Same stock, radically different costs: broker pricing gap stretches across UK blue chips

A new TradingPlatforms report has found wide pricing differences between major retail brokers offering CFDs on the UK’s busiest shares, with the gap stretching far beyond a single stock. Comparing CMC Markets, Plus500 and Eightcap across the 10 most actively traded UK stocks, the study showed that the spread charged on the same name could be multiples apart depending on platform and pricing model.

The contrast was particularly striking on several large-cap household names. On Unilever, CMC Markets listed a spread of 1.00, while Plus500 was shown at 24.55 and Eightcap at 0.1 plus commission. On Anglo American, the same comparison came in at 1.00 for CMC, 23.43 for Plus500 and 0.1 plus commission for Eightcap. British American Tobacco was listed at 1.00 on CMC, 21.56 on Plus500 and 0.1 plus commission on Eightcap. Even among lower-priced shares, the pattern persisted: Lloyds was 0.02 on CMC, 0.57 on Plus500 and 0.1 plus commission on Eightcap.

The report stressed that these figures cannot be read in isolation because brokers use different charging structures. CMC Markets and Plus500 apply a spread-only model for UK share CFDs, while Eightcap combines the spread with a 0.1% commission per side. Even so, the side-by-side table showed just how differently the same underlying stocks can be priced at retail level. On RELX, for example, the spread alone was 1.00 at CMC, 13.34 at Plus500 and 0.1 at Eightcap before commission. On Rolls-Royce, the comparison was 0.50, 4.95 and 0.1 respectively.

Retail traders often assume the cost of trading a popular blue-chip share will be broadly similar across mainstream brokers, especially when dealing in the most liquid names on the market. This report suggests otherwise. It argues that the most actively traded shares are useful precisely because they provide a consistent benchmark for comparing broker costs. On that benchmark, price dispersion remained substantial. The practical implication for traders is simple: even when targeting the same FTSE-listed names, the choice of broker can materially affect the cost of getting in and out of the trade.