ProSpreads Review

Introduction to ProSpreads

Pro Spreads is different from most of the spread betting brokers reviewed in this section, in that their product offerings is explicitly directed at attracting experienced traders.  When looking at the trading product, it becomes easy to see that the same functionality from Direct Market Access (DMA) brokers is available at Pro Spreads, and this essentially gives spread betting traders direct access to the underlying markets being bought and sold.

This enhanced functionality creates faster execution speeds and removes the possibility of being requoted.  It is also less likely that traders will experience situations where prices are able to move quickly (to an extreme degree) from the underlying price of the market.  Potential negatives can be seen in the fact that Pro Spreads does not allow 24-hour trading, and stop loss orders are not guaranteed.  For new traders, it will be seen as encouraging that there is a Live Chat service present in addition to the benefits received from the DMA services.

Spreads Costs at Pro Spreads

Some traders might be turned off by the fact that there is no mobile platform app for the trading station (which essentially means more time will be spent monitoring open positions) but this is partially remedied by the vast library of educational materials and training programs.  When looking at the specific trading markets that are available for spread bettors, it will become obvious that there are some clear deficiencies in the individual stock offerings, as most of Pro Spreads’ competition has a wider list of available markets.

Because the company has chosen to focus on direct access to underlying market values, the company is able to improve on the spread costs that are required of traders when entering into new positions.  Hundreds of different players in the market are actively competing at these trading levels, and the increased liquidity this creates will inevitably result in lower spreads for the individual trader.  One example of this can be seen in the FTSE 100.  When a spread bettor reaches a monthly trading volume that is equal to 200 lots, spread costs for the FTSE 100 are reduced to 0.25, which is well below the industry average.

Available Trading Markets 

When looking at the available trading markets at Pro Spreads, the best and most varied class of assets can be seen with the commodities category.  This helps to limit some of the deficiencies seen in the equities offerings but it should be remembered that the commodities markets are best suited for specific types of traders and not all will see these categories as preferable for trading. Some of the more exotic commodities categories include White Sugar, Soybean Meal futures, and Live Cattle.  These less commonly available commodities come along with the standard offerings that can be found in Gold, Brent Crude oil, Platinum and Corn.  Early on, Pro Spreads only offered access in stock markets for the Euro Stoxx 50 and the FTSE 100.

More recently, the FTSE 250 has been added along with the major US benchmark indices.  This brings the total asset categories into a better position, as Pro Spreads is now seen offering trader access to stock shares, a larger number of benchmark indices roughly 30 forex currency pairs, commodities (their strongest category) and bonds.

Pro Spreads Trading Platform 

The trading platform at Pro Spreads operates at a high level of efficiency but is only available in the web based format.  This could be a point of concern for traders implementing an advanced technical analysis strategy.  There is no MetaTrader offering, so traders will be forced to deal with the limitations of the web based software.  On the whole, however, the Pro Spreads application is fast, efficient, and easy to use.  This matches the heightened speed that is normally seem with DMA functionality, and this will be critical for traders with shorter term approaches.  The platform is easy to customized and offers a wide range of technical indicators.  The charts are attractively designed and easy to organize on a savable user profile.

Summary of Platform Features

         The trading platform is a simple, web-based version but there are some unique features of the platform that should be noted.

• Order tickets are available in Single Click or Traditional formats
• Level 2 prices are available (allowing traders more advanced views in seeing the depth present in the underlying market activity)
• Ladder feature allows traders to place most of the commonly used orders with a depth of market screen

Training Materials 

Since the trading platform has some advanced features (when compared to other web based platforms, its not surprising that Pro Spreads offers a good selection of video tutorials that show of to correctly operate the platform.  It is also a good idea to use these videos because there is no 24 hour trading.  It is also a good idea to practice with the Demo account first (for the same reasons).  Some of the tradable assets are not available on the Demo but the software still conforms to live market conditions.  One negative is that the Demo account is only active for one week but if you need more time to practice, you can email Customer Support and request an extension.  For those still needing additional support, 1 on 1 training sessions are available in addition to the library of webinars and trading seminars that cover some more advanced market topics.