IG is a leading Forex company in investments and online trading. It was founded in 1974 as IG Investors Gold, with the main head office based in London and fourteen other offices on five continents.
The brand works under IG worldwide and NADEX in the US. The global leader has a market capitalization of £3bn in the area. According to reports, the global trading revenue of international leaders was £569m in 2018. The brand became a Fortune 250 company with around 200,000 clients and 1,600 employees.
The IG brand delivers a complete range of tools and markets for trading. Its experience in CFD and spread betting covers all markets globally. The company includes derivatives, cryptocurrencies, bonds, ISAs, ETFs, SIPPs, social trading, and simple fees and commissions. The trading platform is considered the one-stop shop for all clients’ trading needs.
IG Forex Broker – Background Information
The company can be a challenge for all the other alike top-class trading platforms. The platform’s pleasing aesthetics, quick processing, and built-in rich features attract traders to this platform. The traders experience pleasant sessions on the screens of their laptops and mobile phones.
When considering the regulatory authorities working behind IG, they are regulated by top-notch regulatory organizations. So, whether you are a veteran or a rookie trader, the IG platform is the best option to opt for. With advanced features, excellent customer services, and developed operators, IG fits all.
Fees and Commissions of IG
One of the most significant factor traders views while reading the reviews is the fees and commissions offered by a forex broker. The clients take a look at the hidden charges on the trading platform.
IG Bank has a transparent fee structure in which the commissions depend upon the number of times trades are made in a month. When there are higher trading volumes, there are enhanced terms and vice versa.
If you trade for more than a month, your commission rate will be £5 only. Also, the commission rate is less for people who deal using two accounts on IG (Share dealing and CFDs account). The IG trading platform takes up to £24 as a quarter custody fee for share dealing and ISA accounts; however, the rate depends on these accounts’ funds and activities.
The table above is for shares in the UK, while those other than the UK may vary. For international stocks, the conversion fees (for converting one currency to the base currency) is 0.3% and are usually in local currencies.
The UK ISA accounts enjoy the benefits of the free set-up of account, free electronic shares transfer, and dematerialization fees of £100choicesical shares.
On the other hand, the SIPP accounts are regulated by James Hay, who charges yearly administration fees of £195. Note that in IG SIPPs, some extra costs will be charged for choices to perform actions like arranging an income drawdown, an annuity purchase, etc. Although, there are charges to transfer a SIPP to IG.
The IG trading other them is famous and in demand due to its wide range of products and a good reputation. Unfortunately, the platform does not have much to offer in the form of promotions and bonuses. However, in the IG platform, traders can get a loyal scheme plan by referring a friend but nothing like special offers and promotions.
IG Variety of Tools and Platforms
IG brings a wide range of choices for the traders in the form of the best MetaTrdaer4 platform and the platform they own, the ProRealTime platform.
Well, MTV is a platform that is considered a stand-alone platform and thus is a trader’s favorite. The reasons behind this are the advantages IG offers traders like backtesting, the ability to build their algorithms, and low latency execution.
Furthermore, the company delivers eighteen free bespoke apps to understand MT4 charts, and a unique feature is Virtual Private Server.
ProRealTime is the proprietary trading platform of IG. The platform is known for its competing variety of tools and features in an accessible format. The technical analysis tools on the platform are its leading feature in the market and stand out among the rest.
The traders can avail themselves wholly and quickly in the demo account rather than losing money on the live account. The primary purpose of demo accounts is to prevent risks and understand the platform before making live trades.
Features like customizable screens, economic calendars, and price alerts further make the platform necessary for all individual traders. The platform consists of all-inclusive tools to make as many screen layouts of their choice and retrieve these customized monitor layouts whenever needed.
Even though all the brand’s core offerings are appealing enough, the investors can add additional features via third-party apps. Out of so many applications, investors can do some more technical analysis, research, and trading tools for their trades from AutoChartist and Trading Central.
Trader Support
The IG brand has many accolades inside and outside the UK. Some of the most recent titles include:
• Best Overall Personal Wealth Provider 2018 (Online Personal Wealth Awards)
• Best Multi-Platform Provider 2018 (ADVFN International Financial Awards)
• Best Stocks and Shares ISA Provider 2018 (Online Personal Wealth Awards)
• Best Finance App 2018 (ADVFN International Financial Awards)
• Best Spread Betting Provider 2018 (Online Personal Wealth Awards)
• Best Spread Betting & CFD Education Tools 2018 (ADVFN International Financial)
• Best Trading Support 2018 (Online Personal Wealth Awards)
Recent awards are:
• Best CFD Provider 2017 (Investment and Wealth Management Awards)
• Best CFD Provider 2017 (Shares Awards)
The titles and awards mentioned above prove the excellency of the IG. The brand offers customer services through phone, email, and live messaging. Their customer service representatives actively use IG’s social media accounts for the easiness of new and old customers.
They deliver new clients a personalized walkthrough on IG to make a new trader aware of the platform’s processes. Moreover, they offer services in multiple languages to reach out to them.
The customer service professionals have enough knowledge and guide easily and quickly. The IG team conducted a test in which the CS representatives cleared in the first attempt giving the impression that they have complete knowledge and sense of trading.
In some of our live chat testing, the CR team answered the question of clients by giving a hyperlink rather than typing a complete answer. Although it is somewhat impersonal, the hyperlinks gave information that included all the answers to our queries.
As online traders know, the trading experience varies from one platform to another. The IG brand brings the most popular trading platform and its custom ProRealTime platform.
Also, they enable traders to trade easily via mobile phone applications. Remember that if you don’t make a minimum of three trades a month, you will have to pay a £30 monthly charge to access ProRealTime software.
Research
There is a wide range of trading financial instruments and markets on IG. The company keeps expanding and working hard to cater to all the investing and trading needs. The team began by offering leverage trading, for instance, contracts for difference (CFDs) and spread betting.
Surprisingly, this type of trading is the base of IG, and the brand is still famous for this. With the advent of technology, IG began advancing and delivering an extensive range of products other than leveraged trading like non-leveraged share dealing.
In addition, IG brings a suite of wealth management products like Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs), Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs), etc., that depend upon the country IG clients live in.
Trade Markets
The traders of IG can trade on more than 15,000 global financial markets. Also, they have access to avail opportunities like investing in shares, commodities, indices, forex, and other instruments.
Other ways to invest in IG are self-directed investments and share dealing investments. These options offer over 9,000 global shares and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to IG clients.
Some other offerings include tax-efficient savings and pensions offerings like ISAs and SIPPs. The customers can even go for IG Smart Portfolio, a transparent discretionary managed investment service with fewer costs.
Though IG gives access to numerous markets, it ensures that it completes all the processes and provides no token trading opportunities to IG clients. To explain, many markets offer options trading. Still, on the other hand, they provide ample liquidity only with strike rates and expiry dates.
When it is about what IG doesn’t offer in terms of trades of products and markets, it is simple to point out.
For instance, IG clients can trade cryptos as CFDs. Conversely, a sum of ten major cryptocurrencies and crypto-cross markets are offered (through CFD) that compares well to the market brokers. Traders on IG can currently avail of more than 15,000 products, and the toll keeps increasing.
Like most online brokers, IG also offers clients extensive research and educational services. The pros of the broker have always been two subjects: macro fundamental and technical analysis. Apart from these, the research services have not researched other areas.
There are chances that recent additions to the products will increase the research offerings in this area. Market Screener, for example, is a tool that enables traders to perform quick financial and fundamental analyses of single stock names.
Education Tools
The education tools of IG are more than enough for the clients, and the brand is at the top tier, bringing various tools for both new and old IG clients. There is an IG Academy app that is made for educating clients through a range of courses.
The IG clients can learn the courses on the move. The technological infrastructure of the app is engineered to track their proceedings in the app easily.
The standard market practice is for the brokers to forward all their educational guides to beginners. However, like all others, IG is not much into providing educational tools to benefit seasoned traders.
Unlike other markets, IG has the title of ‘Advanced‘ educational material that is the best for ‘Beginner‘ and ‘Intermediate‘ grades. Let us suppose that the ‘Planning your exit‘ package includes all the critical reminders for traders regarding the importance of money management.
However, this will disappoint the experienced traders if this is what marks the best educational tools for them.
There are many other ways in which IG helps its clients to enhance their knowledge and understanding. There are excellent educational guides in videos, webinars, and in-person seminars on IG’s website.
The newly registered clients can have a personalized walk through the trading platform and proper guidelines on how to trade. The brand depicts extreme dedication to providing significant educational and training resources to IG clients. Hence, becoming a part of such a platform is a win-win situation at any cost.
IG is User-Friendly
IG brings clients a simple, straightforward, and easy onboarding process. The maximum time of the process is only five minutes, and some brokers even offer completion in less than five minutes. Additionally, the platform does not ask for much of the client’s personal information before signing up, and it is welcomed by the keen to get grips with the right products.
Once done with the essential requirements, IG offers various additional tools and services that the traders can use to make a dashboard of their choice. Although there are many resources on the site, what tool one wants, and where is made simple because of IG’s intuitive, reassuring, and fluid nature.
Trade Execution
The order execution functions on the IG enable access to many traders and trading styles. Some features give a nuanced approach to order-building, like partial fills and points through current. On the other hand, some tools allow trading within a single click.
The default layout is minimalist and allows customizing depending upon the trader’s choice. However, where it is a feature for some, it can become difficult for others.
New traders, for instance, because of the unavailability of a starter-pack style layout, might find difficulty in customizing one. In contrast, seasoned traders prefer starting from a relatively clean base.
Despite various individual trading styles on IG, it offers effortless access to the market using Deal/Order/Alert options that traders can incorporate into their dashboards. In the background, IG is built on a well-established network that includes DMA (Direct Market Access) and intelligent order routing technology.
The platform puts its best to give clients access to the most amazing prices and high liquidity. For those traders who want outsourcing to lessen their research load, they can get price signals from third parties like Autochartist and PIA-first.
IG Mobile App
The traders on IG can trade on the go using IG Trading App that is available for iOS and Android platforms. Furthermore, there is an educational app, IG Academy, that educates and informs new and experienced traders about trading. This application is also available on both mobile phones and desktops.
Often, the features on the website are not present in the application, but IG does this better than others too. It provides access to almost all tools and features on the website’s mobile app. Also, the IG clients can discuss with other IG traders through the IG community feature on the application.
Generally, the mobile app does not bring a complete trading experience to desktop-based platforms. Still, IG has done a great job of providing a full-functional application.
Automated Trading
One of the best features of IG is that it allows Robo-style trading. It has the functionality of a customizable Smart Portfolio Accounts service and allows automated trading. You require at least £500 to open any of these accounts. Also, the management fee at the beginning is 0.65%, decreasing with increasing investments.
It is some of the costs of the traditional wealth managers, and the Smart Portfolio account is highly customizable with five risk profiles. The account you want to choose relies on your view of risk management, which is conservative or aggressive.
Depending on your risk profile, your investments are diversified into different assets. You will have no difficulty setting up, managing, or monitoring these accounts. To bring enhanced assurance and reliability to Smart Portfolio services for the clients, IG has a partnership with BlackRock, the world’s leading asset manager.
As every broker has positives and negatives, so is the case for automated trading that the IG highlights itself. Although the clients get pieces of advice from Robo advisors to manage a portfolio at a low cost, they should be aware that the automated investment system relies on the information they provide to it.
Hence, all the complications you face financially and understand by the financial advisor may not wholly fit into an automated system.
As IG mentioned on their website that a blend of Robo-advice and human intervention is the best option to consider until Robo-advice reaches its maximum potential.
The traders who want a more personalized approach to automated trading can use MT4’s backtesting, ProOrder, ProBacktest, and Algorithmic Tools of IG.
The ProBacktest tool IG provides allows clients to get a trading strategy depending on the historical data. On the other hand, the ProOrder tool allows running a trading strategy against live data and executing trades.
Cryptocurrency Trading
As cryptocurrencies are almost everywhere in digital markets, IG offers a wide range of crypto markets for trading in CFD form. The clients can trade at IG like any other financial instrument, and it eliminates the need for the traders to set up accounts and wallets at crypto exchanges; they can do it directly through IG.
So here is the rate of cryptocurrencies rising, the clients get long positions rewarded. As the platform is CFD based, they have short selling if the crypto prices fall.
Just like IG provides a wide range of all other markets, so is the case for cryptocurrency offerings. The IG clients can trade on almost ten crypto markets, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, and Litecoin.
Some markets that few brokers do not include are NEO, Stellar, EOS, etc. The clients can also trade Crypto vs. Crypto pairs like Ether/Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash/Bitcoin.
The spreads are limited to ensure that they stay under the market rate. Trading on the MT4 platform enables automated trade execution; for example, the little spread of Bitcoin is 40pips, and the market operates 24/7.
Also, IG ensures to limit losses to crypto positions while limiting leverage to 1:2. A wide range of education sources is also available for guidance in crypto trading.
Regulation and Licensing
The clients often avoid risks and do not choose a new broker for trading. However, IG eliminates all such regulatory dangers as it has regulations and commits to providing clients with high standards and ethical conduct.
The company is UK-based and is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK and other relevant authorities globally. Under Nadex in the US, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulates IG. It is also registered to the FX Global Code of Conduct, ensuring the client’s safety.
The platform has a clear conduct strategy, active risk management via monthly Key Risk Indicators (KRIs), and ensures formal trading processes that tell about IG’s high ethical standards.
According to IG, it has committed to FCA’s Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) initiative and promises to fulfill the following:
• Well-trained and increasingly competitive staff
• Offering fair margin
• Exact and easy-to-understand information
• Rightly targeted marketing
• Fair and reliable dealing practices
One operational risk faced by brokers is web security. IG uses 256-bit SSL encryption, the standard for online transactions, to overcome this. The clients get high encryption security along with top street banks.
To Trade or Not to Trade with IG
The IG Company brings a remarkable trading experience for more than 200,000 existing customers. So, if you are considering signing up on an excellent trading platform, IG is the best choice.
The overlooked point is that they do many things accurately in a few days. The IG group delivers the best of instruments and markets to the trade of almost all types.
The fees and commissions offered by the broker are very competitive and transparent. The traders get the best knowledge and experience on one platform, making it a worthwhile trading experience.
In some regions, the company is still developing. The firm has a background in CFDs and spreads betting to give better research materials on personal stocks.
The current Screener Tool shows that IG has more ways to grow in the field. The brand is well-established and has enough financial firepower to support its plans.
FAQ:
What Cryptocurrencies do IG.com offer?
- Bitcoin
- Ether
- Ripple
- Litecoin
- Bitcoin Cash
- EOS
- Bitcoin SV
- Cardano
- Monero
- Stellar
What is the amount of time of withdrawal from IG.com?
Withdrawal takes four working days.
Does IG.com offer education for traders?
IG offers complete training and education services like courses, tutorials, webinars, seminars, etc., through the IG academy.
Risk Warning: There are high risks of losing money because of leverage in spread bets and CFDs. With IG, almost 81% of retail investors accounts lose big while spreading bets and ways of trading. So see if you know the working of spread betting and CFDs. Also, check if you can take high risks while trading these.
