Questions and Answers: my aim here is to respond to users who have been writing me with general questions about spread betting -:

What is spread betting?

Why is it called spread betting?

Is spread betting tax free?

What markets can I spread bet on?

Can you show me an example spreadbet on the FTSE?

Can I really spreadbet on the price of Gold?

What are the advantages of spread trading?

But isn’t it gambling?

What is Leverage?

Do you need any hard money to start?

Demo account spread betting?

What is margin in spread betting?

Is 100 quid enough to start?

Got 2k to trade. In what?

But what is the catch with spread betting?

What are the costs with spread trading?

What are the risks?

Why do people see it as any different from holding a share in a normal account?

What about dividends, rights, issues and scrips?

How important is Risk Management?

What are stop orders?

What are Combination and If Done Orders?

But how to manage the stop losses when a share has begun increasing in price?

My stop losses keep getting hit…

What is the difference between a normal stop loss and a guaranteed stop loss order?

What is a Limited Risk Account?

What is the difference between spread betting compared to CFDs?

What is the difference between spreadbets and t-trades?

How does short selling works?

What is Pairs Trading?

How does rollover works? Contract ends and you are quoted a new price are you?

But can you really use spread bets for hedging a shares portfolio?

But how can you hedge your own spreadbet?

Can spread bets be used to longer term trade the markets?

How do the spread betting companies make their money?

Do spread betting providers hedge client positions?

Will IG Index close my account if I start winning too much?

What are financial fixed odds and binary bets?

Are spread betting and CFDs the same thing?

Do spread betting providers want their customers to lose?

Just wondering if spread betting firms close down accounts of people who win more on their spreads than they loose?

Is it wise to have more than 1 spread bet account?

What style of trading to use?

Are spread betters contrarian by nature?

How much capital do you need to do this for a living?

But how did you learn to trade the markets?

My other question was with regards to which charting packages people use.

If I live outside the UK, can I still open an account?

Interested in finding out more about spread betting? You can experience it first-hand right now with a free demo trading account courtesy of Capital Spreads. Sign-up takes just a few minutes and you only trade with a virtual cash balance, so you can try out the trading platform risk-free.