Capital Spreads Review
Introduction to Capital Spreads
Capital Spreads is an example of a company that is more well-known to industry insiders than it is to retail traders with less experience in the markets. This probably has something to do with the fact that Capital Spreads spends less of its attention on marketing and affiliate advertising and more on platform efficiency and market access. Because of this, Capital Spreads is one of the world’s leading spread betting brokers, competing more directly with accepted leaders like City Index and IG Markets.
Capital Spreads, however, is another platform that does not have a Live Chat feature, instead supporting clients through email and its Call Back feature. This shows that Capital Spreads is looking to tailor its offering more toward longer term and experienced traders, that are not as likely to need immediate customer service attention. The broker does offer some of the tightest spreads in the market, provides access to a very large range of markets, and requires low margin parameters for leveraged trading.
The trading platform itself is intuitive and simple to use and the market reports regularly offered by Capital Spreads are some of the best in the industry. Demo accounts are freely available, and creating a live account is a very straightforward process (you can be actively trading in about 15 minutes).
Range of Markets at Capital Spreads
Capital Spreads is a firmly establish player in the spread betting industry, so its not surprising that the broker is right at the top of the list when looking at the range of tradable markets that are on offer. In addition to most of the common stock indices, Capital Spreads also provides access to the Ireland Top 20, the Brazil Index, and the Russell 2000. It is relatively rare for a broker to provide access to emerging markets and growth stocks in this way, and Capital Spreads proves its position as an industry leader with these diverse trading products.
As an additional point, Capital Spreads provides a brief explanation of each market in the trading area so that traders can be sure of which market is being traded and can be exposed offered trading assets that might not have otherwise been considered. For currency traders, Capital Spreads offers a comprehensive list of Forex pairs that can be trading outside of the core operating hours, at low spread costs, and this is likely to be viewed as favorable by currency traders implementing long term strategies (such as the carry trade).
The most impressive asset selection, however, might be the commodities section, which is incredibly large and allows spread betters to access most of the commonly traded commodities. Some of the more rare examples include Cotton, Orange Juice, and lean Hogs, and this is in addition to the more regularly offered precious metals and energy products.
Spread Costs
Capital Spreads offers access to all of the major asset classes (stock shares, benchmark indices, forex pairs, commodities and metals, and bonds). When looking at the spread costs for trades in these assets, the minimum stake starts at £1, and the spread values range from 1 to 5 points for the most liquid assets. Specifically, well-known benchmarks like the FTSE 100 can be traded with spread costs of 1 point, Dow Jones Industrials can be traded at 2 points, Gold is offered at a 4 point spread and Oil (the less liquid asset in this group) can be traded with 5 point spreads.
The Capital Spreads Trading Platform
The trading platform that is offered by Capital Spreads is web-based and can also be accessed as a mobile application. Overall, the platform is not really designed for short term or high frequency trading and this is more in line with the general tendency of Capital Spreads to focus on long term traders and those with a longer term trading strategy. This is preferable for those not looking to download the trading station onto one computer (creating the ability to access the trading station from any computer). The trader is divided into two sections, with the available assets on the top sections and your open positions on the lower end. These sections can be customized, depending on the specific areas you want to place most of your attention. The mobile applications offer the same features but these programs can not really be used to conduct advanced technical analysis.
Training and Instructional Videos
The Capital Spreads platform can be accessed as a demo but perhaps the main strength of the Capital Spreads offering is the section of training and educational videos. Capital Spreads provides regular market commentary for traders, outlining the major events of the previous sessions and giving forecasts for what is likely to happen next in asset prices. These videos will be viewed as essential for traders implementing fundamental trading strategies, as advice from the experts will keep you informed on the events likely to influence the markets.
There are not many brokers with the same level of expertise and regular updates in these areas, so for traders looking to implement this type of trading strategy, Capital Spreads will likely be viewed as one of the best choices.
Conclusion: Capital Spreads Best Suited for Fundamental Traders
Given all of these factors, it is clear that the Capital Spreads trading platform is best suited for fundamental traders and those using long term strategies. The charting software is usable but is not acceptable for more advanced technical analysis strategies or quantitative trading.