IG Markets Spread Betting Review

Our Verdict On IG

IG scores 86/100 and ranks 5 of 14 because it prices under the industry average on six of the nine pairs we harvest, averaging 1.74 points. It prices above that average on GBP/USD and USD/SGD, so what you trade decides the saving.

How We Scored IG

Our overall score for IG is 86 out of 100. Below is the assessment behind it: IG marked on each of the criteria we score every account against, each one out of 10.

These marks do not add up to the score above, and they are not meant to.The criteria are weighted rather than totalled. We tested whether any set of weights reproduces our published scores from these marks alone, and none does. The table tells you the shape of the assessment rather than its arithmetic. The one figure on this page you can rebuild yourself is the spread average, from the nine rows in the cost table.

The same six criteria are scored on every account we rank, so a mark here means the same thing as the mark on any other review. Our scoring methodology sets out what each criterion covers, where the data behind it comes from, and which parts of an account we assess rather than test.

For IG specifically, the strongest mark is Trust and the weakest is Trading Experience. That gap is the useful part of the table. Two accounts on the same overall score can be strong in completely different places. The one that suits you is the one scoring well on what you care about.

The Criterion We Publish Least About

IG’s joint-highest mark in the table above is for the range of markets, and this review publishes no total for it. That is not an oversight and it is worth explaining before you read further.

IG states several different instrument counts for its spread betting account, in several different places, on the same day. Our rule is that a count has to come from the spread betting side of a provider’s own site. Spread betting and CFD trading carry different instrument lists at the same firm. That rule tells us which pages to read and cannot tell us which of two figures on those pages to believe, so we publish neither. The per-market counts further down this page are a different matter: each of those comes from the page for the market it names.

Which IG Company You Are Contracting With

Spread bets at IG are placed with IG Index Ltd. That is not the company most people find first, and the difference is the single most useful fact on this page.

IG operates two FCA-authorised companies and its own footer names both: IG Markets Ltd (FRN 195355) and IG Index Ltd (FRN 114059). Here is what our guide to FCA regulation of spread betting says about that entry, and it is the same sentence that page publishes:

two entities are authorised and IG’s own footer cites both: IG Markets Ltd under FRN 195355 and IG Index Ltd under FRN 114059. They are not interchangeable. Spread bets are placed with IG Index Ltd under FRN 114059, and the CFD account sits with the other one. Which entity your terms name depends on which product you opened.

What that means in practice is narrow and worth getting right. Both companies are real, both are authorised, and neither is a warning sign. The point is that a register search returning one of them confirms nothing about the other. The company named in your account terms is the one whose permissions and financial position apply to your money.

Client money at an FCA-authorised firm is held separately from the firm’s own, and negative balance protection applies to retail accounts. The FSCS and the Financial Ombudsman Service are open to you. That is a floor every provider in our ranking clears rather than a reason to choose this one. Our spread betting broker reviews directory records the entity details for every brand we cover.

IG Spread Betting Costs

IG prices below the industry average on six of the nine pairs, level with it on one and above it on two. Its nine-pair average of 1.74 points sits over the 1.7-point industry row.

Reading That Table

IG beats the industry row on most of the pairs we harvest and loses to it on the rest. Its overall average lands close enough to the industry figure that the pair you trade decides whether this account is cheap for you.

That is a different picture from the one IG presents on its own pricing pages, which lead with minimum spreads. A minimum is the best price on the best pair at the best moment. The table above is an average, harvested monthly, and the two are not comparable. Our harvest methodology sets out how the harvest is run and dated.

Guaranteed Stops At IG

Guaranteed stop-loss orders are available at IG. A guaranteed stop closes your trade at the level you set even when the market gaps straight through it. An ordinary stop cannot promise that, and every provider charges a premium for the difference.

IG charges that premium only if the order is triggered. It varies by asset class and instrument. Two brokers can both offer guaranteed stops and cost you completely different amounts over a year, depending on how often your stops actually fire.

IG publishes a guaranteed stop premium for every instrument in its own spread betting product-details tables, so there is no single figure to put here. These are the ones we have read off IG’s own spread betting product details, in the unit IG states them in. The premium on any other market is on the deal ticket before you confirm the bet.

Read those against your stake rather than against each other. A premium quoted per point is charged on the size of the bet, so the cost of the protection scales with the position. The table above cannot tell you what it will come to on a bet you have not sized yet.

Our guide to stop-loss orders in spread betting covers how the order type behaves in a gapping market.

What You Trade On

IG runs its own platform alongside third-party software, and the list on our summary table below is the set we have confirmed carries the spread betting account. It is one of the widest platform lists in our ranking, which is part of why IG scores where it does.

IG recorded a median fill of 153ms in our timed testing, across 15 live orders placed between 18 and 27 August 2026. Fill speed is the one exception, and it is measured: a claim about execution speed or app responsiveness needs a dated test with a recorded device and method behind it, and we now publish one for fill speed, timed on live funded accounts and released with its raw rows.

Our app test counts rather than times. It records the taps from a cold launch to a placed order, whether price alerts fire, and whether a guaranteed stop can be placed in the app. We drove both store builds on 22 and 23 August 2026, using an iPhone 15 Pro running iOS 18.6 and a Google Pixel 8 running Android 15. It measures no speed, so no app here carries a responsiveness verdict.

On IG it took four taps to get from a cold launch to a placed order. Price alerts fired on both builds, and a guaranteed stop can be placed in the app itself. Neither build logged a crash or a stall.

IG publishes a demo account, and we read its terms off IG’s own demo page rather than inferring them: £10,000 in virtual funds, checked 26 August 2026.

Our comparison page names the best UK spread betting platform and scores the fourteen accounts on the attributes we can evidence.

What Our IG Service Tests Found

IG answered a live chat on 25 August 2026 in 2 minutes and resolved the query. Account opened 11 August 2026, approved in 3 hours, and a withdrawal on 27 August 2026 cost £0 and arrived the next working day.

IG resolved the question on that contact. All three tests ran on the same live funded account we opened ourselves, and the withdrawal came out of it.

IG Versus Capital.com And ThinkMarkets

The two accounts either side of IG in our ranking, on figures every review on this site renders from the same data. IG takes the first column. Spreads are from the August 2026 harvest, the fill time from the timed execution dataset, and the rest from each account’s own published terms.

A row where two accounts show the same figure is a tie on that measure, not on the account. The score is set on the criteria we publish, and the table above shows where the difference between these accounts actually sits.

IG Versus CMC Markets

IG against CMC Markets, on the same figures the ranking table uses. This account does not sit either side of IG in our ranking, so the pair is a named comparison rather than one the ranking picked, and every cell is a field each rival’s own review renders in the same form. IG takes the first column. Spreads are from the August 2026 harvest, the fill time from the timed execution dataset, and the rest from each account’s own published terms.

A row where two accounts show the same figure is a tie on that measure, not on the account. The score is set on the criteria we publish, and the table above shows where the difference between these accounts actually sits.

IG Testing Log

Every dated test we ran on this account and every dated read behind the figures on this page, oldest first, from the datasets those figures are rendered from. The log is the evidence trail rather than a summary of it.

What Other Review Sites Say About IG

These are IG’s ratings on the platforms below, each read on the date shown and stated in that platform’s own scale. They are other people’s ratings, gathered on those sites’ own terms, and we publish them so you can weigh them against ours.

Our own score is set on the six criteria we publish and is not influenced by any third-party rating. A high rating on a review platform and a low mark here can both be true of the same account, because they measure different things.

IG At A Glance

Every row below is a value we read on IG’s own UK site or hold in our broker data with a source and a date beside it. An attribute IG does not publish has no row here, because the alternative is a number we would be guessing.

What You Can Bet On

IG publishes these counts on its own market pages. They are the figures it states rather than counts we made, and each one covers the market it names.

• Forex pairs: 80+
• Indices: 69
• Commodities: 35

The market rows above are the counts IG publishes for each of those markets individually, and each one is taken from the page IG publishes it on. There is no total, for the reason set out at the top of this page. If you want a single number to compare accounts on, our guide to spread betting markets covers what the counts do and do not tell you.

Our IG Video Review

Our own video review of the IG spread betting account, from the SpreadBet channel.

From the Spread Bet UK YouTube channel, where we publish our video reviews of UK spread betting accounts.

IG Pros And Cons

Each line is a field in our broker data with a source and a date behind it, not an impression. Where IG does not publish an attribute, that absence is listed as a cost rather than left blank.

That list is shorter on one side than the other. Our cons come from fields our broker data can point at, and on this account most of those fields hold a good value or a published one. The honest additions our data cannot express are on this page rather than in the list. They are the entity split above, the instrument count we will not publish, and a cost picture that turns on which pairs you trade.

IG Spread Betting: FAQs