Ways to trade
Unlock opportunity in the financial markets with spread betting, CFD trading and investing. Each offers you a unique set of advantages.
Call 0800 195 3100 or email newaccounts.uk@ig.com to talk about opening a trading account.
Contact us 0800 195 3100
Get info fast via our instant help and support portal. Available for account queries, ProRealTime, product info and more.
Visit help and support for more information.
Get info fast via our instant help and support portal. Available for account queries, ProRealTime, product info and more.
Visit help and support for more information.
Call 0800 409 6789 or email helpdesk.uk@ig.com if you have any questions about trading or investing. We're available 24/7 between 8am Saturday and 10pm Friday.
Contact us 0800 409 6789
Call 0800 195 3100 or email newaccounts.uk@ig.com to talk about opening a trading account.
Contact us 0800 195 3100
Get info fast via our instant help and support portal. Available for account queries, ProRealTime, product info and more.
Visit help and support for more information.
Get info fast via our instant help and support portal. Available for account queries, ProRealTime, product info and more.
Visit help and support for more information.
Call 0800 409 6789 or email helpdesk.uk@ig.com if you have any questions about trading or investing. We're available 24/7 between 8am Saturday and 10pm Friday.
Contact us 0800 409 6789
Spread betting and CFDs
Seeking short-term opportunity? Try these high-risk/high-return financial products from the world’s No.1 provider.1
Take your capital further
Act on opportunity for less than traditional investment, as spread betting and CFDs are leveraged. Losses, as well as profits, are magnified.
Increase your opportunities
Spread betting and CFDs are leveraged, so you can trade both falling and rising market prices. Just remember, leveraged products have inherent risk.2
Never go below zero
In accordance with UK regulation, we’ll bring your balance back up to zero if you lose more than is in your account.3
What’s best for me?
Spread betting profits are tax-free.5 CFDs give you direct market access (DMA),4 providing increased transparency useful for more advanced traders.
Spread betting
Bet on the future change in price of a financial market.
- Key benefit: no capital gains tax on profits4
- No commission, just our spread
- No stamp duty4
CFDs
Trade on the difference between the opening and closing price of a market.
- Key benefit: DMA on shares and forex.5
- Offset losses against profits as tax deduction
- No stamp duty4
What are the risks?
| The risks | Why this happens | Ways we help |
Losing more than you deposit on the trade. |
Spread bets and CFDs are leveraged, so you only need to put up a fraction of your position’s value to open it but your profit or loss could be much more than your initial deposit |
You can set an automatic stop or limit, to define the level you'd like your trade executed at |
Losing more than you deposit in your account. |
Sometimes your positions may be closed out automatically, leaving you with a negative account balance |
FCA regulation safeguards you with negative balance protection, and we bring negative accounts back to zero at no cost to you.3 |
Overnight funding charges |
With leveraged trades, if you want to keep your position open overnight (past 10pm UK time), you’ll be charged a small fee to cover the costs of doing so |
To avoid paying overnight funding charges, you could trade CFD futures with us, which carry no extra charge for keeping your position open longer than a day, - although they do incur larger spreads |
Having your positions closed unexpectedly, resulting in losing money. |
You need a certain amount of money in your account to keep your trades open. This is called margin, and if your account balance doesn’t cover our margin requirements, we may close your positions. |
We ensure that your running balances are always visible in our platform or app, so you can immediately see to add more funds if they’re needed |
Sudden or larger-than-expected losses (or gains). |
Markets can be volatile, moving very quickly and unexpectedly in reaction to announcements, events or trader behaviour. This could have significant bearing on your open positions |
As well as setting stops, you can also be notified of significant movement by setting a price or distance alert, giving you the choice of whether or not to react. |
No shareholder privileges |
With leveraged trading, you don’t own the asset (for example shares) outright. This means you won’t receive shareholder privileges, voting rights in company decisions and other benefits shareholders receive |
To enjoy shareholder privileges, you can also buy shares with us – in addition to trading on stocks. Our share dealing portal offers over 12,000+ shares, funds and investment trusts |
Having an order (an instruction you give us, to open or close a trade for you when the market hits a certain level) filled at a different level to the one you requested. |
When a market moves a long way in an instant – or ‘gaps’ – any orders you have placed may be filled at a worse (or better) level than the one you requested. This is called slippage. |
Use guaranteed stops for watertight protection against slippage on orders to close. They're free to place, with a small premium payable only if your stop is triggered. |
What markets can I trade?
Forex trading
Trade forex with spread bets and CFDs to get access to our wide range of major, minor and exotic currency pairs, through powerful platforms.
- UK’s No.1 FX provider7
- Competitive spreads
- More 24-hour markets than anywhere else
Other markets
Low spreads. 18,000+ markets, exclusive 24/7 opportunities.6
Investing and stockbroking
Take a longer-term position with more traditional investment.
Share dealing
Buy and sell thousands of global stocks on low commissions, from just £5 on UK shares.7
IG Smart Portfolios
Choose a fully managed and diversified portfolio to suit your goals and risk profile.
ISAs
Put a tax-efficient wrapper around your share dealing or IG Smart Portfolio returns.3
SIPPs
Save for your retirement and get 20-45% tax relief on your contributions, with no tax on investment profits.3
Try these next
We're clear about our charges, so you always know what fees you will incur
All retail client funds are held in segregated bank accounts, in line with FCA rules
See how we've been changing the face of trading for more than 40 years
1 Based on revenue (published financial statements, October 2022).
2 Leveraged products such as spread bets and CFDs are complex financial instruments, with which an upfront deposit, called margin, is used to open a larger trade. Your margin will only be worth a certain percentage of your trade, but profits and losses will be calculated base don the total position size, not your margin. This makes leveraged trading inherently risky and should never be approached without a trading strategy and adequate risk management in place.
3 Negative balance protection applies to trading-related debt only, and is not available to professional traders.
4 Tax laws are subject to change and depend on individual circumstances. Tax law may differ in a jurisdiction other than the UK.
5 To trade with Forex DMA, you’ll need to qualify for an IG professional account.
6 24/7 excludes the hours from 10pm Friday to 8am Saturday (UK time), and 20 minutes just before the weekday market opens on Sunday night.
7 By number of primary relationships with FX traders (Investment Trends UK Leveraged Trading Report released June 2021).
8 Place 10+ trades on UK shares in the previous month to qualify for a £5 commission rate. Please note published rates are valid up to £25,000 notional value. See our full list of share dealing charges and fees.
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