S&P 500 Spread Comparison UK: 10 Brokers Tested (2026)

S&P 500 spreads compared from ten different UK brokers

This is my test to find the broker with the lowest S&P500 spread or US500 as it is often called, when trading CFDs or a spread bet.

S&P 500 spreads are typically low. Why?

Because the underlying futures market is highly liquid, and good liquidity often means tight spreads.

If your spread betting (which is generally tax-free for UK traders) or CFD broker uses a liquidity provider, it means they can pass that saving onto you and still make money.

But we’ve all seen the headline spreads… or “spreads from…” and, to be honest, it’s hard to know what the real-world spreads are until you’ve opened an account and actually placed a few trades.

So, I decided to do a spread comparison and share it with my fellow traders.

Here’s how I did the spread test:

I took ten of the most popular brokers, opened up the S&P 500 (or US 500/SPX as many call it…), then took a screenshot of the US500 quotes at a specific time.

To me, that mirrors how we actually trade… we spot an opportunity, open a ticket and execute.

The brokers in the October check were:

1. IG
2. CMC Markets
3. Plus500
4. Capital.com
5. Pepperstone
6. FXCM
7. OANDA
8. StoneX
9. Forex.com
10. XTB

S&P 500 broker spreads ranked: From best to worst

Ok, so let’s rank them in order. Lots were tied for the top spot this time… (any broker out there want to break ranks and cut to 0.3pts?!)

1. Pepperstone, Capital.com, StoneX and OANDA — 0.4pts
2. CMC Markets, IG and FXCM — 0.5pts
3. Forex.com — 0.6pts
4. XTB and Plus500 — 0.7pts

Capital.com and Pepperstone have recorded the joint-lowest S&P 500 spread in every monthly test since May… six tests in a row at 0.4pts. StoneX and OANDA also matched that figure in October.

On the S&P 500, the difference between the cheapest broker and the most expensive is 0.3pts. That sounds tiny, but it adds up (trust me!). Use the Spread Saver to see what you could save.

As a side note, Pepperstone also came top on my Dow spread comparison at 2pts in October, followed by CMC Markets at 2.2pts and FXCM at 2.3pts.

Pepperstone was also joint best in my Nasdaq spread comparison with 1pt, alongside CMC Markets, FXCM and OANDA.

So if you generally trade US indices, Capital.com and Pepperstone are certainly worth checking alongside the other brokers that came out well in these tests.

Always check for yourself, and remember spreads can change at any time. This was just a test at a single point in time. I’ll update this again on the next check.

Meanwhile, you can see my other spread comparisons on these other markets:

Indices: Dow, Nasdaq, DAX, FTSE

Commodities: Gold, Oil

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

If you’re new to UK spread betting, it’s worth knowing why spread betting profits are tax-free.

And if you want to see the whole lot in a table for easy comparison, then take a look at my Spread Checker tool.