• 1970s The Wheelers
• 1980s Continued Growth
• 1990s Technology Boom

History of Spread Betting

Though the industry of High Finance has been gracing our presence for several decades, the concept of spread betting is relatively new. This is especially true when considering that spread betting did not become popular among private investors until the mid 1990s. The market for spread betting has been fairly stable, making a steady rise into the 90s and levelling off in the early years of the 21st century. This is a brief rendition of the history of spread betting, how it became popular and where it is set to go in the future.

It all began in the 1970s when Stuart Wheeler invented the concept and offered it to a group of fellow investors and friends. The trend took off as most of London’s financial community adopted it as a smart way to invest. The primary asset that was being bet on was gold, specifically gold futures. This remained the asset for the majority of the 1970s, and was joined by some other commodities by the 1980s.

To learn more about spread betting in the 1970s please click here.

There was much potential in the market for spread betting companies in the 1980s; however, due to a lack of innovation and technology, the market remained small. Comprised almost exclusively of Finance professionals, spread betting was a complicated matter in the eyes of the public. Also because of restricted technologies, spread betting companies struggled to bring the number of spreads and the amount of information that their potential customers demanded.

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In the 1990s, with the new popularity of the internet, spread betting companies were able to bring spread betting to the common, private investor. With this influx of new customers, the spread betting companies began to introduce new products. By the end of the 1990s, nearly all private investors were using the internet to manage their money and a lot of them had discovered spread betting as a smart way to make a profit.

To learn more about spread betting in the 1990s please click here.