Finspreads Review

Finspreads.com briefly

Finspreads is the spread betting brand of the UK brokerage company GAIN Capital UK Ltd located in London. Spread betting is a type of online trading in the UK where clients speculate on the future price movement of financial assets such as currency pairs, indices, commodities, or shares. Like the CFDs trading, spread betting is a leveraged product. The major difference is that UK citizens do not pay taxes on profits made on spread betting.

Customers can trade through the company’s Advantage Web Platform. It is a highly customizable online trading terminal, which offers a range of sophisticated and intuitive trading tools, the company says.

Regulation

When you choose a brokerage company for online trading, the first thing you must check is where it is authorized and regulated. Gain Capital is a global brokerage company and one of the largest in the USA. Finspreads is a trading name of GAIN Capital UK Ltd, which is registered and headquartered in London, UK. GAIN Capital UK Ltd is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), under register number 113942. The FCA regulation obliges brokerage companies to comply with strict rules and meet a set of requirements, such as maintaining net cash assets of at least GBP750,000, keeping clients’ money in segregated accounts, and more.

Account Types

There are three types of real accounts that traders open with Finspreads:

The Beginners account has a minimum stake size of 10p and you can lose more than your initial deposit. The guaranteed stop loss orders are available but are not applied on all trades by default. You cannot spread betting on shares here. The minimum initial deposit is GBP50.

The Limited Risk account has a minimum stake size of 50p and you cannot lose more than your initial deposit. The guaranteed stop loss orders are enabled on all trades and you can spread betting shares in this account type. The minimum initial deposit is GBP100.

The Standard account has a minimum stake size of 50p and you can lose more than your initial deposit. The guaranteed stop loss orders are available but are not enabled on all trades by default. You can spread betting on all available assets. The minimum initial deposit is GBP100.

Keep in mind that all profits and losses here are real.

What Type of Broker the Company Is

The General Terms document shows that the company will deal with clients as principal and not as agent on their behalf. This means that any trades are arranged directly between clients and the company and the company will be the counterparty to all of clients’ trades. In other words, Gain Capital UK Limited acts as a market maker and is the only execution venue for the clients’ orders. Market makers take greater risk because they do not hedge each of the client’s orders. They benefit when clients lose and in general this leads to a conflict of interest.

The company offers guaranteed stop loss orders, which are available for a limited range or markets. For all orders other than guaranteed stop loss orders, Gain Capital UK Limited may not be able to execute the client’s order at the specified price level. The company will try to execute the order at the price nearest to the specified price. This means that slippage may occur when the market is volatile. Guaranteed stop loss orders are not free, and clients will be charged a premium. In addition, the minimum and maximum quantities for guaranteed stop loss orders will be different from the minimum and maximum quantities for any other type of orders.

Keep in mind that the Negative balance protection is available only if you open a Limited Risk account.

Fees

In addition to usual fees, there is another one called an inactivity fee. If there is no activity in your account for more than 12 months, a monthly inactivity fee of GBP25 will be applied. 

Deposits and Withdrawals

Clients can transfer funds into their Finspreads accounts using several deposit methods such as credit/debit cards (Visa, MasterCard, Electron, Maestro) and direct bank transfer. Please note that the company does not accept cash payments directly to its bank account (the money must be transferred). The minimum first deposit depends on the account type and is GBP50 for the Beginners Account and GBP100 for the other two types. There are no charges for making deposits to your account from a debit card, however, credit cards are subject to a 1.5% processing fee.

The minimum withdrawal amount is GBP50 and the maximum you can withdraw in a single transaction is GBP20,000. The company places no restriction on the amount you can withdraw per day, however, please be aware that withdrawals may be subject to the company’s internal approval process.

Trading Platforms

The company has developed its own trading terminal called Advantage Web. The Finspreads Advantage Web platform runs on each modern browser. It is complex but easy to understand trading platform that is designed to help you to trade quickly and efficiently. There is also a mobile application for iOS and Android devices. They are designed to offer maximum stability and security, so you can take advantage of fast-moving markets and enjoy the flexibility of trading even while traveling.

Assets

Forex – You can spread betting the most of popular major, minor, and exotic currency pairs. The spread for the majors starts from 0.5 pips.

Indices – You can trade 7 of most popular major and minor indices globally, such as S&P500, Australia200, etc. The minimum spread for major indices such as UK100, DAX30 and CAC40 starts at 1 point.

Commodities – US Crude Oil and UK Brent with the 1% margin and spread of 4 and 5 points, respectively.

Metals – You can spread betting some of the most popular precious metals such as Gold, Silver, Copper, Platinum etc. The spread starts from 0.4 points.

Shares – You can trade various shares from all popular markets globally, such as USA (spread of 3-8 points), UK (spread of 0.2% of the market price) Asia (spread of 0.2% of the market price), and EU (spreads starts from 0.2% of the market price).

Education

There are two sections dedicated to education of the beginners and not only. The Learn to Spread Bet section contains lessons on how to understand the markets, how to manage the risk, technical analysis, fundamental analysis, etc. In addition, the Market Analysis section provides a third-party economic calendar and market news (which we could not open).

Summary

Gain Capital is a global broker and Gain Capital UK Ltd is its UK division. It is well regulated by the FCA and acts as a market maker, but the FCA regulation means you will not be a victim of some dirty tricks. You can spread betting a wide range of trading instruments via the company’s own web terminal. Deposits and withdrawals are limited to two methods only but if you use a common credit or debit card, that will not be a problem. Be careful what type of account you will open because only one has the negative balance protection.