IG is one of the world's most popular retail forex brokers. They offer a wide range of products and services, and are available to clients worldwide.

IG is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the U.K. Client funds are held in segregated accounts with regulated banks. They also offer negative balance protection and guaranteed stop loss orders.

IG is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the U.K.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the conduct regulator for more than 51,000 different companies, banks, and brokers on the UK financial market. This agency is responsible for ensuring that all firms operate in a safe, fair, and ethical manner. The FCA also protects consumers and the economy, so you can rest assured that any broker that has an FCA license is a reputable one that will treat you right.

According to the FCA website, the authority’s primary responsibility is to ensure that all firms are following strict rules of conduct. These rules include safety, traders and funds protection, fairness, and accurate pricing.

In addition to these standards, the FCA has a number of other regulations that it uses to regulate all aspects of the business. For example, it has a new Consumer Principle that requires companies to deliver good outcomes for their retail customers.

This Principle applies to both companies and consumers, and it has been updated to include new cross-cutting rules that provide clarity on the four key outcomes that the FCA wants to see: products and services; price and value; consumer understanding; and consumer support. These requirements help to improve the quality of the company-consumer relationship and give firms a greater ability to deliver positive outcomes.

For example, the FCA recently sent letters to the CEOs of UK electronic money and payment firms reminding them that their priority must be protecting customer funds in the event of a firm’s insolvency. The letter calls on payments firms to ensure that they adequately safeguard customer funds held at banks, that they are financially resilient, and that they have appropriate wind-down plans in place should the worst happen.

The FCA is also committed to improving communications and making sure that people are aware of all relevant rules and policies. It has launched a number of campaigns to promote transparency around financial risks, such as its InvestSmart campaign.

In addition to its regulatory role, the FCA plays an important role in promoting competition among financial institutions and firms. This helps to ensure that everyone in the UK can get the best deal from different companies and brokers. This makes the UK a competitive financial market, and it also helps to prevent any potential problems that could affect the economy.

IG offers a dealing share account

IG offers a dealing share account, which is suitable for traders who trade on a regular basis. Its commission structure is simple and is a good value. However, there are a few drawbacks. The minimum deposit is $250, which is slightly higher compared to many other brokers.

Traders can choose from bank wires, automated clearing house (ACH), and debit cards as payment methods. Withdrawals to a card take two to five working days and withdrawals to PayPal are usually instant.

If you're a newcomer, you can use IG's free training account to practice trading under simulated market conditions. This includes a PS10,000 virtual cash balance and a desktop login. Once you're ready to test your trading skills in the real world, you can open a live account with IG.

This is an excellent choice for beginners because it provides access to a wealth of market analysis tools and educational content, with the IG Academy at the core. It also publishes special reports, podcasts, webinars, and seminars, plus offers in-house trading recommendations.

The IG platform is easy to use and allows clients to quickly filter shares or ETFs by industry, country of focus, or sector. They can set price alerts, display corporate events, and save custom layouts for future reference.

Clients can also check a wide range of research on standard quote pages. This covers company news, client sentiment, trading activity, broker ratings, fundamentals, and financials. It also displays share prices and charts for the last day or two.

IG also has a strong screening and technical analysis engine that can provide market insight. Their community is a great place to discuss trading and markets with other clients.

In addition, they have a number of helpful research tools, including DailyFX, a blog-based news site that helps clients track trends in currencies.

As one of the largest forex brokers, IG has a strong reputation for customer service and has a long history of excellence. Their website is well-organized and navigable, their platform offerings are intuitive, their research is top-notch, and their commitment to education is unwavering. These factors combine to make IG a clear competitor in the U.S.

IG offers a direct market access (DMA) platform

IG offers direct market access (DMA) trading on its forex and shares markets through its L2 Dealer platform, available to registered clients. The platform is a downloadable application that allows advanced traders to trade directly on the prices of major exchanges.

The IG platform is a full-featured, customizable web-based application that’s easy to use and comes with an array of tools to help you navigate the market. It also supports mobile trading, and is available as a Progressive Web App (PWA) for iOS devices.

With IG, you can take advantage of market-maker execution for spreads and commissions - which are often lower than those offered by traditional brokers. The company also offers a range of free trading signals from Autochartist and PIAfirst, which provide a variety of analysis for users to consider when deciding on whether to place a trade.

Traders can also benefit from news and trade ideas, and trading strategy education at IG, all of which is provided by the firm’s professional analysts. This includes daily and weekly Morning Call and The Week Ahead reports. These are delivered by IG’s team of professionals who have trading experience from some of the world’s biggest investment banks.

In addition to the standard features available on IG’s online trading platform, it offers a mobile app for iPhone and Android devices that provides direct market access (DMA) to a variety of global exchanges. This is a unique service that is hard to find elsewhere.

Its Smart Order Router automatically routes orders to the primary exchange where the best prices are available, allowing you to benefit from lower spreads and commissions. This is an excellent feature for traders with large orders, or in volatile market conditions.

Another unique feature of IG is its “points through current” feature, which gives you more control over your execution by allowing you to trade through the current price rather than rejecting your entire order. This means you’ll be more likely to succeed when you’re trading in large sizes or in volatile market conditions.

IG is also a regulated broker and has several of the safety features that other brokers offer, including segregation of client funds from the company’s own money and negative balance protection. This is an important factor for any serious trader.