IG Markets Platform: Best for U.S. Traders
IG is our choice for the best forex broker overall. IG offers an extensive list of markets to trade, competitive pricing, trading signals, and industry-leading education.
With an extensive range of awards under their belt, IG's currency trading platform is an ideal choice for all types of traders, from beginner to advanced.
Markets to Trade
IG offers an impressive selection of over 17,000 tradable assets including indices, stocks, forex, commodities, and cryptocurrency.
IG offers 4 different ways to trade the global financial markets including:
Spread Betting: Speculate on future market price movements without having to purchase the underlying asset.
CFDs: Trade the difference in market price between opening your contract and closing it.
Turbo24s: Control your leverage and cap your risk as you trade unique on-venue securities.
Vanilla Options: These are traditional call and put options that are best suited for advanced traders. Choose your expiry, strike price, and premium to control leverage when buying.
Note: U.S. traders only have access to forex pairs, with spreads starting at 0.8 pips on EUR/USD and USD/JPY.
Trading Platforms
The IG web trading platform is created to offer traders a fast, clear, and smart way to trade spot forex via a web browser. Features of the web platform include:
Easily open, close, and edit positions in just a couple clicks.
Choose between a light or dark theme platform and customize your workspaces to fit your needs.
Adjustable smart settings that remember your position sizes and stop values.
View the same market across multiple time frames simultaneously with split charts.
Apply a variety of indicators and drawings without sacrificing speed.
Mobile Trading Apps
IG offers a variety of mobile trading apps that allow you to trade forex from any iPhone or Android device. The IG mobile trading app offers full trading functionality with a range of technical indicators, customizable alerts, and advanced trading options.
MetaTrader 4
MetaTrader 4 is a third-party trade platform that offers access to a range of tools and features to help you customize your trading experience. You can use these tools to help build your own trading algorithms, which may help automate your trading.
When you trade forex on MetaTrader 4 with IG, you'll have access to over 50 FX pairs. You can go long or short with spreads starting at 0.8 pips. MetaTrader 4 also comes with 18 free add-ons and indicators that you can use, as well as thousands more that are available for purchase.
Key Features
IG has a comprehensive feature set that includes something for everyone, putting it at the top of our list of best forex brokers. Our favorite features include:
Streamlined design: The web trading platform design is bright, clean, and easy to use. At a glance, you can see the market prices, spread, and margin for your preferred trading pair. If you’re just getting started, the handy information tab will guide you on trade sizes, minimum stop distances, and more.
Charts and advanced trading tools: IG offers some of the most intuitive currency trading charts in the industry, built on flexible HTML5 technology. You can view multiple timeframes in a single trading chart, build customizable indicators, and trade directly from the charts.
Knowledge base: The life of forex and CFD traders can get lonely, and if you’re a beginner in the foreign exchange market, it can also be overwhelming. IG has a lively community of active traders on Twitter, where you can get invaluable guidance. There’s also a curated Reuters feed, and the IG team regularly publishes detailed analyses to help you learn and build upon your knowledge base.
Further, IG has an in-house TV channel where you can watch the advanced traders share their knowledge live three times a day, five days a week. Become proficient at charting, trading, and more, just by following along.
Alerts: IG's trading alerts are free, customizable notifications that are sent to you whenever your specifications are triggered. Most traders use them for when economic events occur, target prices are hit, or technical conditions change. Trade alerts are sent to you via email, SMS, or push notification, allowing you to react instantly.
Signals: With IG, you can get real-time trade signals with actionable "buy" and "sell" suggestions. These signals are based on either technical or fundamental analysis. These trade signals include entry and exit points, support and resistance levels, and the level of confidence in the signal.
However, it's important to note that IG doesn't create the signals themselves. Rather, they come from two third-party providers, Autochartist and Signal Centre.
Customization: Any forex platforms worth their salt will give you the option to customize your views to match your preferences. IG lets you switch between light and dark mode, use multiple workstations, and tailor your view with custom columns and watchlists. Whatever your trading style, IG has you covered.
Regulation
IG is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), a UK-based supervisory body. The company is also publicly traded, and with a 45-year history, IG tops our list as one of the best overall brokers on our forex broker list.
For U.S. traders, IG is registered with the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and is a member of the National Futures Association.
Trading Fees
In addition to being highly regulated in the online trading world, IG boasts some of the best spreads, starting at 0.8 pips and zero commissions for spread betting. As a refresher, a pip is a “percentage in point,” and one pip is one one-hundredth of a percent.
If you’re looking for the best all-around web platform for forex traders, you may want to consider IG. We believe this is true whether you’re among advanced traders or your journey is just beginning.
Suitable for beginner or experienced traders
Free demo account to test-drive the IG platform
$250 minimum deposit when opening an account
Over 17,000 markets available to trade
Award-winning trade platforms that are easy-to-use
Mobile trading apps for the ultimate trading experience
Regulated broker with over 45 years of experience
Extensive training materials available via the IG academy