If you’re looking to make extra money online, and live in the UK or Ireland, have you considered becoming a spread betting affiliate? 

 If this question doesn’t even make sense to you right now, then never fear.  

Simply read on to learn all about spread betting and how you can utilise this trading instrument to earn great commissions.

What is Spread Betting

Spread betting is a financial derivative (which means a contract which has its value based on an underlying asset) that allows you to speculate on the movements in price of a specific underlying asset.  These assets could be currency pairs, shares, commodities, treasuries, etc.  Unlike traditional financial market contracts, you never actually own any asset.

This is how these contacts work. First, you decide what asset you want to place your bet on, then decide whether you think the price will go up or down which in turn determines whether you ‘go long’ (buy) or ‘go short’ (sell.)

Next, you designate how much you want to bet per ‘point’. Points represent the change in price and vary between contracts and markets. For example; a share might have a value of one point per pence so rising from £10.00 to £10.50 would be a 50 point change. 

The final step is to monitor your trade and close it at a time you deem suitable.

Key features of spread betting

• Leverage - this means you can get more exposure to the market through each contract and thus will make more profit if your bet is correct and will face a bigger loss if your bet is wrong.
• Zero tax - there are no capital gains tax or stamp duty payable in the UK or Ireland. This is a major advantage over other forms of trading. (This could change so please always read up on current law to ensure this is still the case).
• Zero commissions - brokers don’t charge commissions or fees for your spread bets as their return is already included in the price when you buy and sell.  This derivative is called ‘spread betting’ because you will always buy the contract slightly above market price and sell slightly below.  This difference in price is the profit for the broker and is known as the ‘spread’.
• This is different to ‘Binary Options trading’ aka ‘fixed-odds betting’ because those derivatives have a pre-determined payout or loss and a basic win or lose outcome. Spread betting returns/losses will vary with the change in value of the underlying asset. It’s possible to lose more than your deposit when using leverage so caution is advised.

An example scenario

Let’s say that Company X releases some news stating that they made more profit last quarter than they expected. This is a positive story and you might decide that their share price will rise off the back of this news so you want buy or ‘go long’. 

 Let’s look at two examples to compare spread betting against buying traditional shares.

Purchasing shares: if you purchased 100 shares at £20 per share and then one week later sold them for £23 each you would have made a profit of £300. Out of this profit you would still need to deduct commissions charged by your broker for entering and exiting the trade and you may also have to pay taxes.  Also, with no leverage available you would have needed the entire £2,000 purchase price up front.

Entering a Spread Bet contract: we will assume you can buy the bet at £20.05 (slightly higher than market price due to the spread) and that after one week the price has risen and you sell at £22.95 (slightly lower than market because of the spread). If one ‘point’ is equivalent to one pence then your trade has risen by 290 points. When you purchased your spread betting contract you would have also specified your amount to bet per point. We will use £1.00 per point in this example.  This means your profit is £290. 

Note that: no commissions or fees need to be deducted from this profit amount (as the broker made their income already from the spread - which is why you paid slightly more than market and sold slightly less) and you also have zero tax obligations - meaning you actually earn more from the spread betting trade.  

The final point to consider is that you can use leverage for your spread bets and if your broker lets you use a 10% deposit then you would only need £200.50 to enter and have the same market exposure as the ‘purchasing shares’ example.

On the flip side, an example of leverage working against you is if you got the bet wrong and the share price of Company X actually dropped to £17 per share. If you had purchased the stock you would now have a £300 ‘paper’ loss but can just hold on if you think it might rise again in the future. However, under the spread betting contract, because you are leveraged and only have a 10% deposit of £200.50, your broker will either automatically close your trade or ask for more money to be deposited.

A note about location

If you don’t have any audience within the UK and Ireland then there is no point in becoming an affiliate for spread betting brokerages.  This activity is illegal in the USA and other countries. Consider promoting Forex or Binary Options instead.

On the other hand, if your audience is located in the UK or Ireland you’re all set to go.

Why promote spread betting

Right. You now know what spread betting is, how it works and who it’s suitable for. Now we’ll turn our focus to why you should be promoting spread betting to your audience and what benefits they can personally receive from trading with spreads.

BENEFITS TO YOUR AUDIENCE

• Tax free profits (UK and Ireland - check tax laws to ensure this is still current.)
• Zero commissions - fees are included in the purchase and sale prices of the contracts.
• Leverage - spread betting allows traders to get much more market exposure with a much smaller deposit, offering the potential for larger gains and losses.
• Buy and sell easily - you can go long and short on trades. Allowing traders to make the most out of any market situation.
• Market exposure - because you’re not purchasing any actual assets, there’s no limits to what products you can undertake a spread trade on - shares, currency pairs, commodities, treasuries, options, interest rates and more.
• Risk management tools - you can use stop loss orders to limit the amount of potential loss you face with your trade.
• Regulated - all spread betting companies in the UK are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

You can use the above material to help promote spread betting to your audience if required.  

Benefits of becoming a spread betting affiliate

Becoming an affiliate for spread betting programs can help you effectively monetize your audience.  With all the benefits of spread betting outlined above, it’s easy to see the attraction for would-be investors and traders to get started. It’s simply a matter of targeting the right segment of your audience with the right message to get them motivated into joining (and earning you some affiliate commissions along the way.)

As the online trading industry grows, there is increased demand from traders to find the best platforms. This in turn encourages brokers to offer more generous affiliate commissions in a bid to capture some of this new business. By joining this market and becoming an affiliate you can send interested members of your audience to a trusted broker creating partnerships that reward all parties involved.

And it doesn’t end there.  If you can continue to build your audience and effectively promote your affiliate partners by providing honest feedback, in-depth reviews, thorough comparisons and educational resources, then you’ll strengthen your position as a credible and trusted source for spread betters.

It's all about commissions

When looking at any type of affiliate program it’s imperative to identify the different ways that you’ll receive commissions to ensure you select one that’s appropriate to your requirements.

Types of Affiliate Commissions

• CPA (Cost per Acquisition): this is where you receive a one-off lump sum payment for a successful conversion (usually when someone from your audience signs up on the broker's site and performs a certain action.)  These vary from program to program and can range up to $800 CPA.
• Revenue share: as the name states, affiliates on these plans don’t receive a lump sum payment and instead receive a certain percentage of the spread revenue generated by referred clients. Again, this varies greatly between programs but you may expect to receive between 20-25%.

How much can you earn?

Earnings vary dramatically based on a number the different components - how big your audience is, how engaging the promotional material is, what brokerage program you join, commission type and actual rates. This makes it difficult to estimate what your earnings will be.

Consider the following example: 

We will assume you have a website with 10,000 visitors per month and that your affiliate promotions to convert 2% of your audience into trial accounts. 

Of these trial customers, 10% become clients for your chosen brokerage firm which pays you a CPA of $600 per account.

Under this scenario you would be earning 10,000*2%*10%*$600 = $12,000 per month in affiliate commissions.  

Adjust the equation to reflect your own situation and try a few variances to see what you could be earning as a spread betting affiliate partner.

What to consider when choosing an affiliate program

When it comes to choosing your affiliate program, commission isn’t everything. There are a few other very important things to consider:

• Affiliate support: what marketing materials does the broker offer?  How involved are they in helping you promote their platform?  Some brokers will have pre-made banners, some provide you with custom offers and some even review your website to see how it could be performing better.  Great support here can make your affiliate partnership take off.
• Customer support: as well as providing support to you as the affiliate, it’s very important to know what kind of customer service the brokerage has. If they treat their customers badly then no matter how many people you refer your conversions will be low.  You can check what kind of sign-up bonuses they offer, if they have any loyalty programs, how extensive their education programs are, and even how pro-active they are at chasing a lead.  If they call people and offer great support through the signup process then your chances of getting a referral fee will be much higher without requiring any additional work.
• FCA regulated: finally, you may want to check that the firm is regulated by the FCA, find out how long they have been operating for, and look into what trading platforms they offer clients (i.e. mobile, tablet, PC.) Checking out their website can also give you a good indication of how modern their technology is.  A modern, well trusted firm is going to convert more of your leads resulting in more profits.

These are all fairly basic checks but if you follow through and create a great partnership with a trusted, pro-active spread betting broker then you will be setting your business up for a bright future.