How to trade using IG client sentiment

What is client sentiment?

Client sentiment, sometimes called retail sentiment or IG market sentiment, is a real-time measure of positioning among IG's retail client base. For any market we offer, the sentiment indicator displays the percentage of clients who currently hold long positions versus those holding short positions. If 65% of clients are long on a market and 35% are short, that data is updated continuously as positions open and close throughout the trading day.

Sentiment data is distinct from price indicators or volume data. It tells you not what a market has done, but where the people trading it are positioned right now. That distinction is important, because understanding the aggregate behaviour of other retail traders is a useful input when forming your own trading view, even if, and perhaps especially if, you intend to trade against the crowd.

How to find IG client sentiment on the platform

Client sentiment data is displayed directly on the deal ticket and market overview page for every market we offer. To access it, log in to your IG account and navigate to any market. On the market overview page, the sentiment bar appears below the price chart, showing the current long/short split as a percentage. The data updates in real time throughout the trading day.

Sentiment data is also available through our trading app, where it appears on the same market detail screen. For traders using our ProRealTime or TradingView integrations, sentiment overlays are available as supplementary data alongside your technical analysis setup.

How to use client sentiment in your trading

1. Use it as a contrarian indicator

The most established way to use retail sentiment data is as a contrarian signal. The underlying logic is that retail traders, as a group, tend to buy into rising markets and sell into falling ones, which means they are often heavily long at market tops and heavily short at market bottoms. When sentiment reaches an extreme, such as 80% or more of retail clients positioned in one direction, some traders interpret this as a potential exhaustion signal for that move.

This does not mean fading every crowded trade. A market can remain heavily one-sided for extended periods, particularly in strong trends. Sentiment extremes are more useful as a filter to add to your existing analysis than as a standalone entry signal. Combining extreme sentiment readings with technical indicators, particularly momentum indicators and support/resistance levels, can help identify higher-probability setups.

2. Watch for changes in sentiment, not just the level

The absolute level of sentiment matters less than the direction it is moving. A shift from 70% long to 55% long over a short period suggests that the crowd is closing positions, which can indicate a change in market dynamics before it fully shows up in price. Sentiment shifts are often faster-moving than price, making them a useful leading observation alongside lagging indicators like moving averages.

3. Apply it market by market

Client sentiment behaves differently across markets. Retail traders tend to be more systematically wrong in certain markets, particularly forex, than in others. In equity markets, sentiment may be less reliably contrarian because retail positioning more frequently aligns with the trend. Building up your own observations of how sentiment has historically correlated with price movement in your chosen market will sharpen how you apply it.

4. Combine with fundamental context

Sentiment data works best when it aligns with, or contradicts, a clear fundamental narrative. If the market has rallied strongly on a particular macro theme and retail sentiment has followed the price higher to an extreme, that combination, strong price + extreme long sentiment, provides a more compelling contrarian setup than sentiment alone. A crowded trade that also appears fundamentally stretched is more likely to reverse than one where the fundamental backdrop still supports the move.

Client sentiment: what it does and does not tell you

Client sentiment FAQs