1 Units of contract currency
Choose your own leverage and risk. Trade on rising, falling and flat markets. Unlock new opportunities in our barrier and vanilla options account.
Find the right route to opportunity, with both barrier and vanilla options available
Tailor how much you pay to buy, with no risk that you’ll ever lose more
Discover opportunity in unlikely places, whether markets are rising, falling or flat
Trade vanillas on timeframes to suit you, with daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly markets
Deal on an easy-to-use platform, with a clear interface developed specifically for options trading
Get peace of mind from our FTSE 250 status, 45+ years’ experience and world-leading status
Options are a type of financial derivative. You can use them to take advantage of opportunities in the financial markets – whether those markets are rising, falling, or in some cases not moving at all.
Learn more about options trading
You can trade two types of option with us – barriers and vanilla options – on a range of forex pairs, indices, shares and commodities. There are some key differences between the two.
Our barriers, or barrier options, move one-for-one with the underlying market price – easier to follow than vanilla options.1 They automatically close – or get ‘knocked out’ – if that price reaches a ‘knock-out level’ that you choose, so you control your maximum risk.
Vanilla options are contracts that give you the right to buy or sell an asset at a certain price on a certain date. Their price is complex, affected by the underlying price, volatility, time until expiry and more. If you’re an experienced trader looking for opportunity in unique places, vanillas could be for you.
Take a large position for a comparatively small payment – with greater control than other derivatives.
The price you pay to open a position – the ‘premium’, multiplied by your trade size – is your total risk.
The barrier price moves one-for-one with IG’s underlying price.1
Choose your strike, expiry and premium to take control of leverage when buying.
Trade a broader range of conditions than other derivatives – even when markets are flat.
Buying options is always limited-risk. Selling, while it offers unique opportunities, is not.
Enjoy flexible access to more than 17,000 global markets, with reliable execution
Trade on the move with our natively designed, award-winning trading app
With 45 years of experience, we’re proud to offer a truly market-leading service
Enjoy flexible access to more than 17,000 global markets, with reliable execution
Trade on the move with our natively designed, award-winning trading app
With 45 years of experience, we’re proud to offer a truly market-leading service
Discover opportunity in the world’s most-traded financial market.
Take your position on the performance of economies, industry sectors and more.
Back your opinion on gold, silver, oil and more – for a fraction of the cost of ownership.
Speculate on a selection of major coins, including bitcoin and ether
Your capital is at risk, and losses may be extremely rapid.
Selling vanilla options is not limited risk (though retail traders benefit from no-negative protection)
Vanilla options pricing is complicated and doesn’t always move one-for-one with the underlying.
Read our risk disclosure notice.
Opening an IG account is free, and you don’t have to fund or trade until you’re ready. You can also trade in smaller sizes for your first month, while you get used to how things work. Find a breakdown of the types of costs you’ll incur for options trading below.
Your total risk on a barrier position is the premium – the price you pay to buy an option – multiplied by your trade size. You’ll pay this in full when you open your position, so you won’t need to worry about risking any more on your trade.
Here’s a full breakdown of the costs and charges you’ll pay to trade barriers with us:
Market | Number of individual markets | Minimum spread | Commission1 | Max risk |
Forex | 14 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 100% of premium |
Indices | 11 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 100% of premium |
Commodities | 4 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 100% of premium |
Cryptocurrencies | 5 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 100% of premium |
1 Units of contract currency
Here’s what you’ll pay to trade vanilla options with us:
Some things to remember:
Market | Number of individual markets | Minimum spread | Commission1 | Max risk buying | Max risk selling |
Forex | 50 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 100% of premium | To be defined by trade |
Indices | 40 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 100% of premium | To be defined by trade |
Commodities | 11 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 100% of premium | To be defined by trade |
1 Units of contract currency
Seize your opportunity on a cutting-edge interface, with our easy-to-use web platform.
Take a position from any position, with trading apps developed specifically for your device.
Decide which of our products is best for your goals.
Discover the huge range of financial markets you can trade with us.
Built by traders, for traders – take a look at our cutting-edge platform.
1This is not the case when the knock-out premium changes. If the knock-out premium changes, the price of the barrier will move by the amount the premium changes.