Financial Spread Betting

The site offers an extensive array of financial markets but before you can have a bet, you need to open an account.
You can do this either over the phone or via the internet. You place your bets using these options as well. Debit or credit transactions are accepted. Payments can be made via Switch, Delta, Mastercard and Visa (although there is a 1.5 per cent commission charge on the latter pair).
Mainstream spread bets can be struck on the movement of stock market indices (including the Footsie and major continental European and US exchanges) or on the performance of share prices of individual companies quoted both at home and overseas.
The site accepts bets on the direction of currencies (including the Euro, US dollar and Sterling) and on interest rates as well.
For the more exotically minded, punters can also take positions in relation to commodity price movements for foodstuffs such as cocoa and sugar, or for precious metals such a gold, silver and platinum.
In addition, City Index provides punters the chance to bet on house price movements.
The company, which quotes its property spreads based on information published quarterly by the Land Registry, says the aim is to provide homeowners with an opportunity to defend against events such as sharp falls in the housing market.
Bets can be struck on average house prices for geographic regions such as Greater London, the South East of England or the whole of Wales.
For townies with an interest in the London Boroughs, bets can also be made on particular property types such as flats in Islington or terraced houses in Kensington.
Another specialist market on offer is that of Base Rate Futures allowing clients to bet on the future movement of Bank of England base rates.
The CityIndex site is broken down into various sections with plenty of emphasis and explanation of how spread betting works and how to get started in the sector.
Warnings that spread betting can be a volatile affair are made clear from the home page and the use of stop losses as a means of investor protection are advocated.
In all, City Index is a fairly user friendly site. City says it is happy to accommodate small stakes investors although the website does not make it entirely obvious what it defines as small.
It also offers a trading simulator which allows users to get the hang of spread bets without losing real money.
Throughout the year, City Index runs a number of free introductory seminars on spread betting around the UK. Attendees who go on to open an account and make one trade receive a free £25 per point bet on Vodafone.

Verdict: Plenty of betting choice and a useful simulator to get punters in the swing.