If you’ve ever spent any time betting on sports before, you may well have come across a few different ways to wager your wad. Have you ever considered betting on the FTSE 100, however?

Spread betting is enormously popular. However, there are quite a few myths and mistruths about the betting standard that are worthy of attention.

In the long run, it’s a really good idea to look into UK spread betting brokers. However, in this guide, we’ll start by looking at the basics and your profit potential.

What is spread betting?

Spread betting works similarly to sports betting. That is, in the sense that you place a wager with a bookmaker on whether or not a specific index is going to increase or decrease in value. Effectively, it’s a form of trading that appeals to casual market enthusiasts. That’s because, as a system, it is relatively simple compared to deeper trading strategies.

Spread betting can also be appealing in the sense that you won’t have to pay any CG tax on profits. What’s more, the markets are absolutely huge! You can choose to bet on a variety of shares and indexes, and there is a plethora of software out there to help you manage your portfolios.

But the killer question, again, is – can spread betting actually be profitable?

When spread betting is profitable

As with most market trading concerns, spread betting can sometimes be hard to predict. That’s largely where the idea of ‘betting’ comes into play. You’re taking a chance.

However, many trading experts – those with experience in spread betting – will likely advise you need to set up long-term plans for spread betting to actually work well. You need to be exceptionally careful in the brokers you choose, as well as to look at betting (in this sense) much like you are running your own firm.

Spread betting can be profitable if you are willing to put in time and effort. Of course, risk does pay off, but much like betting on football or horse racing, checking out form and ‘runner’ history also pays well.

Therefore, you can only really expect to make money from spread betting if you plan well in advance. It’s certainly tempting to take a punt every now and again, but when you’re muddling in the markets, you’re going to need to take a little more caution.

Is spread betting right for you?

That really depends on your own style of investing and betting. It’s not always as straightforward to say that someone who enjoys betting on racing or football will necessarily get on well with the markets.

The best thing to do, therefore, is to look closely at your profit potential and to dig deep into how the markets work. That way, you could turn your hard work and research into a serious side hustle for years to come.