Much better nowadays than they used to be many years ago.
UPDATE: Spring 2013 - IG have recently & substantially increased their bet size minimums, for a great number of popular instruments; as a result of which, I would now recommend IG Index as being a far more appropriate choice for very well funded and experienced clients. Those new to spreadbetting, or with account sizes between a few hundred and a few thousand, really ought to open an account with at least one other spread bet company instead. Having said that, Please DYOR! & here follows my original review.
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Due to the vastly increased competition since just before the early 2000's when I first joined Ig Index, I do believe that they have in the past few years finally got their act together. That is, they are now a spread bet company which I would at last very much recommend. Over a decade ago, when I'd first joined, they were nowhere near as professional in their dealings with customers: All kinds of shenanigans occurred in earlier days as you can most surely read from the other reviews. In fact, because I despised the way they messed around in the late nineties and early 2000's, with stops etc., I used to be primarily a customer of CMC spreadbet; however, since CMC dropped futures bets in oil and gold, I've decided to re-try Ig Index again - a year or so ago, after a long break. And, I'm very pleased to say that in the past year they've been an excellent company with whom to spread bet. Indeed, they used to be scoundrels who'd fleece you on stops etc., but all that has seemed to change recently - again I'm sure that industry competition has forced them to clean up their act. They have quite possibly one of the widest range of instruments available. Their trading platform works wonderfully, and I particularly love their text message alerts for market prices - whereby you can set the prices you wish to be alerted of, and when they hit, your phone will tell you, courtesy of Ig Index. Brilliant - now that's something which is very useful that many other firms have yet to offer! Their spreads are, at last, often market leading. What's more, I've not experienced any issues with stop hunting - beyond that which ordinarily has occurred in the wider markets. Also they've recently introduced a 'price improvement' policy, which I can verify does work, of often giving clients a better fill price in a fast moving market. Now that's a very welcome policy! All in all, I am (at last!) a happy customer of Ig Index and I would most truthfully highly recommend them (but please do note that it's wise to have more than one spread betting account) whatever your experience of spread betting is. Lastly, I'm sorry to say that I can't say the same of CMC any more...