IG was the first firm to specialize in spread betting when it was launched over 40 years ago in 1974. According to their website, this London based company now has over 178,000 clients around the globe.
This well known broker is listed on the London Stock Exchange as IGG. The company offers an important amount of assets for you to trade, all of them are specified on this review below.
This IG Markets review has all the information on the broker to help you understand what they have to offer and match it to your needs.
IG Markets has offices in 14 different countries. They are compliant with the USA and will accept their citizens on their platforms. Their main office in the US is located at 200 W Jackson Blvd, Suite 1450, Chicago, Illinois IL 60606.
They are regulated in some of the following jurisdictions:
Some of their offices are located at:
As shown below, IG Markets US only has forex as a trading option for their clients.
One of IG’s features is to make sure to keep your money safe and untouched in case of bankruptcy or insolvency. They will do this using a segregated bank account. This means that your money will not be part of the broker’s funds, it will be in an independent trust so as not to be touched.
This broker also offers exclusive 24/7 trading, also known as weekend trading, for some pairs such as GBP/USD. Using this feature, could be on top of the news and the market to trade and continue moving your positions.
IG Markets offers different accounts depending on the jurisdictions. As for the UK you may access an IG trading account, and an IG professional account.
To access the professional account you must be eligible to at least two of the following requirements:
In Australia you may have an IG trading account, a limited risk account, and a share dealing account. A limited risk account means that you will not be able to lose more than you deposit initially.
The share dealing account allows you to deal with shares. On UK shares there will be a £3 commission charged, and commission free for US shares.
For other countries and jurisdictions there are options such as an exchange account, swap free account, IG turbo 24 trading account, and an IG options trading account.
You also have the option to open a demo account with £100,000 worth of paper trading. With this you can practice any new ideas or get to know the platform or trading moves.
IG Markets has minimum deposits in all jurisdictions. For the UK it will be £250, for Australia it is $450, for the United States it will be a minimum of $250, and for Europe, except for UK and Switzerland, the amount is €300.
The deposit methods include debit card and credit card, which are free of cost in all countries except Singapore and New Zealand. Another option could be through e-payment methods such as PayPal which is fee free in the UK. Bank transfers have no minimum.
As for deposit method fees in the Australian jurisdiction, it will depend on your country of residence.
Withdrawals have the same methods and fees as the deposits such as bank transfers, credit card, debit card, and e-payments. There are no specified minimum withdrawal amounts.
IG has commissions per trade. If it is over three trades it will be a £3.00 commission per trade. If it is up to two trades then it will be £8.00 for each. These values include all assets, such as shares, trusts, ETFs, cryptocurrencies, etc.
For CFD trading, IG uses lots which will vary on each market and contract. Australian contracts have standard, mini and micro lots.
IG Index allows hedging and spread betting. This company was actually the first firm in the world to specialize in spread betting when they launched their company in 1974.
This broker also allows automated trading, and some of the systems you may use are MetaTrader 4, APIs, and ProRealTime. Scalping is also a trading technique on this platform.
The company offers different risk management options such as stop losses, that will allow you to set a position to automatically close it in case the market goes against you. You may also set a trailing stop which is just you manually set position stop.
You may also decide where you will close your trade with guaranteed stop. You can also opt for limit orders, and push alert notifications. IG also works with margin calls, which means your position will close if your funds are below a certain level.
Markets and Assets on the IG platform
IG Markets offers forex trading, indices, CFDs, commodities, cryptocurrencies, options, bonds, sectors,and ETFs. In 2019 they accepted Vanilla Options.
You may trade 8 different cryptocurrencies with IG: Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, Stellar (XML), NEO, and EOS. As for commodities you may trade gold, silver, oil, wheat, and sugar.
IG Markets also offers weekend trading so you can stay on top of the markets 24/7.
IG maximum leverage for retail margin is 1:30, and it will go up to 1:222 for professional margin traders.
IG Market Platforms
Other than their online desktop trading platform, IG offers an app for both iOS and Android that allows CFDs to trade without a problem.
They have another app you may download on your computer to visualize on your desktop with optimal speed. ProRealTime (PRT) is an advanced web platform with resources such as charts, analysis tools, and free trade for CFDs for a period of time.
IG also offers MetaTrader 4 and L2 Dealer, a free platform you may download with features such as charts, and direct market access.
On their menu bar there is a “learn to trade” button that will give you access to different educational tools such as their glossary trading terms.
They offer an IG Academy with virtual trading courses. They include quizzes, videos, and infographics. There are also webinars where you may join live seminar sessions where experts share their experience, and answer your questions.
They have their own section called “news and trade ideas” where they write their own articles about forex, shares, indices, bitcoin, and commodities. Because of the world wide pandemic context they also have a coronavirus news section.
IG does allow social trading for you to interact with others and copy market decisions. It means you may copy trade from an experienced trader.
The company has social media accounts on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Facebook. They have emails and phone numbers you may contact, but no live chat.
In the UK you may contact customer support 24 hours a day starting from 8am on Saturday until 10pm on Friday. As for language selection you may either go to the top right of the page or the very bottom to choose between over 20 languages such as Russian, Spanish, Chinese, Norwegian, Portuguese, and more.
IG Markets is an international broker with an important variety of assets and account types. They have a good educational section on their website, and offer courses and seminars. However, they do not have live chat on their website as part of their customer services.
Although they allow US clients, IG Markets only have forex as a trading option. Let us not forget IG offers weekend trading for you to boost your positions, and a demo account which is an important feature for new and experienced traders.
