Spread betting is a tax-free derivative product that enables traders and investors to benefit from the price fluctuations of underlying financial assets: including stocks, commodities, indices, and currency pairs.  A flexible form of trading, spread betting allows traders to speculate on bullish and bearish price movements (when the market goes up or goes down), taking long and short positions. It provides traders with double the number of trading opportunities compared to a more traditional form of buy-and-hold. Please note that spread betting is only available in the United Kingdom and Ireland.