Overview
IG Markets is the retail trading arm of the well-known IG Group, which has been in the game for almost 35 years now, and is a market leader in brokering CFD trades (Contracts for Difference). Among its other credentials IG Group is also listed on the FTSE 250 exchange as well as having offices in the UK, France, Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, USA, Australia, Japan, China, Singapore and South Africa.
To date to company has won the World Finance Exchanges & Brokers Award for Best Trading Platform of 2011, Money Magazine’s Best CFD Provider in 2010, FX Traders’ Choice Award for top placement, Falcon Award for High Broker Satisfaction in 2010, 5 stars from CANSTAR CANNEX for outstanding value as a CFD Broker in 2009, AFR’s Smart Investor’s Blue Ribbon Award for Best CFD Provider in 2011, and The Bull Award for Best CFD Provider in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
IG Markets were one of the first companies to broker binary trades and to date offer the greatest number of possible trades on the widest selection of underlying assets in the business. IG Markets offer binary trading facilities on Forex currency pairs, Commodities, Stocks and Indices.
Trading Platform
The online trading platform offered by IG Markets is one of the company’s big draws. It is a proprietary web-based platform that is low on latency, quick to enable traders to execute CFD order and also provides them with a host of high end analytical tools for them to be able to place the most educated trades on the market of their choice. In the company’s own benchmark tests they found that almost all of the trades placed on their platform (99.6% to be exact), are executed in a little as 0.1 seconds, meaning traders receive the most up to date price at the time of execution with almost no slippage whatsoever. In addition to this, with an up time close to perfect (99.94% to be precise), traders never have to deal with any reliability issues and can place trades whenever they choose. If there is action happening in some market in the world, then IG Markets traders can take advantage of it.
The IG Markets platform has been envisioned as something of a one stop trading control station, providing traders with all the information they will ever need from one place. So, on the same platform you can perform technical analysis on your asset of choice as well as keeping abreast of all the market news affecting its value. Both technical and fundamental traders are catered for on the platform, and this adds to the speed at which IG traders can lock in their trades, because they do not have to navigate from window to window and program to program in order to get the information they need. In addition to this, traders are able to lock in trades directly from the charting platform, a great feature if you ask us and one that other brokers of binary options would do well to imitate.
If this were not enough IG Markets also offer smart device application so that even when you do not find yourself at a desktop or laptop computer, you can still continue your trading activities on the fly. To date their app is available for iOS devices such as iPad and iPhone, Android and even for the much neglected (in the trading world at least) Blackberry and Nokia operating systems.
Their platforms all offer pretty competitive prices, the ability to execute one click trades and customisable trading parameters. The company’s trades may seem slightly higher in price to some non-CFD brokers but this is definitely one of the most flexible, asset-rich and reputable places to trade binaries on the Web.
Regulation
Owing to the 35 year pedigree that IG Markets carries with it, it is not having the same licensing issues that many of the newer retail binary options brokers are currently experiencing. IG Markets is an official member of the London Stock Exchange and is regulated by the U.K’s FSA (Financial Services Authority) which has recently changed to the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority. IG Markets are also currently licensed and regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
Customer Service
IG Markets was at the top of our list as far as the educational content it provides its prospecting and existing clients. You will find almost anything you need on their website, from technical and fundamental information, to historical and live charting, market information and account FAQs. Should this prove to be insufficient the company offers 24/7 customer service and their team is highly experience and very knowledgeable in these matters.
Deposits and Withdrawals
IG Markets allows you to deposit funds into your trading account via accepts Visa, MasterCard and BPAY. These are the only payment options that do not incur a charge, other options may incur a small cost per transaction. Also be aware that BPAY takes a working day for the transaction to clear. As far as withdrawals go, you can withdraw your profits from your IG Markets account via having them paid into your debit or credit card as well as Electronic Funds Transfer (EFS), Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), Telegraphic Transfer (TT) payments or cheque.
Conclusion
IG Markets truly is among the very top binary options brokers. It has a long history of brokering trades, so your money is safe with them, also it is regulated, has a very impressive list of assets and for many online traders, the added cost incurred in trading CFD binaries is worth it for the security of trading with such a reputable pillar of the online trading as IG Markets. Definitely one to research before you set up an account anywhere else.
