Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how spread bets and CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
- Experts highlight IG Spread Betting as the leading platform for spread betting, offering access to over 17,000 markets, which is significantly more than competitors. They commend its competitive pricing and liquidity, although some alternative brokers may offer cheaper options in certain markets. The platform is noted for its innovative features, such as the ability to trade smaller-cap stocks and access to pre-market IPOs.
- Across 746 user reviews on Good Money Guide, averaging 4/5, customers frequently praise IG for its user-friendly platform, excellent liquidity, and comprehensive market access. Many users appreciate the seamless integration of various trading products, including cryptocurrencies, while some express concerns about occasional technical issues. Overall, the platform is regarded as reliable and well-suited for both novice and experienced traders.
Expert rating
Our expert rating is the average of the areas listed here, each scored out of 5 by our team.- Pricing4.0
- Market Access4.5
- Online Platform4.5
- Customer Service4.0
- Research & Analysis4.5
Pros
- Huge range of markets to spread bet on
- Good liquidity for large spread bet positions
- Spread betting on smaller-cap stocks
Cons
- £250 minimum deposit
See full expert review
Is IG a good spread betting platform?
Yes, IG by far has the most comprehensive market access for any spread betting broker. You can trade around 17,000 markets, which is significantly more than the 12,000 or so offered by City Index and CMC Markets. The majority of the extra markets are made up fo smaller cap shares and exotic fx pairs, commodities and indices meaning that there are more opportunities vailable.
However, one downside is that even through IG charges competitive commission (included in the spread) for for spread betting, in some markets brokers like Pepperstone or Spreadex can be cheaper.
IG won “best spread betting broker” in our 2023 and 2022 awards as it continues to be the best spread betting platform. As well as inventing the concept of financial spread betting in 1974, IG also offers access to the most markets, with the most liquidity and are, (by market cap as of April ’22) the biggest spread betting broker valued at over £3.5bn.
Overall, IG is the best spread betting broker is suitable for beginners through to professional high volume and high-frequency traders.
With IG you can spread bet on over 17,000 markets (an industry-leading amount), including 51 forex pairs, 38 commodities, 34 indices and over 10,000 UK and international stocks.
A few key features that make IG’s spread betting platform stand out are the ability to bet on smaller-cap shares, trade IPOs pre-market via their “grey market” and their liquidity. IG’s liquidity can actually be better than the underlying exchange, so you can place and get filled in large orders using IG’s internal liquidity when there might not be the volume on the exchange order book.
Even though IG internalises order flow they do not profit from client losses, instead hedging or matching order flow and operating symmetrical tolerance levels. This means that you also benefit from positive slippage, so if you place a spread bet limit order and the market moves in your favour before it is executed you get a better fill.
When I compared pricing against other spread betting brokers IG spreads are always competitive and often market-leading, especially in the major instruments, but where IG wins business is its ability to continually innovate and add value to its spread betting platform. There are trading signals from Autochartist and PIAfirst, but IG takes it a step further by making executing these signals easier and integrating dealing tickets. IG has a good post-trade analytics feature that can show you where you are profitable or not and they create a huge amount of analysis and research around what their clients are trading based on platform analytics.
Customer reviews for IG
Customer ratings come from reviews left on this site. Every review is read and approved before it is published.Based on 746 reviews
- Excellent38%
- Very good36%
- Basic18%
- Poor5%
- Bad3%
Read customer reviews
Very good platform. No means...
Very good platform. No means of comparison with others.
Expensive does not put customer...
Expensive does not put customer first
Decent value
Decent value
Good
Good
Good platform, easy to use
Good platform, easy to use
Very intuitive platform - easy...
Very intuitive platform - easy to use
Not good customer service
Not good customer service
excellent
excellent
good
good
No comment
No comment
Easy to use and good...
Easy to use and good coverage of stocks / indicies / currencies to trade
Comprehensive and easy to use
Comprehensive and easy to use
great choice of markets, easy...
great choice of markets, easy to use but quite expensive
Ok
Ok
Excellent
Excellent
Good all round
Good all round
Inconsistent and not particularly helpful
Inconsistent and not particularly helpful
Very good multi-account trading -...
Very good multi-account trading - Shares, ISA and Spread
No View
No View
Excellent educational material and tools...
Excellent educational material and tools available.
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.
Having worked as a broker at Investors Intelligence and a multi-asset derivatives broker at MF Global (Man Financial), Richard has acquired substantial experience in the industry. His career began as a private client stockbroker at Walker Crips and Phillip Securities (now King and Shaxson), following internships on the NYMEX oil trading floor in New York and London IPE in 2001 and 2000.
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