IG (CFDs) Reviews

when I joined IG I was advised by alway so alway use a stop loss in case there is another meltdown. Why would they want to malosses money of such a scenario was to occur? so I placed a couple of orders and it clear they hunt people's stop losses. Ten point dips on non farms day before 13:30 on trades that had been rising all day and bated no correlation to prices from other sources. Unable to exit plotions and told it was my top of the range mac and fibre broadband connection running much morcomplex software than IG for my day job as a music producer. Quit them with a ltitle product but thsituation made me realuse trading is not for me. I won't be putting my hard earned cash at the mercy of glorified call centre staff telling me its my Internet that is slowing things (like we are in 1993 again) stay away from these char characters mine buy shares properly without margin if you can.

IG have a much wider range of products to trade than most, for example they run the US Russell 2000 out of hours. They offer pretty much every UK share and most US ones. Spreads are good in hours, poor out of hours like most brokers (Dow 30 out of hours is 8pts - terrible). Helpdesk response is fast and professional. Only three niggles

a. you can't search on ticker like you can on most CFD sites
b. if you do a large deal, or low liquidity deal, you get a "Order gone to our dealing desk" message, and unlike Barclays CFD, there is no cancel button.
c. Withdrawal of funds always takes 3 banking days. Come on, IG, who are you fooling. BACS has been same-day for two years now.

Nevertheless, I like the fact they are FTSE-quoted and profitable, and will continue to use them as my primary CFD broker.

Their spreads aren't really that competitive, there are much better options out there, CMC e.g has much better spreads.
Nevertheless, I chose them and was happy for a while, until som weird things started to happen.
During news hours, their platform is extremely unstable and it is virtually useless trading during momentum moves.
However, even that didn't make me want to leave them. But the following is making me very close to abandon them:
I had short position opened and wanted to hedge by opening long positions. So I try to enter a limit order to open, but I get an error message. I try a second time, same error, third time same error. I give up and close the order window and see that the Trader had closed my short positions, for whatever reason.
I email them and tell them the circumstances, and they tell me in the email, paraphrasing now, you did wrong, we are right, we can't do anything.
So I call them and they decide to help me and restore my positions and tell me that they normally don't do this and that they will not help me again should the same problem occur.
Well, this happened again, the very next day.
Their software contains bugs, but they will not take responsibility for faulty trades caused by their faulty software which which do not behave as they market it. Since the application does not behave as they tell me it will, they should take responsibility for it. But they don't care.
So IG Markets, will you answer my emails anytime soon? I think it is very impolite to just ignore a lojal customer. But I see no other option to look elsewhere, you business isn't clean anymore.
CMC has never given me any problem whatsoever (ironic since many complain of them) Flawless, really, more than I can say for IG Markets which is turning out to be a nightmare.

I use IG Markets for FX
Crap, clunky charts. If I scale out, my trendlines often move
Time and sales window for those who trade CFD's (with L2 dealer) is of no use, they don't differentiate between buying and selling
Moving averages are of no use, not the ones you want. I gave up using them but I shouldn't have had to.
Worst thing is if you trade FX, 4hr and day candles should start at the beginning of the Asian session, not at 12.01 GMT, like IG's do. This gives you a false perspective of demand and supply based on candlestick patterns. If you are new to trading, this is absolutely crucial to trading successfully.
Not able to get trades filled on the breakout of news and often miss them and big moves if you do trade news
Occasional slowdown of software preventing closing of positions, often when in profit. This has just happened to me again, I am fed up with IG and has prompted me to write this review. Was scalping for a few pips, got it, tried to close, unable to, price went against me and had to close at a loss. This has happened before, I had previously phoned up to query this and was told that it was my connection. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't, I do know however that everything else that was running on my pc was working just fine.
These are just some of the problems that spring to mind right now. I have been using this platform for a year now, in short, my opinion is that every aspect on this platform is subtedly designed to take your money
On the plus, their customer service is excellent, but then again they can afford to be...
And another thing, I have had to start using charts from another source as IG's are no good, recently I have noticed a small difference between the currency value on my free charts and IG's which is often 1/2 pips away... on top of the spread this can put you at a 4 pip disadvantage immediately

Pros :

wide range of markets , thousands of shares , indices , commodities , forex , LME metals ( CFD ) and options .

Fast execution .

Stable platform plus mobile trading and phone dealing is available .

Excellent customer service .

Recently lowered their spreads .

Innovative : always there is new products and upgrades .

Direct access trading available for stocks with puredeal platform and L2dealer software .

Professional spot forex trading with tier 1 banks available with L2dealer software .

Better fills : if price moved against you when you use market order you get filled at the new improved price , and if price went your way your market order get rejected and you dont get slippage ( although this could be a problem at some point ) .

Ladder trading for stocks available with L2dealer software .

IG is a FTSE250 comapny with a strong cash and great performance .

Good advanced charts and dealing on charts are available .

Guaranteed stops .

Cons :

High commissions for stocks DMA trading and high minimums , ie : 2 cents per side for US stocks with a minimum commission of 15 $ even if the stock price is few dollars only . UK shares 0.1% per side .

High commission for FX spot L2 dealing : 30$ for 1 M $ per side with a minimum of 30 $ . ( there is a discount for high volume trading ) .

Real automated trading is not available .

High leverage offered by IG and binaries could be a distraction for the un experienced trader .

Charges 1.5% for credit card deposits and refunds .

- Professional, courteous and helpful customer service.
- Very wide range of products compared to other spreadbetting firms I have used.
- Good user interface.
- Trades usually go through quickly.

Only drawback is you have to pay 40 a month for the advanced charting package.

Overall rating: 8.5 out of 10.

I have only been trading with IG Index for a few months now, but to sum it all up:

Platform: Simple, easy to use.

Customer Service: Seem more than willing to help any situation, from new trader to more experienced queries. Will always answer the phone within a few seconds !!

Webinars: Breaks down pretty much all areas of knowledge into easy doses.

Website: Regular market news, reviews, analysis and very easy to navigate.

IG uses a web based platform for trading CFDs, the advantage of this is that you can trade your account any computer in the world that has internet access.

Although i do find the platform to be sluggish on many computers.

Charts are OK, they make you pay extra for advanced charting.

Range of markets is quite good (FX, stocks, indices, commodities)

The range of orders you can make is somewhat limited, you can set all basic orders but can't do if-done orders and more advanced chain orders.

Also because each instrument is traded in a different currency with different lot sizes, it requires some getting used to and a few calculators/spreadsheets to work out your position sizing.

Avoid the binary bets these are a nightmare designed to trap traders who are inclined to gamble.

Worth a look if you want to trade stocks/indices over CFD. Decent spreads.

I have been using IG for 2 years. Platform works well and I trust them. The stop loss and limit settings a breeze. The binaries could be a bit confusing for a beginner BUT once mastered it's very easy. I can recommend then anytime. Support was very good when I required information.

Platform looks really nice.. a pleasant way to trade, simple and effective.. but..

Platform would not work properly on my rig, and they are ultimately part of a spreadbetting firm so the trust is reduced... I thought the inclusion of Binary bets on this platform a complete distraction and unnecessary option so I decided to close my account and go for a serious platform provider.. Im here to make money.. not to lose it on fairground attractions with shining lights...