Dow Spread Comparison UK: 10 Brokers Tested (2026)
Which Broker has the lowest Dow spread?
Dow spreads compared from ten different UK brokers
This is my quest to find out which broker has the tightest spread on the Dow. Otherwise known as the US30 or Wall Street 30.
Because if you’re trading the Dow via, say, a CFD or a spread bet, then, like it or not, the spread matters. We just don’t want to be paying more than we should…
Spread costs add up over time, and if you’re a particularly active day trader or scalper, then the differences can be eye-watering when you check.
And of course, all brokers cry:
“We’ve got the lowest Dow spread”
“No, we have”
“Try us”
YAWN!
So I’m investigating myself using my ‘ahem’ proprietary checking method…
I open up ten CFD/spread betting brokers, load up the US30, squash them all into one screen and then take a screenshot.
Same time, same market, and I share my results… It’s not pretty, but it’s a decent way to see how each broker compares.
Alright, so these are the ten brokers I picked.
- CMC Markets
- IG
- SpreadEX
- Pepperstone
- Capital
- Plus500
- Forex
- Oanda
- FXCM
- City Index
On Friday, 24th April at 19:58 BST I took the screenshot.
Now, at this time, the US stock market was open, and the Dow futures were doing nothing, no volatility, no price spikes, so there was no reason brokers couldn’t have the Dow spread as tight as possible
See? Nothing much going on…
Lowest Dow Spreads
In no particular order (just the way I had them on my screen), here were the results:
Capital 2pts
Forex 2.4pts
SpreadEx 2.4pts
Plus 500 4pts
Oanda 4.3pts
FXCM 2.3pts
IG 2.4pts
City Index 2.4pts
CMC 2.2pts
Pepperstone 2pts
I then observed the prices for one minute to see if anyone was on variable spreads and if they changed. Bearing in mind the Dow was doing nothing at the time… so I don’t really see an excuse for widening the spread. But hey…
Anyway, the Oanda Dow spread did move, and it went down to 2.3pts at on point. Still not enough to take the top spot. And the rules are I rank in order of screenshot time… so here are the results
Dow broker spreads ranked from best to worst
Right, let’s tidy this up and see what we’ve got:
- Capital and Pepperstone 2pts
- CMC 2.2pts
- FXCM 2.3pts
- City Index, SpreadEx, Forex and IG 2.4pts
- Plus 500 4pts
- Oanda 4.3pts
That’s a massive difference between best and worst… and as I’m typing this at 9.20 am I went to just see what the spreads were like in the morning, when the US cash session was not yet open.
And both Capital and Pepperstone were fixed on 2pts (good job lads)
Plus 500 was still 4pts…
And Oanda was all over the place, sometimes 2.8pts but most often 4.8pts. Thumbs down.
(Personal opinion here, but I think paying nearly 5pts to trade the Dow when you can get 2pts is madness… c’mon Oanda, you can do better than this. Maybe they read this and tighten the spreads!)
If you had an active trading strategy and were day trading the Dow at say £5pp twice a day over the month, trading on 2pts not 4.8pts would save you £560 per month… that’s nearly 600 quid in your pocket or 7 grand a year.
Not to mention, when the spread is wider, you have a higher chance of being stopped out because of the way stops are triggered. 2.8pts might not seem like much, but that can be just enough to ping your stop…which is annoying if you’re right on direction but just get stopped before it goes.
Anyway… those were the results.
The lowest spreads on the Dow are Capital and Pepperstone at 2 points.
Now this is where I remind you to do your own research. Capital is here, and Pepperstone is here.
Check the spreads for yourself at the typical time you trade. Things can change, brokers are changing spreads all the time, but those were the spreads on 24th April at 19:58 BST!
If you trade other instruments, then check out my other UK broker spread comparisons: FTSE | DAX | Gold
And if you’re a British trader curious about the tax implications of spread betting. Read spread betting profits are tax-free in the UK