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CFDs are leveraged products. CFD trading may not be suitable for everyone and can result in losses that exceed your deposits, so please ensure that you fully understand the risks involved. CFDs are leveraged products. CFD trading may not be suitable for everyone and can result in losses that exceed your deposits, so please ensure that you fully understand the risks involved.

Demo trading account

Develop your CFD trading skills on thousands of markets, and master our award-winning platform for free1.

Practise trading with $200,000 virtual funds

Get access to exclusive educational content on IG Academy

Test strategies on the go with our free mobile apps

Open a demo trading account

Try our award-winning platform for free and develop your CFD trading skills.

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What is a demo trading account?

A demo account is a simulated market environment offered by a trading provider that aims to recreate the experience of ‘real’ trading as closely as possible. This is so that you can get a feel for how different products and financial markets work without the risk of losing any money, so you can explore and experiment with confidence.

When you open a demo account with us, you’ll get immediate access to a version of our online platform, along with a pre-set balance of $200,000 in virtual funds to practise with.

Discover the differences between a live account and a demo account

Why use a trading simulator?

You can use a trading simulator, such as a demo account, to enable you to get to grips with a platform, build your strategy and grow in confidence, without having to risk any real money.

Trading simulators aren’t just for newcomers. As an experienced trader, you can use demo accounts to try out new strategies, tools or ideas, safe in the knowledge that your experiment won’t result in any real-world losses.

You’ll often see demo accounts described as ‘paper trading’, which is the term to describe simulated securities trading. With an IG demo trading account, you’ll gain access to over 13,000 markets, including:

As well as a range of other markets including options and digital 100s.

FAQs

What can you do on a demo trading account?

A demo account will enable you to see the financial markets available with IG and get used to how they behave. You’ll be able to set alerts on markets you want to keep an eye on, so you can react instantly to any price volatility. The demo account will also help you get used to IG platform, ensuring that you can read and analyse price charts, fill in the deal ticket and monitor open positions.

If you’re interested in using more advanced software, you can also get an MT4 demo account with us. This enables you to build your understanding of the MetaTrader4 online trading platform in a risk-free environment.

Can I practise CFD trading?

With an IG demo account, you can practise CFD trading. This product use leverage, which enables you to gain full market exposure for just a small initial deposit. While this can magnify your returns, it can also magnify your risk – so it's important to get to grips with how they work before you start to trade on live markets.

What is the difference between a demo trading account, trading simulator and paper trading account?

There is no difference between a demo trading account, trading simulator or paper trading account. All of these terms are just synonyms for the same type of simulated trading platform.

1 Winner for Mobile Platform / App based on the Investment Trends 2018 Singapore CFD & FX Report based on a survey of over 4,500 traders and investors. Awarded the Best Online Trading Platform by Influential Brands in 2019 and 2022. Winner of FX Markets Asia FX Awards 2021 - Best Retail FX Platform. Winner for Best Trading App based on the Investors Chronicle and Financial Times Investment and Wealth Management Awards 2018, and the Professional Trader Awards 2019.