Online reviews regarding CFDs brokerage, IG place the firm in a relatively-positive light. Traders are quick to pin their trust on the company as it is listed at the Stock Exchange. This has opened the firm to greater transparency which allows interested traders to scrutinize IG’s services further. This review aims at looking into the online assessments to pit it against its own findings so that a more pointed and informed evaluation of the firm’s over-all capabilities would be produced.
This review is a result of months spent with IG. The review team had performed an exhaustive examination of the firm’s offers and services which includes:
- IG’s regulatory status
- The trading accounts that are available to its clients
- The assets that the firm gives its clients access to
- The trading software that clients are provided with
- IG’s Customer Support system
And given that by nature, trading CFDs is complex and comes with high risks, traders should look at what transactions they have gone into and how they have handled these before passing blame on the brokerage for losses and failed trades. In addition, despite fundamental analysis, the behaviour of the markets could not always be predicted, hence the constant threat of loss. Trading, may it be with assets such as CFDs and Forex, is always a gamble. What this tells us is that the legitimacy of the brokerage is not always in question here. Traders are always faced with the threat of losing money and assets no matter how hard they have worked on them.
About IG: Founding and Regulatory Status
IG was founded back in 1974, making it one of the longest existing brokerages in the market. It was preliminarily based in the United Kingdom and came to be known by the trading industry to be the largest CFD brokers in the international trading scene.
IG is being regulated by two leading financial authorities:
- The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the United Kingdom
- Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) in Germany
Being regulated by these authorities guarantees not only the legitimacy of IG as a brokerage firm, but also the safety of their client’s funds.
Offers and Services
Accessible Assets and Territorial Limitations
The Trading Accounts made available to clients are dependent on their country of residence. For instance, Forex, CFD, and Options, are only available to Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, and Sweden.
Meanwhile, clients coming from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Malta, Cyprus, Australia and a number of smaller countries such as Gibraltar, and the British Virgin Islands are eligible for instruments such as Stocks, Forex, and CFDs.
Traders from the United States are only allowed to trade Forex Currency pairs.
Apart from the limitation in the offered assets, another point of criticism that the review team had for IG’s services is the imposition of the high fees for stock CFDs. In addition, the firm offers a rather limited product portfolio.
Opening an Account
Opening an account with IG is relatively easy and could only be performed entirely through cyberspace. The entire process could be done within 5-10 minutes.
On the other hand, verification of the created account will take about 3 business days.
One should follow the steps in creating an account with IG:
- Input the legal name, email address, country of residence and intended account type
- Input personal details namely the birth date and address
- Answer questions about one’s financial and employment status
- Input information about one’s financial knowledge
- Accomplish a short test
- Verification of the submitted ID and residency. One can upload a national ID, passport, or any identification document for this process. Utility and other bank statements are also accepted.
Funding and withdrawals from IG accounts is also easier in comparison with its competitors.
Offered Trading Platforms
The trading platform that IG provides is available through the web. The review team has found the IG Trading Platform to be designed intelligently, is intuitive, and can be completely customized to fit the client’s needs.
The IG trading platform holds a number of trading tools such as provisions for Fundamental Analysis and a number of technical indicators.
Customer Support
What the review team sees as a major point against IG is its Customer Support service. Asking for responses from the team through email and chat had proven to be frustrating.
It is rare for IG’s Customer Support to answer in an expedient manner. This is a big deal for the review team as it recognizes trading CFDs is high-risk, hence requiring great assistance. The absence of a speedy client support system is unbecoming for a firm that offers high-risk trading instruments.
Fees Charged
The fees that IG charges are notable in light of the following:
- Free withdrawals
- Low Stock Index CFD trading fees
- S&P 500 fees are built into the spreads. The average spread is pegged at 0.4 within peak hours.
- The fees for Europe 50 CFD are also built into the spreads. The average spread is pegged at 1.5 within peak hours.
- The average spread cost for the Forex pair EUR/USD is at 0.5 pips upon peak hours.
- The inactivity fee for IG is also low with reference to other brokerages. Only $12 every month is asked from account holders for inactivity after two years, another departure from the usual industry practice.
Trade with IG Today!
The discussions made within this review pertaining to IG’s the services and offers make a decent brokerage firm to trade with. The fee structures the company had put in place make it competitive and gratuitous for the trader looking into spending wise within their trading endeavours.
