Shorts and Longs

Shorts and Longs offer some of the tightest spreads in the industry on major Indices and Shares and also have a weekly spread reduction on their most popular markets. They offer guaranteed stop losses at no extra charge but have a somewhat limited range of markets in comparison to their competitors. Their ForEx offering is rather extensive but neither 24 hour trading or mobile trading available.

The level of customer service is up there with Spreadex, given that they are a site set up by Spreadex this should be no surprise but important all the same. The trading platform is easy to navigate but is aimed more towards those new to spread betting and those who wish to securely manage their risk. Very good introduction to spread betting and charting video tutorials as well as low deposit requirements for increased leverage.

As mentioned the overall market coverage is not the best in the industry. Low IMRs and tight spreads on major Indices and Shares are on offer at Shorts and Longs but their lists of available Commodities, Bonds and Interest Rates are a little light. Shorts and Longs do, however, provide an excellent number of FX pairs – 47 in total, with futures on eight of the pairs and a minimum bet size starting from 50p per point.

• Indices
  
• Shares – Trading is limited to the UK and US only
  
• 45+ Spot FX Pairs
  
• Commodites
  
• Bonds/STIRS
  

The trading platform with Shorts and Longs is completely web based and is exceptionally easy to navigate. This could, however, be due to its simplicity and design aimed at newcomers to spread betting. As mentioned, the low IMRs, tight spreads and free guaranteed stops do go some way to making up for this, but the advanced trader may discover a lack of functionality.

It is mandatory that traders place a guaranteed stop-loss with each trade – at no extra cost. The platform does afford users the ability to see the best and worst price performers of the day with the 'Hot Shorts' and 'Hot Longs' feature. They can also see the most popularly traded markets for the day.

The platform does provide charting tools for technical analysis including moving averages, Bollinger bands and Fibonacci Retracements but threre is no streaming news or 24 hour trading. The execution is speed is, however, very good with no re-quotes. Mobile trading is not provided and roll-over costs are slightly higher than the industry average.

There are basic text examples of how to trade indices, commodities, currencies, bonds and shares, which are brief but fine for an introduction. The video training centre is more in depth and outlines all you would need to know about trading with Shorts and Longs. It demonstrates how to make best use of the trading platform, how to build a portfolio, manage your positions and takes you through a step-by-step guide of executing a trade and controlling your risk.

There is no available demo account, but Shorts and Longs is geared up for the beginner with it's free, manadatory guaranteed stops. There is no minimum opening deposit for a live account.