Financial spread betting is a relatively new form of investing. It allows you to bet on shares or markets without owning any stocks or products. Financial spread betting works on the basic principles of "Buying" or "Going long" and "Selling" or "Going short". Buying or going long simply refers to betting on the value of a market going up. Selling or going short is betting on the value of a market going down. These two principles form the crux of financial spread betting which ultimately decide your profits or losses depending upon how much the markets move up or down.