Basic explanation

Spread betting allows you to bet on the outcome of an event being higher or lower than the spread. There are no fixed-odds involved.

Stakes

Your stake is a per unit stake as opposed to a fixed stake meaning the more right you are, the more you win and the more wrong you are, the more you lose.

Buying

A spread will always have a Buy price and a Sell price. If you think that the outcome of the event will be higher (or more) than the Buy price then you will Buy.
For example, if the number of corners in a game of football is priced at 10.9 - 11, the Buy price (the higher number) is 11. If you Buy the corners at 11, you are betting that there will be more than 11 corners in the game.

Selling

If you think that the outcome of the event will be lower (or less) than the Sell price then you will Sell.
For example, if the number of corners in a game of football is priced at 10.9 - 11, the Sell price (the lower number) is 10.9. If you Sell the corners at 10.9, you are betting that there will be less than 10.9 corners in the game.

How do you win or lose

The amount that you win or lose on each spread bet depends on two things:

i) How many units you have won or lost
ii) What your stake per unit is

Winning example: You are spread betting on the total goals in a game of football and you have bought the total goals at 2.4 for £100 per goal. The score finishes 2-2, meaning that the total goals are 4. You have won 1.6 units (the difference between the price you bought at and the make-up) multiplied by your £100 per unit stake. This means you have won £160.

Losing example: You are spread betting on the total goals in a game of football and you have bought the total goals at 2.4 for £100 per goal. The score finishes 1-0, meaning that the total goals are 1. You have lost 1.4 units (the difference between the price you bought at and the make-up) multiplied by your £100 per unit stake. This means you have lost £140.

Make Up

The make-up is the result on which the spread bet is settled. For example, if the total runs scored by England in a One Day International are 237, then the make-up is 237.

NTR

All positions opened on the exchange attract a Notional Trading Requirement (NTR). The NTR determines the minimum amount of available money required by Spreadfair to sanction the bet. The NTR varies from market to market depending on the volatility of the market.

For example, if you want to Buy £50 of Corners at 11 the NTR on Corners is 5. You would therefore need £250 worth of available money in order to trade.