Trading involves risk. Not financial advice.
- Published
- Maker
- IG Group
- Price
- No minimum deposit by bank transfer
- Tested by
- The Spreadcraft Test Desk
- Reading time
- 4 min
- Primary source
- IG Group
IG review: is the biggest listed CFD broker worth the premium?
IG has traded since 1974, sits in the FTSE 250 and offers 17,000+ markets, but its 0.6 point EUR/USD spread is only a minimum. We weighed safety and range against real cost.
IG earns its place for traders who put safety, market range and a long regulatory record ahead of the last fraction of a pip. Its 0.6 point EUR/USD figure is a minimum, and real average costs run higher than a Razor-style account for most sessions, which hurts scalpers first. Choose it for breadth and stability, and skip it if price per lot is your only test.
- Best for
- Traders who want a listed, heavily regulated broker with wide market choice
- Price
- No minimum deposit by bank transfer
- Maker
- IG Group
What works
- Listed on the London market since the 1970s with a long regulatory record
- 17,000+ markets including FX, indices, shares, commodities and crypto CFDs
- Free demo account and its own web platform, plus MT4, MT5 and TradingView
- No minimum deposit by bank transfer and a volume rebate for busy traders
What does not
- The 0.6 point EUR/USD spread is a minimum, and averages run wider
- Bank transfers can take days, so card deposits are the quick route in
- Crypto CFD menu is narrow next to a real exchange and holds no coins
Specs
- Markets
- 17,000+ across FX, indices, shares, commodities, crypto CFDs
- FX pairs
- 68 forex pairs
- EUR/USD spread
- 0.6 points minimum, spread-only pricing
- Spot gold spread
- 0.3 points minimum (IG commodities page)
- Retail leverage
- 1:200 on FX and indices, 1:10 on shares and crypto (international entity)
- Platforms
- IG web platform, mobile app, MT4, MT5, TradingView, ProRealTime
- Regulators
- FCA, ASIC, BaFin, MAS, FINMA, CFTC/NFA and others, by entity
- UK compensation
- FSCS up to £85,000 for eligible UK clients
- Founded
- 1974, London
A raw-spread broker will often beat IG on the average price of a EUR/USD lot. So why does IG keep coming up when readers ask us which broker is safest? Because the trade-off is real, and cost is only half of it.
The spread is a floor, not a promise
IG quotes a 0.6 point minimum on EUR/USD with no separate commission, and 0.3 points on gold. The word that matters is minimum. A Razor-style account at about 0.2 pips plus $7 of commission per lot costs roughly 0.9 pips all in at its tightest, so IG's floor looks competitive on paper. The trouble is that a spread-only price is where the broker keeps its margin, and it widens when volatility rises. Independent tests we found publish minimums far more readily than averages, so treat 0.6 as the best case and budget for more.
That is why the honest comparison is at your trading times, not at the headline. A trader who deals at the London open will see something close to the quoted figure. Someone who trades the Asian lull or a data release will pay more, and a raw-spread account will usually pay less.
What you get for it is scale. IG lists more than 17,000 markets on its CFD page: 68 forex pairs, over 100 indices, more than 10,000 share CFDs, 47 commodities and a handful of crypto CFDs. A trader who wants to hedge a EUR position with a Bund future, or trade a US earnings gap the next day, will find both in one login.
Leverage for retail clients on this international page is 1:200 on FX and indices, and 1:10 on shares and crypto. Those limits are lower on some IG entities, so the number you see depends on where you live.
The rebate that narrows the gap
There is a lever most reviews skip. IG runs a volume-based rebate programme that returns part of the spread to active traders.
The page frames it as rebates on spreads for those who trade often, which is a signal that the base spread leaves room to give some back. We would not build a strategy on it, since qualifying volume is high and the terms change, but it means the sticker spread is not the final word for a heavy user. Read the current thresholds before assuming it applies to you.
