Interest in spread betting at an all time high

Interest in spread betting has hit an all time high according to report in the Times. The IG group has announced that their profits are up by 30% clearly showing that the financial recession has not hit them.

Spread betting was once seen as a city boy activity which was dominated by the high flyers in London, however, nowadays more and more people are willing to take a chance and bet on the FTSE market.

Spread betting allows an investor to place a bet on how shares in a company will move on the FTSE index for example. You can bet that it will go up or down or the price of a particular commodity such as gold or oil.

You make money for every point that the market rises or falls in your favour, depending on your bet. If you are betting that that something that you think will rise you ‘buy’ the market. However if you think that the price or value of a commodity or share will fall you ‘sell’ the market.

One of the benefits of spread betting is that any profits that you make are completely tax free which is how spread betting became attractive in the first place.