Comparing share trading to spread betting

What is the difference between share trading and spread betting? Well the short answer is it requires less money down re up front and secondly of all you can go either way ie you can go long or short. With a stockbroker you normally cant go short unless you are a big player.

Anyway I found an excellent piece on how to compare the two, the costs associated with them and what the leverage you get with a spread bet means to your bank balance, Comparing a share trade to spread betting. It also has a little tool to compare different share trades with spread bets. It also has a bit of an explanation as to how you can hedge shares with a spread bet which I had never really thought about before.