IG Review

Introduction

You can find a number of IG Reviews online, outlining personal experiences of traders who use IG Markets as their broker. Our IG review aims to be a comprehensive overview from the perspective of a professional trading collective.

Our IG review focuses on their services, fees, available trading platforms, and it will also take a look at the research and educational materials available to customers of IG. Our IG review covers everything a trader needs to know before signing up to use a particular brokerage.

IG Markets Overview

IG began its operations in London back in 1974 and is currently listed on the London Stock Exchange. The company processes about 350,000 transactions each day and has over 178,000 active clients, including retail traders, professional clients, and institutional firms. 

IG is a component of the FTSE 250 Index. It currently has offices in 16 countries and clients across five continents. Some of the brands under the IG umbrella include Nadex and IG US, for US clients.

Over the years, the company keeps adding new features to keep up with the growing market. In 2014, IG began adding stock borrowing and recently added managed accounts. 

IG Markets - Latest News

It has been a busy last couple of months for IG Markets despite the ongoing pandemic that has crushed various markets. Last month, the online trading platform explained that it expects its fourth-quarter to top its previous guidance as 'high levels' of client activity continued to bolster trading fees. Notably, the company's third-quarter has increased by more than a fifth. This was reportedly due to a significant' increase in active clients and trading activity. The new figures were 29% higher than last year's third-quarter numbers.

The company explained that its expected revenue in the fourth quarter would be approximate £259m as client trading levels remained high due to heightened market volatility. In May, IG appointed Charlie Rozes as their executive director and chief financial officer following Paul Mainwaring's retirement.

IG Trading Features

According to various IG trading reviews, customers prefer the platform due to its various trading features. The IG platform has virtual trading (demo) that offers stimulated trading such as a free virtual demo account to help new users and traders navigate the platform. It also has a proprietary platform that is the company may license to other brokerages.

Another trading feature worth mentioning is that the company allows traders to follow different signals or copy other users' trades using their social trading feature (copy trading). Traders can also make use of the MetaTrader 4(MT4) using their mobile or desktop.

The platform comes with 28 charting indicators, 14 watchlists, and 19 drawing tools. It also has an order type trailing shop and a trade form chart.
Traders can use the streaming Reuters news trading feature, economic calendar, IG analyst article s, trading signals, and IGTV.

How do IG charge Fees and What are they?

IG Markets derives a majority of its income from spreads and commissions on over 17,000 assets. For US-based traders, commission on shares can be as low as £0 if they make more than three trades in the previous month. However, the company will charge £10 if the trader has made 0-2 trades in the last month.

For US shares traded through the phone, the company charges a minimum of £50 per trade. For UK traders, 0-2 trades in the previous month are charged an £8 commission. The commission amount reduces to £3 a trader makes more than three trades in the last month.

Importantly, the company will charge Inactivity fees of £12 per month if an account is not used for 24 months but still contains funds. Additional charges of about £100 for physical share certificate and custody fees of £24 per quarter, among other charges, may apply. However, IG is transparent about all extra costs. Per its website, IG Markets does not profit from client losses.

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What Trading Platforms does IG offer?

The market place offers different types of trading platforms.

• IG web trading platform: this is their leading trading platform, and it is free for account holders. It offers 22 different indicators.
• The IG ProReal Time: this platform offers over 100 different indicators. However, users have to pay a cost of GPB 30 per month to access this platform.
• The IG markets MetaTrader4 (MT4): this is a free trading platform with numerous indicators, tools, and charts. One significant advantage of MT4 is its ability to integrate with Excel plugins, which come in handy during technical analysis.
• The IG markets L2 Dealer: this is a custom trading platform that requires traders to deposit a minimum of GBP 1000 to trade on it. This platform is recommended for expert shares traders. It gives traders access to Thomson Reuter's news streaming service and allows them to bypass IG and gain direct access to the markets.

Research and Education

All educational materials on the IG platform are free. However, users need to log into their accounts to start using them. IG provides account holders with various educational resources to learn more about trading forex and the market. The company offers IG Academy, which is a complete online forex course that offers eight unique courses. The units include an introduction to the financial markets for beginners and ending with advanced risk management strategies.

For the learner, the program is broken up into short lessons, engaging videos, graphics, and interactive elements for testing. It is important to note that IG Academy currently only offers one course at the advanced level.

The second resource worth mentioning is the Live webinars: this tool enables users to supplement their learning. Webinars are provided at no cost for all account holders and are available at all skill levels.

Lastly, the IG platform has a Native news feed that features a variety of articles and current happenings related to the currency chart for user viewing. As per IG broker reviews, the updates come in handing when making any investment or trade.

Is IG Markets safe?

The IG platform used industry-standard security protocols to keep the client's information safer. Account-holders may use the two-factor authentication at the login in stage to increase security on their accounts. According to various customer Forex broker reviews, the platform is considered low risk with an overall trust score of 99 over 99 by the IG markets forex brokers review community.

The broker is also regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK and the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) in Australia.

Is IG Markets a Good Broker?

If IG markets reviews are anything to rely on, IG is one of the top online brokers with over 40 years in experience, IG Markets has proved to be a worth innovation in the CFD trading markets. It offers over 100 currency pairs, commonalities, CFDs, gold, silver, cryptocurrencies, etc. A trader can also enjoy traditional services like portfolio management, ISAs, non-leveraged share dealing, and SIPPs.

What makes IG different?

There many years in operations set them apart from the most trading platform. IG also has the upper hand when it comes to its different features and platforms. It has won awards on numerous occasions for its remarkable products and services. Unlike most platforms, IG is committed to its clients and provides a healthy environment for trading as attested by multiple IG forex broker reviews.

How do IG Markets make money?

IG markets make most of its money through spreads on various products like CFD trading. The company also collects fees from multiple services like Share CFD commission, FX conversion, Overnight fees, and Inactivity.

How to open an IG Markets Account

Opening an account with IG is quite simple. To create an account, one needs to fill in their:

1. Name
2. personal details
3. Financial details including income statues
4. Take a short test that gives IG an overview of your finances and other relevant records
5. Identity verification entails proof of identity by uploading the relevant documents such as passport details, NI, Driving License, utility bill, bank statement.

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How long does it take to open an IG account?

The consensus among various IG reviews is that opening an IG account is fast and straightforward. However, at times after verifying their details, an account holder will be required to go through anti-money laundering checks as required by the law.

How to get started trading or Investing with IG

Once the account is set and ready, an account holder needs to familiarize themselves with the different features and platforms. This allows one to learn how to navigate through the platform and clear out any misinformation. Since not all trading platforms have the same features, learning the basics helps traders avoid making mistakes that would affect their trader or investments. Once learning is complete, the account holder can proceed with funding their accounts.

Funding Methods

The platform allows for different ways to fund an account, including using credit cards, debit and bank cards, PayPal, and bank transfer. All Credit card payments come with a 1% fee for Visa and a 0.5% fee for MasterCard. However, the platform does not accept American Express payments.

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We hope you have found our IG Review insightful and more informative than other IG Reviews you may find online. We have a number of other brokerage reviews in the same format as this IG Review on our website that you can easily access here.

Thank you for reading, if you feel there is anything missing from our IG Review please feel free to contact us if you have any questions, we are more than happy to help.