News of the US government decision to take over mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has had an early effect on the volume of trades by spread bettors at paddypowertrader.com. The US Federal reserve has promised to pump at least two hundred billion dollars into the companies to avert a financial meltdown, this has triggered large volumes in early trading by traders on Paddy Power’s online financial spread betting venture.

“The takeover is the single largest government intervention in financial markets since Fannie Mae was created in 1938. It has seriously stimulated trading as spread bettors take advantage of the perceived bounce in the stock markets. Equity and Index trades are attracting a lot of attention today; we can see a significant increase in the amount of trades opened. The volume of movement on the London Stock Exchange has even brought the exchange down for a number of hours.” said Davin McAnaney, Commercial Manager, paddypowertrader.com

“The expected rise in stocks and indices located on both sides of the Atlantic is expected to be a short term effect of the bail-out. Investors call this kind of movement on the markets a “dead cat bounce”, it’s one where we could see any gains closely followed by a drop in value. It is a good opportunity for savvy spread bettors who can take advantage of both long and short selling to realise gains as the markets move in either direction,” enthused McAnaney.

“Paddypowertrader.com has watched Irish spread bettors take advantage of the ability to go long and short in financial spread betting. Time and time again we have seen Irish clients are very keen to use the short selling technique to stay ahead of the market.” the financial spread betting firm said today.

In Financial Spread Betting jargon ‘going short’ means to bet in favour of falling markets. Financial Spread Betting allows you to bet on the performance of a share or index therefore it is possible to make a sell or short bet on the underlying instrument as well as to make a buy or long bet. Going short therefore permits traders to make money even in volatile or falling markets.

paddypowertrader.com launched in the summer of 2007 enabling clients to take advantage of the many benefits of financial spread betting, including being a tax–free alternative to trading shares and financial markets. The product continues to grow in popularity in the UK and Ireland, amongst not only financial industry professionals, but also amongst those with an interest in the stock market.