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ZacksTrade vs Spreadex

ZacksTrade or Spreadex – which is better for UK traders 2026? Compare ZacksTrade and Spreadex in this detailed breakdown of their platforms, features and fees.

ZacksTrade vs Spreadex Comparison Table 2026
ZacksTrade	Spreadex

3.9	3.8
ZacksTrade is ranked #57 among UK brokers.	Spreadex is ranked #14 among CFD brokers.
Review	Review
Zacks Trade, a US broker under FINRA regulation, provides trading services for stocks, ETFs, cryptocurrencies, bonds, and more via a bespoke terminal. Targeting active traders, it offers competitive fees across most assets. Additionally, clients benefit from an app and extensive market data access.	Spreadex, regulated by the FCA, provides spread betting across 10,000+ CFD instruments, including 60 forex pairs. Traders have the option to engage in short-term positions on sporting events as well. With a history exceeding 20 years, the company has earned numerous accolades.
Pros
The option to execute trades by phone with a broker, without extra costs beyond the standard penny-per-share fee, is rare among discount brokers. Most rivals do not offer this service or apply a significant surcharge, thus distinguishing Zacks Trade in this respect. Zacks Trade still imposes commissions dropped by most rivals, but it compensates with lower borrowing costs. With margin rates starting at 8.83%, it's cheaper than major brokers, appealing to those holding overnight leveraged positions. While small balances see slight savings, larger margin accounts benefit significantly over a year. Many brokers at this level provide just basic charts and a news ticker. Zacks Trade offers much more—standard accounts include over 20 complimentary research subscriptions and the choice of 80 additional paid services from Morningstar, Dow Jones, Seeking Alpha, and Thomson Reuters.	Spreadex has integrated Autochartist-powered trading signals into its desktop platform. This offers real-time, pattern-based insights aimed at assisting active traders in spotting potential opportunities. During live trials near London, Spreadex exhibited 120–200ms round-trip latency across over 50 FTSE and EUR/USD trades. There were no requotes, and slippage remained largely controlled under normal market conditions. Over 10,000 instruments and superior access to AIM small-caps are available, including exclusive offerings not found with larger brokers. This provides UK-centric traders with enhanced opportunities in niche small-cap configurations. From testing, the platform facilitates seamless active trading. Features like one-click trading, watchlists, and saved layouts functioned effectively, including Force Open. Constructing a tidy workspace and handling short-term trades proved straightforward. Our fee analysis shows the EUR/USD at 0.6 pips during off-peak hours. FTSE and S&P 500 spreads remain competitively priced for spread-betting brokers. Trading costs are reasonable.
Cons
The account-opening procedure is entirely digital but excessively complex; verification can exceed a week. Numerous document steps and a preliminary experience assessment render this one of the most tedious onboarding processes in retail brokerage, especially as competitors expedite this to hours. Most brokers have eliminated fees on stock and ETF trades, highlighting Zacks Trade's penny-per-share charge. This fee is trivial for occasional traders. However, a 10,000-share transaction incurs a $100 commission. With widespread zero-commission options, justifying such fees is challenging. Traders lack access to forex, cryptocurrencies, commodities, or futures—significant gaps for multi-asset traders. Since the infrastructure is via Interactive Brokers, supporting these, it seems more like an imposed restriction than a true platform constraint.	Spreadex requires real funds initially, offering no demo accounts. Few spread betting brokers neglect to accommodate new traders in this manner. CFDs, financial spread bets, sports, and casino activities are combined in one account balance. For serious traders, this means non-trading losses can immediately decrease the margin for trading positions. Execution is satisfactory, though not top-tier. Tests showed 0.2–0.4 pip slippage in stable liquid markets, but news-induced volatility increased some fills to around 1 pip. Thinner AIM stocks often experienced 2–4 point slippage. Spreadex lacks MT4, MT5, cTrader, API, VPS, and algorithmic trading support, making it ideal for active traders rather than those using automated or bespoke trading systems.
FCA Regulated
No List of FCA Regulated Brokers	Yes
Instruments
Stocks, ETFs, Options, Mutual Funds, Bonds, Warrants, IPOs	Forex, CFDs, Indices, Commodities, Stocks, Crypto, Bonds, Interest Rates, ETFs, Options, Spread Betting
Demo Account
Yes	No
Minimum Deposit
$250	£0
Payment Methods
ACH Transfer Cheque Wire Transfer	Cheque Credit Card Debit Card Mastercard Visa Wire Transfer
Minimum Trade
$3	£0.01
Regulator
FINRA, SEC	FCA
Mobile Apps
iOS & Android	iOS & Android
Trading App
	Spreadex offers a top-notch mobile trading app for iOS and Android. It includes advanced charts ranging from 1 tick to 1 month, with over 10 years of historical data. Setting price alerts via the bell icon beside each asset is straightforward, ensuring crucial opportunities aren't missed. Nonetheless, features like the economic calendar and market updates are less integrated as they open in an external browser, slightly detracting from the mobile trading experience.
iOS App Rating
5	4.5
Android App Rating
3.7	4.5
Margin Trading
Yes	Yes
Margin Rate
7.83% – 8.83%
MetaTrader 4
No	No
MetaTrader 5
No	No
cTrader
No	No
AlgoTrader
No	No
OmniTrader
No	No
TradingView
No	Yes
Autochartist
No	Yes
eSignal
No	No
Trading Central
No	No
STP Account
No	No
ECN Account
No	No
DMA Account
Yes	No
MAM Account
No	No
PAMM Account
No	No
LAMM Account
No	No
Demat Account
No	No
AI / Machine Learning
No	No
Robo Advisor
No	No
Negative Balance Protection
No	Yes
Market Maker
No	No
P2P Trading
No	No
Spot Trading
No	Yes
Auto Trading
Yes (algos)	No
Copy Trading
No	No
Social Trading
No	No
Trade Signals
	Autochartist
VPS Hosting
Yes	No
Tournaments
No	No
Demo Competitions
No	No
Ethical Investing
Yes	Yes
Custodial Account
No	No
Guaranteed Stop Loss
No	No
Inactivity Fee
$15	£0
Islamic Account
No	No
Account Currencies
USD EUR GBP CAD AUD NZD INR JPY ZAR TRY SEK NOK DKK CHF HKD SGD PLN CZK HUF	USD EUR GBP CAD CHF
Commodities
	Oil Gold Cocoa Silver Coffee Copper Cotton Platinum Natural Gas
CFD
	Trade CFDs on Spreadex's extensive range of instruments, offering leverage up to 1:30 and competitive spreads. Although spread betting is their unique selling point, the favourable trading conditions and broad market selection make them an excellent option for CFD trading as well.
Leverage
	1:30
FTSE Spread
	1.0
GBPUSD Spread<
	0.9
Oil Spread
	2.8
Stocks Spread
$0.01 per share ($1 minimum)	0.15%
Forex
	Engage in trading across over 60 forex pairs with zero commission and highly competitive spreads starting at 0.6 on major pairs like EUR/USD. This offers a robust selection and excellent pricing for commission-free trades, significantly undercutting industry norms.
Assets
	60+
GBPUSD Spread
	0.9
EURUSD Spread
	0.6
EURGBP Spread
	0.9
Cryptocurrency
Clients can trade a select few cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin. Real-time quotes are provided, and the fees are competitive. If trading volumes are significant, commissions further decrease.	Spreadex provides spread betting on cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ether, Litecoin, and Ripple, paired with USD. Traders can engage in leveraged trading of these digital assets via derivative contracts, without the need to own them.
Spread
0.18% fee per trade	1 - 140 pips
Coins
	BCH BTC ETH LTC XRP
Crypto Lending
No	No
Crypto Mining
No	No
Crypto Staking
No	No
Auto Market Maker
No	No

ZacksTrade	Spreadex
Review	Review
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