Yes, IG is one of the best CFD trading platforms as they offer a huge range of markets to trade and DMA access for more sophisticated traders. Also, because IG offers CFDs globally (with the exception of the US) they have a huge amount of volume and liquidity meaning that sometimes you can place bigger orders via IG’s order book than you could do on the underlying exchanges like the LSE or NYSE. Because of the sheer volume of CFD trades, IG is able to internally match up orders for quicker and larger fills.
One key disadvantage of trading CFDs through IG is that you have to pay tax on profits. However, CFDs are not the only product that IG offer. You can also trade financial spread bets, where you do not have to pay capital gains tax on profits.
IG CFD Trading Review
Name: IG CFD Trading
Description: IG Index (as they were then called) was one of the originators of retail CFD trading and offers access to the widest range of markets with the best liquidity. I’ve used them for over 20 years and regularly test the platform. In fact, CFD liquidity on major instruments is often better with IG than the underlying exchanges does to IG’s symmetrical hedging policy and order flow.
70% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider.
Summary
Overall, IG offers one of the best CFD trading platforms around and provides excellent educational guides and market access for every sort of trader.
- CFD markets available: 17,000
- Minimum deposit: £250
- Account types: CFDs, spread betting, DMA, investing
- Equity overnight financing: 2.5% +/- SONIA
- CFD pricing: Shares 0.1%, FTSE 1, GBPUSD 0.6
CFD costs are included in the spread for retail traders, but you also have the option of trading with direct market access (DMA) on level-2 prices. This enables CFD traders to place orders within the bid/offer spread and get better prices. The commission is then charged post-trade. DMA CFD trading is often must more cost-effective for high-volume larger traders as fills are quicker and at better prices.
You can trade over 17,000 CFD markets with IG including 51 forex pairs, 38 commodities, 34 indices and over 10,000 stocks. You can also trade CFDs on IPO through their grey market. The CFD trading platform is constantly evolving due to customer feedback and IG has a wide range of news, sentiment and analysis that is based on the analytics from the platform on what traders are trading. So for example, if there is a lot of order flow around a particular stock or market, research is created to help traders better understand market moves.
The main thing though that makes IG stand out is it’s size and coverage. As a public company valued at over £3.5bn April 2022) they cater for new, experienced, professional as well as institutional CFD traders.
Pros
- Wide range of CFD markets
- Excellent CFD liquidity
- DMA & level-2 CFD trading
Cons
- Some CFD pricing is not competitive on smaller caps
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Pricing
(4)
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Market Access
(4.5)
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Online Platform
(4.5)
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Customer Service
(4)
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Research & Analysis
(4.5)
Overall
4.3- Expert opinion: IG reviewed & rated
Richard is the founder of the Good Money Guide (formerly Good Broker Guide), one of the original investment comparison sites established in 2015. With a career spanning two decades as a broker, he brings extensive expertise and knowledge to the financial landscape.
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