IG Review 2024: An In-Depth Look at Trading Platform

Introduction

IG is famously known as IG Group. It is the leading brokerage firm that is listed on the London Stock Exchange. IG is a UK-based financial services company that was established in 1974. It is called as first spread betting firm in the world. Earlier, it was called by the name of the IG index. It allows the investors to determine the price of gold by using a broker index rather than buying underlying assets.  

IG has more than 360,000 active users from 19 different countries. This broker’s website offers you an extensive world of tradable assets, from commodities to forex to ETFs and stocks, and meets the needs of global traders. The brokerage firm has the licenses to operate in various countries, including the UK, the US, Australia, Japan, and Singapore, and has maintained a strong reputation over the years. It has the largest customer base and built huge trust with them. In the US, IG offers forex trading options to traders to trade and generate good income. So, if you want to boost your trading experience to become an expert in it, then IG is the best broker firm for you.

IG Company Background

IG is a reputed broker that was founded in 1974. It is a London publicly traded company, that has been regulated by various top-tier financial authorities in the world. The regulations of IG ensure a high level of safety standards and compliance for traders. It provides you with a wide range of trading products, including CFDs, Forex, and stocks. You will also get professional trading tools and educational resources to become an expert. It advances your trading strategies, boosts your skills, and doubles your earnings. So, start trading now at IG and keep your funds safe. Here are the major highlights about the IG group you should know

IG Trading Platforms and Technology

IG provides various trading platforms and technologies to traders. It expands their portfolio, boosts their trading experience,  and best fits their needs. Here are the famous trading platforms

IG Trading Platform

You can easily use the IG trading platform from any browser. You do not need to download it. You can use the trading platform and get access to the chats and quotes. It helps you to analyze the market trends and make informed decisions. IG offers you around 28 technical analysis indicators.

MetaTrader 4 (MT4)

MetaTrader4 is the most widely traded platform used at IG. It is the best platform because of its automated functions. By using this trading platform, you can develop strong strategies and make your trade worthwhile. It allows you to access thousands of technical indicators. It is a customizable tool and allows you to add indicators or functions from third parties. It is available in mobile and smartphone versions, which is a plus point for new traders.  

Pro Real Time

ProRealTime is the other best trading platform available at IG. As same as MT4, you can develop your trading strategies here, and create the trading algorithms. You can also perform backtesting on this platform. It also facilitates advanced technical analysis tools and proprietary indicators that help you to create your own customized technical indicators.

L2 Dealer

L2 dealer is the DMA trading platform at IG. This DMA ( Direct market access) platform gives you access to books on international exchanges. The L2 dealer platform gives you advanced information on liquidity and market volumes. It is not suggested to novice traders to use this platform. This platform is designed for advanced traders who use order book analysis to boost their trade.

IG Mobile App

IG Mobile Apps is another best trading platform that you can use on Android and iOS. It allows you to easily trade on your device and runs your strategy. You can get the market analysis from your phone, use advanced charts technical indicators, and stay updated with trade trends, and expand your strategy.

IG Account Types

Standard Account

 The standard account type is the primary CFD trading account type. It is great for casual buyers, having been customized to boost their knowledge. On the same old account type, users get to get access to the full IG services.

Professional Account

Available to UK investors with large trading experience, it’s designed for high-extent buyers who manage a trading portfolio of over 500k, work in the financial sector, or have traded leveraged systems of significant size over the last year. With this account, investors have access to elevated leverage but will not have the same safety.

Spread Betting Account

IG’s Spread Betting Account offers UK citizens numerous benefits, together with tax-efficient trading of economic tool fee fluctuations. Specifically, earnings aren’t a situation for UK Capital Gains Tax. Additionally, the account offers diverse markets and flexibility in trading methods for foreign trade, shares, indexes, and other belongings.

CFD Account

Overall, IG’s CFD/DMA account offers traders instant access to broker market expenses, enabling them to trade indices, shares, and different assets. This account benefits those who are searching for professional order management and more desirable market visibility, especially for complex trading strategies.

Options Account

Moreover, IG’s Options Trading Account lets traders invest in market moves with pre-set risk management. Additionally, it offers options for currencies, indices, and commodities, making it the right account for those in search of to diversify their trading techniques.

IG Account Opening Process: A Step-by-Step Guide

To sign in an account, here are the steps you should follow

• First, you have to go to the IG brokerage website
• Click on the open account button.
• Click the “Create an account” or “Open an account” option.
• Complete the form.
• The application will be straightforward. Provide your personal information, together with your Full Name, Email address, Country of residence, and Telephone number, Then, create a strong password.

Once you know about the account types and learn the process to open the IG account, it is suggested to compare these features of different accounts and then choose the best one, as per your trading goals.

IG Trading Instruments

As IG operates as a reputed broker, it has a wide community and gives several trading instruments to traders. The top trading instruments are indices, forex, commodities, cryptocurrencies, etc. Let us tell you about this in detail.

Forex market

IG Broker offers an intensive range of Forex trading pairs. You can trade major, minor, and distinguished forex pairs. Some famous pairs consist of EUR/USD, GBP/USD, and USD/JPY.

The Forex market trading at IG Broker is easy and available. The platform gives premium charting tools and real-time information. You can make knowledgeable decisions quickly. Spreads are competitive, and there are various leverage options.

Commodities

Commodities are also available at IG, with power commodities along with WTI oil, Brent oil, or natural gasoline. It is possible to trade carbon emission allowances, that’s possible with only a few brokers. IG also offers access to valuable metals, including gold and silver, and tender commodities, consisting of soybeans, espresso, and live livestock.

Indices

IG allows you to trade most of the world’s most important inventory indices, such as extended trading hours. For some indices, it’s even possible to trade 24 hours an afternoon. Among the inventory indices available at the IG platform are the most popular along with Dow Jones, FTSE 100, but also the EuroStoxx 50 and various Asian indices.

Stocks and Shares

Share trading is an essential strength of IG, and not using much less than 13,000 shares available on a huge variety of stock exchanges world. IG is also one of the best broker agents to provide long trading hours for more than 70 shares. This lets you begin trading before the markets open and hold once they are near. It is possible to trade stocks through CFD, spread betting, or the traditional way with IG. 

Cryptocurrencies

IG isn’t always a cryptocurrency broker, but it does offer a few most important cryptos along with Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC).    This lets traders handle diverse portfolios to benefit from exposure to the cryptocurrency market, which may now not be overlooked from the point of view of all financial experts.

Options and Bonds

Finally, the online broker IG also offers access to more advanced markets together with options. This allows you to trade volatility or hedge positions, or government bonds of various nations, on numerous maturities and ETFs (Trade Traded Funds) to guess on baskets of thematic shares.

Spreads, Fees, and Commissions

As the trader, you have to get complete information about the broker platform. Spreads, fees, and commissions are important parts of IG brokers, so you must know about them.

Spread Analysis

The main value involved when trading CFDs is the spread. How this works is the broker gets complete pricing, frequently from several resources and aggregates the charges to find out the best bid and rates. The broking will add a mark-up on both rates, which converts into earnings.

As IG Markets has hundreds of hundreds of clients trading in different directions, the chance of those orders can be offset. If the broker doesn’t send the trade with an outside provider, they boost their earnings margin even more. Spreads vary according to product and liquidity. The more active a market is, the tighter the spreads become.

Commission Structure

In the case of CFDs on shares, IG doesn’t widen the unfold, and customers deal at the real market rate. Instead, IG takes a small commission while buyers open the placement and again once they close it. In every example, a minimum price is.

Non-Trading Fees

There aren’t any withdrawal fees on the IG trading platform. While there may be an inactive fee for bills that continue to be inactive for 2 years, that is a great deal than competition which is frequently as low as 2 months.

IG Leverage and Margin Requirements

Leverage Options

Leverage can open more trading positions beyond the regular capability of the trading account balance. IG worldwide clients can get access leverage up to at least 1:10 on cryptocurrencies, 1:200 on most important commodities, 1:200 on indices, 1:200 on foreign trade pairs, and 1:10 on stocks. Clients living in international locations like the US are given a maximum leverage of 1:50 at the same time as customers in the UK and EU can only use leverage up to 1:30 on broker pairs.

Margin Requirements

Margin costs increase with function value to account for multiplied liquidity risks. For example, indices just like the FTSE 100 or Wall Street have an initial margin requirement of 0.5%, equal to a 1:200 leverage ratio.   Foreign trade pairs have similar margin requirements, whilst shares have more margin necessities because of increased volatility and liquidity risks.

Risk Management Tools

To give you a rundown of IG’s variety of risk management eras, they’re easy to use, and when completely applied, traders can be protected against the risks of leveraged trading. Tools that help traders reduce risk include trade signals of market moves that are available when the market adjustments are made quickly, and their trailing stops lock in potential profits.

IG Customer Service and Support

IG has active customer support. This is polite and attentive to clients’ issues. The customer support team is available 24 hours an afternoon, 5 days every week — from Mondays to Fridays. You can contact the broker’s team through any of the following channels.

Live Chat

 This active channel allows you to speak quickly with the broker’s live team. The live chat feature is available as a “Chat” icon on the right-hand corner of the website. When you click on the icon, you will be required to enter your name and email address. Next, type your message in the given box to engage with the customer service group chat.

Telephone contact

 You can also contact with IG team on their telephone number from 9 am to 5 pm, Monday – Friday, using the telephone number provided on their website: +61 39860 1799

Email Contact

You can send your queries and questions to the broker’s email address: helpdesk.En@ig.Com The response from the customer service team is usually polite and helpful. You also can benefit from some views from the broker’s Help & Support page.

Help & Support Page

 This page has a complete list of Frequently Asked Questions that answer your common questions traders have. They arrange in the following sections: about IG, account application, account management, fund management, trading with IG, and trading platforms.

Deposit and Withdrawal Options

IG has diverse options for depositing your account, which include old methods along with bank wire transfers and credit card investments, in addition to online payment processors. You get free and fast deposits and withdrawals. Card bills are on the spot, whereas bank transfers can take some working days to done. Here are the withdrawal and deposit methods offered by IG

Trading Experience and User Feedback

The customer experience is critical for any trading platform. IG Broker aims to provide a seamless and intuitive experience for its customers. Let’s discover how well they perform in this region.

IG Broker’s platform stands out for its ease of use. The interface is easy and cutting-edge, making it easy to navigate. New users can quickly understand how to access key functions without a strong learning curve. The dashboard is customizable, permitting traders to set up their workspace to match their needs. This flexibility enhances the overall customer experience. The platform also includes diverse equipment and signs that are important for smart trading decisions.

Many users have shared their experiences with IG Broker. Positive reviews highlight the platform’s usability and speed. Users appreciate the short execution of trades and the responsive customer support.

Negative reviews regularly point out minor bugs and coffee lags. However, those problems are usually resolved quickly through the support team. Overall, the feedback is generally high quality, reflecting a high level of satisfaction among customers.

• Positive: Easy to use, fast execution, responsive support.
• Negative: Minor bugs and lags.

Safety and Security

In terms of regulation, it doesn’t get higher than IG. Amongst the top tier regulators, the broking is approved and regulated by the following regulators: Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC), Japanese Financial Services Authority (JFSA), Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). They are also regulated in Europe, New Zealand, South Africa, and Dubai.

IG is about as secure as any broking might be. They were in enterprise on account that 1974 and are listed in the London inventory trade. IG has large financial backing and is 1 of the most trusted names in the industry.

Cybersecurity Measures

IG adheres to robust cybersecurity measures to prevent unauthorized access, hacking, and data loss. It is integrated with secure socket layer ( SSL) technology, advanced encryption protocols, and 2FA (two-factor authentication) to protect the user’s account. IG conducts vulnerability tests and regular security audits to reduce your risks. It has a dedicated cybersecurity team that controls network activity and identifies suspicious activity.

The best thing is that it educates the users about data loss, theft, and breaches and ensures their safety. It educates users to create strong passwords, recognize phishing attempts, and enable security layers on their accounts.  

 Pros and Cons

Pros

• Offers a huge range of tradable properties: In addition to forex, IG users can trade a number of asset categories, including but not limited to shares, cryptocurrencies, commodities, and indices.
• Provides an array of economic products: IG offers various economic products, which include but are not limited to ETFs, CFDs, futures, and options.
• Excellent platform services: IG’s web-based platform and its mobile app are extensively regarded for their robust functionality and simplicity of use and are currently considered the best in the market.
• No minimum deposit requirements: There’s no minimum deposit to open a trading account at IG (until you’re based in the U.S., in which you want to make a $250 minimum deposit). 
• Publicly traded enterprise challenge to strict regulatory requirements: IG is a publicly traded company listed on the London Stock Trade with a market cap of around GBP 3.5 billion. IG Markets Ltd and IG Index Ltd are authorized and controlled by the FCA in the U.K. Its U.S. Subsidiary, branded tastyfx on account that July 2024, is registered with the CFTC and is a member of the NFA. Moreover, IG holds licenses in over a dozen countries.

Cons

• No copy trading feature: IG doesn’t provide automatic copy trading, which has become famous among newbie investors and first-time traders.  
• MetaTrader 5 isn’t always yet available: While IG offers integrations for ProRealTime and MetaTrader 4, its customers can not make use of MetaTrader 5 (but).

Conclusion

If you’re in the market for reliable online broking, IG is the best option for seasoned investors and those just beginning out. Whether you’re trading first time or already an expert, you’ll appreciate IG’s competitive spreads, great range of tradable resources and funding products, and the wealth of in-house research and market updates they offer. The trading platform is feature-wealthy but stays user-friendly, making it accessible to all.

With over 50 years of experience in the financial services industry and a strong recognition as a regulated agency, IG provides everything you need to access international markets, whether or not you’re an investor or part of a company team.