IG Markets Review 2023

The IG Group is a spread betting & CFD trading company that launched in the UK in 1974. Since then, the company has grown to now have 320,000+ clients worldwide, offices in 17 countries across 5 continents, and over 1,600 staff. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange (ticker: IGG) and is part of the FTSE 250.

IG are probably the most well-known CFD broker in the world. From humble beginning’s in the 1970’s, IG is now the longest-established CFD broker around the world. Furthermore, IG is not only recognised as one of the largest CFD providers, but it is also a leading FX broker. It is therefore important that we review IG’s business offering as we are quite certain you will come across them in your search to find a CFD broker.

Spreads not competitive
If you compare IG’s spreads, particularly some of Index spreads, to some of their competitors (like TD365) then you’ll see that there are some much cheaper options out there if you are a price-conscious trader.

Good but there are better brokers (in our opinion)
The CFD industry is extremely saturated and competitive. IG is the largest, most used CFD broker in the world. But that doesn’t mean they are the best – it just means they’re the biggest! Shop around because they are some better options: City Index, TD365 and Pepperstone are 3 brokers that offer better value for money and slicker trading platforms. You can compare these brokers below.

Variable spreads
Variable spreads are ok until market volatility appears and the spreads widen significantly (costing you more to trade). IG offer variable spreads and while they quote “low spreads” and “FX spreads from 0.6 pips” the reality is, you will hardly ever gets spreads that low. Fixed spreads are much more preferable. You can see the key differences between fixed and variable spreads here.

Customer support
IG’s customer support could be better – they appear to ignore clients when it suits them and have a “the client is always wrong” approach at times.

IG Markets is probably most suited to traders looking for a wide-range of instruments to trade (they offer over 15,000!). Most other brokers will offer the most popular trading instruments, but IG offer additional markets like bonds, interest rates, binary options, ETFs and ETPs.

Trading with IG will also give you the comfort in knowing you are doing business with the world’s largest CFD broker. They have been in business for 40+ years, making them the longest-established CFD broker going round. IG also offer a traditional share trading account, in addition to CFD and FX trading accounts.

On the downside, IG are not the cheapest broker going around. So, if you’re looking for a low-cost broker, we’d recommend going to TD365 who are one of the cheapest CFD brokers in the world.