Oil Spread Comparison UK: 10 Brokers Tested (2026)

Which broker has the lowest US Crude Oil spread?

Last updated: 1st October 2026.

The tightest oil spread across the top UK brokers we checked was 2.5pts, shared by CMC Markets, City Index and Forex.com.

Month Checked Tightest broker(s) Oil Spread
September 2026 CMC Markets, City Index & Forex.com 2.5pts
August 2026 CMC & Pepperstone 2.0pts
July 2026 CMC & Pepperstone 2.0pts
June 2026 CMC, City Index & Forex.com* 2.5pts
May 2026 CMC 2.5pts

* Variable spread

Between 61-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. Capital at risk.

Ok, this spread comparison was messy… why? Well, oil is a pretty broad term.

You’ve got WTI (West Texas Intermediate) and Brent. These are the two main types of oil traded and have different prices.
Not only that, but a lot of brokers offer rolling cash contracts and futures (via a CFD or a spread bet) 

But wait, that’s not all… to add to the confusion, they all seem to call oil different things:

WTI
US Crude
US Oil
US Light Crude
Spot Crude

The naming convention does not make it easy…

But luckily, I’ve been around the markets for many decades, so I can work out what’s what to give you a decent oil spread comparison.

So my method tries to replicate a typical trader’s decision flow.

See a trade opportunity, open a dealing ticket, and execute. 

With that in mind, I checked the spreads of ten top brokers on a regular Tuesday afternoon.

The brokers I chose were:

  • CMC Markets
  • Pepperstone
  • IG
  • City Index
  • Plus 500
  • FX Pro
  • FXCM
  • Forex.com
  • Capital.com
  • Oanda

Oil was weak on the day and holding near lows in a volatility contraction when I checked the spreads. 

Oil spreads checked during typical price action

Oil Spreads: Brokers ranked from best to worst

Oil spreads ranked from tightest to widest:

  1. CMC Markets, City Index and Forex.com 2.5pts
  2. IG 2.8pts
  3. Pepperstone, FxPro and Oanda 3.0pts
  4. Capital.com and FXCM 4.0pts
  5. XTB 5.0pts
  6. Plus500 7.0pts

So CMC Markets, City Index and Forex.com took the top spot, with 2.5pts during the test.

CMC Markets has now recorded the joint-lowest or outright lowest oil spread in every monthly test I’ve run since May… five tests in a row.

Pepperstone had held a 2pt spread in both the July and August checks, but came in at 3pts this time.

There was a pretty big difference between the cheapest and most expensive this month: 2.5pts vs 7pts. If you trade oil regularly, that can add up fast.

Use my spread saver tool to see what that difference could mean in actual trading costs.

If you want to see my other spread tests:

Indices:
Dow, DAX, FTSE, Nasdaq, S&P 500

Forex:
USD/JPY, EUR/USD, GBP/USD

Commodities:
Gold

Or see my spread checker comparison table to get a view of everything in one place.

Oh, and if you’re from the UK, wondering if spread betting really is tax-free, I wrote a super in-depth article covering everything you need to know, including extracts from HMRC themselves…