Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 71% of retail investor accounts lose money when spread betting and/or trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how spread bets and CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Spread betting costs

As well as spreads and margins, there are some potential costs to consider. These depend on how long you hold positions open for, which products you trade and your approach to risk management.

Holding costs

At the end of each day (5pm New York time), positions held in your spread betting account may be subject to a holding cost, which can be positive or negative depending on the direction of your position and the applicable holding rate.

Holding rates for spread betting on indices are based on the underlying risk-free or interbank rate of the index (see table) plus 0.0082% on buy positions and minus 0.0082% on sell positions.

For spread betting on shares, holding rates are based on the underlying risk-free or interbank rate for the currency of the relevant share (see table) plus 0.0082% on buy positions and minus 0.0082% on sell positions.

Spread bet FX holding rates are based on the tom-next (tomorrow to next day) rate in the underlying market for the currency pair and are expressed as an annual percentage.

Holding rates for spread betting on cash commodities and treasuries are based on the inferred holding costs built into the underlying futures contracts, from which the prices of our cash commodity and treasury products are derived.

Holdings costs for share baskets, forex indices, commodity indices and crypto indices are calculated via a weighted sum of the constituents' holding cost rates, plus CMC's haircut on buy positions or minus CMC's haircut on sell positions.

Indices, forex, commodity and treasury forward contracts are not subject to holding costs.

 More about holding costs

CurrencyInterbank rate
AUDOne month bankers acceptance bill
CADOne month bankers acceptance bill
CHFSARON
DKKOne month Copenhagen interbank offered rate
EURESTER
GBPSONIA
HKDOne month Hong Kong interbank offered rate
INROne month deposit
JPYTONAR
NOKOne month Norwegian interbank offered rate
NZDOne month bank bill
SEKOne month Stockholm interbank offered rate
SGDSORA
USDSOFR

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Guaranteed stop-loss order charges

A guaranteed stop-loss order (GSLO) works in the same way as a stop-loss order, except that it guarantees to close you out of a trade at the price specified regardless of market volatility or gapping, for a premium. If the GSLO is not triggered then we'll refund 100% of the original premium.

GSLO premium examples

The GSLO premium can be calculated in the following way: Premium Rate x Bet Size (£/point). Amounts are automatically converted into your home currency using the prevailing CMC Markets conversion rate.

Indices

For example, if you go long £5/point on the UK 100, the GSLO premium would be £5 (1 x £5/point). If you close the trade yourself, a take–profit is triggered or you remove the GSLO, the £5 premium will be refunded in full.

InstrumentGSLO premium rate
UK 1001 point
US 301.5 points
Germany 401.5 points

Forex

For example, if you go short £2/point on GBP/USD, the GSLO premium would be £3 (1.5 x £2/point). If you close the trade yourself, a take–profit is triggered or you remove the GSLO, the £3 premium will be refunded.

InstrumentGSLO premium rate
GBP/USD1.5 points
EUR/GBP2 points

Commodities

For example, if you go long £6/point on Crude Oil Brent, the GSLO premium would be £12 (2 x £6/point). If you close the trade yourself, a take–profit is triggered or you remove the GSLO, the £12 premium will be refunded.

InstrumentGSLO premium rate
Crude Oil Brent2 points
Gold0.3 points

Shares

For example, if you go long £45/point on Vodafone, the GSLO premium would be £22.50 (0.5 x £45/point). If you close the trade yourself, a take–profit is triggered or you remove the GSLO, the £22.50 GSLO premium will be refunded.

InstrumentGSLO premium rate
Vodafone0.5 points
Apple41 points

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