IG Group Review Of 2025

Trading Fees

A comparison of the leading forex brokers found the spread and commissions using Forex Direct (their ECN broker account) was in the ‘mid-range’ when it came to this trading brokerage.

1. Raw Account Spreads

If clients prefer to trade with No Dealing Desk Brokers, then IG offers direct market access trading execution. This type of trading means full market transparency and therefore tighter spreads.

ECN Forex Spread Comparison	EUR/USDAUD/USDAUD/JPYEUR/GBPEUR/JPY	EUR/USDAUD/USDAUD/JPYEUR/GBPEUR/JPY	EUR/USDAUD/USDAUD/JPYEUR/GBPEUR/JPY	EUR/USDAUD/USDAUD/JPYEUR/GBPEUR/JPY	EUR/USDAUD/USDAUD/JPYEUR/GBPEUR/JPY
	0.16	0.29	1.50	0.54	0.68
	0.10	0.30	0.50	0.30	0.60
	0.18	0.24	0.67	0.39	0.70
	0.06	0.23	0.49	0.30	0.59
	0.10	0.10	0.90	0.20	1.10
	0.10	0.20	0.60	0.30	1.00
	0.09	0.13	1.70	0.14	1.40
	0.30	0.40	0.50	0.50	0.50
	0.20	0.50	0.70	0.50	0.60
	0.20	0.40	0.60	0.50	0.70
	0.10	0.60	0.14	0.70	0.10
	0.10	0.50	0.70	0.60	0.40
	0.21	0.90	0.85	0.73	1.17

Avg. spreads are taken from each broker's website and updated monthly. Last update on 07/01/2025

The Forex direct account is also termed an ECN forex broker, as traders have direct market access with raw costs. This can help open up opportunities such as trading with FIX API. Overall, the spreads on this account tend to be higher than the standard average but also show decent ones on EUR/USD, USD/JPY, AUD/USD, EUR/GBP, and EUR/JPY.

2. Raw Account Commission Rate

This type of trading execution means commission fees are applied in place of a widened spread. IG uses tiered commissions, meaning the more you trade each month, the fewer clients will be charged each time they trade.  Unless you trade > 500 million, then commissions are high compared to what we found in the Pepperstone Review and IC Markets Review.

3. Standard Account Fees

When trading on the IG core platform, the standard spreads will vary depending on the currency pairing and market conditions.

Standard trading execution is a spread-only account, which means no commission costs. If you choose to use guaranteed stops (which ensure you can’t lose more on a trade than the amount set) then spreads will widen slightly. A glance at the table below indicates that spreads on most currency pairs are slightly above average.

4. Swap-Free Account Fees

Available to IG’s Dubai clients, this account is designed for Muslim traders as it has no swap fees or rolling fees.

5. Other Fees

There are fees to look out for when trading with IG:

• Deposits: $0; credit cards have a 0.5-1% charge
• Withdrawals: $0; $30 for international transfers
• Inactivity Fee: none

Verdict on IG Fees

Forex Direct has overall the lowest spreads , but commissions can be high for traders who have low volumes. For such traders, it’s recommended to view the list of the Best Forex Brokers In Australia or the Best Forex Brokers In UK. Otherwise, IG offers good value for high-volume traders.

Trading Platforms

IG offers a wide range of trading platform options that are superior to forex brokers across forex and CFDs including MetaTrade 4, TradingView, IG Trading Platform, and L2 Dealer.

The CompareForexBrokers team created a trading platform selector so you can work out what trading software best matches your trading needs. I recommend you complete the short 5 step questionnaire which will help you determine your most suitable forex platform.

Core Platform

Their most popular platform is their own ‘core platform’ which is browser-based spread betting and CFD web platform designed for on-the-go FX traders as no downloads are required. This is complemented with mobile apps (iOS and Android) for any device, including tablets, which integrate with the web-based platform.

There are several monitoring tools including the ability to set limits and stops to close out positions, the ability to ‘tear-off’ prices when you want to close the core platform and the option to have price alerts in the form of e-mails or an SMS when prices are reached. The platform is also complemented by an excellent suite of research tools and interactive charts equipped with a full range of technical indicators.

Numerous free tools and features are available with the core platform once you become an IG client, including streaming of Reuters news which is fully integrated with no delays. Autochartist is another feature that can monitor CFDs and currency markets, alerting clients as to opportunities based on chart patterns. Trading central is also available as a technical analysis tool, providing charting and daily e-mail updates about the financial markets.

IG Charts can be included for free to provide technical indicators and the ability to trade directly from charts. Another option is ProRealTime, which is an advanced charting tool, with a dedicated suite of features. This charting balance has monthly costs, but these are not charged when traders actively trade on the platform. Additionally, the IG platforms allow FX traders to create a watchlist with their preferred financial instruments to find them at their fingertips.

The most popular feature of the core platform is that it allows IG shares trading. This allows you to trade shares across stock exchanges in Australia, the USA, Ireland, Germany and the UK. The combined forex and share trading CFD accounts solution means that IG customers can benefit from an all-in-one financial services solution.

Three Specialist Platforms

For those that prefer to use more popular platforms compared to IG’s platform, three of the most popular options are available for forex trading. The absence of trading Apps is the only major disadvantage that comes with IG’s specialist platforms.

L2 Dealer

This platform allows an ECN forex broker trader experience with direct access to markets through IG’s Forex Direct, which means the broker doesn’t add any additional spreads on currency pairings. Instead, prices are quoted directly with liquidity and major providers with a flat commission placed on volume by IG. This platform is ideal for those forex traders who also want to trade shares worldwide through a CFD broker. As discussed earlier, L2 Dealer is the advanced choice for those looking to trade CFDs and also share trade.

Note* There are no mobile trading apps supported by the L2 Dealer platform.

ProRealTime

This platform is ideal for forex traders who specialise in automated trading. The platform allows traders to build strategies using their development tools, or you can code from scratch. Other options include functionality to import strategies from other traders or 3rd parties and back-test it across 30 years of data. There is no need to be active on the platform for the tool to trade on your behalf.

MetaTrader 4

This has been a new addition to IG based on the platform’s popularity and the fact most Australian forex brokers offer MT4. This platform’s popularity is due to the simplicity of the platform, the ability to customise it to your needs and its fast execution speeds. With the MetaTrader 4 platform, you have the advantage to trade forex currency pairs or spread betting on additional thousands of markets on the go with IG’s mobile trading applications.

The three advanced platforms and the core platform offer one of the Best Forex Demo Accounts. This allows forex traders to try the platforms risk-free and test out IG’s customer service to make sure it suits their needs before trading with real money.

Trading Platform Execution Speed

IG’s technology focuses on stability, speed, and achieving improved pricing within the forex trading market. IG’s pricing model is also able to fill 98.3% of their market orders within 0.014 seconds across all trading platforms, including the spread bets. At IG, retail investors can profit from consistent liquidity and advanced dealing options that ensure forex traders will always get the desired exchange rate with zero slippage on 89% of their trades.

The table below gives an in-depth view of IG’s slippage performance (based on data from Nov 2019).

To minimise slippage caused by delays, their systems have been built at scale achieving:

1. 25+ million orders
2. 40,000 daily users from desktop devices
3. 43,000 daily users from mobile devices

IG broker also source their forex market quotes directly from the world’s largest global exchanges and banks. In turbulent markets, their price improvement technology may give you a superior price to that quoted when available. This has resulted in 1.8 million points of positive slippage to clients, which is equivalent to nearly £3.3 million that were passed on to IG traders.

A real positive of IG is that, unlike many other forex online brokers, all their client’s funds are not used for hedging. This means that all funds which include net running, unrealised profits are held for their clients in the major banks which is above and beyond AFSL requirements. This combined with their technology has led them to win several awards, including the Online Personal Wealth Awards in 2015.

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Is IG Group Safe?

Regulation

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Established in 1974, IG Markets is trusted by over 178,500 worldwide retail investors. IG Group is subject to strict standards and operates under the norms imposed by tire-one regulatory bodies, including:

• Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK
• Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) in Australia
• Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) in South Africa
• Financial Markets Authority (FMA) in New Zealand
• National Futures Association (NFA) in the USA
• Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) in Europe (Germany/Austria)
• Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) in Switzerland

The table below outlines all the regulatory bodies that supervise IG trading activities.

Additionally, trading CFDs on IG.com come with extra peace of mind as IG broker also abides by the leading principles of the FX Global Code of Conduct. The online brokers that have signed the FX code created by the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) are required to offer a fair trading environment.

There are many locations such as Nigeria which are not covered by the regulator regions above. A trader can choose the entity they trade with (e.g. FSCA in South Africa) which determines factors such as the leverage available when forex trading.

Reputation

IG Group is a pioneer in the trading industry since 1974, with headquarters in London, UK. They are quite popular among traders with a monthly search volume of 2,000,000.

Reviews

On TrustPilot, they have a score of 3.9 out of 5 from 6,401 users.

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How Popular Is IG Group?

IG is one of the oldest and most respected forex brokers in the industry, having been founded in 1974 under the name IG Index. Given its long-standing presence, it’s no surprise that IG remains one of the most popular brokers in the world. Over the years, the company has operated under several names including IG Group, IG Markets, and more recently, simply IG.

Originally, IG Index was launched to give retail clients the ability to speculate on gold prices through spread betting — a product the company is widely credited with inventing. IG also became one of the first brokers (if not the very first) to offer Contracts for Difference (CFDs) in the early 1990s, further opening access to global markets for individual traders. While the name IG originally stood for “Investors Gold,” the company has come a long way since then and now offers access to over 17,000 markets across forex, indices, shares, commodities, and more.

The company is headquartered in London, is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. In 2024, IG had a market valuation of £3.4 billion.

As of May 2024, IG reported having 346,200 active clients. This broad client base reflects IG’s global footprint, with operations spanning five continents, including key markets such as the UK, Australia, the US (where it operates under the name Tastytrade), Singapore, New Zealand, and throughout Europe.

In terms of online visibility, IG receives around 97,080 Google searches per month, ranking it as the 21st most popular forex broker based on 2024 data. Similarweb figures from February 2024 show a similar trend, placing IG as the 5th most visited broker globally, with 9,438,000 website visits in that month alone.

Country	2024 Monthly Searches
France	14,800
Italy	8,100
Australia	6,600
Germany	5,400
Hong Kong	5,400
India	4,400
Sweden	3,600
United Kingdom	2,900
United States	2,900
South Africa	2,400
Pakistan	1,000
Singapore	1,000
Saudi Arabia	1,000
Malaysia	480
Netherlands	480
Taiwan	480
Austria	480
Thailand	320
Canada	320
Switzerland	320
Turkey	320
Portugal	320
Vietnam	260
United Arab Emirates	260
Morocco	260
Brazil	170
New Zealand	170
Japan	140
Greece	140
Spain	110
Indonesia	110
Nigeria	90
Poland	90
Kenya	90
Mexico	90
Philippines	90
Algeria	90
Ireland	90
Colombia	70
Cyprus	70
Bangladesh	50
Peru	50
Egypt	50
Argentina	50
Chile	50
Sri Lanka	40
Dominican Republic	30
Mauritius	30
Cambodia	30
Ecuador	20
Ghana	20
Jordan	20
Tanzania	20
Botswana	20
Uzbekistan	10
Mongolia	10
Ethiopia	10
Uganda	10
Venezuela	10
Costa Rica	10
Bolivia	10
Panama	10

2024 Average Monthly Branded Searches By Country

France	14,800 1st
Italy	8,100 2nd
Australia	6,600 3rd
Germany	5,400 4th
Hong Kong	5,400 5th
India	4,400 6th
Sweden	3,600 7th
United Kingdom	2,900 8th
United States	2,900 9th
South Africa	2,400 10th

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Deposit and Withdrawal

What is the minimum deposit at IG Group?

IG doesn’t have any minimum requirements to open an account however there are minimum deposit requirements to fund your account. Most regions give you a choice of a debit card, credit card, PayPal or Bank Wire for deposits.

Account Base Currencies

IG offers these account base currency options: USD, SGD, EUR, AUD, HKD, and GBP.

Deposit Options and Fees

IG Group charges no deposit fees for any payment method. A diverse range of funding methods is available, including Visa and Mastercard debit and credit cards, Wise, PayPal, and crypto such as Bitcoin or Ethereum.

Withdrawal Options and Fees

IG also charges no withdrawal fees. The minimum amount to withdraw will depend on your account’s currency denomination. You can withdraw a maximum of $25,000 daily, which will be processed from 2 to 5 days.

Bank wire transfers are usually processed from 1 to 3 days, with no withdrawal limits.

Ease To Open An Account

The process of opening an IG account was smooth and hassle-free. There was no minimum deposit for bank transfers. However, it took around 3 business days for our account to be verified.

Product Range

CFDs

IG is one of the few forex brokers that offer domestic and international share trading in addition to CFD trading. The only other brokers we have covered that do this are CMC Markets, Trading 212, ThinkMarkets (in Australia and South Africa), and BlackBull Markets. What is unique about IG share trading is that a trader can use the same platform for both currency and stockbroking services. Below highlights a few key features of IG share trading.

When trading in shares, IG clients can trade shares the following way

• Shares CFD
• Shares Spread Betting (UK clients only)
• Share Trading (the UK and Australian clients only)

When trading shares CFD and spread betting, clients can profit off the stock’s price movements with a small margin invested. With this type of trading, clients do not take actual ownership of the stocks. Australia and clients in the UK have the option of Share trading, which gives them shareholders rights as they have ownership of the company’s stocks, which they can later sell for profit.  Australian’s and UK traders wanting to trade shares will need a Share dealing account.

1) Stock Exchanges Available

IG share trading gives access to 12,000+ shares from global stock exchanges including the ASX, DOW, NASDAQ and London Stock Exchange. Across these major exchanges, you can start trading not only large companies such as those listed on the S&P 500 can be traded but also many small caps. An IG share trading account has some limitations on stock exchanges such as Germany and Ireland, where only large companies can be traded.

2) Share Trading Fees

Brokerage will depend on if you are trading CFDs or Stocks along with the stock exchange traded as shown in the table below.

Shares CFD fees

CFD trading of stocks requires less upfront capital than Stock trading. CFDs are a leveraged instrument, so only the margin needs to be invested to gain full exposure to the trade.  Over 17000 markets are available for trade. Below lists the costs when CFD trading.

Share Trading

IG’s client’s clients can choose from the following markets

• UK: FTSE 100, FTSE 250 and more
• US: S&P 500, NASDAQ 100 and more
• Australia: ASX, S&P 300
• Germany: DAX, HDAX, MDAX
• Austria: ATX, WBI
• Ireland: ISEQ
• Belgium: BEL 20
• Netherlands: AEX

One unusual feature available to UK traders is the ability to buy US stocks out of hours.

Below lists the costs when trading stocks

Note: Fees are higher when trading by phone, and there are also currency conversion fees for overseas share trading. IG will convert the currency at the time of trade based on the best available exchange rate, plus a spread of 0.5% for UK traders and 0.7% for Australian traders.

Shares Spread Betting

If you choose to spread bet, then you should expect a minimum spread of 010%. Spread betting has the lowest costs of CFD, Shares, however, is the riskiest method of investment.

Share Trading Accounts

To enable stockbroking, it’s important to pick a suitable platform when selecting the share trading account. This is discussed trading platforms section, but in summary, there are two options:

1. Core Platform
2. L2 Dealer

Selecting either platform during the share trading account sign-up will allow a combination of stockbroking and CFD trading with IG. There is also a market access DMA account to gain direct market prices while paying an extra commission. Overall, most Australian forex brokers do not offer stockbroking services and rather focus on CFD trading. The IG share trading and CMC Markets are presently the larger retail foreign exchange brokers offering these range-of-markets which has led to their popularity over the past decade.

Customer Service

IG offer locally based customer service 24 hours a day from Monday to Friday. The IG Group also supports customer service if a trader is overseas. IG offers support over the phone, via e-mail, or even through their handle on Twitter. An investment trends report found IG has strong customer support but was awarded the winner in 2015, 2016 and 2017 to Pepperstone. To reach the full Pepperstone report including these awards.

Research and Education

While customer service may not be the best in the industry, they do have a solid training offering. This includes free in-person seminar which is also held live through webinars. They also have a free IG academy app that covers all sorts of topics related to trading such as how to manage trading risks and how to use trading indicators.

Additionally, the IG community offers an open social trading network that allows retail traders to interact with each other and learn from experienced traders.

Final Verdict on IG Group

If you’re in the market for a reliable online broker, IG is an excellent choice for both seasoned traders and those just starting out. Whether you’re trading forex or diversifying into other major asset classes, you’ll appreciate IG’s competitive spreads, extensive range of tradable assets and investment products, and the wealth of in-house research and market updates they offer. The trading platform is feature-rich but remains user-friendly, making it accessible for everyone.

With over 50 years of experience in the financial services industry and a strong reputation as a highly regulated company, IG provides everything you need to access global markets, whether you’re an individual investor or part of a corporate team.