Founded in 2006 SpreadCo is a privately owned, UK FCA Regulated, specialised Spread Trading, CFD and FX software provider and market maker.
The company was originally founded by Ajay Pabari who was former Finance Director of CMC Markets Plc, and pioneer in the online retail trading market. Ajay was one of the pioneers of the CFD as a retail trading product having introduced the rolling spot spread betting product at CMC.
Spread Co is also engaged in a series of partner relationships, offering its services through local banks, brokers and intermediaries in a growing number of overseas markets. SpreadCo currently have offices in London and Singapore and represents clients across the globe. A new version of the Spread Co platform was launched in 2009 and although the company is very much new to the UK market it is looking to expand aggressively through partnerships.
Ajay Pabari qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1987. He spent his early years at Phibro as a Commodity Accountant and in 1991 he joined CMC Markets Plc as Finance Director where he was also in charge of Systems Integration, Operations, Foreign Exchange and CFD Risk Management and Compliance. At CMC Markets Ajay introduced CFDs and the rolling spot spread betting products and played a pivotal role in turning CMC Markets Plc into a market leader. Ajay departed from CMC in 2004 to establish Spread Co. Mr Pabari has over 20 years experience in different trading markets and technology in particular software development, market-making and managing market risk and global derivatives regulation.
What they say:
Spread Co's online trading application has been created by some of the most respected developers in the field, responsible for the creation of the derivatives trading platforms used by some of the world's largest Spread Trading / CFD providers.
The in-house trading platform (nicknamed Saturn Trader) which is available in two different formats; one being web-based while the other is a downloadable version (note that you can't be logged into both platforms at the same time). Both platforms are very much identical in functionality; and provide similar functions such as order management, position monitoring, news,
charting and a real-time account summary. The web-based platform is intended for clients who travel as this version can be accessed from any computer (including Macintosh) running on a web browser that supports the flash player 9.
General Points (we will strive to keep this review up-to-date)
The Saturn TRADER platform is developed in-house, unlike a number of other providers in the market who license their software from a few main providers. Specifically designed to be easy-to-use, the platform is very neat with a customisable online trading screen.
Quoted markets include main indices, main commodities, most spot currencies including exotic pairs and all FTSE 250 stock constituents. The company also quotes individual Dow Jones, Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 shares as well as some Chinese big stock names. Interestingly Spread Co also quotes a good selection of ETFs including 'country baskets'.
A 30-day Demo Account is available on request. Accounts can be denominated in USD, EUR, or GBP. The minimum initial deposit for spread trading is £100, or currency equivalent.
Free demo account with 25,000 'virtual US dollars' to practise with.
Two types of accounts are available: Standard Account (where stop losses are optional) or a Limited Risk Account (all trades come with a guaranteed stop order).
Spreads are competitive although market selection is somewhat limited - still Spreadco allows customers to trade on over 2,500 products - all FTSE 250 stocks are covered and main markets are all covered as well as a number of sector-based products. 17 currency majors are also covered as well as UK, German and USA main indices constituent equity shares. Margins start at 5%.
Financing charges are +2% (on Base Rate) for long positions / -2% for short positions (which is very competitive as the industry average is 2.5%).
Wide range of orders including Stop Loss, Limit Orders and OCO's are available - orders are either filled entirely (done) or rejected.
Proprietary charting software with customisable study settings. You can have multiple charts, order screens and watchlists to monitor markets of interest all visible on a common screen at any one time
Screen watching day traders have access to a 'Quick Trade Option' for one-click instant trades.
Range of trading tools include an economic calendar and user guides. News feeds are also readily available, although I've noticed that these can take a few seconds to load in some instances. In addition, Spread Co also have a Twitter feed which supplies real-time technical analysis and markets updates which works better than market commentary reports since it is updated every few minutes.
Spread Co also offers CFDs and Forex Spot Trading products as well as spread betting. Spread betting is often preferred by clients in the United Kingdom as they do not have to pay capital gains tax on their gains. However, contracts for difference can be useful for clients who prefer to trade fixed amounts of different markets, as opposed to the spread betting approach of betting, for example, '£10 per point' movement in the FTSE 100 or GBP / USD.
Recently the company has upgraded its web and desktop 'Saturn' trading platforms as well as having launched specially developed Android and iPhone trading apps for clients who wish to trade on the move.
When you trade with Spread Co you can benefit from:
Some of the tightest spreads in the market, starting at just 0.8 for EURUSD, the US30 and UK100.
Extremely low financing, with zero overnight financing for short non-FX positions.
Low margins, stakes and deposit requirements.
A powerful downloadable as well as web based trading platform.
Free charts and live market commentary, headlines and technical analysis.
Downsides:
Limited range of markets. For instance shares are limited to FTSE 250 constituents.
