between SB quotes and underlying market prices (we're talking forex majors, oil, gold and indices here) are too small to even be a factor.
 
Agreed, there may not be much or any difference on the prices displayed, it is what price you manage to achieve that matters.
I am by nature a quick in and out guy and if your timeframe is longer, all day or swing then SB is probably fine for that as a requote wont matter too much.
Regards.
 
Just received confirmation not from the CEO but someone that is keeping me on dealer referral. All trades should last a minimum of 3 minutes. It is a shame that I was misled by one of his colleagues that it would be understandable to close loss-making trades within 3 minutes.
 
most spread betting firms are now variable spread with slippage it seems as opposed to fixed spreads with requote/rejection model. What I don't like the former is when there is an abnormal situation such as disconnection of the internet say and you could be left hanging and filled at an undesirable position. With the latter, you can be assured of the price you see or it is rejected so it makes me more comfortable.
 
Hello everyone,

We thought it would be helpful to explain how our ‘Spread Free’ account type works and to also clarify the terms and conditions.

We offer two Spread free spread betting account types: Spread Free Basic and Spread Free Bronze.

Each spread free account has a daily trade limit, max position limit per instrument and a max bet size per trade. At present, there is a choice of 15 spread free markets to trade.

Spread Free Basic

No of free opening trades per day: 4
Max Bet size: £3 per point
Max Position size: £8 per point
Monthly Fee: NIL

Spread Free Bronze

No of free opening trades per day: 6
Max Bet size: £5 per point
Max Position size: £8 per point
Monthly Fee: £10

All Spread Free markets are charged for trades greater than the maximum free opening trades per account type.

Once you have exceeded your daily limit of spread free trades there will be a charge of £1 per point per opening trade, closing trades are free.

FAIR USAGE POLICY:
Both account types are subject to a fair use policy and consequently we have the right to withhold the Spread Free element when we have reasonable belief that there has been co-operation, collusion or organisation of trades from the same source, or if we have reasonable belief that the Spread Free Account is being abused in any way, inclusive of scalping i.e. opening and closing a position within 3 minutes (this includes all trades, buy/sell or sell/buy regardless of any trading strategy). Full terms can be found here.

We hope this sheds some light to some of the questions that have been asked. If you would like to know more please visit our FAQ’s section or feel free to contact us directly.

Best regards

Spread Co

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 60.2% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
 
Hello everyone,

We thought it would be helpful to explain how our ‘Spread Free’ account type works and to also clarify the terms and conditions.

We offer two Spread free spread betting account types: Spread Free Basic and Spread Free Bronze.

Each spread free account has a daily trade limit, max position limit per instrument and a max bet size per trade. At present, there is a choice of 15 spread free markets to trade.

Spread Free Basic

No of free opening trades per day: 4
Max Bet size: £3 per point
Max Position size: £8 per point
Monthly Fee: NIL

Spread Free Bronze

No of free opening trades per day: 6
Max Bet size: £5 per point
Max Position size: £8 per point
Monthly Fee: £10

All Spread Free markets are charged for trades greater than the maximum free opening trades per account type.

Once you have exceeded your daily limit of spread free trades there will be a charge of £1 per point per opening trade, closing trades are free.

FAIR USAGE POLICY:
Both account types are subject to a fair use policy and consequently we have the right to withhold the Spread Free element when we have reasonable belief that there has been co-operation, collusion or organisation of trades from the same source, or if we have reasonable belief that the Spread Free Account is being abused in any way, inclusive of scalping i.e. opening and closing a position within 3 minutes (this includes all trades, buy/sell or sell/buy regardless of any trading strategy). Full terms can be found here.

We hope this sheds some light to some of the questions that have been asked. If you would like to know more please visit our FAQ’s section or feel free to contact us directly.

Best regards

Spread Co

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 60.2% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Thank you for posting Spread Co Ltd. If you have been following the thread, you can tell that Spread Co have been unfair to me in placing me on dealer referral. That is to say, someone at Spread Co did not inform me properly of your terms and conditions which led me to infringe on your terms and conditions. You have also modified your terms and conditions recently to try and make things clearer which does imply that you did not think it was clear enough before. I have been struggling to get off the dealer referral status even though I explained that I was misled by someone at Spread Co. I have had to follow the advice from you to seek the ombudsman to review the case. Now that I am more informed of your terms and conditions, I will not infringe them. So I would appreciate it if you could allow me off the dealer referral status so I can enjoy your excellent executions again.
 
Hi everyone, I am seeking to be removed from dealer referral status because I am prepared to change my trading strategy to suit their terms and conditions, namely be prepared to stomach losses for more than 3 minutes even if it looks like I have got it wrong.

I am still not clear completely about the point of closing a trade within 3 minutes for a loss-making trade because I have been told that if the behaviour is not consistent and if it is occasional, it is okay. But what if you are unlucky and all the trades in a day are loss-making under 3 minute trades? Then they could claim you are infringing the terms and conditions 100 percent of the time. So it would be nice to exempt loss-making trades from that 3 minute rule but if that cannot be done, I am prepared to focus on surer trades so that risking a larger loss is worth it.
 
Thank you for posting Spread Co Ltd. If you have been following the thread, you can tell that Spread Co have been unfair to me in placing me on dealer referral. That is to say, someone at Spread Co did not inform me properly of your terms and conditions which led me to infringe on your terms and conditions. You have also modified your terms and conditions recently to try and make things clearer which does imply that you did not think it was clear enough before. I have been struggling to get off the dealer referral status even though I explained that I was misled by someone at Spread Co. I have had to follow the advice from you to seek the ombudsman to review the case. Now that I am more informed of your terms and conditions, I will not infringe them. So I would appreciate it if you could allow me off the dealer referral status so I can enjoy your excellent executions again.

Hi twinj

Please contact us directly so that we can verify your account and discuss your query.

Best regards

Spread Co
 
Please can you tell me who I should write to? I have already pleaded my case to your CEO and I am corresponding with an employee his first name begins with S and ends in j. He seems to understand and partially sympathises with my situation but his hands seem tied. So anyone else I can contact?
 
Hi twinj

Please contact us directly so that we can verify your account and discuss your query.

Best regards

Spread Co
Sorry for repeating, forgot to reply directly to your post.

Please can you tell me who I should write to? I have already pleaded my case to your CEO and I am corresponding with an employee his first name begins with S and ends in j. He seems to understand and partially sympathises with my situation but his hands seem tied. So anyone else I can contact?
 
I have asked what dealer referral means with regard to price movement unfavourable to trader. I.e do they execute it or give me a requote. I am pretty sure that if it is favourable to me, they will requote so I suppose they should give me a requote for the unfavourable case. Also asked how long or how many trades needed to get me off dealer referral.

Meanwhile, tired of looking for alternatives. The landscape has changed quite a bit with variable spreads and execution price not the one you see on the deal ticket. Out of 20 or so other spread betting firms I am looking into, there are I think IG, City Index, DF Markets (with one of their platforms) and Ayondo offering fixed spreads and what you see is what you get price at least for indices. Together with Spread Co. Have yet to test them apart from of course Spread Co.
 
My account has been suspended (business relationship on hold) for 6 months. All I asked is what I needed to do (e.g. how many trades on dealer referral) to get off the dealer referral. The reason is I used the word stressful in the email. I used that word back in January when they placed me on dealer referral briefly. They allowed me off dealer referral back then. Why act differently this time?
 
I tried to log in and the error message states account is dormant.

From my search for another spread betting provider, I contacted over 20 from the well-established to the not quite well-known. I asked them whether there is a minimum duration you have to hold a position for. If I remember correctly, one or two stated no scalping allowed (I don't consider myself a scalper but I like the freedom to minimise my losses. ) , but the others stated no.

I thought it may be instructive to inform you about whether the ombudsman agrees with me.

I will also try to remember to update you after the 6 month cooling off period.

In my searches, what particularly amazed me was that there are well-known providers that deal with 200 pounds per point which is when there could be a requote. So I was reassured that there would be no requotes for my deal sizes. Must be people like Mike Ashley perhaps.

It is a kind of addiction to search for the best spreads and I am a sucker if zero spreads are on offer but I have to change my way of thinking.
 
I can finally report on ombudsman's result. They focus on complaints regarding people who have lost money so as I have been making money through spreadco, my complaint did not apply. They saw nothing wrong with the terms and conditions of spreadco. It appears that they can have the statement that you must not open and close trades within three minutes even if you are making a loss. To be frank, it was a waste of time going through them.

I went through them with another case when I lost about 3600 pounds to spreadco. Their platform failed me using a longer term strategy. The ombudsman did not see it that way but at least they welcomed me back with open arms. There was a forced 6 month cooling off period this time imposed by spreadco and as nearly 7 months have passed, I asked if I could get back on the platform. They did not want me back this time even though I said I will change my strategy to meet their terms and conditions. They don't welcome winners it seems.

This is not a spread betting company to be trusted because they are not fair. The terms and conditions were not clear to begin with. I thought I was trading without infringing their terms and conditions. They simply wrote in the old terms and conditions open and close trades. I verified this with my client manager at the time that if you open a trade, you must wait 3 to 5 minutes before closing it. I thought as long as I keep the open trade without closing it in that time, I could open another trade. I carried on doing this for 4 months. Then they tell me I am infringing the terms and conditions. I tried to tell them that their terms and conditions were not clear but they would not listen to me. Second unfair point is that there was some movement to letting me get back on the platform but it was dashed by misinterpreting my email. I wrote that I felt depressed that I could not get back on their platform. That triggered them to reverse their decision and give me a 6 month cooling off period.

I have learnt in my life that if there is unfairness, it is best to steer clear. Do not fall for their gimmicks of zero spreads and 2 percent interest on deposits. I am a sucker for being lured in just as I was lured in by Worldspreads (which offered zero spreads).
 
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