CMC Markets suffers as markets stay calm and spread bettors stay away, costing Brexit-backing boss millions

Shares in the financial bookie have their worst day on the stock exchange since its flotation, knocking millions off the value of chief executive Peter Cruddas’s stake

Brexit-backer Peter Cruddas has endured an uncomfortable month in the markets (Rex)

Did you vote to Remain in the EU? Come join me in a little schadenfreude.

Billionaire Brexit backer Peter Cruddas has a bloody nose. His company, CMC Markets, the spread-betting specialist that floated on the London Stock Exchange earlier this year, has just issued a nasty profit warning.

The reason? Punters aren’t playing with the sort of money the company is used to. As a result, profits for the six months ending 30 September will be lower than a year earlier. Not a happy place to be for a company recently gone public to find itself in.

CMC has, in fact, had its worst day on the markets since Mr Cruddas pocketed a £200m windfall from the float, lopping perhaps £40m off the value of the 62 per cent stake he and his wife retain. Ouch.

If you’d sold CMC via a spread bet, congratulations! You’ll be a lot richer today.

So why aren’t CMC’s fish biting? August is usually a quiet month on the world’s financial markets, but the one that has just gone by was a particular snooze-fest in those where CMC is strong, currencies, for example.

Quiet markets are no fun for spread-betting punters because, while they limit losses, they also mean fewer opportunities to pocket big wins, and the prospect of big wins is the reason why people bet on the markets in the first place.

If placing short-term bets on financial markets is your poison, you need them to be swinging up and down like yo-yos on speed. Unfortunately for CMC the yo-yos haven't had their strings attached of late.

But what about Brexit, I hear your cry. After the initial shock, the world realised that actually nothing much has changed. We are in the middle of the phoney war as the British Government tries to work out what to do and its trading partners sit back and watch. Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty isn’t going to be triggered until next year at the earliest.

Markets can, of course, change very quickly. It's all about events. Imagine what might happen if Donald Trump were to be elected president of the US, for example. He’s adopted many of the techniques used by Mr Cruddas’s pals in the Brexit camp in his bid for the White House, and it’s working, at least among angry white people. Seen the polls lately? A President Trump ought to be good for a bit of volatility.

There may be other issues facing CMC, however. There are a lot of spread-betting firms out there and they're all battling for business behind the market’s undisputed leader and big gun, IG.

It’s a bit like the Scottish Premier League, with Celtic sitting imperious (or largely imperious) at the top while the rest of them battle for the scraps.

If IG, which is strong across a wider range of markets than CMC, does OK, or at least puts in a better showing than CMC, then it might show that some of the problems at the latter are specific to it. We remainers will be able enjoy a second does of schadenfreude.

If not, well the financial markets will wake up again. They always do. While it pains me to say it, CMC can bounce back. There’s still the chance of it winning the second spot in the financial Champions League. But CMC is surely going to have some serious legwork to do if it wants to grab it.