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Forex trading
As the world’s most-traded financial market, foreign exchange presents a wealth of opportunities for those who can harness its inherent volatility. Open a forex trading account with the UK’s No.1 retail provider1 and use our range of powerful platforms to take advantage of movements in currency prices.
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 forex with IG?
Give your forex trading an edge with our accessible, easy-to-use platform and apps
Negative balance protection ensures that your
account never stays below zero2
Get friendly, expert support 24 hours a day from 8am Saturday to 10pm Friday
Identify FX opportunities on clear, fast charts as standard, and deepen your analysis with ProRealTime
Get peace of mind trading forex with an award-winning spread betting and CFD provider
Open a free account quickly and easily – you could be set up and trading forex today
Ways to trade forex with IG
| Spread betting | CFD | DMA (Forex Direct) | |
| Main benefits | Profits are tax-free in the UK3 | Tax-deductible losses are useful for hedging3 | Increased market transparency and order control |
| Accessible to | All clients | All clients | Professional clients only4 |
| Traded in | £ (or other base currency) per point | Contracts | Lots |
| Tax status | No capital gains tax (CGT) or stamp duty3 | No stamp duty, but you do pay CGT. Losses can be offset as a tax deduction3 | No stamp duty, but you do pay CGT. Losses can be offset as a tax deduction3 |
| Commission | Commission-free | Commission-free for FX | Variable commission |
| Platforms | Web, mobile app and advanced platforms | Web, mobile app and advanced platforms | L2 dealer, mobile app, terminals and APIs |
| Learn more | Learn more | Learn more |
What is forex trading?
Forex trading, foreign exchange trading or currency trading is the buying and selling of currencies on the forex market with the aim of making a profit.
Forex is the world’s most-traded financial market, with transactions worth trillions of dollars taking place every day.
What are the benefits?
- Go long or short
- 24-hour trading
- High liquidity
- Regular opportunities
- Trade on leverage
- Wide range of FX pairs
How do I trade forex?
- Decide how you’d like to trade forex
- Learn how the forex market works
- Open a forex trading account
- Build a trading plan
- Choose your forex trading platform
- Open, monitor and close your first position
Open an FX trading account today
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.
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 forex 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.
| Spot FX | Retail margin | Leverage equivalent | Professional margin What is this? |
Leverage equivalent |
| EUR/USD | 3.33% | 1:30 | 0.45% | 1:222 |
| AUD/USD | 3.33% | 1:30 | 0.45 | 1:222 |
| USD/JPY | 3.33% | 1:30 | 0.45% | 1:222 |
| EUR/GBP | 3.33% | 1:30 | 0.9% | 1:111 |
| GBP/USD | 3.33% | 1:30 | 0.9% | 1:111 |
| EUR/JPY | 3.33% | 1:30 | 0.45% | 1:222 |
| USD/CHF | 3.33% | 1:30 | 1.35% | 1:74 |
| Spot FX | IG min. spread | IG av. spread5 | DMA av. spread6 |
| EUR/USD | 0.6 | 0.70 | 0.165 |
| AUD/USD | 0.6 | 0.76 | 0.295 |
| USD/JPY | 0.7 | 0.79 | 0.242 |
| EUR/GBP | 0.9 | 1.33 | 0.540 |
| GBP/USD | 0.9 | 1.52 | 0.589 |
| EUR/JPY | 1.5 | 1.61 | 0.678 |
| USD/CHF | 1.5 | 1.67 | 0.399 |
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 forex 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.
| Spot FX | Retail margin | Leverage equivalent | Professional margin | Leverage equivalent |
| EUR/USD | 3.33% | 1:30 | 0.45% | 1:222 |
| AUD/USD | 3.33% | 1:30 | 0.45% | 1:222 |
| USD/JPY | 3.33% | 1:30 | 0.45% | 1:222 |
| EUR/GBP | 3.33% | 1:30 | 0.9% | 1:111 |
| GBP/USD | 3.33% | 1:30 | 0.9% | 1:111 |
| EUR/JPY | 3.33% | 1:30 | 0.45% | 1:222 |
| USD/CHF | 3.33% | 1:30 | 1.35% | 1:74 |
| Spot FX | IG min. spread | IG av. spread5 | DMA av. spread6 |
| EUR/USD | 0.6 | 0.70 | 0.165 |
| AUD/USD | 0.6 | 0.76 | 0.295 |
| USD/JPY | 0.7 | 0.79 | 0.242 |
| EUR/GBP | 0.9 | 1.33 | 0.540 |
| GBP/USD | 0.9 | 1.52 | 0.589 |
| EUR/JPY | 1.5 | 1.61 | 0.678 |
| USD/CHF | 1.5 | 1.67 | 0.399 |
Opening a forex trading account with IG is free and simple, gives you access to over 80 FX pairs, and carries no obligation to fund or trade.
You can trade in smaller sizes for your first two weeks, to help keep costs down while you get comfortable.
Discover our forex markets
Find your next opportunity in our huge range of over 80 major, minor and exotic forex pairs.
Live prices on our most popular markets
Prices above are subject to our website terms and conditions. Prices are indicative only.
Forex trading platforms
Discover a clear, smart way to trade forex that’s intuitive and requires no downloads.
Build forex trading algorithms to execute automatically, even if your machine is off.
Get increased control over your forex CFD trades with our DMA platform.
Trade forex on the move, so you need never miss an opportunity.
Award-winning forex provider
Choose the UK’s No.1 retail FX provider1
IG is home to more retail forex traders in the UK than any other forex trading provider. Why trade with anyone but the No.1?
Get the latest forex news
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1 By number of primary relationships with FX traders (Investment Trends UK Leveraged Trading Report released July 2019).
2
Negative balance protection applies to trading-related debt only, and is not available to professional traders.
3 Tax laws are subject to change and depend on individual circumstances. Tax law may differ in a jurisdiction other than the UK.
4 The advertised offering is only available to individual clients capable of obtaining ‘professional’ status. This requires experience of trading relevant products on your own account above a certain size, experience of working within the financial sector for at least one year in a relevant position and/or a personal investment portfolio worth at least €500,000.
5 Average spread (Monday 00:00 - Friday 22:00 GMT) for the 12 weeks ending 31st May 2019. For our minimum spreads, please see our forex spread bet and CFD details.
6 Average spread (Monday 00:00 - Friday 22:00 GMT) for the 12 weeks ending 19th March 2019. There is also a commission charge for Forex Direct.
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