The new way to trade tax-free*

CMC Spectre is our latest account type for professional clients. It’s a spread betting account, with no leverage or margin calls, and no overnight holding costs. This, combined with the tax benefits of spread betting in the UK – no capital gains tax on profits or stamp duty to pay* – opens the possibility to hold your positions for the longer-term compared with a traditional spread betting or CFD trading account. Remember, your capital is at risk.

*Tax treatment depends on the individual circumstances of each client and may be subject to change in the future.

You can apply for an account here. To open an account, you must prove that you’re a professional trader, by providing documentation which confirms that you meet at least two of our eligibility criteria. You'll also need to sign a Title Transfer Collateral Arrangement (TTCA) document, once you've been approved as a professional client.

With a CMC Spectre account for professional clients, you can spread bet on a huge range of markets, comprising more than 11,000 ‘cash’ instruments. Choose from thousands of shares, global indices, forex pairs, precious metal commodities and cryptocurrencies. Spectre account holders can also trade on our exclusive share baskets, and forex, commodity and crypto indices, which enable you to trade on multiple related instruments from a single position.

We don’t offer options, forward instruments, treasuries or most commodities with a CMC Spectre account. This still gives you access to more than 11,000 instruments, including indices, forex, cryptocurrencies and shares.

A CMC Spectre account has no leverage, so you put up the full amount you want to trade with upfront. With our standard spread betting and CFD accounts, you put up an initial margin, based on the leverage ratio of each asset class and specific instrument. Additionally, in contrast to a standard trading account, there are no forward instruments (futures), and no overnight holding costs.

A Spectre account has an account maintenance fee and a position maintenance fee, which accrue daily and are charged on the third business day of each month.

Standard spreads (the difference between the buy and sell prices displayed in the platform) are applied in the same way as with a standard spread betting or CFD trading account.

There is also an FX conversion fee, which is applied to positions where the bet currency differs from your account currency. The fee is applied to the entire value of the position when the bet is placed.

Account maintenance fee calculation:

Daily fee = Account value x (Account maintenance fee rate / 365)

Position maintenance fee calculation:

Accrues separately for each open position.

Daily fee = End-of-day quantity (units) x End-of-day close price x (Position fee rate / 365)

For the most up-to-date rates, please see our CMC Spectre Account Fees Schedule.

View our table below to compare the key differences between our Spectre and standard spread betting professional accounts.

*Tax treatment depends on the individual circumstances of each client and may be subject to change in the future.

No, as a CMC Spectre professional client you will not get the same protections afforded to retail clients.

Risk warnings: CMC Markets will not be required to provide you with the current risk warnings we must provide to retail clients.

Communications and financial promotions: Certain Financial Conduct Authority (or equivalent) rules relating to the form and content of information provided by CMC Markets do not apply, including those relating to communications and financial promotions.

Financial Ombudsman Service (or equivalent): Access to the Financial Ombudsman Service (the “FOS”) will not extend to all professional clients (only those that meet the Financial Conduct Authority handbook definition of a consumer) and may therefore not extend to you. The FOS is an independent service for settling disputes between Financial Conduct Authority-regulated firms and eligible complainants. If you're not sure whether you will be entitled to refer your complaint to FOS, we suggest you contact FOS directly.

Even as a professional client, you retain some protections under the FCA regime. Professional clients receive communications that must be fair, clear, and not misleading.

We are committed to taking all reasonable measures to secure the best possible result for clients when executing orders, in line with our best execution obligations. The weighting of execution factors (price, cost, speed, likelihood of execution) may differ. While professional clients can still make complaints through our formal complaints procedure, access to statutory compensation schemes like the FSCS may be limited.

Professional clients continue to receive key information about services and costs, but with less detail than retail clients. A professional client may request to be reclassified as a retail client, if they wish to regain full regulatory protections.

If you're not eligible for CMC Spectre, you can still trade thousands of financial markets on our web platform and app using a standard CMC Markets trading account.

As you would already be classified as a professional client with us, this status would automatically be applied to your new account.

We'll contact you by email to notify you when your application to become a professional client has been approved and you’ve switched over to CMC Spectre. Your login details, account number and platform settings will remain the same. Remember, while you're waiting for your CMC Spectre account, you can still trade on your standard account.

Yes, you can spread bet on cryptocurrencies with your CMC Spectre account at the weekend. Order types and execution function as normal during weekend trading hours.

It’s important to monitor your trading account to check if you need to take any action in relation to your current positions and pending orders. If you make a payment to your account over the weekend, we recommend making a card deposit, or using open banking. Please be aware that bank transfers won’t be credited to your account during the weekend, and will reach your account on the next available business day.

Financial instruments that count towards your portfolio size include shares, derivatives (only available cash deposits or profits realised from investing in derivatives), debt instruments and cash deposits. It does not include property portfolios, direct commodity ownership or notional values of leveraged instruments.