On the spot market, you exchange one currency for another at the current market price. You end up holding the currency you’ve bought.

With spread bets and CFDs, you don’t buy any currency at all. These are derivative products, so you’re taking a position on whether a currency pair will rise or fall. Your profit or loss comes from the price movement, not from owning the underlying currencies. 

Spread betting and CFDs differ in their stake calculations and potentially in their tax implications.

Residents of the UK and Ireland typically don’t pay capital gains tax on profits gained
with spread betting, while CFDs typically offer traders the ability to offset their losses against their profits for tax purposes.

The spread is the difference between the bid and offer prices quoted by brokers. A wider spread increases the cost of entering and exiting a position. Most brokers use variable spreads, meaning trading costs can change at any moment. At Trade Nation, we offer fixed spreads across our Index, FX and commodity markets on our TN Trader and TradingView platforms. This gives traders transparency and certainty, as the full cost of trading is always known.

With a variable spread, a broker can widen the bid-offer spread at its discretion. This often occurs during periods of market uncertainty, such as major news releases, low liquidity or unexpected events. This creates two risks for traders: widened spreads may trigger orders, and the cost of closing a trade may be far higher than expected at entry.

Combining fixed spreads, zero commission, and tight spreads creates a stable, transparent and low-cost trading environment that helps traders make the most of their edge.

Note: For TN Trader/TradingView accounts, all FX, index, commodity and bond markets use fixed bid-offer spreads that adjust at set times during the day, typically reflecting in- and out-of-hours conditions. Equities use a fixed add-on spread applied to the underlying bid-offer, which is variable. For detailed pricing, refer to the market information section.

Yes. In addition to Forex, Trade Nation offers 1000+ global markets to trade, including major indices, commodities, shares, and bonds. You can trade 40+ indices and bond futures, 25+ key commodities and precious metals, and thousands of global shares - all with the same low-cost, fixed spreads and transparent pricing.

Trade Nation offers over 30 major, minor, and exotic Forex pairs, giving you access to the world’s most traded currencies. You can trade all the key pairs, including:

• Majors: EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY, USD/CHF, USD/CAD, AUD/USD, NZD/USD
• Minors: EUR/GBP, EUR/JPY, EUR/CHF, EUR/AUD, EUR/NZD, EUR/CAD, GBP/JPY, GBP/CHF, GBP/CAD, GBP/AUD, GBP/NZD, AUD/JPY, AUD/CHF, AUD/CAD, AUD/NZD, NZD/JPY, NZD/CHF, NZD/CAD, CAD/JPY, CAD/CHF, CHF/JPY
• Exotics: EUR/ZAR, GBP/ZAR, USD/ZAR, USD/MXN

In total, you can trade 32 Forex pairs across majors, minors, and exotics - all available with fixed, low-cost spreads.

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