Introduction to Financial Spread Betting

Join us and discover the world of financial spread betting. In this article, we’ll give you a short introduction to financial spread betting for basic knowledge on this emerging field of betting .

From the outside, stock trading might seem like an easy way make lots of money, awakening our natural curiosity. However, this initial curiosity, fueled by Hollywood blockbusters such as the Wolf of Wall Street, is bound to freefall as soon as the interested discovers the complexity of the world of finances. What they don’t know is that there’s another way to profit from the financial market, namely financial betting.

Financial spread betting refers to wagering on the price movement of a share, index, currency, or any other financial instrument. Spread bettors are basically guessing whether a market will rise or fall. In the words of Investopedia, they “speculate on whether [an] asset’s price will rise or fall using the prices offered to them by a broker.” In general, it is a way to play the stock markets without actually purchasing and selling shares.

Financial betting is around since the 40’s, thanks to a math teacher, Charles K. McNeil, who later became a successful bookie. However, the idea was pioneered only 30 years later by Stuart Wheeler, the founder of IG Index, a financial spread betting company that still exists. At first IG Index let bettors to speculate on the price of gold exclusively.

Introduction to Financial Spread Betting through sports betting

If you’re familiar with spread sports betting you have some advantage over those who never bet until know. Spread sports betting means that instead of betting on the outcome of a sporting event, you’re betting on other factors, such as the number of goals or red cards. In financial spread betting you bet on the rise or fall of a stock in a given period of time, instead of buying it then selling it for more or less. Therefore, financial spread betting can allow you to profit even if the prices are falling.

Nowadays this form of betting is increasingly popular, with three well-known variations to choose from: fixed odds financial betting, floating odds financial betting, and binary betting. Experts recommend fixed odds financial betting for beginners. One of the reasons for this is that with fixed odds financial betting there’s no need to learn all the jargon.

“You must take it slowly at the start. Don’t put too much money in all at once when you are just beginning,” recommends Simon Cawkell, who made millions on financial spread betting. Even if it appears to be simple at first sight, financial betting required daily research and observation. Cawkell, for example, installed numerous TV screens in his home to follow financial news.

Nowadays, the biggest online sportsbooks in the UK and other countries have their own financial betting services. Bet365 offers such services at its sports betting lobby, under financials. Users can bet on currencies, aka the Foreign Exchange Market (FOREX) among others.