IG Markets Review UK 2026 (FCA Regulated)

IG Markets scores 80/100 in our testing. This review is based on a live UK account, opened at the broker's FCA-authorised entity, funded in GBP and traded. The EUR/USD, GBP/USD and EUR/GBP spread figures shown are modal values recorded on that account across three trading days in July 2026.

IG Markets is the broadest and most established name in this UK set, with the longest UK regulatory track record of any broker here. IG Markets Limited is FCA-authorised, FRN 195355, and suits traders who want market range and a proven home-regulated firm over the last fraction of a pip. EUR/USD tested at 1.13 pips.

Traders who value market range, a long regulatory record and UK account wrappers like a Stocks and Shares ISA get the most from IG. Cost-focused scalpers are better served by a raw-account specialist reviewed elsewhere in the set, because IG runs no commission account and never wins on the all-in number.

IG Markets quick facts

IG Markets Limited holds one of the longest UK regulatory records in this set, and the table below collects the figures a UK trader checks first.

IG fees

IG is not the cheapest raw-spread broker, and it does not pretend to be. Its CFD pricing is built around breadth and platform depth rather than a rock-bottom commission. IG does run a raw, commission-priced FX product, Forex Direct, its DMA service, charged by variable commission from US$10 to US$60 per US$1 million of notional rather than by spread. IG offers Forex Direct to professional clients only, so it is not an option for UK retail traders (IG L2 Dealer, checked 29 July 2026). For retail purposes the CFD account spread is the whole cost, and the honest framing is mid-cost with the widest market range, not lowest-spread.

CFD account costs

On the IG Trading Account, EUR/USD tested at 1.13 pips and GBP/USD at 1.66, with no commission because the cost sits in the spread. That puts one standard lot of EUR/USD near £8.39, all of it spread. These are tested modal values, the most frequent spread David Levy recorded on a live UK account across three trading days in July 2026 rather than a broker “from” figure. How the figures were gathered, and the evidence tier they carry, is set out in full.

Here is how IG’s tested EUR/USD spread compares with other FCA-regulated brokers we review, all now recorded on live UK accounts in July 2026. The account basis is noted because raw and standard accounts are not comparable unqualified:

Raw and Razor accounts add a per-lot commission on top of the spread, so a tight 0.1 pips is not the whole cost. IG’s tested 1.13 pips still sits at the wider end of this set, though not the widest: its value is breadth and platform depth rather than the tightest spread, which the the lowest-spread UK brokers guide covers head-on.

Other fees UK traders should check

IG charges nothing on funding in either direction, so the spread and overnight funding are effectively the whole cost. Overnight funding is the one to model if you hold positions: it is a daily adjustment based on the relevant benchmark rate plus IG’s admin charge, and on a spread-only account it compounds a cost you are already paying in full through the spread. Currency conversion applies where a trade settles outside your account currency.

Trading platforms

Platform availability covers IG’s own web and mobile platform, MT4, MT5, ProRealTime for advanced charting and L2 Dealer for direct market access. There is no cTrader. The proprietary platform and the DMA route are the genuine strengths here.

IG web and mobile platform

IG’s own platform is the default and carries the full market range, client-sentiment data and IG Academy hooks. It is deeper than most proprietary platforms in this set, which is part of what a beginner trades off against the learning curve.

ProRealTime

ProRealTime is IG’s advanced charting route, aimed at technical traders who find the standard platform’s charting thin. IG offers dedicated help for it, which its size makes possible.

L2 Dealer

L2 Dealer is direct market access for share CFDs, letting you work the order book itself rather than dealing against IG’s book. For execution-sensitive share traders, that DMA route is the differentiator against the market-maker-only brokers in this set, and no other broker here offers it.

MetaTrader 4

MT4 runs alongside the proprietary stack for traders bringing an expert advisor. IG offers MT4 for both spread betting and CFDs, and hosts a third-party Beeks VPS in London: free above a £5,000 MT4 balance, otherwise £50 a month. See our MT4 broker list for the wider UK field.

MetaTrader 5

IG added MT5 for UK clients around March to April 2026, which is recent enough that most comparison sites still say it does not exist. The evidence is IG’s own: an IG-hosted installer, ig5setup.exe, a web terminal at mt5.ig.com/terminal, and a free native VPS on qualifying accounts, with page assets dated March and April 2026 (broker site, accessed 29 July 2026).

Worth knowing before you plan around it: the rollout is incomplete on IG’s side rather than ours. MT5 does not appear in IG’s own site footer or in its compare-accounts table, so it is easy to miss and the account paths are not yet documented the way MT4’s are. Confirm MT5 is available on the account type you intend to open before you commit to it. Our MT5 broker list covers the wider UK field.

Trust and safety

IG Markets Limited has the longest UK regulatory track record in this set and a FTSE 250 parent.

FCA regulation

IG Markets Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA under FRN 195355 (FCA register record, checked 16 July 2026). IG was founded in 1974, the longest history in this set, and its parent IG Group is listed on the London Stock Exchange in the FTSE 250. For a UK trader weighting regulatory track record, that history is the standout. On execution model, IG fills most retail CFD orders against its own book, while L2 Dealer provides direct market access for share CFDs; IG publishes best-execution and order-execution policy documents on its UK site rather than a single headline fill-speed figure, so we quote no latency number.

Client money, FSCS and negative balance protection

IG Markets Limited answers to an LSE-listed, FTSE-constituent parent, so its accounts are public reading. Client money is held in segregated accounts under the FCA’s CASS rules, separate from the firm’s own funds. Negative balance protection applies to retail accounts, so a position cannot leave you owing more than your balance. If the firm failed, FSCS cover runs up to £85,000 per eligible person, covering shortfalls in client money and assets rather than trading losses. Anything unresolved goes to the Financial Ombudsman Service, and our guide to FCA authorisation sets out its limits.

History and ownership

IG was founded in 1974 as a spread-betting firm and is the oldest broker in this set by some distance. Its parent, IG Group, is a FTSE 250 constituent listed on the London Stock Exchange, so it publishes audited annual accounts. That combination, a half-century UK record and a listed UK parent, is the strongest ownership position of any broker we cover.

Public reviews

Trustpilot rates IG 3.8 out of 5 from 9,812 reviews (Trustpilot profile, captured August 2026). That sits in the lower half of the FCA-regulated brokers we cover, where the range runs from 2.0 to 4.6, on one of the largest review counts here. Read it as a brand-level signal rather than a UK verdict: Trustpilot profiles cover the whole brand across every market it serves, not the FCA-authorised UK entity on its own. Scores also move, so treat the figure as a August 2026 snapshot.

TradingView users rate IG 3.6 out of 5 from 1,060 ratings (TradingView profile, captured August 2026), on 15.7K connected accounts. That is the joint lowest score of any broker on this site, and it sits oddly against IG’s standing elsewhere. The likeliest reading is the one that applies across this set: TradingView raters grade the third-party connection, and a broker with a strong platform of its own tends to treat that connection as a side door.

Account types and minimum deposit

IG offers more account types than any broker in this set, and two of them are not CFD accounts at all.

Account options for UK clients

The CFD account follows the FCA leverage caps, while the share-dealing account and the ISA sit outside CFD leverage rules. Tax treatment depends on your individual circumstances and can change.

IG minimum deposit

IG publishes no minimum deposit. We checked its charges page, its how-to-fund page and its compare-trading-accounts page on 29 July 2026 and none of the three states one; the only figure the charges page gives is a £30,000 maximum per card transaction. In practice that means there is nothing to fund before you can look around the platform, but treat “no published minimum” as what it is rather than as a published zero, and confirm at sign-up.

Share dealing and the Stocks and Shares ISA

Share dealing and a Stocks and Shares ISA are rare among CFD-first brokers and are a genuine reason to pick IG over a forex specialist. Both are securities accounts rather than CFD ones, covering UK, US, European and Australian shares. Confirm current ISA eligibility at sign-up. If share dealing is the main draw rather than a bonus, Interactive Brokers deals cheaper.

Spread betting with IG

IG also offers spread betting, the account type it launched with in 1974 and still the product it is best known for in the UK. Pricing mirrors the CFD offer on major markets, so a spread-bet account tracks the same costs rather than carrying its own schedule.

The difference is tax, not pricing. HMRC does not normally treat placing a spread bet as trading, so those profits are not taxed and losses attract no relief, and no stamp duty applies, while CFD profits fall within capital gains tax. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and can change, so check your own position before it drives the choice. This review scores the CFD account.

Funding and withdrawals

IG lists every funding route as free in both directions, which few brokers in this set match.

Deposit methods (UK clients)

IG funds by debit card, credit card and bank transfer, and lists all three as free for both deposits and withdrawals on its UK charges page (broker site, accessed 10 July 2026). Card deposits carry per-transaction caps rather than extra fees: £99,999 by debit card and £30,000 by credit card, with larger amounts split across separate transactions.

Withdrawals

Withdrawals are free on every route and return to the method the money came from, a standard anti-fraud control. Final settlement depends on the receiving bank.

Account opening

Opening is online, with identity and address verification under the FCA’s client-onboarding rules. With no meaningful minimum, you can verify and explore before depositing. New to IG’s platform range? Try it on a demo first, and our guide to using a demo account covers what to test before funding.

Product range

Market range is IG’s defining feature and the main reason to choose it. Our CFD broker pages cover every asset class in detail.

Any crypto product IG markets elsewhere is unavailable to UK retail: the FCA banned the sale of crypto derivatives to UK retail consumers from 6 January 2021. No crypto tier appears in the leverage list because the FCA caps do not include one.

Share CFDs

IG’s share list spans UK, US, European and Australian markets, available as CFDs at 5:1 retail leverage or as real shares through the dealing account. The L2 Dealer DMA route is what separates it from the market-maker-only brokers here.

Index CFDs

IG quotes the main global benchmarks at 20:1 retail leverage on the majors. Our our index CFD guide shows how those sit against the wider FCA field, and the treasury and bond CFD page covers the bond list that puts IG among the few UK brokers offering one.

Leverage for UK traders

Retail leverage on the CFD account follows the FCA’s standardised caps rather than anything IG sets. The caps apply to every FCA broker equally, and our guide to the FCA leverage rules explains the margin effect.

Customer service

IG runs phone, live chat and email support from a London desk, backed by a help centre deep enough to match the platform range.

IG’s size shows in dedicated help for ProRealTime and L2 Dealer users. We describe the service here from IG’s published information and its charges pages rather than a timed response benchmark.

Research and education

Research and education are among IG’s strongest suits and a genuine reason beginners pick it despite the learning curve. IG Academy runs structured courses from beginner to advanced, the platforms carry in-house daily analysis, an economic calendar and client-sentiment data, and IG hosts regular webinars and market seminars. The depth here is among the widest in the UK set, which offsets some of the platform’s complexity for newer traders.

How IG Markets compares to alternatives

The our full review index ranks the full UK set, and the closest calls against IG are these.

Pepperstone runs a raw commission account open to UK retail clients, where IG equivalent is professional-only, which is the whole cost argument in one line. On breadth, CMC Markets is the only genuine peer, also with a listed UK parent. If the share side is the real draw, Interactive Brokers deals far cheaper. Our ranked list of FCA brokers covers the wider field.

Should you open an account with IG Markets?

Yes, for traders who want the longest UK regulatory record in the set, the widest market range, spread betting at scale, and UK-only extras like share dealing and an ISA. IG Markets Limited is FCA-authorised under FRN 195355, founded in 1974, with a FTSE 250 listed parent publishing audited accounts, no published minimum deposit, and free funding both ways. Range-first traders should shortlist it alongside CMC Markets.

Not for pure cost hunters. IG raw commission account is closed to UK retail clients, so it never wins on the all-in retail number: EUR/USD tested at 1.13 pips, mid-cost and priced around breadth.

A demo account is the no-cost way to test the platform first, and our demo account guide covers how to use one properly before funding. If the breadth and the platform range fit how you trade, open an IG demo account before funding a live one (affiliate link, see our advertiser disclosure).