What Is Spread Betting?
Spread betting is a way to make money on stocks, shares, and other assets by betting on their increasing or decreasing value. When you make a spread bet, you do not own the asset. For example, you could bet on the price of gold going up without actually buying any gold. You are merely betting on the movement of the asset’s value.
Companies that offer spread betting will enable this type of activity by quoting two different prices, namely the bid price and the ask price. The difference between these figures is known as the spread, hence why it is called spread betting.
The bet an investor makes must determine whether the asset’s price will be above the ask price or below the bid price. Remember, investors bet on speculation without actually owning the asset.
Options for Crypto
You can also make speculative bets on the decreasing or increasing value of cryptocurrencies. You can even do spread betting on cryptocurrency pairs. For example, you could bet on the price of a crypto increasing or decreasing in value more or less than another. In fact, there are many who believe this sector offers some of the best options in the market for spread betting. Again, it’s not the same as buying crypto and doesn’t have the same advantages of investing in cryptos.
The Best Platforms and Apps for Crypto Spread Betting
Always take the time to understand the intricacies of spread betting before starting. Once you know how it works and ready to try this form of investing, here are some of the best platform and apps to use when trading Bitcoin:
- City Index – arguable the world’s best for spread betting and a glowing reputation that dates back to 1983
- ETX Capital – another great platform to perform spread betting and has been hailed because of its excellent customer service brought to you live in six different languages
- Spreadex – another long-term platform that has been around since 1999 with over 60,000 active users in the UK
One way of mitigating this risk and still enjoying spread bet investing is to make use of stop loss orders. This is usually a mandatory function on the best apps. They close your spread bet to provide damage limitation in the event you are losing more than you expected. They do this automatically, which is essential for crypto spread betting when crypto values can change 24/7 even while you sleep.
Some platforms will charge you to use the stop-loss feature.
