Trading forex with IG Markets

I have found that stops are hit more frequently than I would have hoped. IG has 11 market makers backing their CFD pricing. These tend to get skittish at the same time that there is a major market move. The spreads widen, your stops get triggered even if the ‘true’ market is still quite a few points away.

This makes the ‘cost’* of the stops much higher than might be imagined. It detracts materially from outcomes. I have had to revisit my strategies as a result of experiencing these events several times during the Trump ascendence. I have been disappointed at how fast liquidity deteriorates in the IG pool just when you need it most.

Overall, the cost of FX trading with IG compares well with all major alternatives outside of IB when the all-in cost is considered. Many others seem cheap with offers of particularly narrow spreads or low commissions. You need to look in to the fine print and you’ll find chicanery all over the place.

Also, IG’s practice of client asset segregation is probably the best protection offered to client assets in the CFD market.

Overall, I believe it’s the best available outside of directly entering the FX market as a whale or via the futures market. I have been testing implementation of my approach within the IG platform but intend to move off the platform in to futures in the next few months.

IB is widely utilised by other traders. I am not comfortable with them for reasons I prefer not to document here.

All the best with it.

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* this is a derivative pricing concept. I am not referring to matters like commission. These actions result in the erosion of edge by more than would be a ‘fair’ price for placing these stops on. It’s like paying $5k for your car insurance when the true market value is $500. Car insurance is like a stop loss.