- Licensed by six tier-1 regulatory agencies
- Offers clients over 17,000 tradable assets
- Has been around since 1974
- Offer several types of accounts to meet everyone’s demands
- Offers high-quality educational material and research tools
- Great mobile trading experience
- Low deposit fees & commissions
- Depending on your location, some services might not be available
- The website is available in only three languages
- High in-trade fees
Established in 1974, IG is one of the leading online brokers. It offers traders access to over 17,000 trading assets, ensuring that everyone can find something to trade. The broker is available around the world and has offices in 17 countries.
Among the assets that can be traded in IG are Forex, stocks, cryptocurrencies, commodities, and many others. The broker is also licensed by leading regulatory agencies, including the FCA of the UK.
There are no commissions charged for deposits or withdrawals, but it does charge an inactivity fee. Due to the diverse array of offerings that IG has, it is favored by many traders. In this IG review, we will discuss all the important details that every trader should know about.
IG Overview
| Regulations | Australia, Germany, Japan, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, UAE, UK, USA |
| Fees on deposits | 0 USD |
| Fees on withdrawal | 0 USD |
| Inactivity fees | 18 USD per month afther 24 months of inactivity |
| Minimum deposit | 0 USD. The minimum amount for a card payment is $300 |
| Minimum account activation | 0 USD |
| Number of available assets | 18,000+ |
| Leverage up to | 1:200 |
| Available trading markets | CFDs on Stocks, Commodities, Cryptocurrencies, Forex, Futures, Indices, Options |
| Account currencies | EUR, USD, GBP |
| Demo account | Yes |
| Live account types | Spread betting, CFD, Share dealing, Stock and Share ISA, IG Smart Portfolio, IG Smart ISA Portfolio |
| Islamic account | Yes |
| Security | |
| Negative balance protection | Yes |
| Part of compensation fund | Yes |
| Keeps funds on segregated bank account | Yes |
| Assets | |
| Forex | 101 |
| Shares | 0 |
| Cryptocurrencies | 13 |
| Indices | 80 |
| Commodities | 35 |
| Total | 18,000+ |
| Fees & spread | |
| Forex | From 0.6 pips |
| Shares | N/A |
| Cryptocurrencies | From 0.17. Spreads on BTC/USD start from 36 |
| Indices | From 0.4 |
| Commodities | From 0.3. Spreads on Gold start from 0.3 |
| Software | |
| Platforms | MetaTrader 4, L2 Dealer |
| Mobile trading support | Yes |
| Mac device support | Yes |
| Commodities | Yes |
| Payment systems | |
| Payment methods | Bank Transfer, Credit/Debit Card |
| Minimum deposit | Bank Transfer, Credit/Debit Card. Deposits made by debit cards are free. Credit cards are charged with 0.5-1% of the amount. |
| Minimum withdrawal | Bank Transfer, Credit/Debit Card. Takes 2 to 5 business days to withdraw back to card |
| Withdrawal processing time | Instant. HKD FPS takes up to 1 day |
| Time to open an account | – |
Safety & Security
It is no surprise that safety and security are among the biggest concerns of Forex traders. The market is full of scams and there are not so many ways one could avoid falling for these fraudulent companies.
One thing traders can keep in mind are the regulations. To somehow counter the issues usually associated with Forex brokers and financial markets, many jurisdictions around the world have created regulatory agencies, focused on ensuring traders’ safety.
IG is licensed by many of these regulators, which can act as a guarantee of safety for many traders. Among the licenses that IG owns are from tier-1 regulatory bodies, such as the FCA of the UK.
Policies
To guarantee the highest safety and security of its clients, IG has adopted numerous policies. Some of them are required by the jurisdictions where the company is registered.
To ensure that the funds of their clients are kept safely and securely at all times, IG keeps them in segregated bank accounts. This is a very common policy that brokers have adopted, it ensures that no matter what goes wrong, the traders will be able to retain access to their balance.
IG has also adopted negative balance protection, which means that traders can feel safe that no matter what happens, their balance will never be negative. A negative balance usually occurs in the market whenever someone is opening an account with high leverage.
If the markets experience sudden drops, the trader will lose the investment. In fact, it can go as far as the balance of the trader going into the negative territory. The negative balance protection ensures that the positions of traders are closed automatically whenever the balance nears zero, which ensures that clients can never lose more money than they have in their accounts.
Assets
In total, clients of IG can trade over 17,000 assets. While the availability of these assets depends on your location, no matter where you are from, there are always enough available trading assets to ensure anyone has access to things that they like.
Because there are so many assets available on IG, it is safe to say that everyone can easily find their favorite assets on this broker without much struggle. Such a large array of available assets allow traders to easily diversify their portfolio, without having to use different brokerages. Let’s discuss each of the available assets on IG below.
Forex
IG offers traders access to over 100 Forex trading assets. These currency pairs include major, minor, and exotic pairs. No matter which one you want to trade, you can have access to them thanks to IG.
Depending on your location, the broker offers traders to use leverage up to 1:200 for Forex trading. But keep in mind that there are some leverage restrictions in many parts of the world, including the EU and Australia, where the leverage for Forex trading is limited to 1:30.
On the other hand, many countries from Asia and other parts of the world allow traders to use higher leverage. While leverage can be quite helpful, it should be remembered that there are always some risks associated with leveraged trading.
The spreads for currency trading are very low with IG, which makes it a great place for currency trading.
Shares
Shares can be traded in several different ways with IG. First of all, almost every client of IG can trade stocks as CFDs (excluding the US due to local regulations). On the other hand, the broker offers citizens of some countries the ability to trade the shares of leading companies directly.
Over 12,000 shares, as well as ETFs, are available for traders from Australia, the UK, the US, Germany, and Ireland. The representatives of the company are always ready to provide clients with detailed information about the stock trading requirements.
Cryptocurrencies
Cryptocurrencies have become one of the most popular assets over the past few years. IG offers clients access to 10 different cryptocurrencies. Crypto assets can be traded on their own, as well as using CFDs. With CFD trading, you do not have to buy the assets directly, you are simply speculating on the price movements.
You can buy and sell individual crypto assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and many others, or get broad exposure to the crypto market by trading the Crypto 10 index. IG offers traders the opportunity to use leverage of up to 1:200 when trading crypto assets. But, keep in mind that the leverage for trading might be limited depending on your location.
Indices
If you are a trader looking for ways to diversify your investments, IG has a great offer for you. Indices are some of the best assets to use when working on portfolio diversification. There are over 80 indices available on IG for traders to use.
There are numerous indices available on IG, including FTSE 100, Germany 40, and many others. With these indices, you will be able to get exposure to the economies of different countries and industries globally.
It can be used by traders to ensure that even if the price of a single stock drops, their investment can be kept safe thanks to other shares that are performing well.
Commodities
There are over 35 commodities available on IG, which gives you a large exposure to the market. Among the commodities that can be traded on IG are gold, silver, oil, and many others. The broker offers both soft and hard commodities.
Commodities are offered to traders thanks to CFDs, which means that you won’t have to worry about having physical ownership of the commodities.
Account Types
Depending on your personal interests in the financial markets, there are numerous different account types that you can choose from. However, keep in mind that not all of these accounts are available for every trader. The availability of the accounts depends on your location.
Below, we will discuss the major account types of IG that traders should know about.
Demo Account
The demo trading account of IG is available for every single client of IG. This account can be a great way for beginners to get started in the financial markets. Thanks to the demo account, beginners can test out the offerings of the broker without having to risk any of their real-life funds.
A demo account can also be a great choice for experienced traders who are looking for ways to test out new trading strategies and see how these strategies might be useful for their individual needs.
With a demo account, the broker offers traders a certain amount of virtual cash. If you run out of virtual money, you can contact the representatives of the broker and ask them to replenish the demo account to continue your trading activities.
Trading Account
The IG Trading account is a standard account that is offered by the broker. It can be used by traders of all different interests. The maximum leverage offered by this account is 1:200 and it offers traders access to all the services available.
But, keep in mind that depending on your location, there might be some additional restrictions applied. For example, traders from the EU are not able to use leverage over 1:30.
The minimum amount of money for creating an account also differs according to your location. Usually, it is $250 but can vary depending on your jurisdiction and local currency. Users with this account are able to trade every single one of the available assets and spreads are very competitive, starting from 0.6 pips for Forex pairs.
Limited Risk Account
Earlier in the guide, we noted that the broker offers traders negative balance protection. But this is not available in every jurisdiction and depends on the regulatory framework of the country you are from.
However, to ensure that every single trader and client of the broker trades in the same environment, IG offers a special account type called a Limited Risk account. This account is very much the same as the standard IG account we have discussed above.
The main difference is that this account was created mostly for non-EU and UK clients, who are not eligible for negative balance protection. Essentially, the limited-risk account ensures that traders’ balance does not go into negative territory.
Share Dealing Account
If you are a trader who enjoys investing in stocks, this account is a perfect choice for you. This account is specifically created for stock traders and allows individuals to buy and sell stocks as well as exchange-traded funds using the IG platform.
The broker offers over 12,000 shares to traders, which makes it a perfect place for stock trading. However, it should be noted that the IG share dealing account is not available to every trader around the world. It is offered to traders from the UK and Australia.
Trading Platforms
IG offers traders numerous different types of platforms. These platforms are offered to ensure that traders of all different interests can find something that fits their individual interests. The broker also offers traders a mobile trading platform, which is a very important factor in today’s trading industry.
But when it comes to FX trading MetaTrader 4 is king. This is one of the most popular trading platforms in the market, used by millions of traders. The web-based platform of IG is also a great option for traders, especially for those who do not want to download additional applications on their computers.
