An organic search of the CFDs brokerage firm, IG, renders a relatively positive opinion about it. It is seen as safe by a number of online traders primarily because its stature as a firm listed over at the Stock Exchange. IG makes the details of its financial activities known to the public with these being regulated by well-known financial regulators.
This broker review is a result of months spent with IG. The review team had looked into the various offers and services that the broker avails its clients. The team had signed up for IG in order to use all the trading instruments and implements that allow for the supposed “good trading conditions” that the firm offers.
It must be noted however, that trading CFDs, by nature, is complex, something that IG foregrounds in its website. This is something that is not far from reality given the behaviour of the market. What this telegraphs is that while the legitimacy of the broker should be noted prior to delving into trades, fact of the matter is, the success or failure of trading endeavours is wholly reliant on how the trader would position himself or herself.
This review goes into detail regarding the following facets:
- Regulation
- Trading Account and Trading Instruments
- Trading Platform
- Customer Support
- Fee Structures
About IG: Founding and Regulation
Established back in 1974 in the United Kingdom, IG is considered one of the biggest CFD brokers across the globe. Internationally, the firm is regulated by the two leading financial authorities, namely, U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin).
Offers and Services
Trading Accounts and Trading Instruments
The availability of Trading Accounts depends on the trader’s country of residence. For example, for the trading instruments, Forex, CFD, and Options, only the following countries are eligible: Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, and Sweden
For Stocks, Forex, and CFDs, only the United Kingdom, Ireland, Malta, Cyprus, Australia + a number of smaller nations, like Gibraltar, the British Virgin Islands, and the like are eligible.
Traders from the United States are only allowed to trade Forex Currency pairs through IG.
Opening an account with IG is easy and is done through an entirely digital process. The whole registration process only takes 5-10 minutes. Verification on the other hand, takes 3 days.
The following steps should be followed in opening an account with IG:
- Entering of the client’s name, email address, country of residence and selection of the account type
- Provision of a number of personal details such as birth date and address
- Answering of a few questions regarding the client’s financial and employment status
- Provision of information regarding the clients’ financial knowledge and filling out of a short test
- Verification of the user’s ID and residency. The client can upload a national ID, passport, and the like to verify identification. Utility and other bank statements are already accepted as documents for verification.
Trading Platforms
IG’s trading platform is available through the worldwide web. Agreeing much to what online testimonies say about the web trading platform, the review team had found it to be designed intelligently, highly-intuitive, and can be easily customized.
The IG trading platform also makes a number of educational tools available to its clients. Funding and withdrawals through the firm is also easy compared to its direct competitors.
What turned the review team off are the high stock CFD fees that IG imposes. On top of that, the firm offers limited product portfolio.
Customer Support
Probably what comes off as a major point against the firm is its customer support. Asking for responses from the team through email and chat is a frustrating affair.
IG’s Customer Support team rarely answers in an expedient manner. This is somewhat of a big deal given that trading on CFDs is high-risk, hence requiring great assistance. The absence of a speedy client support system is seen by the review team as something unbecoming for a brokerage that offers a highly-sensitive trading instruments.
Fee Structures
Apart from the steep stock CFD fees, the other fee structures that IG offers are worthy of note. One of the things that the review team had found pleasant in that IG does not charge for withdrawals. And while the stock CFD trading fees are admittedly high, its stock index CFD trading fees are at a low.
The following fees stand within IG’s overall scheme:
S&P 500 – the fees are built into spreads. During peak hours, the average spread cost is pegged at 0.4.
Europe 50 CFD – as with the previous asset, the fees are built into spreads. The peak hours sees 1.5 as the average spread cost.
EUR/USD – 0.5 pips is the average spread cost upon peak hours
IG also charges for inactivity. A total of $12 every month is charged for inactivity once it hits a period of two years.
Trading With IG
Given the points discussed through this review, the services and offers availed to the common IG user are inviting and completely beneficial to the building of a strong investment portfolio.
The only things that the review team had noticed to not be enticing are the high costs for the stock CFD fees and the poor customer support. Once the brokerage addresses and resolves these issues, it is highly to be one of the most promising CFDs broker in the market.