IG Review

Founded in 1974, IG are one of the biggest online brokers in the world and have won multiple awards over the years for their excellent trading and investing products and services. IG offer over 17,000 tradable products across multiple asset classes, such as forex, indices, stocks, commodities, bonds, metals, energies, and interest rate futures. The broker provides a great selection of intuitive trading platforms, trading tools, and educational resources whilst offering very competitive trading fees, reliable trade execution speeds, tight spreads and negative balance protection to clients. The IG Group is strictly regulated in multiple jurisdictions, and it’s listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). If you want to trade and invest with the world’s leading online trading provider, you can take a look at IG. It is quick and easy to create an account with a minimum deposit of $250 and free demo accounts available.

With IG you get an easy-to-use platform, expert trade ideas and friendly support as standard. You can trade over 17,000 markets with spread bets and CFDs, or invest in thousands of global shares and ETFs. The broker offers tight spreads, fast execution and expert digital wealth management. They are great for beginners as they provide free comprehensive education and insightful analysis to help you improve your trading knowledge and skills. Train to succeed with seminars and courses for pros and beginners.

The IG platforms were designed by traders, for traders. They enable you to trade quickly and smoothly, with technology designed to ensure that your deal goes through at the best possible quoted prices. There is a fast, easy-to-use web platform, apps optimised for all devices, advanced platforms and charting with L2 dealer, ProRealTime and the classic MT4 platform. All users can get access to a full suite of alerts and risk management tools implemented within the platforms.

IG provide all clients with around-the-clock support to answer any of your questions in a prompt and efficient manner. There is plenty of interactive education provided including free trading courses and webinars on IG Academy. You can speak to other traders with online peer and staff support in the IG Community. Inform your decisions with timely dispatches from the brokers large team of global analysts. Stay updated while trading, with in-platform Reuters and Twitter feeds.

In 1974, IG invented financial spread betting. They have been at the forefront of our industry ever since, offering award-winning platforms and market-leading services. The broker now serves clients all over the world, from 17 sales offices based across five continents. They want clients to stay with them so they have built their business around being on your side, and wanting you to trade profitably. They also ensure that your trading education and analysis of the markets is at the centre of their innovation and development.

IG have been recognised time and time again by the brokerage industry, both for the trading and investing products and services along with the technology that they provide.

Markets

IG have over 17,000 markets to trade and thousands of shares to invest in, with more 24-hour indices than any other provider and out-of-hours US shares you won’t find elsewhere. You can spread bet and trade CFDs with IG to take advantage of both rising and falling prices. Alternatively, clients can buy and sell shares and ETFs with the IG investment offering.

  • Indices: Trade the world’s major stock indices, from Wall Street to Singapore
  • Shares: Trade over 7500 companies from 34 international exchanges
  • Forex: Trade major, exotic and emerging market FX pairs
  • Commodities: Trade global markets including gold and oil
  • Cryptocurrency: Trade Bitcoin and Ethereum pairs
  • Many more: Including IPOs, bonds, and ETFs

Options, spread bets, CFDs and turbo24s are derivatives, so you can take a position on a market’s price without owning any assets. Unlike traditional investing, options, spread betting, CFDs and turbo24s enable you to take advantage of both falling and rising market prices. You can speculate long (buy) or short (sell) on the direction of the underlying asset price and make a profit or loss (minus broker fees) depending on the price at the start and end of your position.

Clients can act on opportunity for less than traditional investment, as options, spread betting, CFDs and turbo24s are leveraged. However, it is important to remember that losses, as well as profits, are magnified when trading with leveraged positions.

Options enable you to find leverage and risk that works for you, as well as trade in a range of market conditions. Spread betting profits can be tax-free in some cases (check with a tax advisor), while CFDs offer direct market access (DMA), providing increased transparency useful for more advanced traders.

Options Trading

Options are a type of financial derivative. You can use them to take advantage of opportunities in the financial markets – whether those markets are rising, falling, or in some cases not moving at all. You can trade two types of option with IG – barriers and vanilla options – on a range of forex pairs, indices, shares and commodities. There are some key differences between the two.

  • Key benefit: choose the amount of leverage you want
  • Trade on timeframes to suit you, with daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly markets
  • Choose your total risk (except when selling vanilla options)
  • Barrier option prices move one-for-one with the underlying, vanilla prices sensitive to a range of factors

Barrier Options

Barrier options, move one-for-one with the underlying market price – easier to follow than vanilla options. They automatically close – or get ‘knocked out’ – if that price reaches a ‘knock-out level’ that you choose, so you control your maximum risk.

Vanilla Options

Vanilla options are contracts that give you the right to buy or sell an asset at a certain price on a certain date. Their price is complex, affected by the underlying price, volatility, time until expiry and more. If you’re an experienced trader looking for opportunity in unique places, vanillas could be for you.

Spread Betting

Unlock the markets’ full potential with spread bets – a possible tax-free way in certain countries to trade both rising and falling prices. Offering seamless execution on more than 17,000 markets and round-the-clock phone support, you’ll soon discover why IG are considered the world’s No.1 provider by some traders.

  • Key benefit: no capital gains tax on profits in some places
  • No commission, just the IG spread
  • Never stay below zero with negative balance protection

CFD Trading

When you trade CFDs (contract for differences), you can speculate on whether an asset’s price will move up or down – without having to own the underlying asset. This allowed you to buy or sell thousands of trading instruments from various markets including forex, stocks, indices, commodities, cryptocurrencies and more.

  • Key benefit: DMA on shares and forex
  • Trade with tight spreads and low fees
  • Buy and sell thousands of financial instruments
  • No need to own the underlying asset
  • Never stay below zero with negative balance protection (not on professional account)

Turbo24 Trading

React fast with the intuitive IG turbo trading platform, plus trade commission-free on rising or falling markets. A turbo warrant (also known as a turbo/turbo certificate) is a listed security – meaning you trade it on an exchange or other venue. Its price is based on the value of an underlying financial asset, like a stock index or currency pair. For each trade you choose a knock-out level (strike price), and your position terminates instantly if this price is hit.

  • Find opportunities in rising or falling markets
  • Gauge sentiment by viewing a transparent order book
  • Trade with other market participants to get a better price
  • Put an absolute cap on your risk
  • Take greater control of your leverage

There’s no commission on turbo24s. And because all potential fees are built into the turbo24 price, what you pay upfront is all you’ll pay. Plus, as turbo24s are traded on-venue, you may be able to get better prices by placing orders in the market. If another market participant is happy to trade at your chosen price, you’ll be filled at that level.

Forex Trading

Forex trading is the buying and selling of currencies on the foreign exchange market with the aim of making a profit. Forex is the world’s most-traded financial market, with transactions worth trillions of dollars taking place every day.

You can trade forex with IG using options, spread bets, CFDs and turbo24s to get access to the brokers wide range of major, minor and exotic currency pairs, through powerful platforms.

  • Go long or short
  • 24-hour trading
  • High liquidity
  • Constant opportunities
  • Trade on leverage
  • Wide range of FX pairs

Indices Trading

Trade on the world’s major stock indices and access 24-hour markets. Available on 16 indices – including Wall Street and FTSE 100. Major and niche markets, from Wall Street to Greece 25. Get spreads from only 1 point on major indices, including the FTSE 100. Gain full exposure with a small initial deposit, but remember leverage comes with increased risk.

A stock index represents the top shares from a particular exchange. For example, the FTSE 100 represents the largest 100 companies traded on the London Stock Exchange. Other stock indices include Dow Jones and S&P (US), DAX and CAC (Europe), and Hang Seng and Nikkei (Asia-Pacific).

Indices provide the best way to gauge the performance of an industry, sector or an entire country’s stock market. If, on average, the share prices of the companies making up the index go up, the index will rise with them. And if they fall, it will drop.

Indices cannot be traded directly, as they are representations, rather than products in their own right. Instead, investors trade indices through derivatives such as options, spread bets and CFDs – stock indices are the most popular form of CFD trading.

  • 24-hour dealing
  • Access over 30 global indices
  • Take a position on entire sectors
  • Benefit from low spreads
  • Low margin rates
  • Enjoy greater flexibility

Shares Trading

Go long or short on over 12,000 international shares with CFDs or spread betting. Get low margins and competitive spreads on a wide range of popular, global stocks. View market depth and interact with the order book. Benefit from greater control, functionality and liquidity. Gain full exposure using a small deposit with spread betting or CFDs, but remember that leverage will bring increased risk. Trade international shares with a 0.5% transfer fee on foreign currency balances.

  • Access over 12,000 markets
  • Direct market access (DMA)
  • Trade shares on margin
  • Low currency conversion fee

When you buy a share, you’re buying a small unit of ownership in a company. Trading shares as CFDs means you do not own the underlying, but you can still speculate on the price of that company. Therefore, before trading shares as CFDs, it’s really important to research both the company and the industry it’s in.

Share prices are affected by many factors, including supply and demand, the company’s earnings, and expectations of the company’s future performance (based on a wide variety of things such as industry legislation, the company’s management team and the health of the economy).

Commodities Trading

Commodities are the natural resources that form the building blocks of the global economy. Soft commodities –called ‘softs’– are typically agricultural (like wheat and sugar), whereas hard commodities –called ‘hards’– are metals or energies (such as silver or gas).

Trade a range of global commodity markets with IG via barriers and vanilla options, spread betting and CFDs. Access popular commodities, as well as niche metals, energies and softs. IG offer a range of 24-hour markets for flexible commodity trading. Gain full exposure with a small initial deposit, but remember leverage comes with increased risk. Protect profits and limit losses in volatile markets.

  • A unique range of markets
  • Low spreads
  • 24-hour trading
  • Trade commodities on leverage
  • Extensive range of risk management tools
  • Enjoy greater flexibility
  • Tailor your trade parameters to suit your goals

Bonds

Take advantage of the inverse relationship between long-term interest rates and bond prices with the IG government bond futures markets. Choose from a comprehensive selection of global government bonds. IG contracts are off-exchange, so you can deal in fractions of contracts if you wish.

Cryptocurrency Trading

Trade more than ten cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, ether, ripple and litecoin, without taking ownership of the underlying crypto. Clients can get broad exposure in a single trade with the IG Crypto 10 index which combines some of the top cryptocurrencies. Keep in mind that crypto trading might not be legally available in your country so make sure you check before hand if you are interested in trading cryptos.

  • Speculate on 10 major cryptocurrencies and crosses, or get broad exposure with our Crypto 10 index
  • Trade rising and falling prices on various popular cryptocurrencies
  • Improved liquidity means there’s more chance of executing your trade at your chosen price

IPO Trading

Take a position on a company before the Initial Public Offering (IPO). An initial public offering is the first time a company offers its stock for sale to the public. Following an IPO, the company ceases to be a private enterprise – it becomes publicly listed and its shares are traded on a stock exchange. Use spread bets or CFDs to trade on the company’s shares from the first day of conditional trading. Take advantage of speculation on the price, and any potential volatility. Back your judgement if you feel a company’s anticipated value has been overestimated.

IG offer a market on a company’s anticipated value during the build up to its IPO, so you can trade on a grey market before the shares are released. When trading around an IPO it’s important to do your research and keep up-to-speed with breaking news. Remember IPO markets can be particularly volatile, so you should be careful to manage your exposure.

Sectors Trading

Take advantage of strength or weakness in a particular industry with a sector spread bet or CFD. IG offer more than 44 UK and Australian sectors, including banking, mining and general retailers.

  • IG charge no commission on sectors; all you pay is the dealing spread
  • The dealing spread is normally 0.1% per side for all contracts on all sectors
  • The minimum transaction size for sector CFDs is one contract

Clients can choose to protect against company-specific news that could see an individual stock buck the overall trend of the sector. They may target gains within a specific sector rather than dilute profits with an overall index position. There can sometimes be less volatility across a whole sector than in individual shares.

ETPs Trading

Exchange traded products (ETPs) are investment products that track another investment instrument such as a commodity, currency, share price or interest rate. Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are investment products that track an index, commodity or basket of assets. Exchange traded commodities (ETCs) work in a similar way, either tracking specific commodities or an index of diversified commodities such as agriculture.

  • Combine what would otherwise be several trades in a single transaction
  • Continuous pricing means you can trade at any time during market hours
  • ETFs have the same level of flexibility and transparency as shares

Interest Rates Trading

Take a position on the future short-term (quarterly) direction of a range of global interest rates.

  • Choose from a broad selection of global money markets
  • Spreads from just 1 point
  • Make informed decisions with Reuters news

Platforms

IG provides their clients with a range of best-in-class platforms so that you can seize your opportunity in seconds on fast, award-winning platforms and apps. The brokers platforms include their proprietary IG trading platform, ProRealTime (PRT), L2 Dealer, and the popular MetaTrader 4 (MT4) trading platform, as well as direct market access with FIX API for professional traders. Most of these platforms are available on multiple channels including:

  • WebTrader via modern web browsers
  • Desktop applications for Windows and Mac computers
  • Mobile apps for iOS and Android devices
IG Trading Platforms
IG Trading Platforms

You can choose from a variety of core and specialist platforms when trading with IG. They offer faster, clearer and smarter ways to trade, no matter your level of expertise.

The IG award-winning trading platforms have been recognised time and time again by the online trading brokerage industry.

IG Trading Platform

The IG web trading platform is available online for all users who are interested in spread betting or CFD trading. You can manage your account, register cards, make payments, withdraw your funds and more. This platform also offers browser-based research tools such as streaming news, economic calendar and signals. A faster, clearer and smarter way to trade. Seize your opportunities with a cutting-edge platform built around your needs.

IG Trading Platform
IG Trading Platform

IG Trading App

The IG mobile trading platform has been optimised for iPhone and Android. It is suitable for all spread bettors, CFD traders and share dealers. You have access to the same research and monitoring tools as on the web-based platform, and you can view IG’s mobile charts on the go.

IG Trading App
IG Trading App

Get all the features you need to trade from within the app. Open, monitor, edit and close your positions from wherever you are. Manage your risk with our range of tools, including trailing and guaranteed stops.

IG Web App

IG has launched a progressive web app (PWA), that offers clients anywhere in the world a seamless trading platform on any device – without having to visit a third-party app store. The PWA is optimised to help you receive critical trading updates quickly and effortlessly, avoiding delays inherent in traditional app store review processes.

IG Web App
IG Web App

IG ProRealTime

ProRealTime (PRT) is the leading advanced charting package on the web, offering powerful monitoring tools, flexible access and advanced analysis resources. PRT is suitable for technical chart users, and free if you trade spread bets or CFDs at least four times a month.

The ProRealTime online charting software for technical analysis and trading, is integrated with the IG trading platform. If you’re an experienced trader who uses advanced technical analysis and wants to automate your dealing, ProRealTime gives you a fully customisable interface and trading experience.

IG ProRealTime (PRT)
IG ProRealTime (PRT)

As an IG client you get ProRealTime charts free for your first month. After that, you still won’t pay for ProRealTime if you trade at least four times in a given month. If you don’t, or your trading activity is of extremely low value, you’ll pay a €30 fee on the last day of every month.

MetaTrader 4 Platform

MetaTrader 4 is a popular third-party platform for CFD trading and spread betting, with advanced analysis and automated trading tools. Plus, you can choose between 18 bespoke app add-ons. Download it for free to trade forex, indices, major metals and more.

MT4 is one of the most popular trading platforms in the world, with over 15 years’ experience putting millions of traders in touch with opportunity. Get an edge with instant access to 18 free add-ons and indicators as part of the IG MetaTrader 4 package. You can download thousands more inside the MetaTrader 4 platform.

IG MT4 Platform
IG MT4 Platform

Build strategies to execute automatically using your algorithms or MT4’s own, called Expert Advisors. Customise and adjust MT4’s powerful charts to suit your trading needs. Trade in sizes as small as 0.01 lots, helping you manage the risks of high-volume trading. Save time and energy thanks to an intuitive, software-based platform and charts.

L2 Dealer

Get direct access to shares and forex markets with L2 Dealer, IG’s downloadable DMA platform. L2 Dealer is a free, downloadable share trading platform that offers direct market access (DMA). Trade CFDs supported by helpful monitoring tools such as watchlists, price alerts and orders. Trade from charts and enjoy price-improvement technology at your fingertips.

  • Greater liquidity on shares trading through access to primary exchanges, market makers, brokers and MTF dark pools
  • FX trading via Forex Direct – connect to the liquidity pools of major banks and liquidity providers
  • Market depth from a range of providers (including full market depth from the LSE)
  • Order books displayed by individual exchange or in an aggregated window for a consolidated view across all lit venues
  • Smart order-routing, which automatically sources the best price from several trading venues
  • Wide range of available order types: pegged, fill or kill, execute and eliminate, good for auction and more
  • ‘Iceberg’ facility: break large shares orders into smaller tranches
  • No requotes or dealer-referred tickets
  • Ladder dealing helps you place limit orders fast
  • Customisable, professional DMA interface
  • ‘One-click’ trading tools and integrated market alerts
  • Market-linked news feeds and live charts, that switch focus when you do
  • Over-the-counter shares and forex trading also available
IG L2 Dealer
IG L2 Dealer

L2 Dealer is free to download. However, depending on the exchange you wish to view or trade on, you may be liable to pay that exchange’s data usage fees. Contact the broker for more information on these costs plus commission and funding charges. L2 Dealer requires the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 installed on your computer.

API Trading API

Automate your trading by connecting your front-end solutions to IG’s market-leading pricing and execution technology. Start API trading today across a range of markets, including forex and cryptocurrencies. Create bespoke trading solutions with web-based APIs, either REST-based or streaming. Get coding as quickly as possible with the brokers sample app and use alongside third-party software such as Excel (VBA), .NET, and Java.

API stands for application programming interface. It is a program that connects two applications – for example, your IG trading account and your custom-built platform. Trading with APIs enables you to gain direct access to IG’s ecosystem, providing you with faster order execution and more control, which can enhance the experience of trading.

IG API Trading
IG API Trading

Trading with IG APIs is an easy way to get live market data, historical prices and execute trades from any of your IG trading accounts – without having to manually trawl various exchanges and dark pools for data and prices. Instead, you can get the information delivered directly to you, ensuring speed and efficiency.

Trading APIs are popular among hedge funds and registered trading firms as they enable access to more advanced programs, but they are also widely used among private traders and investors.

If you want to focus on trading rather than coding, but would like to use an advanced platform that is capable of trading with algorithms, you can use the ProRealTime platform.

IG Turbo Trading Platform

See leverage clearly in the brokers unique turbo trading platform. And with fast charts and a range of tools, it’s easy to find the right trade. No download required. React to opportunity wherever you are with the IG apps – designed specifically for your device. No need to miss a trade while you’re on the move.

IG Turbo Trading Platform
IG Turbo Trading Platform

You can see all available long and short turbos in the underlying chart, making it easy to pick the one you want to trade. Simply click on the knock-out level you want to trade and the deal ticket for that turbo will open in the chart. Want to see your chart without the list of turbos? Easily hide or unhide it by clicking ‘K’ on your keyboard. You can also right-click and select ‘knock-out level’ from the menu.

Tools

IG really excel when it comes to additional trading tools that are available to support traders. Whilst the provided trading platforms should have more than enough tools to satisfy the needs of even the most demanding of retail and institutional traders, the broker has a whole host of other powerful trading tools at your disposal. Some of the trading tools provided by IG include trading alerts, trading signals, Autochartist, PIA-First, and automated trading tools for a hands-off trading experience.

IG Trading Signals

Spot potential trades with free forex signals, index signals and commodity signals. Trading signals are actionable ‘buy’ and ‘sell’ suggestions for traders, based on emerging chart patterns and key levels being met. You can see signals for a huge range of markets in the IG platform, and use them to help you decide how to trade. IG signals come directly from two third-party providers, Autochartist and PIA-First.

Autochartist

Established in 2004, Autochartist is a market leader in automated technical analysis that can support your trading. Autochartist’s unique pattern recognition software continuously scans the markets to highlight thousands of trade ideas each month, saving you valuable time analysing your favourite instruments. Receive alerts when the scanner identifies emerging or completed patterns on your preferred instruments and pattern types, providing real-time trading opportunities.

  • Scans the markets and analyses data across multiple timeframes
  • Provides objective chart pattern information to help guide your decisions
  • Eliminates subjectivity from chart analysis
IG Autochartist
IG Autochartist

PIA-First

PIA-First is a trading strategy service from market professionals with over 45 years’ combined experience. This research service aimed at Institutional Investors, which gives the user access to market analysis and trading strategies across Equity, Fixed Income, Foreign Exchange and Commodities. Institutional users get live information on trade timing and market direction across these Asset Classes.

  • Gives running analytical commentary as conditions play out
  • Shows key levels – entry, exit, support and resistance
  • Sets signals in a wider economic context
IG PIA-First Signals
IG PIA-First Signals

Trading Alerts

Trading alerts are free, automatic and customisable notifications you’ll get whenever your specifications are triggered – when prices move, events happen and technical conditions change. Therefore, you can get on with your day, with the broker monitoring the markets for you, and take advantage of opportunity when it arises.

Price Alerts

  • Be notified when your market moves by a certain percentage or amount in points with price change alerts
  • Know when your market hits support, resistance or breakout by creating price level alerts
  • Get these free trade notifications immediately sent by email, SMS or push notification
  • Use as part of your risk management strategy – price alerts keep your positions open, so you can decide when to take action
IG Price Alerts
IG Price Alerts

Economic Event Alerts

  • Set alerts for macro events like central bank announcements, and see how the market reacts
  • Receive macroeconomic figures as soon as they are released
  • Set reminders to notify you 5-60 minutes before events
  • Get alerts by push notification on your mobile, in the platform or by email
  • Just tick the box next to your event in our economic calendar to set an alert
IG Economic Event Alerts
IG Economic Event Alerts

Technical Indicator Alerts

  • Create buy and sell alerts using popular indicators: Moving Average, Exponential Moving Average, MACD, RSI, Standard Deviation, Stochastic, Bollinger Bands and Price (share CFDs only)
  • Build and set indicator alerts quickly and easily through the brokers free charts
  • Get full control over your alert, combining up to four different indicators
IG Technical Indicator Alerts
IG Technical Indicator Alerts

Algorithmic Trading

Trade around the clock and never miss an opportunity with algorithmic trading, available on a range of platforms when you choose IG as your trading broker. Create and refine your own trading algorithms, or use off-the-shelf solutions, to speculate on the brokers huge offering of over 17,000 markets.

Algorithmic trading uses computer codes and chart analysis to enter and exit trades according to set parameters such as price movements or volatility levels. Once the current market conditions match any predetermined criteria, trading algorithms can execute a buy or sell order on your behalf. This can save you time scanning the markets, and it means that your trades are executed almost instantly.

There are several algorithmic trading strategies to choose from. Most traders will choose a price action strategy or a technical analysis strategy, but some combine the two.

A price action strategy applies price data from previous open/close or high/low levels of a candlestick chart, to place trades in the future when those price points are achieved again. A technical analysis strategy relies on technical indicators to analyse charts and the algorithms will react to the markets depending on what the indicators show, such as high or low volatility.

IG Automated Trading
IG Automated Trading

Algorithmic trading has many benefits. Most notably, using algorithms removes your emotions from trading, because they react to predetermined levels and can do so when you are not even at your trading platform.

Other benefits include the time they save you, the fact that they can react to price movements faster than manual trading – ensuring you get the best price – and the back testing and redefining which helps to ensure that your algorithms are performing at their optimum levels.

With IG, algorithmic trading is made possible through partnerships with cutting-edge platforms such as ProRealTime and MetaTrader 4 (MT4), as well as with the brokers native APIs. IG also offer advanced technical analysis and charting tools to make algorithmic trading easy for you, whether you want to build and fully customise your own algorithms or use off-the-shelf solutions.

ProRealTime Automated Trading

ProRealTime is the leading web-based charting package, which you can use to create your own trading algorithms. ProRealTime is designed to make building algorithms easy, and it is recommended if you want to create, test and refine your own algorithms.

Tools within the platform, such as the ProRealTime optimisation suite and the platform’s own coding language – ProBuilder, make it easy to create, back test and refine your own algorithms from scratch. This means your algorithms will operate according to your exact specifications while running on the ProRealTime platform.

MT4 Expert Advisors

MT4 is a tried-and-tested trading platform, with a large community of users who are actively creating and refining trading algorithms. These are easily available to you on the MT4 marketplace, from which you can download pre-made algorithms. Because of this, MT4 is usually preferable if you are looking for off-the-shelf solutions.

MT4 is known for its indicators and add-ons, 18 of which you get for free when you download MT4 from IG. These can help you with chart analysis, as well as enabling you to fully customise the MT4 platform to your own needs.

Native API Algorithmic Trading

An application programming interface (API) enables you to automate trades, build integrations and create trading algorithms and apps using our market-leading CFD and spread betting technology. The IG web API offers you an easy way to get market data and historical prices, plus execute trades on any of your IG trading accounts.

Creating APIs is only recommended for those with a background in programming and coding, because it is the most complex of the options available here. However, APIs do offer the greatest amount of customisation, since you build them yourself from the ground up using coding language such as Java, Excel (VBA), .NET, or any other programming language that supports HTTP.

Education

Your success is important to IG which is why they are on hand to help you achieve your trading goals, right from the moment you join. To ensure that you’re comfortable with their products during your initial time trading with them, IG have a dedicated team on hand to offer one-to-one guidance. You get continued support for your trading and platform use as and when you need it from the brokers large, highly skilled trading services team.

IG Community

Benefit from shared knowledge with IG Community, the brokers online space for IG clients to chat with each other and the IG team. This forum was created for likeminded clients to share trade ideas and discuss market opportunities. If you have an IG account your Community login details will be the same as your trading platform details, so you can seamlessly access all your forum content on desktop, the IG mobile app, or mobile browser.

  • Talk strategy and trading tips
  • Have questions answered by traders and staff
  • Get a sneak peek at upcoming products

IG Academy

The broker has a vast collection of research and educational resources in their IG Academy section. Some of the resources include:

  • An interactive education with infographics, videos, and end-of-course quizzes
  • Webinars and seminars
  • Practice trading with the demo account
  • IG Academy App for learning on the go
  • Trading strategies for insight into trading techniques
  • Trading glossary for trading terminologies

IG Live

Get inspired by live and on-demand shows from the brokers in-house TV channel. Watch shows with experts three times a day, Monday to Friday. Discover markets to track, find key levels with live technical analysis, and plan ahead with a look at tomorrow’s likely events. Get exclusive coverage of major events, like monetary policy announcements from the Federal Reserve and Bank of England.

IG Live
IG Live

IG News & Analysis

Keep up with financial announcements, and stay ahead of market movements, with news and analysis built into the IG online trading platform.

  • Twitter: Follow curated feed for real-time updates from financial news outlets, analysts, traders and institutions.
  • Reuters: Read breaking news tailored to you, through an always-updated feed from the world-leading news organisation.
  • In-house analysts: Find what you need to make an informed trade, with fundamental and technical analysis from IG and DailyFX analysts.
IG News & Analysis
IG News & Analysis

Conclusion

IG is a multiple award-winning broker and certainly one of the biggest brokers in the world. They offer a wide range of tradable assets and provide multiple flexible and user-friendly trading platforms, powerful trading tools, along with a huge selection of educational resources and up to date market analysis. The IG support team is available 24 hours a day whilst the broker is regulated in multiple jurisdictions so traders can feel secure with a trusted provider.

IG have an easy account opening process that takes just a few minutes to complete. You can get access to fast execution on a huge range of markets and enjoy flexible access to more than 17,000 trading instruments, with reliable execution. Deal seamlessly, wherever you are and trade on the move with the brokers natively designed, award-winning trading app. With 45 years of experience, IG are rightly proud to offer a truly market-leading service.

Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 75% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how spread bets and CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

IG

9.5

Markets

9.5/10

Platforms

9.5/10

Tools

9.5/10

Education

9.5/10

Pros

  • Lots of trading instruments
  • Professional trading platforms and apps
  • Powerful trading tools
  • Free trading courses
  • Market news and analysis

Cons

  • No MetaTrader 5 platforms
  • Minimum deposit of $250