Spreadex review 2026: FCA-regulated spread betting and CFDs with TradingView charts, from a £5 minimum
Spreadex is a St Albans, England-based market maker forex and CFD broker founded in 1999. Licensed by the FCA under FRN 190941, it trades on a proprietary web and mobile platform with TradingView integration, offering spread betting, CFD, credit, and professional accounts. Serves UK and Irish retail and professional clients across 1,400 instruments spanning forex, indices, shares, commodities, and options.
What is Spreadex?
Spreadex is a UK financial trading and betting firm founded in 1999 by Jonathan Hufford, a former City of London dealer. The company is privately held and based in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. It runs two distinct divisions under one corporate roof.
The first division covers financial markets through spread betting (a leveraged bet on price movement, settled in pounds per point), CFDs (Contracts for Difference, an agreement to exchange the price difference of an asset), and options. The second division handles sports spread betting and fixed-odds betting. This dual structure is unusual among forex providers and reflects the firm's origin in spread markets.
The broker serves mainly UK and Irish residents and has operated continuously for more than two decades. Longevity matters in this sector: many forex brands appear and vanish within a few years, while this provider has filed accounts and held its core licence since incorporation.
Which regulators license Spreadex?
Spreadex Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA (UK Financial Conduct Authority), the body that oversees financial firms in Britain. The firm appears on the public FCA Register under FRN 190941, with status shown as authorised. FCA authorisation places it in the Tier-1 regulatory band.
Clients of an FCA-regulated firm are covered by the FSCS (Financial Services Compensation Scheme), which protects eligible deposits up to £85,000 per person if the firm fails. The broker also states that client money is held in segregated accounts, separate from company funds, in line with FCA client-asset rules.
Separately, the sports and fixed-odds side is licensed by the Great Britain Gambling Commission under licence number 8835. That licence governs betting products, not the financial trading covered here. Traders should note the two regimes apply to different parts of the business.
Trading platforms
The firm runs its own proprietary web and mobile platform rather than the standard third-party software many rivals license. The desktop and browser version carries charting, watchlists, and one-click dealing across all asset classes the broker offers.
A notable addition is direct TradingView integration, which lets clients chart and place spread bets or CFD trades inside the TradingView interface. This gives access to advanced technical tools without leaving that environment. The broker does not offer MT4 / MT5 (MetaTrader 4 / 5) or cTrader, so algorithmic traders who rely on those ecosystems will not find them here.
Mobile apps for iOS and Android mirror the web platform and cover both the financial and sports products in a single login.
Account types
Spreadex keeps its account range simple compared with brokers that stack many tiers. Two core trading accounts are available, plus optional status upgrades.
- Spread betting account: profits are exempt from UK capital gains tax and stamp duty under current rules, a structure specific to UK residents.
- CFD account: trades the same markets through contracts for difference, which can suit traders outside the spread-betting tax framework.
- Credit account: available to approved clients, allowing trading on a credit line rather than upfront cash.
- Professional account: for clients who meet FCA elective-professional criteria, offering higher leverage but removing some retail protections.
Minimum deposit
There is no fixed minimum to open an account, and the firm states a minimum deposit of just £5 to begin funding one. That sits well below the typical industry entry band of 100 to 250 USD seen at many forex brokers.
A low entry point lowers the barrier for new traders. The trade-off is that meaningful position sizing still requires adequate capital, because leverage amplifies both gains and losses regardless of how small the opening deposit is.
Tradeable instruments
The broker advertises access to more than 1,400 instruments across forex pairs, global indices, individual shares, commodities, and options. Coverage spans major, minor, and some exotic currency pairs alongside UK, US, European, and Asian equity markets.
Share dealing is a genuine strength here relative to pure forex shops, since the firm grew from an equities and indices background. Options availability is also rarer among retail forex providers, giving more advanced traders an extra hedging tool inside one account.
Spread and commission structure
A spread is the gap between the buy and sell price, and it is the main cost on most trades here. The retail offer is commission-free, with the spread acting as the built-in fee. The firm quotes EUR/USD from 0.6 pip, where a pip is the smallest standard price move in a currency pair.
That EUR/USD figure sits at the tighter end of the 0.6 to 1.5 pip band common to market maker brokers. Pricing is less competitive on some other markets: index products such as the Dow Jones 30 and certain single shares carry wider spreads, so cost varies sharply by instrument.
Leverage and margin requirements
Leverage lets a trader control a larger position than the cash they put up, while margin is the deposit the broker holds against that position. Retail clients are capped at 1:30 on major forex pairs, the limit set by FCA and ESMA rules for retail accounts.
Lower caps apply to more volatile markets, such as 1:20 on minor pairs and indices and 1:2 on cryptoassets where offered. Clients approved as professional can access up to 1:200, but professional status removes negative-balance protection and other retail safeguards. Higher leverage raises both potential return and loss exposure.
Deposit and withdrawal methods
The firm accepts UK debit and credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Easy Bank Transfer, an open-banking option that moves money instantly through the client's banking app. Standard bank transfer and cheque are also supported. The broker states all standard deposits and withdrawals are free of charge.
Withdrawals return to the original funding card by default. Card withdrawals arrive within about two hours of approval, while bank transfers take up to two working days. Card and mobile-wallet withdrawals are capped at £25,000 per transaction, though multiple withdrawals per day are allowed.
Customer support
Support is delivered by phone and email from the firm's UK base, with a single help desk covering both financial and sports accounts. Published contact routes include a St Albans telephone line and email. As a UK-domiciled firm, support operates in English during UK market and business hours.
The broker does not advertise 24/7 live chat across all hours, which may matter to traders active in Asian or US overnight sessions. Account verification follows standard UK KYC (Know Your Customer) identity checks before funding.
Fees beyond the spread
Beyond the dealing spread, the main recurring cost is the overnight financing charge, often called the swap, applied to leveraged positions held past the daily cutoff. These charges vary by market and direction and accumulate on longer holds.
The firm states no fee on standard deposits and withdrawals and does not advertise a routine inactivity fee in its core terms, though a small charge applies to certain low-value debit-card deposits. Traders should confirm current financing rates and any guaranteed-stop premiums on the official site before opening positions, since these figures change.
| Feature | Spreadex Information |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1999 |
| Headquarters | St Albans, England |
| Disclosed regulators | FCA (FRN 190941); GB Gambling Commission (8835, betting only) |
| Registration verified | Authorised on the FCA Register under FRN 190941 |
| Trading platforms | Proprietary web and mobile; TradingView integration |
| Minimum deposit | £5 |
| Maximum leverage | 1:30 retail; up to 1:200 professional |
| Account types | Spread betting, CFD, Credit, Professional |
| Islamic account | Not disclosed on official site |
| Customer support | English; phone and email, UK hours |
| Deposit methods | Debit/credit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Easy Bank Transfer, bank transfer, cheque |
Who is Spreadex best for?
The firm fits UK and Irish traders who want a long-running, FCA-regulated provider with FSCS cover and tax-efficient spread betting. Its authorisation under FRN 190941 and its track record since 1999 are its strongest trust signals.
Share and options breadth, tight EUR/USD pricing from 0.6 pip, and TradingView charting suit active multi-asset traders. The clearest limits are the absence of MetaTrader and cTrader, wider spreads on some indices and shares, and a regional focus on the UK market.
It is a weaker match for traders who need MT4/MT5 automation, global onboarding outside the UK and Ireland, or round-the-clock live support. Each trader should weigh the tax framework, instrument costs, and platform fit against their own strategy.
Forex and derivative products carry high leverage; some or all invested capital may be lost. This content is for information only, not investment advice. Verify the broker's current regulation status with the FCA's official site before any investment decision.
