IG Broker Review
IG Broker Review
Established:
1974
Location:
UK
Regulation:
FCA, ASIC, CFTC, FINMA, MAS, JFSA, DIFC
Major debit/credit cards, Bank transfer, PayPal system, Skrill or Neteller
Review Summary
Regulated and trusted globally, IG is one of the biggest CFD brokers in the world. It offers traders access to excellent research and trading tools, industry-leading trader education, a huge list of tradable products, and competitive prices.
IG was created in 1974 in the UK. It is regulated by top-tier regulators including the UK’s FCA and the German BaFin. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Due to its listing on the LSE, IG is considered a safe broker since it has to disclose its financials publicly while being overseen by a top-tier regulator.
Fees
Traders using IG will enjoy some of the competitive pricing in the trading world, no matter which product they intend to trade. Its most competitive pricing is in the Forex Direct accounts. Here is a breakdown of the fees and commissions on IG Broker:
- CFD Account Average Spreads
For mini and standard contracts, the typical spread during the main trading hours from Midnight 9 PM GMT+1 averages 0.745 pips. Just like other online brokers, spreads during periods of low liquidity are usually higher. They average 1.39 pips on the broker from 9 PM to Midnight GMT+1.
- CFD Account Active Trader Rebates
Volume traders, who are classified as professionals under EU rules enjoy pricing discounts on IG via the active trader rebate program. There are three tiers in this program. In tier one, those who transact over £50M in forex volume per month, receive a 10% rebate on the spread. For those who manage over £300M per month, there is a 20% rebate on the spread. To put this into context, a 20% rebate on 0.745 pips would result in an all-in cost of just 0.596 pips.
- Forex Direct (DMA Account)
For savvy traders, there are even bigger discounts than what is offered via the CFD account. With a DMA account, the active trader rebates are great for the spread-only pricing. Forex Direct is a commission-based offering that is offered via the DMA account. Traders get access to the L2 Dealer platform. To access a DMA account, traders only need a £1000 minimum. Pricing is based on a tiered case that is determined by the trader’s volume in the previous month.
Average spreads with the DMA account are 0.165 on the EUR/USD pair for 12 weeks, which all-in spread is 1.3 pips using the base tier of $60 per million for traders that average less than $100 million a month. For traders that average more than 1.5 yards, 9billion is USD volume, the per-side commission drops to $10 per million ($20 round-turn). The result is an effective spread of 0.165 + 0.20 + o.365 pips.
Execution of Forex Direction streams from interbank liquidity providers where IG is the agency broker without adding any spread. Instead, IG will add a commission to each trade by a trader. With the CFD account, users can switch between the execution methods via available order types. This will depend on whether they want to force open a trade with potential slippage compared to orders that can be rejected when the price is no longer available.
Regulation and Fund security
IG Broker is regulated by many leading regulators in the world, they include:
- US – Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and National Futures Association (NFA)
- Germany – Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin)
- UK – Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
- Switzerland – Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA)
- Singapore – Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)
- Australia – Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC)
- Japan – Japanese Financial Services Authority (FSA)
- New Zealand – Financial Markets Authority (FMA)
- International – Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA)
- South Africa – Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA)
- UAE – Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA)
In line with the requirements of its regulators, IG offers investor protection amounts according to the rules of the regulator. In the UK, the amount is set at £85,000 while for those in the EU, the amount is set at €20,000. For those in Switzerland, the amount is set at CHF 100,000.
EU clients using IG also get access to negative balance protection for forex spot and CFD trading. However, this protection is only offered to retail traders. Professional and non-EU clients do not have access to negative balance protection.
Account Types
On IG, traders get access to one account, which acts as both the demo and live trading account. This account can be used as:
- CFD Trading Account
This account type allows traders to flexibly trade CFD instruments in different markets including forex pairs, indices, and commodities. With this account, traders enjoy reduced commissions for the first two weeks of live trading.
- Spread Betting Account
Opening this account does not come with any minimum deposit requirements. IT is the easiest type of account for those who wish to take advantage of the volatility in the markets. Trading costs are low with spreads of just 0.6 on the EUR/USD pairs, 1 point on the FTSE100, and just 0.1% on the individual shares.
Investment Products/Trading instruments
The range of markets varies depending on the IG entity that you chose. For those in the UK, Japan, New Zealand, and the US, they have to pick their respective local entity.
IG offers its traders access to around 20,000 CFD, traders also get access to exchange-traded securities (Non-CFDs) for UK, German, and Australian access to international stock exchanges. Besides forex options, IG offers exchange-traded Turbo warrants as part of its Multilateral Trading Facility (MFT) in Europe.
Another trading product offered on IG is cryptocurrency trading. Traders can trade in cryptocurrency via CFDs. However, there is no access to trading in the underlying asset. In the UK, crypto derivatives are not offered to retail traders.
Trading Platforms
Traders on IG get access to a huge selection of trading tools and platforms. Functionality on this platform is great and is designed to meet the requirements of all types of traders. Besides the L2 Dealer and ProRealTime charting platform, the web platform performs exceptionally well.
- IG Web Platform
IG offers traders a proprietary web-based platform that comes with a huge selection of features. Usability is at the heart of this platform. For instance, charts open from nearly any view, providing access to live market prices or streaming bid/ask rates. There are many research and trading tools that include risk-management modules integrated into the platform. However, traders will need to take a few moments to set up the layouts since the default view is usually empty. Once a layout is set, it can be saved.
- Charting on IG Web Platform
On the IG web platform, the default charts come with 30 optional studies and advanced functionality. This functionality includes adding up to four alerts on any of the 11 supported indicators. There are five chart types and there is also a tick chart, which is not offered on many brokers. The platform also supports zooming in and out as well as resizing views across timeframes. Another notable feature is that traders can trade from the chart with an integrated trade ticket that shows risk/reward ratios. It allows trade to drag any stop/limits with high precision.
Additional platforms: IG offers the MetaTrader4 (MT4) platform and its L2 Dealer platform, where Forex Direct and Direct Market Access (DMA) are available for share trading. While I do not recommend MT4 due to the limited product range, L2 Dealer can be a viable option due to the discounts available for active traders, and for its support of advanced algorithmic order types.
- ProRealTime charts
This is an advanced charting tool that offers over 100 indicators and automated strategies. ProRealtime is a third-party platform that is offered exclusively by IG in the UK. With ProRealTime, users pay a fee of £30 per month, unless they make at least four trades during each calendar period.
Webinar, seminars, educational material
There is a vast selection of quality market research and education material generated in-house and by third-party providers. The tools offered by IG for research and education are:
- News and Market Analysis
The research tools offered by IG include streaming news from Reuters as well as an economic calendar. There are also advanced tools that include a customizable screener for various asset classes such as CFDs on global stocks, and forex. The broker has also personalized content with the “Recommended News” feature, which tailors headlines based on an account’s traits. On IG, traders also get access to numerous streaming videos from IGTV and Reuters. These videos are generated daily, and they cover the global financial markets.
- Trading Signals and Premium Content
IG offers access to Autochartist and PIA First. It allows traders to view trade signals that are generated by an automated pattern-recognition algorithm and technical analysis. The analysis allows traders to copy them with a single click, which pre-populated, and the trade ticket window. IG also offers premium research from Real Vision TV free to traders who deposit $500 or more. Real Vision research is offered to traders that deposit $5000 or more.
- DailyFX and IG Community
IG also offers traders DailyFX, which is a blog-styles new site that gives clients access to news content and research tools. Finally, there is the IG community, which is a social platform with over 80,000 users. Traders get access to valuable crowd-sourced content that shows members’ actions such as follows, join, and comments on threads.
When it comes to education, IG offers traders access to a huge selection of content as follows:
- DailyFX
There are eight trading guides designed for beginners, five advanced guides, and written materials in a course that comes with progress tracking. DailyFX offers a good amount of educational content. For instance, there are articles on risk management.
- IG Academy
The academy features eight courses that are organized by experience level. Some specific chapters feature video content as well as lesson summaries.
- Videos
IG offers educational video content on its YouTube channels. There are also multiple weekly webinars. The in-house staff covers educational topics live, such as a Technical Analysis Masterclass. Archived webinars are neatly organized by experience level.
Customer Support
Customer support on IG is provided 24/7 via email, phone, and live chat. Replies to customer issues are prompt and relevant. You can contact IG at all times, except between Friday 10 PM and Saturday 8 AM.
Active Bonus and Promotions
Active traders can reduce their spreads via a three-tier volume-based rebate program.
How to open an account
Opening an account on IG is easy. You can verify your account by using an existing Google or FB account, which gives almost immediate access to the Demo Account. To open an account, follow these steps:
- Visit the IG Home Page and click on Sign Up
- Fill in the required personal data such as email, name, and phone number
- Confirm our account via a link sent to your email, which gives you immediate access to the demo account
- Verify your identity by submitting documents for review such as ID, proof of residence
- Complete a simple quiz to confirm that you have trading experience and the right qualifications
- Once you have an active account, deposit funds and begin live trading
Conclusion
IG is one of the largest and most reliable CFD brokers in the world. It is regulated by leading financial regulators and the parent company is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Its web trading platform is one of the best in the online brokerage world. However, the customer support could do with some improvement. Feel free to try the IG trading platform since there is no minimum deposit requirement while opening a demo account is free