IG Review 2026: Markets, Platforms & Global Broker Comparisons

Quick Verdict: IG Earns 8.8/10

IG earns 8.8/10 as one of the broadest locally regulated international trading groups in the GradTraders bank.

Its strongest feature is choice without assuming every product is the same. An eligible UK trader can research spread betting, CFDs or direct share dealing; a professional chart user can consider ProRealTime or L2 Dealer; a MetaTrader trader can use MT4 or MT5 on supported instruments. In the US, IG-related retail forex and brokerage businesses provide different products rather than a US version of UK spread betting.

But I wouldn’t buy every tool in that ecosystem. The IG MetaTrader 5 market list is narrower than the main IG platform, advanced ProRealTime charts have a monthly charge unless a rebate applies, and a small share CFD can be surprisingly expensive once the minimum commission is included. A trader who mainly wants efficient short-term index execution may find a better fit at Pepperstone, or—where personally eligible and accepting different protections—IC Markets.

Why IG Scores 8.8/10

I give IG considerable credit for the foundations of its business. Regulation scores 9.6/10, market coverage 9.5/10 and platform choice 9.4/10 in my assessment. Few brokers in the bank combine that degree of market breadth with a mature proprietary trading environment, specialist charting and separate investment or derivative routes where eligible.

IG’s pricing score of 8.1/10 reflects the need to consider spreads, commissions, financing and platform-specific charges together. Execution and practical reliability score 8.5/10, a determination not influenced by the access problems I experienced during my own time trading with IG more than 10 years ago. Support and account depth score 8.7/10: substantial infrastructure is valuable, but timely help matters most when you actually need it.

That balance produces an overall 8.8/10. IG is particularly compelling for people who want multiple markets, serious analysis tools and an established local trading route. For a narrowly defined forex strategy, an exchange-traded investment portfolio or a simpler investing app, you may want to look elsewhere.

Where IG Fits In The GradTraders Broker Bank

IG is not the cheapest of brokers; it does, though, have an envied history and trust amongst a loyal cohort of traders. Its advantage is that an eligible trader can combine deep market access, proprietary and specialist trading platforms and separate investment choices. The important comparisons below are therefore about the actual job the account must do.

The decision test: start with one actual market and the required product—UK spread bet, CFD, directly owned stock, or listed contract. Then compare the eligible legal entity, available platform, executed price, holding costs and protection. IG can be excellent for the right combination without being best for every single instrument.

What Is IG?

IG started in Britain in 1974 as a financial spread-betting business and has grown into a group with trading operations across several continents. Spread betting still matters for eligible UK clients, but it no longer defines the whole business. Across its local services, IG offers different combinations of CFDs, forex, investments and specialist trading products.

It’s important to distinguish a global business from a global account. A client of IG Europe in Germany, IG’s Australian business or IG Asia in Singapore won’t necessarily have the same markets, trading conditions or safeguards as somebody opening a UK spread-betting account. In the United States, group-associated brands including tastyfx and tastytrade provide separate forex and brokerage services. I see that variety as a strength, provided the reader chooses based on the actual account available.

My Experience Trading With IG

IG played an important part in the earliest days of my move away from paper trading to live trading. I had opened a Plus500 account in 2008, but IG soon caught my attention because some shares offered guaranteed stops with minimum distances of around 5% at a time when I was following companies with dividend yields reaching around 10% due to the global financial crisis triggered by the subprime mortgage crash. Much of my early trading centred on positions around ex-dividend dates, buying in the run-up and buying again after the ex-dividend date, when the index opened with the dividend deduction reflected in its price. In those days, I used a CFD account, and in some cases I would lose a position when its guaranteed stop was triggered but receive more from the dividend than I had lost on the position. Those risk controls and a wide selection of shares made IG a natural step for me.

As I developed and began trading beyond ex-dividend situations, however, the reliability of my access to the trading platform became a problem on occasions, particularly when trading during the quiet hours of the early morning. More than once, I had to telephone urgently to close a trade. That is not just irritating when you have money at risk; it can change the result of the position. I also incurred a significant loss when I was stopped out at a price I could not see on my other live accounts at the time. On many occasions, I witnessed spreads widen dramatically out of the blue, taking out positions. These issues, together with customer service I found unsympathetic and unhelpful, were the catalyst for my decision to move.

I moved to CMC Markets because I wanted a more dependable dealing environment and fewer problems. CMC had good reviews, offered competitive spreads, was FCA-regulated, and I liked the feel of its platform. CMC has subsequently served me well. I particularly like it for longer positions, including trades held over weekends. For shorter trades, I will sometimes use IC Markets, where the tighter spreads, lower margin requirements and higher leverage mean I don’t have to disturb large amounts of money deployed elsewhere. IC Markets doesn’t offer the FCA retail protection I have through CMC, and that’s a compromise I wouldn’t recommend others make, as the benefit of negative balance protection under FCA regulation is significant.

Don’t confuse my personal chronology with a current technical test of IG. As I’ve said, my experience is more than a decade old, and the bulk of its users’ experiences is overwhelmingly positive. IG has added TradingView connectivity, MT5 and other sophisticated choices since my earlier experience. A new customer could have a completely different experience of platform reliability. What my experience does establish is why account access, platform stability and the ability to reach a dealing desk deserve real weight alongside regulation, market range and pricing. IG’s practical-reliability score of 8.5/10 is a justified high score, and its many strengths add up to achieve that 8.8/10 overall rating.

There is a related point from my early ex-dividend trading worth understanding: as I understand it, IG restructured how it pays dividends and may now incorporate them into the position rather than pay them separately, as it once did. Regardless, when the market recovered, it proved to be a fun but fleeting profitable opportunity.

Trading Platforms: IG, MT4, MT5, TradingView, ProRealTime And L2 Dealer

9.4/10 — platform choice is a major strength. IG is no longer a one-platform proposition. The native interface, MetaTrader, TradingView, ProRealTime and L2 Dealer suit materially different workflows. The critical check is not just whether a platform appears on a group-wide list, but whether it supports your actual instrument, account route and country.

Market Coverage And Account Routes

9.5/10 — one of IG’s strongest categories. IG’s published UK trading materials advertise access to more than 15,000 markets, including indices, forex, commodities, share and ETF derivatives and specialist contracts. That is a useful measure of breadth, not a guarantee that every product is available to every client, platform or region.

That matters because a broker can be excellent for one product and limited elsewhere. IG’s practical value is its combination of leveraged trading, separate stock-investing services and eligible options or futures accounts inside a wider group. These are distinct products with different ownership, expiry, pricing and regulatory rules.

One especially important UK distinction: IG now offers a separate spot-crypto investment account for eligible UK clients. The customer has beneficial ownership of digital assets held through the Coinbase Prime partnership, but these crypto holdings do not receive ordinary FCA investment regulation, FSCS protection or the usual Financial Ombudsman coverage. UK retail crypto CFDs and crypto spread bets remain restricted. The spot account has its own eligibility checks and is not a way around the derivative restrictions. IG crypto eligibility and protections.

IG Costs: The Share Commission Test A Headline Spread Misses

IG is a broad trading and investing business, so it has several genuinely different ways to obtain exposure to a share. The costs of an underlying share investment, a share spread bet and a share CFD must not be rolled into one broker ‘spread’ number. Its September 2026 UK share-CFD schedule lists different online commission rates for FTSE 350 versus smaller UK shares, both with a £10 minimum per side.

Illustrative £5,000 exposure, assuming an opening and closing UK share CFD at the same notional value:

The example assumes no change in £5,000 notional value between opening and closing; actual commissions on a changed closing value can differ. It excludes the market bid/offer spread, overnight financing, short-borrow charges, currency conversion, slippage and taxes. This is a cost-structure illustration, not a prediction of execution prices. IG’s current investment-account help also explains that commission may change if the user selects manual rather than default instant FX conversion. A zero dealing commission is not a guarantee of a zero-cost investment.

For a trader who places frequent short-term index or forex trades I would compare IG’s actual dealing spread, minimum stake and funding with Pepperstone, and with IC Markets or FP Markets only where the client is eligible and understands different regulatory protections. For occasional trading, stronger tools or protection may justify a higher transaction cost; for hundreds of short trades, even a small recurring charge becomes material.

International Regulation And Account Protection: 9.6/10

IG scores 9.6/10 for regulation because it has longstanding, locally regulated operations in several major financial markets. That is an important distinction from a CFD broker marketing an international account through just one offshore entity. It doesn’t mean every IG customer has the same protections, though, and the product selection can be very different.

This is why I rate IG’s international presence highly. There are real locally regulated services behind the global name. But I would still begin with which company will hold my account and which markets it actually lets me trade—not assume the protections or products on the UK website apply elsewhere.

Account Access, Support And Reliability: My Practical Test

Regulatory strength and platform uptime are separate questions. IG’s international licences and large operating infrastructure are substantial advantages, but neither can guarantee that a particular trader will always be able to log in and close a position. That’s why my earlier experience of IG’s platform problems is relevant, even though it is historical and should not be passed off as a current outage report.

Before using an IG platform again for an important leveraged position, I would establish a fallback procedure: which telephone dealing route can close that exact product, what identity checks will be required, whether the order type is supported, and what a phone order would cost. An IG share CFD can carry a different minimum telephone commission from its online commission; access to a dealer is not automatically cost-free. IG’s UK share-CFD charges show those differences.

I would also separate withdrawal handling from live account availability. A tested withdrawal shows a payment process; it does not prove a platform will function during high volatility. I haven’t conducted a current live IG funding, withdrawal or uptime test, so I won’t suggest that my old experiences establish the service a new client receives in 2026.

The comparison with CMC is personal and specific: I moved because I needed more dependable access for the trading I was doing. CMC has provided that for me since. A different trader might prefer IG’s present ProRealTime, MetaTrader or L2 Dealer tools, and the sensible decision is to trial the actual eligible platform and know the account’s emergency-dealing route before taking serious risk.

Who Is IG Best For?

GradTraders Best Native Platform Choice: Plus500

IG Pros And Cons

Final Verdict: IG Earns 8.8/10

IG has a strong GradTraders score of 8.8/10. Don’t be put off my historical recollection of issues I encountered more than a decade ago. Its regulated international reach, range of markets and distinct platform choices make it one of the very best all-rounders in our 24-broker research bank.

A trader who wants an eligible UK spread bet, broad share-market access, professional charting and perhaps separate investments has good reason to look at IG. But they should check whether their chosen market actually works on the platform they intend to use: MT5 covers fewer instruments than IG’s main offering, and some advanced charting carries separate fees. Likewise, a seemingly small share CFD commission can become £20 or £35 round trip on the £5,000 examples above before financing or spread costs. Compare spreads and fees where they apply against competitors.

IG remains a very strong choice for an eligible trader who values market range, locally regulated routes and a wider toolkit. I would compare it with CMC for discretionary index trading, Pepperstone for UK automation or active forex, and Interactive Brokers or Saxo for direct listed-market investing. Its appeal is the range of meaningful account choices—not a claim that it will be the best or cheapest for every trade.