Trade CFDs and Spread Betting | Forex Trading

Learn more about managing your account following the introduction of the new ESMA regulations in our FAQs.

Trade CFDs, Spread Betting and Forex

Take your trading to the next level, choose the right Account Type to suit your trading style with City Index.

Trade on over 12,000 Global markets with a Spread Betting, CFD Trading or an MT4 account.

Tax-free trading^* when you Spread Bet
Hedge your portfolio with a CFD Account
Dedicated FX platform with MT4 Account

Create Account Demo Account

Our Products

City Index offers three ways to trade; Spread Betting, CFD Trading and FX on MT4.

Spread Betting

Best for
Tax-free trading in UK*

Trade type
£ per point

Minimum trade size
50p per point

Tax
No UK Capital Gains Tax (CGT) or Stamp Duty*

Commission
Commission free

CFD Trading

Best for
Hedging. Non UK accounts

Trade type
Buy/sell CFDs

Minimum trade size
1 CFD

Tax
No UK Stamp Duty but you do pay UK CGT*

Commission
Commission free apart from Shares

Features of Spread Betting and CFD accounts:

Risk management

Stops, limits, OCOs, trailing stops and guaranteed stops

Trading Tools

Research portal, HTML 5 charts, Reuters news and economic calendar

Trade on

Indices, Shares, FX, Commodities, Bonds and Interest Rates

Platforms

Web, mobile and advanced trading platforms

Margin

From 5% on Indices, 3.33% on FX pairs and from 20% on Shares

What can I trade on?

City Index offers a choice of over 12,000 global markets. Our Spread Betting and CFD accounts both offer trading on:

Spread Betting vs CFDs

Spread Betting and CFDs are similar products as they both allow you to speculate on whether a financial market will rise or fall in value. Typically UK based investors choose to Spread Bet because any profits made are free from UK Capital Gains Tax (CGT) and Stamp Duty*. Investors that wish to offset any losses against tax may prefer to trade CFDs. Clients from outside the UK should opt for CFDs as Spread Betting may not be available in your region.

Key differences:

Commission on Shares

Share CFD trades will incur a commission charge from £10 or 0.1%. You will not pay commission on Share Spread Bets but you will pay a slightly wider spread

Trade type and size

Spread Bets are traded in pounds per point. With CFDs, you buy or sell an amount of CFDs. See our example below for a comparison

UK Capital Gains Tax

Currently in the UK, any profits made from Spread Betting are free from UK Capital Gains Tax*. This benefit is not applicable to profits made from CFDs

Trading Shares as a Spread Bet and CFD

A £1 Spread Bet is the equivalent of 100 shares in a CFD equity trade. To illustrate the difference in Spread Betting and CFD trading, let’s say you go long on a UK based Company ABC’s shares. The example below shows how you would do this as a Spread Bet and the equivalent CFD trade.

Ready to trade?
Open a live account in minutes

Create Account

Trading FX?

If you wish to trade Forex, you can trade currencies with our Spread Betting and CFD accounts where you will have full access to our FX range and spreads from 0.5pts.

MT4 accounts
We do offer an FX on MT4 account for traders who wish to use MT4 exclusively.

FX on MT4

Trade wherever you are, on our fast, reliable platforms

Customisable charts

16 chart types with 80+ indicators designed to help you perform technical analysis

Award-winning platform

Our powerful technology is designed to suit you, whatever your level of trading expertise

Actionable trade ideas

Our research portal highlights trade ideas using fundamental and technical analysis

Trade anytime, anywhere

Follow the markets on native apps built specifically for your smartphone and tablet

Discover Our Platforms

Learn to trade

Find out more about the trading products that we offer:

Spread Betting

CFD Trading

Contact us for a free platform walk-through

How do Spread Bets and CFDs compare to share trading?

There are several key benefits to trading leverage products such as Spread Bets and CFDs over traditional share trading. These are:

Short the markets

You can speculate on a price falling. In share dealing, you typically profit if the market only increases in value

Leverage

Unlike share dealing, you don't need to put down the full value of the trade. This will magnify both your returns and losses

Tax free* profits

Unlike share dealing, you pay no UK stamp duty and spread betting profits are free from UK Capital Gains Tax (CGT)*

Access more markets

You are not just restricted to trading on Shares. Access Indices, FX, Commodities and more from one account

Leveraged trading vs Traditional Share Dealing

Why City Index?

With fast, reliable execution and tight spreads here's why our clients choose
City Index

Create Account

Over 30 years' experience in Spread Betting, FX and CFD Trading

Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)

Risk management tools to help protect your positions

Trade on multiple platforms and devices

Actionable buy/sell trade ideas from our research portal

Fast, easy payments and secure withdrawals

Create Account

Trade CFDs, Spread Betting and Forex

Our Products

Features of Spread Betting and CFD accounts:

What can I trade on?

Spread Betting vs CFDs

Key differences:

Trading Shares as a Spread Bet and CFD

Trading FX?

Trade wherever you are, on our fast, reliable platforms

Learn to trade

How do Spread Bets and CFDs compare to share trading?

Short the markets

Leverage

Tax free* profits

Access more markets

Why City Index?

You might also be interested in...