Do you have to pay tax on spread betting? HMRC's manuals
HMRC's manuals say a spread bettor who is not trading pays no tax on profits and gets no relief for losses. The paragraphs, the cases and the test.
Regulation
Is XM FCA regulated? What became of XM UK's company
XM UK launched in 2016 as Trading Point of Financial Instruments UK Limited. Companies House shows it renamed in 2025. What each record says.
Is IC Markets FCA regulated? Two warnings, three companies
The FCA says IC Markets Global is not authorised and may be targeting people in the UK. Which IC Markets company is which, read from each page.
Is Exness FCA regulated? Ref 730729 and the UK company file
Review sites say yes, citing FCA ref 730729. The Companies House file for EXNESS (UK) LTD to Sept 2026, and the Register fields that settle it.
CP26/24 is a consultation, not a rule
The FCA's consultation on simplifying consumer investment disclosures closed in August 2026. It proposes a new COBS 6A and would codify the 2023 double-dipping expectation on cash. It is not yet the Handbook.
The Warning List is not the Register
The FCA added nineteen Warning List entries on 27 and 28 August: thirteen social-media handles, four named firms and two clones. The Register, an unauthorised-firm warning and a clone warning are three different records, and only the first records a permission.
A chatbot is not an authorised firm
FCA research published on 27 August finds 56% of investors aged 18 to 40 trust AI tools, 44% took AI-generated financial information to be regulated, and 32% expected compensation-scheme or ombudsman cover. None of those three follows from the others.
PS26/15, and what leaves the reporting perimeter
The FCA's final transaction reporting rules take foreign exchange derivatives out of scope from 2028. What the carve-out actually covers, what the made rules still ask firms to report, and why none of it is a consumer protection.
Leverage limits, revisited
Eight years after ESMA's intervention, the UK's retail leverage caps read as permanent furniture. The 2026 steady state, summarised per the rulebook.
The authorised-broker landscape, 2026
FCA authorisation and FSCS protection remain the baseline for UK retail forex. A summary of what the FS Register actually tells you — and what it does not.