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 rate IG Trading Platform highly, noting its comprehensive features and excellent market access, with a total rating of 5.0/5. The platform is praised for its competitive pricing and deep liquidity, although some limitations exist, such as the lack of automated trading strategies on the main platform.
- Across 746 user reviews on Good Money Guide, averaging 4/5, customers frequently highlight the platform's ease of use, reliability, and extensive range of products. Many users appreciate the seamless integration of various trading options, particularly for cryptocurrencies, while some express concerns about customer service response times and occasional technical issues.
IG Trading Platform Expert rating
Our expert rating is the average of the areas listed here, each scored out of 5 by our team.Our experts have rated IG Trading Platform across five key areas of our review framework.
- Pricing5.0
- Market Access5.0
- Online Platform5.0
- Customer Service5.0
- Research & Analysis5.0
Pros
- Excellent market range
- Deep liquidity
- DMA & level-2 pricing
Cons
- Some pricing is not competitive
- Very big so customer service can be a little slow
See full expert review
Our verdict
IG remains at the forefront of the online trading industry and has one of the best online trading platforms for new and experienced traders. I really like trading on IG’s platform and have done so for over 20 years now. As an experienced trader I find it very intuitive, but for new traders, it offers a simple layout with lots of news, research, and technical analysis indicators. For experienced traders, it offers deep liquidity, the largest market range, and DMA execution through L2 dealer.
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.
Is IG's trading platform any good?
Yes, it's a great all-round trading platform. Here's five things that I think make it stand out.
1 - Tax free profits
IG’s main web-based trading platform is used by CFD and Spread Betting clients, although clients can also download MT4, ProRealtime and L2 Dealer. The platform is developed in-house and is suitable for most traders where you can access 17,000 markets to trade as a CFD or financial spread bet. The trading platform also provides access to non-leveraged trading accounts for physical shares dealing and ETF investing with SIPP and ISA options.
2 - Automated trading strategies on MT4 and IG Markets
There are a few limitations to the main platform though, for example, there is no facility for automated trading strategies. However, IG offers two alternative platforms (MT4 & 5) for those clients who use Algos and trading bots. However, for most users, IG’s in-house platform will be more than sufficient for their needs.
3 - Trading signals
Some stand-out features of the trading platform are how Autochartist and PIA trading signals are copied straight to order tickets and their ability to constantly innovate features such as adding logarithmic charting and creating news and research around what traders are looking at on the platform.
4 - Competative pricing
Compared to other online trading platforms IG’s pricing is always competitive, they are by no means the cheapest broker, but they are not expensive. IG tends to win business based on market range, service, and liquidity and keeps spreads to the lower end of the industry standard. Whilst pricing is an important factor when choosing a trading platform, with IG, you get what you pay for and that is a fairly priced excellent all-round service.
5 - Deep liquidity
On some of the major traded indices and FX pairs, IG's CEO told me that their internal liquidity can be better than the on-exchange order book. Which means for larger traders trading popular markets, you can potentially get better fills than trading with DMA.
What does the IG trading platform look like?
Overall, IG has one of the most comprehensive trading platforms around. And after 46 years of offering margin products to retail customers, IG knows what works and what customers expect from their broker, namely, reliable pricing, technology and customer service.
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
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Darren Fox @ 05/06/2020 10:48
This company charges way too much for overnight fees , Its not really worth trading with them and when markets are volatile they raise their commission too . You cannot get hold of them by phone at all unless you are trying to signup then miraculously they are available , I am dubious about the reviews on here I think the 5 star one could be fake . RIPOFF
Nuri @ 04/02/2020 07:25
it is a great company offering an amazing product, always in front in terms of offering and technology
Alex Jones @ 02/28/2020 12:49
Best platform to use, fast entry and exit. I usually use Spread betting just for the tax benefits and not the leverage.
Mr Smith @ 08/10/2019 04:24
IG is NOT an options trading platform. It is a spreadbetting / CFD platform. You can only take out CFDs or place spread bets with IG. You never actually own the options that the CFD or spread bet is based on. You are basically just betting on variations in the price of the option.
There are very few advantages to doing this. As option prices vary with the underlying, you may as well just bet on the underlying instead. Betting on the option instead just introduces another layer of complexity.
Saleem Akbar @ 05/09/2019 08:15
I have been with IG for many years, the main reason being I really like their charting software. However, since they have reduced leverage, after the European directive, their spreads have become even wider, probably to make up for the fact that one is forced to use smaller trade sizes. The worse thing currently about IG is the spreads that they apply to Indices and Equities. If they can reduce their spreads then I think it would be the best online broker for sure.
Nicos Dem @ 05/02/2019 12:15
Super satisfied from IG
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