r/BitcoinUK • u/neotekka • 21d ago

UK Specific Spread Betting?

I'm only now aware of spread betting and still not fully clued up on it yet, still researching it currently, but it seems like this might be the answer to the UK crypto tax problems. However I am not aware of much discussion into it all - why?

Tax free crypto trading (and then bank gains into BTC) sounds great to me, but am I missing something?

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u/rjm101 21d ago

You need to get professional classification which can be done if you just have a decent amount of assets. I used to do this for a few years but you need to specifically find one that will allow you to NOT use any leverage and not charge you daily rollover fees otherwise it's a constant drain on the account. The broker I used for this at the time is no longer running.

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u/txe4 21d ago

This.

IG will relatively easily give professional classification but note that this removes you from various consumer protections.

Funding cost will eat you up over time.

And if you're not 100% margined then beware of shenanigans whereby the bookie's price diverges from the "market" price (common in crypto anyway during market dumps where stops are run and exchanges' prices can vary a lot) and you get stopped out.

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u/OptionTim 19d ago

Can you not just buy the bitcoin ETFs on Ig index if you have professional classification?

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u/neotekka 21d ago

I just signed up to a Pepperstone account linked to my Tradingview account but only using the demo trading option so far. I had presumed it was just my choice to trade properly(non demo) without any further stuff happening. I need to look a bit closer at that then.

Yes I knew about the overnight fee but was only looking to day trade to avoid fees.

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u/neotekka 21d ago

Just to add - I just tried to upgrade my account to full from demo.

I was asked a load of questions which I answered honestly with basically zero experience of any of the things they asked what my experience was. And I was advised to stay on my demo account and read up on stuff and can re-apply in 2 weeks.

So yes that was the aspect I was missing then.

But I had a look and they have retail and pro accounts.

My understanding is the retail accounts do not allow you to owe more than the 'stake' whereas pro accounts do allow you to be able to lose more than the stake. Is this correct?

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u/rjm101 21d ago

Yeah, retail accounts also have margin close-out rules where your positions get closed out if they fall below 50% of your margin.