Broker Review: IG

IG is a world-leading CFD and spread betting provider. They also offer various options and provide share dealing services. They currently promote having over 130,000 client accounts and have offices in over 17 countries. The IG headquarters is situated in London, England. They are one of the original CFD and spread betting brokers. Their most popular financial assets are Forex and Indices.


Below is my review of IG...

What I like...

Guaranteed Stop Losses

If you are going to trade Forex, it is always best to use guaranteed stop losses. Without guaranteed stop losses, you can potential lose all the funds in your trading account, and sometimes, even more. Brokers that offer guaranteed stop losses, usually offer them at a premium or increased spread. IG do the latter. For a small pip increase of around 2 pips, you can secure your risk with a guaranteed stop loss.

FCA Regulated

IG are FCA registered and regulated. This is a must when opening a Forex brokerage account.

Range of Financial Products

IG offers numerous financial products, much more than standard Forex and CFD brokers. In total, IG offer over 70 currency pairs, various hard commodity futures (Oil, Other Energies, Gold, Silver, Other Metals), soft commodity futures (cocoa, coffee, sugar, cotton, livestock and various others), Bitcoin, various Bonds, ETFs and global shares.

Global Presence

They are one of the market-leaders in CFD trading and spread betting. IG have offices spread across the globe and an international presence. This builds trust in the brokerage and confidence in their ability to provide transparent trading services.

Leverage

IG offer generous leverage on most of their products. Most Forex pairs and indices are offered at a 1% margin (1:100 leverage).

What I don't like...

Spreads

The spreads are variable are not as good as other Forex and CFD brokers. Brokers such as Core Spreads, Darwinex, and others, offer much tighter spreads.

No Negative Balance Protection

IG have a history of chasing clients with negative account balances. Legal proceedings have also been issued by IG to collect client owed debt. Most Forex and CFD brokers offer negative balance protection, IG does not.

Charting Package

The charting package for their web-based trading platform is pretty poor. IG do offer more advanced charting packages on subscription.

Minimum Position Sizing

IG have a minimum position size for their spread betting products, this is set a £1 per point. CFD contracts are mostly set a minimum of 1 contract. Lower minimum sizes would be more beneficial to traders with small capital - most competitors offer as little as 50p per point or 0.01 lot sizes.

Execution

Execution at market price is quick and reliable. Execution for limit and stop orders is poor. Usually you will not get the exact price intended. Execution is ever worse during times of volatility.

Summary

IG are a good broker and it is worth having an account with them. They provide transparent pricing and you should never have an issue with withdrawing or depositing funds. Their range of offered financial assets and markets make them unique. There are other brokers I would choose to trade with first though.

Check out my Top 10 Forex Broker List.