Both financial spread betting and physical stock trading have to do with stock trading. However, the similarity between the two is restricted to this and the differences surface as we study the pros and cons of one versus the other.

To start with, in margined trading (leveraged), there is no physical delivery of stocks and there is just no exchange of any asset class between the buyer and the seller. Consequently, it is not subject to the taxes that are levied in the case of physical cash stock market trading. The activity of financial spread betting comes under the category of speculation and hence is not considered for taxation. That is one of the reasons why it is becoming popular as you can take your profits home without having to pay any tax.

Secondly, you only need to pay margin money for indulging in margined trading as opposed to making full payment for physical stock market trading. With that margin money, you also get the advantage of trading in a much higher quantity of indices or stocks. This is the concept of leverage and it is this attraction that draws many speculators to take part in financial spread betting. If your call on a particular stock is right, you can make quick gains by just paying some margin money. On the other hand, you can also lose money quickly if the market movement is against your bet and you are not able to hold your position and in that case, you will have to close your position or provide the additional funds required to make up the shortfall. There is no such danger in physical stock market trading as should stock prices crash, you can always wait till they rise again. You are holding the stock of the company and as a shareholder; you will also qualify for dividends and other advantages like stock splits, bonuses and so on.

Thirdly, when you are financial spread betting, you are making a contract with the market maker and you are susceptible to the dangers of trading where the playing field is not a level one. You would be typically trading at a lag to the real market and this can prove to be a problem when the market suddenly turns volatile and the market maker would be in a position to quote a price that is favorable to him. No such exposures exist in the physical stock market trading environment where you are trading in the real market.

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