68% of retail investor accounts lose money
- Experts regard CMC Markets Spread Betting as an outstanding platform for active traders, highlighting its innovative technology that ensures tight spreads and efficient trading. The platform excels in mobile trading, with over 70% of spread bets executed via mobile devices, and offers access to a wide range of assets, including over 20,000 instruments. However, they note a limitation in spread betting options for smaller markets.
- Across 237 user reviews on Good Money Guide, averaging 4.2/5, customers frequently commend the platform's user-friendly interface, fast execution speeds, and excellent customer service. Many users appreciate the competitive spreads and the extensive range of trading instruments available. Some feedback indicates a desire for improvements in the mobile app's user experience, but overall, the sentiment remains highly positive regarding reliability and support.
CMC Markets Spread Betting Expert rating
Our expert rating is the average of the areas listed here, each scored out of 5 by our team.Our experts have rated CMC Markets Spread Betting across five key areas of our review framework.
- Pricing4.5
- Market Access4.5
- Online Platform4.5
- Customer Service4.0
- Research & Analysis4.0
Pros
- Excellent spread betting technology
- Client sentiment indicators
- Good for active traders
Cons
- Limited spread betting on smaller markets
See full expert review
Our verdict
CMC Markets pioneered electronic trading in the UK during the early 1990’s and introduce financial spread betting to complement its CFD and forex trading in 2001. Since then the Market Maker spread betting platform has evolved into the “Next Generation” platform and is one of the best proprietary trading platforms for active traders in the industry.
68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Is CMC Markets a good spread betting broker?
Overall, CMC Markets is an exceptional spread betting platform with innovative features suitable to frequent traders wanting to trade on tight spreads.
CMC Market’s spread betting offering has always won business by producing great technology that reduces the cost of trading. By focussing on mobile and online trading, they now see over 70% of spread bets go through on mobile versus online.
I found that CMC Market’s spread betting prices were always tight and hail from the original online platform name (Deal4Free, and slogan “compare the spread”). CMC Markets also invented the concept of the daily cash rolling spread bet so traders no longer need to trade the futures price, reducing trading costs further.
Whilst CMC Markets focus on the major markets, they do actually offer access to quite a large amount of assets, over 20,000 including an industry-leading 338 fx crosses (CMC did start as a forex platform), 124 commodities, 28 indices and hundreds of UK and international stocks.
Two of CMC Market’s very innovative spread betting features are how they break down client sentiment and their share baskets. It’s commonplace for spread betting brokers to display client sentiment, but CMC Markets let you filter that sentiment down to profitable clients so it can become more valuable. They also provide a wide range of weighted share baskets so you can spread bets on sectors like driverless cars, big tech, cyber security and China tech, where ETFs have not yet been created.
What's the difference between spread betting and CFDs on CMC Markets?
Spread betting is better for UK CMC Markets traders as you do not have to pay capital gains tax on profits. Other than that, spread betting and CFDs with CMC Markets are the same in terms of price and market coverage.

Customer reviews for CMC Markets
Customer ratings come from reviews left on this site. Every review is read and approved before it is published.Based on 237 reviews
- Excellent52%
- Very good22%
- Basic18%
- Poor6%
- Bad2%
Read customer reviews
Best
Best charting platform
Best service
Excellent
Excellent interface of charts and prices and accounts on mobile phone app. Spreads are also very good
Authentic
Reliable, trustworthy, & honest.
seems trustful
i think a better user friendly mobile app well overdue
Seamless
fast execution, small spreads on major pairs, integrated for trading view.
Supportive
Clear and informative, with good history recall.
Very good trade execution
Charting studies & speed of trade execution.
Extremely helpful.
Charts are good. Easy to use platform. They leave you alone to get on with trading. They never push into putting in more more or stake higher.
Reliable
Execution
Consistent
Easy to understand platform and good charting.
Excellent
Reliable, when the market moves, yours move
Brilliant platform.
Good, clear notifications via email re; my account. A very slick & user friendly trading platform. On the odd occasion when having to contact Customer Support, friendly staff & queries/problems resolved very quickly. Would highly recommend.
Great platform
Very intuitive platform, works very well.
Reliable
Always there, always fair.
Innovative
Provides interest on uninvested cash and free access to Bloomberg
Reliable
Narrow FX spreads
Proficient
CMC provides an easy to use platform with good charts and indicators. No hidden fees and good response time when trading. I use them for spread betting, their demo account allows you to practice until you get comfortable.
Professional
Top customer service
Best
Manage very well regarding tradez
Professional
Good spreads fast operations.
In this expert review, we test CMC Markets with some live trades using real funds and explain if it is a good spread betting broker for those who want to trade with tax-free profits in the UK.

Richard is the founder of the Good Money Guide (formerly Good Broker Guide), one of the original investment comparison sites established in 2015. With a career spanning two decades as a broker, he brings extensive expertise and knowledge to the financial landscape.
Having worked as a broker at Investors Intelligence and a multi-asset derivatives broker at MF Global (Man Financial), Richard has acquired substantial experience in the industry. His career began as a private client stockbroker at Walker Crips and Phillip Securities (now King and Shaxson), following internships on the NYMEX oil trading floor in New York and London IPE in 2001 and 2000.
Richard’s contributions and expertise have been recognized by respected publications such as The Sunday Times, BusinessInsider, Yahoo Finance, BusinessNews.org.uk, Master Investor, Wealth Briefing, iNews, and The FT, among many others.
Under Richard’s leadership, the Good Money Guide has evolved into a valuable destination for comprehensive information and expert guidance, specialising in trading, investment, and currency exchange. His commitment to delivering high-quality insights has solidified the Good Money Guide’s standing as a well-respected resource for both customers and industry colleagues.




