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CFD trading
Flexible, accessible and free from stamp duty,1 CFD trading offers you the chance to find opportunity in a huge variety of financial markets – whether they’re moving up or down in price. Trade CFDs with IG and you’ll have all the expertise of the world’s No.1 provider at your disposal.2
Call 0800 195 3100 or email newaccounts.uk@ig.com to talk about opening a trading account. We’re here 24 hours a day, from 8am Saturday to 10pm Friday.
Contact us: 0800 195 3100
Why trade CFDs with IG?
Negative balance protection limits risk – ensuring your account balance will never stay below zero3
Keep your costs down with our competitive spreads
Get expert support, 24 hours a day from 8am Saturday to 10pm Friday
Rest assured that you’re trading with a FTSE 250 company, authorised and regulated by the FCA
Trade at your desk or on the move with our easy-to-use platforms and apps
Become a better trader whatever your skill level, with our educational resources
What is CFD trading?
Trading CFDs, or 'contracts for difference’, allows you to speculate on whether an asset’s price will move up or down – without having to own the asset.
What are the benefits?
- Massive market choice
- Free up your capital
- Go short or long
- Mirror the underlying
How do I trade CFDs?
- Open a trading account
- Find an opportunity
- Take a position
- Monitor your trade
Open a CFD account in minutes
Fill in our simple online form
We’ll ask a few questions about your trading experience.
Get swift verification
We can usually verify your ID in just a few seconds.
Fund your account and trade
Or practise on a risk-free demo if you’d prefer.
What markets can I trade with CFDs?
Get spreads from just 0.6 points on pairs like EUR/USD with the UK’s No.1 FX provider.4
Deal on the world’s major stock indices, with more 24-hour markets than any other provider.
Discover opportunity in rising and falling prices across over 12,000 international share markets.
Trade on a wide range of metals, energies and soft commodities, with Spot Gold spreads starting at 0.3 points.
Go long or short on bitcoin, ether, litecoin and ripple pairs, with no wallet needed. Or get broad exposure in a single trade with our Crypto 10 index.
Trade CFDs on interest rates, bonds, sectors and more.
How much will I have to pay?
Margins
Spread betting and CFD trading are forms of leveraged trading, meaning you can win, or lose, a significant amount more than you deposit initially. Though not actually a cost to you, the margin you pay makes a big difference to the affordability of your trade.
Spreads
Your key payment for trading CFDs is the spread – the difference between the buy and the sell price – which is essentially our commission for executing your trade. We work to keep our spreads among the lowest in the business.
| Market | Retail margin | Leverage equivalent | Professional margin What is this? |
Leverage equivalent |
| Forex | 3.33% | 1:30 | 0.45% | 1:222 |
| Indices | 5% | 1:20 | 0.45% | 1:222 |
| Shares | 20% | 1:5 | 4.5% | 1:22 |
| Commodities | 5% | 1:20 | 0.45% | 1:222 |
| Cryptocurrencies | 50% | 1:2 | 4.5% | 1:22 |
| Minimum spreads from | |
| Forex | 0.6 |
| Indices | 0.1 |
| Shares | 0.1 |
| Commodities | 0.3 |
| Cryptocurrencies | 0.1 |
Depending on your position, you may need to pay overnight funding.
How much will I have to pay?
Margins
Spread betting and CFD trading are forms of leveraged trading, meaning you can win, or lose, a significant amount more than you deposit initially. Though not actually a cost to you, the margin you pay makes a big difference to the affordability of your trade.
Spreads
Your key payment for trading CFDs is the spread – the difference between the buy and the sell price – which is essentially our commission for executing your trade. We work to keep our spreads among the lowest in the business.
| Market | Retail margin | Leverage equivalent | Professional margin | Leverage equivalent |
| Forex | 3.33% | 1:30 | 0.45% | 1:222 |
| Indices | 5% | 1:20 | 0.45% | 1:222 |
| Shares | 20% | 1:5 | 4.5% | 1:22 |
| Commodities | 5% | 1:20 | 0.45% | 1:222 |
| Cryptocurrencies | 50% | 1:2 | 4.5% | 1:22 |
| Minimum spreads from | |
| Forex | 0.6 |
| Indices | 0.1 |
| Shares | 0.1 |
| Commodities | 0.3 |
| Cryptocurrencies | 0.1 |
It’s free, quick and simple to create a CFD trading account with us. Open one today, and you’ll get access to over 16,000 financial markets.
When you’re ready, you choose your trade size. What’s more, new CFD traders get lower minimums for one month.
Award-winning provider
Choose the world’s No.1 CFD provider
Why open a trading account with anyone but the best CFD provider? More traders around the world choose to trade CFDs with us than anyone else, making us the world’s No1.2
You might be interested in…
Find out which of our similar leveraged trading products could work best for your goals.
Understand the risks of trading, and discover the tools we offer to help you mitigate them.
Explore the fast, user-friendly trading platforms that you can use to trade CFDs with us.
1 Tax laws are subject to change and depend on individual circumstances. Tax law may differ in a jurisdiction other than the UK.
2 Based on revenue excluding FX (published half-yearly financial statements, June 2019).
3 Negative balance protection applies to trading-related debt only, and is not available to professional traders.
4 By number of primary relationships with FX traders (Investment Trends UK Leveraged Trading Report released July 2019).
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