Result (b) - England suffers an early innings collapse and make only 220 runs.

England made 45 units below the level at which you made your Buy (265)

YOU LOSE (220 - 265) x £1 = -£45

In their next innings England are on the same spread of 250 - 265 runs. You think England are looking a bit thin on batting and fear they might get bowled out cheaply. You therefore want to SELL their runs at 250.

BET SELL England Runs @ 250 at £2 per unit

Result (a) - England do bat badly, see a complete middle order collapse and only make 150

Therefore England make 100 runs less than the level at which you sold at 250 runs at (£2 per run)

YOU WIN (250 - 150) x £2 = £200

Result (b) - England's openers both get centuries and the team ends up making 360 runs

Therefore England made 110 runs more than the level at which you sold.

YOU LOSE (250 - 360) x £2 = -£220

Whenever you enter into a spread bet, you should always be aware of the potential profit and loss. This depends on the likely volatility of the market you are trading on. For example, total goals in a football match has a low volatility as few games will see more than 6 goals (only 2 or 3 units away from the spread quote) whereas total cricket runs market often makes up 50 or more units from the opening spread quote.