IG Review – Are They Safe or a Scam?

One of the best things a trading platform can offer new users is a free demo environment where newcomers can freely explore the user interface and dynamics of trading without risking their money. Our IG review team ranks the demo amongst the best in the industry and you can compare it in our PrimeXBT review. IG’s demo trading account allows users to jump right in and trade in a simulated forex market environment. Simply enter your personal details such as name, email address, contact number, country of residence and agree to the terms of their access policy to instantly create your very own demo account.

Our IG review found that users are treated to a virtual balance of $10,000 and access to over 80 FX trading pairs in IG’s simulated market. This is a great opportunity to familiarise yourself with IG’s interface, trading and risk management tools. Getting a live account is just as easy. First, you fill in a simple form with questions regarding your trading experience. After entering your bank or card details, simply deposit your funds to start trading.

IG offers a very clean, minimalistic user interface that users will find easy and intuitive to navigate. You will find the iconic red IG banner on top of every page that redirects you back to the home page and a search bar right below it to quickly access any part of the site. It just takes a couple of clicks to open, close or edit your positions. The panel to the left of your screen allows you to seamlessly navigate between different markets such as cryptocurrencies, ETFs, shares, commodities, etc. You can customize this panel by creating your own watchlists of categories that you would like to check on frequently. Below your watchlists you will see any positions or orders you have opened and notification tags on these icons draw attention to any new developments.

Similar to our Interactive Brokers review, the trade interface takes up the majority of screen space which enhances the immersive trading experience, allowing users to take full advantage of the onboard technical analysis and risk management tools. Our IG review team also highly recommends the associated IG mobile trading app which is perfect for users on the go.

Our IG review found that the platform provides anyone interested the chance to open a demo account. However, this only scratches the surface as IG has so much more to offer. Below, we cover the three account types which our readers should be aware of.

The first and most popular account type for beginner and intermediate traders is the live retail account. This allows users access to over 17,000 markets including US, UK and other international markets. You can trade foreign exchange, shares, CFDs and more. The variety and depth of services of this account type is vast and will prove more than sufficient for interested customers. Unfortunately, crypto trading is not available for these users.

Some users may seek wider exposure to international markets and, if so, IG has them covered. By opening an international trading account at IG you gain additional access to thousands of global markets and expert local support, as well as additional funding avenues and competitive spreads. This account type is a must for professional users who wish to trade cryptocurrency CFDs.

The third account type is tailored to professional traders and therefore not all users are eligible to use this service as there is a much higher degree of risk involved in the features offered in this account type. These users must have a sufficiently large cash deposit and have a track record of significantly sized leverage transactions over the last quarter. Pro users forgo some retail investor protections such as ‘no negative balance protection’ meaning it is possible to lose more than is deposited into your account. Pro features include cash rebates, collateral services on your shares and greater flexibility on margin trading.

While conducting our IG reviews, our team had nothing but praise for IG’s online trading platform. If you take a look at any customer review board and you will find that it is overwhelmingly positive. This is the type of quality one can expect from a company that has been putting customer satisfaction first since their founding in 1974.

The platform boasts 28 technical indicators and 19 drawing tools for charting analytics. More advanced charters can utilize the free third party software packages supported by IG such as ProRealTime, MT4 and APIs to access an even greater variety of tools. With IG’s signal technology you can improve your trade-timing, be alerted by IG so you do not miss the buying opportunity during the next IG crypto dip.

Readers of our IG review will be shocked by the lightning quick average execution speed of 0.014 seconds. This is very impressive considering the massive volume of 7 million monthly orders they process. IG furthermore offers a multitude of webinars, tutorials and walkthroughs to help users get acquainted with their platform and to get the most out of all the features they have to offer. This is fairly common as you might have seen in our IQ Option review. If you are a beginner at trading, IG’s platform with its academy and educational resources is the ideal environment to hone these skills.

Our IG review team found associated costs to be on the lower end of the spectrum compared to the competition. Users can expect a minimum initial deposit of $250 to start trading with the live account which is nearly half the industry standard. Payment methods for depositing funds include debit and credit cards as well as PayPal.

These methods tend to reflect the transaction instantly, whereas alternative methods such as bank transfer generally take a few days. Maximum daily deposits are $99,999 on debit cards with zero deposit fees and $30,000 maximum daily deposit on credit cards with a 1% deposit fee. Deposits from a third-party such as PayPal may have differing deposit rates.

There are also no withdrawal fees charged by IG. You can withdraw your funds at any point using the same channels as discussed for deposits above. The maximum amount users can withdraw from their account per day is unlimited with a bank transfer and $20,000 with a card. We are pleased to share with the readers of this IG review that this platform has some of the lowest commission fees in the entire industry. Zero commission fees on US shares and only 0.5% on foreign exchange conversion. The IG experience and rating rewards its loyal users by lowering the fees the more regularly you trade.

IG has built its reputation on being a platform for the people, enabling everyday users to partake in a financial system once reserved for a select few. IG is dedicated to offering the best treatment to all their clients and our expert team could see it. Our IG review scoured forums and review boards to get a feel for the sentiment of IG’s customer service and it is always overwhelmingly positive. We received quick and clear feedback on our queries, which left them wondering why it couldn’t always be as simple.

For most queries, the IG website has a large database of frequently asked questions that will prove sufficient to overcome most issues you may encounter but there if further assistance is required there are a number of channels users can use. You can contact IG by email, telephone and online website chat and we have found that the IG support team is also very active on Twitter. Feel free to contact the friendly support agents on any of these channels and they will help you swiftly.

Compared to our Libertex review, support agents can be contacted directly between 8am on Saturdays and 10pm on Fridays. The agents are kind, responsive, and well equipped to assist with general questions and highly technical issues. Another nice feature is due to IG’s international reach servicing clients in multiple countries they are able to offer customer service in multiple languages.

IG has experienced tremendous growth due to their ability to adapt to new technology. Our IG review covered the introduction and support for cryptocurrencies on their platform. To some, this move serves as testament of IG’s innovation and their desire to meet the needs of their clients. To others, this might be concerning as the general opinion towards cryptocurrencies is quite split. Regardless, we browsed through the specifics of their service to determine what regulations were in place with the provider.

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IG has been a trusted broker for over 40 years that is publicly traded and fully regulated in six tier 1 jurisdictions. IG’s international status requires them to comply with regulatory frameworks in multiple jurisdictions, each with a unique set of rules and IG has passed the regulatory litmus test in all of them. In the US, IG is registered at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as a retail foreign exchange dealer (FTED) and introducing broker (IB) and a member of the National Futures Association (NFA).

Our IG review readers should also be aware of IG’s deposit insurance policy. IG protects the ownership of their retail clients’ deposits by placing the funds in separate accounts at various highly regarded regulated banks which are subject to trustee agreements. This means you retain ownership of your funds, if IG were hypothetically liquidated your funds would be returned, minus an administration fee.

In this section our IG review team lists a few additional features worth noting before sharing our final conclusion. IG takes security very seriously. They utilize the industry standard 256-bit secure sockets layer encryption to protect your financial transactions. This is the same technology employed by the likes of PayPal and eBay so you can rest assured that your funds and privacy are beyond the reach of bad actors.

IG offers strong and effective risk management tools like stop and limit orders to help clients protect their capital. The resources on their website include tutorials, webinars and an academy to teach you how to effectively use these techniques. With the introduction of IG’s progressive web app, users can access the IG trading platform from any device with a web browser and internet connection. This removes the need to download the app from the third-party app store.