How to Make an Online Bet

Log Into Your Account

Log in to your account using your chosen username or password. If you have forgotten either of these please contact us by
telephone: 08444 124 400
Outside UK: +44 (0)1438 347 157
Dealing Line: +44 (0)20 7456 7070.

Financials at Your Fingertips

With Tradefair Spreads, you have instant access to the world's financial markets at extremely low cost. What's more, finding your way around the platform's trading screen is a breeze.

Trading the Markets

A couple of clicks is all it takes to trade any one of over 2,000 markets including shares like BP or Vodafone, indices such as the FTSE and the Dow, bonds, currency pairs like the pound against the dollar and commodities such as Gold and Oil. It's all available directly from the platform.

Let's take a look around the trading screen above. We'll point out some of the most important features.

1. Pick Your Market

An intuitive menu system and search tool offer two fast and powerful ways to get to the markets that interest you most.

2. Getting Started

Log in and you'll go straight to the trading screen. By default, we show you our most popular markets: indices like the FTSE and the DAX, Forex and commodities like Gold.

3. Future Starts Here

Click the green trade button to open a trade ticket. To open or close a trade at a level in the market which hasn't yet been reached, click the 'order' button.

4. Higher or Lower?

Think the market's going down? Click 'sell'. Going up? Click 'buy'. Stop losses are inserted

5. Top of the Charts

The platform offers charts and tools to help you trade sucessfully. Want to see three-way moving averages or momentum or volatility? It's all here.

6. Watch Your Trades

See how each position is doing and act on it independently. Taking a hit? Shut it in seconds. Moving along nicely? Watch it grow.

7. Are You Winning?

View your recent trading history, current and future orders and a list of account transactions all without leaving the trading screen.

8. The Helicopter View

See how healthy your open trades and account are by looking across the bottom of the screen. It's all about making money, right?

Choose Your Market

As an example, imagine you think Vodafone shares are going to go up over the next few days. To select Vodafone shares, just type 'Vodafone' in the search box or look for it alphabetically under 'FTSE 100 shares.'

Short and Longer-term Betting

If you're planning to get in and out of a trade within a month, a 'rolling daily' bet will work out cheaper. If you're looking longer term, for more than a month, a 'futures' trade is more cost effective because, although the spread is typically wider, the contract takes into account overnight financing - you don't pay financing every day.

We'll use the 'rolling daily' above as an example.

Say How Much You Want to Trade

Once the available Vodafone trades appear on screen, click 'TRADE' next to the one you want - in this example, the 'Vodafone Rolling Daily' Enter how much you want to trade. The minimum allowed on Vodafone is £1 for every penny the share price changes.

Executing the Trade

Once you've entered your pound-a-point stake, click 'buy' (because you think the price will rise) and at that point you're in the game or involved, as we say in the trade. A message will open up to confirm what you've just done - it'll have a reference number on it and the platform will automatically send you an email confirmation for your records as well. You've just bought Vodafone at £1 a point when the price was 120p so your total exposure is £120.00 - exactly the same as owning 100 shares in Vodafone.

Closing Your Position

Let's say for this example that Vodafone's share price rises from 120p to 145p over the next ten days. Your position now has a notional value of £145 and you decide to take the profit now.

To do this, click on 'TRADE' in the 'Open positions' part of the trading screen.

Trade Buttons

Click the 'sell' button. Your trade closes instantly and you've banked a £25.00 profit. (£1 x 25points = £25.00).

What Level of Investment Should You Make?

It's vital to remember how much you're actually risking and you must be comfortable with the amount of money involved. And before you risk any real money, it's always worth practicing with the demo platform at Tradefair Spreads to give you an idea of how changes in market prices affect a particular stake.

Deposit Funds Online

Funds can be deposited online using a debit or credit card (2% fee for credit cards) or over the telephone. To deposit fund online, click the "Credit My Account" button and follow the instructions. Further details about depositing funds can be found in the Customer Support section.