British FX companies have continued to tread a different path from that of the more mainstream overseas firms, insofar as the British government's treatment of taxation on the proceeds of trading financial markets, differs on the basis that if profits from betting are declared, rather than from trading, no tax is applied.
For this reason, many British retail brokers have eschewed MetaTrader 4, and until recently provided their own spread betting and CFD platforms.
Today's announcement by InterTrader Direct that it will provide spread betting and CFD trading via the ubiquitous MetaTrader 4 platform, demonstrates that Britain's retail FX industry is leaning further toward the mainstream. Although, InterTrader Direct is registered in Gibraltar, it has concentrated its efforts toward providing a service to a primarily British audience.
The company's MetaTrader 4 offering, will facilitate trading of FX, indices and commodities, via a direct market access model with no dealer intervention.
British Companies, International Audience
In August this year, another British spread betting company, ETX Capital, opened offices in Europe, from where it provides MetaTrader 4 to client base, connected to the company's Liquidity pool via Gold-i's Bridge technology.
In addition, AFX Markets added MetaTrader 4 to its offering, as well as branched into institutional FX technology provisioning this summer.
Further succumbing to the popularity of MetaTrader 4 was IG Group, which now also offers the platform alongside its in-house solution, as a result of demand.
This demonstrates that British firms are keen to ensure that they do not discount the market share that MetaTrader 4 can gain them, whilst ensuring that the domestic traders wishing to ensure that the tax treatment on their trades, are still catered for.
InterTrader Direct's implemetation of the MetaTrader 4 represents the first true 'Pound-Per-Point' spread betting service on the platform. As a result, spread betting clients can now run expert advisors on MetaTrader 4 to automate trading, analysis and strategy testing.
The company operates a market-neutral broker model, whereby all client trades are hedged fully in the underlying market. Therefore, InterTrader Direct never carries any exposure against its client's positions, and also eliminates any potential conflict between broker and client.
Shai Heffetz, Head of Financial Spread Betting and CFDs, made a corporate statement regarding the company's inclusion of MetaTrader 4, "We believe that your broker should be on your side. That's why we've created a direct and transparent trading service - for both spread betting and CFDs - founded on our 100% hedging policy, therefore, we never have a vested interest in whether our clients are making or losing money."
