IG Markets Review Australia 2026

Is IG Markets safe? ASIC AFSL 515106

IG Markets operates under ASIC AFSL 515106, held by IG Australia Pty Ltd and current since 2 June 2020.

ASIC regulation and global licences

The ASIC register shows IG Australia Pty Ltd holds AFSL 515106 with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. That register records that licence as current since 2 June 2020. The longer Australian presence runs on the earlier licence, AFSL 220440, held by IG Markets Limited, a separate entity within the group. ASIC’s media release 23-298MR of 9 November 2023 names IG Australia (IG Markets Limited and IG Australia Pty Ltd) among seven CFD issuers that self-reported issuing CFDs above the leverage ratio limits in ASIC’s CFD product intervention order. ASIC reviewed the compensation payments in July and August 2023, and all seven issuers cooperated.

Beyond Australia, the IG group runs entities in other countries under other regulators, which this review has not checked on those regulators’ registers, and I treat that as a reason to keep your focus on the local licence. Your Australian account sits with IG Australia Pty Ltd under AFSL 515106, and those licences do not cover it, so you are relying on the local licence.

History and ownership

Stuart Wheeler founded IG Markets in London in 1974 as Investors Gold Index, to let UK investors trade gold price movements without owning the metal. The business pioneered spread betting in the 1970s and CFDs in the 1990s, and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2000. Australian operations opened in 2002 under IG Markets Limited. The entity you deal with today is IG Australia Pty Ltd, licensed since 2 June 2020, so the long history belongs to the group rather than that entity.

Before depositing, confirm IG Markets holds AFSL 515106 using the site's guide to checking a broker on ASIC's register.

Is IG Markets legal in Australia?

Trading with IG Markets is legal for Australian residents through IG Australia Pty Ltd, which ASIC licenses under AFSL 515106.

IG Markets client money protection and AFCA membership

IG Markets underpins client money protection with mandatory negative balance protection and segregation.

Both measures matter for a live balance, and AFCA membership carries disputes to an external ombudsman at no cost to the client.

Money held in client accounts sits separate from company funds. AFCA hears claims up to A$1,263,000 and awards compensation up to A$631,500. Under the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort, eligible consumers can receive up to A$150,000, but the scheme covers only personal advice, securities dealing and credit, and forex and derivatives trading, CFDs included, sit outside it. That scheme is useful but narrower than many traders assume, so you should not treat it as insurance against a losing position. That retail protection standard is set out in the guide to protection against negative balances.

One account carve-out matters before you chase leverage. The Pro and Wholesale classification surrenders negative balance protection along with the ASIC leverage caps.

IG Markets’ AFCA member is Ig Australia Pty Ltd, which AFCA’s Datacube, read by our team on 27 September 2026, records with 32 complaints received in 2025-26 and 21 in 2024-25, set out in the table that follows.

• AFCA business size: Small
• Not adjusted for client numbers
• AFCA listing threshold: Financial firms that received four or more complaints during the selected period appear in the AFCA Datacube.
• Middle of the field: 23 AFCA firms listed for 01/07/2025 - 30/06/2026 among the brokers this site covers, each firm counted once
• Source: AFCA Datacube, complaints by firm, read 27 September 2026

Public reviews

IG holds a Trustpilot rating of 3.7 out of 5 from 10,088 reviews, which Trustpilot labels average, captured October 2026. The profile has been claimed by the broker since March 2016.

How popular is IG Markets in Australia?

IG Markets ranked 3rd for search interest among the 33 brokers we review in August 2026, on 14,880 branded Google searches from Australia, behind Interactive Brokers. Search interest measures attention, not quality; the score above is the review verdict.

3of 33Search interest rank

14,880

Brand searches, August 2026

+34.4%

vs July 2026

2,480

Login searches

8.3%

Share of all broker searches

Source: Google search volume, Australia, August 2026. How this is measured

What other review sites say

IG Markets' iOS app rates 4.57 out of 5 from 13,829 ratings on the Australian App Store (October 2026), listed as IG Trading: CFDs & Shares.

Android users rate IG Markets' Android app 4.6 out of 5 from 23.1K reviews worldwide on Google Play (October 2026), listed as IG: Trading & Investing.

TradingView users rate IG Markets 4 out of 5 from 1,081 ratings (October 2026). 15.8K TradingView users have connected a IG Markets account.

App Store AU

4.57

13,829 ratingsOctober 2026

Google Play

4.6

23.1K reviews worldwideOctober 2026View on Google Play

TradingView

4

1,081 ratings15.8K Traders via TradingViewOctober 2026View on TradingView

What traders say about IG Markets

Public ratings of IG Markets from the rating sites that list it, showing the number of reviews or ratings behind each score and the month it was captured.

Rating site	Rating	Based on	Who rated	Captured
Trustpilot	3.7 out of 5	10,088 reviews	Worldwide	October 2026
App Store	4.57 out of 5	13,829 ratings	Australia only	October 2026
TradingView	4 out of 5	1,081 ratings	Worldwide	October 2026

Each row above is a public rating of IG Markets taken from a rating site, dated to the month its figure was captured. An App Store rating counts ratings left on Apple's Australian App Store only, while a Trustpilot figure counts reviews and a TradingView figure counts ratings from anywhere in the world. A site with no row has no rating for IG Markets, withholds it, cannot be matched to IG Markets with confidence, or we have not captured it yet.

IG Markets at a glance: 16 key facts

IG Markets is summarised in 16 key facts, and IG Australia Pty Ltd holds ASIC AFSL 515106.

IG Australia Pty Ltd, ABN 93 096 585 410, has held that licence since 2 June 2020. The group’s Australian operations date from 2002 under an earlier licence, AFSL 220440, held by IG Markets Limited. I focus on IG Australia Pty Ltd because it is the entity you deal with as an Australian client, and the table below carries the full set.

Those two licence numbers are the fact most often confused about this broker, and the trust section below separates them.

IG Markets standard-account spreads, measured

IG Markets came in at 0.72 pips on EUR/USD on standard-account spreads in the 48-hour capture from 22 to 24 September 2026.

IG’s live MT4 CFD account, where Noam Korbl ran the capture, averaged 1.35 pips across the eight-pair basket and 0.73 pips on AUD/USD. Commission on this account was measured at A$0.00 on 21 September 2026, though overnight financing still applies, so the spread is not the whole cost of holding a position.

Our capture put EUR/USD at 0.61 pips in the London session, with a 95th percentile of 0.9 pips and a widest minute of 11.6 pips at the New York 5pm rollover. In my view, the full-window average is the figure to plan around, because that is the number your trades across all sessions are most likely to resemble.

Forex Direct is the raw-pricing route at IG Markets, a direct market access product open to retail clients in Australia. Its spreads are not in the table above, and that is deliberate: the figures IG publishes for Forex Direct (EUR/USD 0.16 pips, 0.59 across eight pairs) are IG’s own advertised data carrying IG’s own footnote, “average spread for the 12 weeks ending 19th March 2019”. The IG UK page publishes the identical numbers with no footnote at all, and the IG South African page carries the same March 2019 footnote against a different dataset, so the window and the data do not reconcile. These are unmaintained advertised figures rather than a measurement, and they do not belong in a measured column. I would not plan a cost comparison around them, and you should not anchor a cost estimate to them.

Unlike the standard account, Forex Direct does not price per lot. IG charges a volume-tiered commission in US dollars per US$1 million of notional, billed on top of the market spread rather than instead of it. Before comparing a real round-turn cost, add that commission to the raw spread.

Under the Australian Margin PDS, the cap is US$60 per US$1 million traded, converted to the account base currency where that is not USD, with no published per-trade minimum. At the entry tier a standard lot costs roughly US$6 a side. In our lowest spread brokers in Australia comparison, the capture from 22 to 24 September 2026 placed IG’s standard account 2nd of 8 standard accounts on EUR/USD, 3rd of 8 on the eight-pair basket, and 14th of 19 accounts on eight-pair all-in cost. Forex Direct was not in that capture, so it has no measured placement.

One practical point the pricing pages do not make obvious: DMA has to be activated on the account, and app users cannot do it themselves. In IG’s own wording, “you will need to give us a call to request DMA access” (IG Forex Direct, checked 29 July 2026).

On EUR/USD all-in cost in the same capture from 22 to 24 September 2026, IG’s standard account at 0.72 pips sat 11th of 19, ahead of the IC Markets raw account at 0.75 pips in 13th. Across the eight-pair basket, IG at 1.35 pips sat 14th of 19, behind IC Markets at 1.00 pips in 8th, so you pay more per trade when your strategy spans several pairs. In my view, basket forex pricing is not where IG Markets competes.

What IG Markets costs per trade

Standard lots per month

15102550

Monthly spread cost converts pips to dollars using the EUR/USD pip value as the proxy for the 8-pair average, footnoted on-page. AUD pip value A$14.38 per standard lot at AUD/USD 0.6955 (9 Oct 2026).

Rawraw + commission · 8-pair average · published

A$154.84

Standardspread only · 8-pair average · September 2026

A$194.13

Raw saves A$39.29 a month at this volume, comparing published Raw prices with Standard prices from September 2026 (the September 2026 capture holds no IG Markets Raw account)

At 10 standard lots per month on Raw accounts, IG Markets costs approximately A$154.84 in spread and commission costs. Rates as of Fri 9 Oct 2026, 5pm New York close.

What it costs to trade with IG Markets

IG Markets charges no separate commission on its standard forex account (A$0.00 measured on 21 September 2026), so the cost of a standard lot of EUR/USD is the 0.72 pip spread measured from 22 to 24 September 2026.

Treat that spread as the full execution line on a forex trade, while share CFDs carry commission plus overnight financing instead.

Share CFD costs

Share CFD pricing is where the IG Markets trading-floor heritage shows. On Australian share CFDs, commission starts at A$10 per trade or 0.10% of trade value, whichever is greater. US shares start from US$15 or 2 cents per share. Check that minimum against trade size, because smaller orders can pay a much higher effective percentage.

The overnight financing charge runs at the relevant benchmark rate, being the RBA cash rate plus 2.5% on AUD-denominated long positions, with a similar structure in other currencies and a reduced benchmark received on short positions.

On a position held overnight for weeks at a time, the financing line dominates the commission.

Other fees AU traders should check

• Overnight holding cost applies to CFD positions held past 5 PM New York time, direction-dependent, with long positions paying benchmark plus a margin.
• IG’s Australian charges page, read 7 October 2026, sets a 1.0% currency conversion charge on CFDs traded in a currency other than the account’s base currency, converted instantly by default.
• The inactivity fee runs A$25 per quarter after 24 months without trading activity.
• The guaranteed stop-loss premium is charged only when the guaranteed stop triggers, and the premium is shown before the order is placed.

How IG Markets compares to CMC Markets and Pepperstone

IG Markets compares to CMC Markets on range and to Pepperstone on price; on each broker’s Australian site read 27 September 2026, IG lists 36 global indices and CMC Markets 80+.

In our capture from 22 to 24 September 2026, all-in EUR/USD cost was 0.66 pips on CMC Markets’ FX Active raw account (9th of 19) and 0.72 pips on IG’s standard account (11th of 19). Pepperstone was not in that capture, and its Razor account averaged 0.10 pips on EUR/USD in our May to June 2026 capture before commission, a different window, so this review does not set the two figures side by side.

The full head-to-head sits in our CMC Markets vs IG Markets comparison. CMC Markets Asia Pacific Pty Ltd holds AFSL 238054 and IG Australia Pty Ltd holds AFSL 515106. In my view the choice turns on whether index coverage or share CFD coverage matters more to you.

IG Markets account types and minimum deposit

IG Markets’ Australian application, which Noam Korbl completed, offered two account types, Share trading and CFD and FX trading, and the minimum deposit is A$100 by card, Apple Pay or PayPal.

The minimum first deposit drops to A$10 by BPAY and sits at A$450 only for an EFT deposit sent with a proof-of-payment upload. Pick the card or BPAY route for speed unless the bank details are already linked.

IG’s help article dated 9 April 2026 is the source for the deposit figures in the table and the paragraph above.

Pro and wholesale

The Pro and Wholesale account requires the Corporations Act wholesale client criteria through one of two paths: a Wealth Test of net assets over A$2.5 million or income over A$250,000 for two consecutive years plus recent trading, or an Experience Test of income over A$100,000 or savings over A$500,000 plus sufficient volume and a knowledge assessment. Pro leverage rises to 250:1 on major forex and gold and 167:1 on minors, though the MT4 Pro accounts run 200:1 and 133:1 instead, which is why both figures circulate. Either wholesale path surrenders negative balance protection, so only take that route if the leverage benefit outweighs the loss shield given up.

Minimum deposit and account notes

Spread betting accounts exist on the IG UK entity and are not available to Australian clients. The funded Australian account’s dashboard offers a Practise on demo account option.

IG Markets funding methods and withdrawal times

IG Markets charges nothing on debit card, PayID and BPAY deposits and charges 0.5% on Mastercard and 1% on Visa credit cards, per its deposit help article dated 20 May 2026.

PayPal deposits cost 0.5%, so the funding costs you need to watch are those card and PayPal charges.

Deposit methods (AU clients)

Fees are from IG’s deposit help article dated 20 May 2026, card, bank and PayID times are from the deposit screen inside a live account a colleague opened in September 2026, and maximum deposit amounts are from the help article ‘What are the minimum and maximum amounts I can deposit?’ dated 9 April 2026.

I find it unusual that three of IG’s eight deposit routes carry a percentage charge, because most Australian brokers I review absorb card costs. The five fee-free methods (debit card, Apple Pay on debit, PayID, BPAY and bank transfer) cover nearly every funding need you are likely to have. What I would flag, though, is that IG refuses funding from digital banks like Wise and Revolut, so check your funding source before opening an account.

Withdrawals

IG Markets normally returns money to the same card, bank or PayPal account it received it from, per its deposit help article dated 20 May 2026, and does not accept third-party funding. IG may ask you to verify payments or registered bank details for anti-money laundering or security reasons, and will email you if so. Our team has not yet tested a withdrawal, so this review gives no withdrawal fee or time, and I would check IG’s withdrawal terms before you fund your account.

Account opening

Noam Korbl, who leads our capture programme, opened and funded the account for our September 2026 capture. The application moved through six sections (Profile, Contact, Personal, Finances, Experience, Account) in a few minutes with no technical problems. Australia offers two account types: Share trading and CFD and FX trading, with the CFD and FX account marked as MT4-compatible. The experience section asks how many times you have traded shares and bonds, exchange-traded derivatives and OTC derivatives over the past three years.

No identity document, proof of address, selfie or camera step appeared at any point, and there was no obvious place in the portal to upload them afterwards. The consent screen names three mechanisms: IG’s DVS Notice, verifying identity using a credit reporting body, and Onfido processing certain identity checks. I’d take a background verification over uploading a passport photo and waiting any day. Because nothing visible confirms the check passed, you never get a moment where you know you’re verified, and the capture can’t show which of the three mechanisms IG actually relied on or when it finished.

The part of the process I think every applicant needs to understand is the CFD knowledge assessment. After submission the CFD account showed as PENDING with a “Demonstrate your knowledge” prompt. IG offers optional short courses on CFD risk and dealing before you begin. The test screen states: “This is your first of two attempts. Your account application will be declined if you do not pass.” Ten multiple-choice questions cover topics including what happens if your internet connection fails while you are trying to trade. Noam passed at 100% on the first attempt.

Once the assessment was complete, the dashboard displayed Client Status: RETAIL and the CFD account showed Open platform and Add funds. Noam deposited A$200 by card on 3 September 2026, and the full amount appeared as Funds A$200.00 and Available A$200.00 with no pending stage shown.

In my opinion, this is a fast, well-structured application. I particularly like that IG gives you optional courses before the knowledge test. The hard rule is the two-attempt limit: fail twice and your account application is declined, so I would treat that test seriously from the start.

IG Markets trading platforms

IG Markets’ Australian site, read 27 September 2026, lists six platforms: the web platform, the mobile app, TradingView, MT4, MT5, and ProRealTime.

IG web platform (proprietary)

Both the web platform and the mobile app appear on IG’s Australian platform list, read 27 September 2026. Noam Korbl’s funded CFD dashboard opens the platform from an Open platform button.

IG Markets app

IG Markets publishes a mobile app, listed on the App Store as “IG Trading: CFDs & Shares” and sold by IG Index Ltd. From a phone, a client can trade TradingView, MT4 and MT5 through those platforms’ own apps, using IG Markets account details.

The store lists IG Index Ltd as the seller, while an Australian client’s account sits with IG Australia Pty Ltd, the ASIC licensee, and a store seller name does not decide which entity holds the account. Coverage for TradingView, MT4 and MT5 arrives through each platform’s own app, published by its developer, so those platforms are not found inside the IG Markets app itself.

• App Store: Australian storefront, exact figures from Apple's iTunes Search API
• Google Play: worldwide counts, not comparable with the App Store counts
• Third-party MetaTrader, cTrader and TradingView apps not listed

ProRealTime and MetaTrader 4

IG’s Australian site describes ProRealTime as offering advanced charting, custom indicators, automated trading capabilities, and market scanning tools. The funded dashboard offers an Enable Advanced Charts-ProRealTime option. On MT4, IG’s Australian site describes flexible charts, indicators, and automated strategies, and the Australian application marked the CFD and FX account MT4-compatible.

L2 Dealer and the trading API

L2 Dealer is the direct market access platform for high-volume share traders. It exposes the underlying order book and routes to the exchange where supported, rather than internalising against the IG quote. Volume thresholds and additional fees apply, and most retail traders have no use for it. I would not send most retail traders here, because you need real size to justify the added complexity. The IG trading API covers REST and streaming, is free with an active account, and supports the full product range.

What IG Markets does not offer

IG’s Australian platform list, read 27 September 2026, names no cTrader and no copy-trading or social-trading platform, so you need another broker if your strategy runs in cTrader. The IG mobile app’s App Store rating sits in the ratings block on this page, and the app is compared with other trading apps in a separate guide on this site.

IG Markets leverage and margin under ASIC rules

IG Markets leverage and margin operate under a maximum retail leverage of 30:1 on major forex pairs, which is the starting constraint you face, with lower caps on minors, indices, commodities and cryptocurrency.

• Forex majors: MT4 200:1
• Forex minors: MT4 133:1
• Gold: MT4 20% lower
• Major indices: MT4 20% lower
• Minor indices: MT4 20% lower
• Other commodities: MT4 20% lower
• Crypto CFDs: BTC, ETH, XRP, BCH, LTC
• Given up with professional status: negative balance protection, the retail leverage limits, the 50% margin close-out
• Source: ASIC product intervention order (retail); IG Markets and its Australian support, read 30 September 2026 (professional)

Under the ASIC rules, IG Markets retail CFD leverage runs to 30:1 on major forex pairs, 20:1 on minor pairs, gold and major indices, 10:1 on commodities other than gold, 5:1 on share CFDs and 2:1 on crypto assets. The caps come from a product intervention order extended to 23 May 2027, so they apply at every ASIC broker rather than at IG Markets alone, making retail leverage a pointless point of comparison between providers.

Knock-Out margin works differently by design, because the knockout level fixes the maximum loss rather than leverage, and I see that as a cleaner risk model for anyone who wants certainty before the position opens. You can choose a Knock-Out if you want a hard cap on your loss rather than a leverage calculation.

The wholesale tier reaches about 250:1 on major forex for clients passing the eligibility tests. Retail margin close-out sits at 50%: ASIC requires every CFD issuer to close a retail client’s positions once account equity falls below half the total initial margin on all open positions. Positions cannot be netted against each other to reduce that figure, and a gapping market can close a position below the 50% level. Model the 50% close-out rule into your risk plan, because it is the point where the broker must act regardless of the market. The leverage tier structure is set out in how trading leverage works.

IG Markets execution speed and slippage

IG Markets gets no execution speed or slippage figure in this review. The site holds no raw log of dates, VPS, order count and method behind any fill speed claim, and it publishes no cross-broker latency ranking either.

IG Australia Pty Ltd’s primary business is listed as Derivatives Dealer in AFCA’s Datacube, read 27 September 2026. This review holds no product disclosure statement extract on how IG prices or hedges client orders, so it makes no claim about the execution model.

IG Markets instrument counts across nine asset classes

IG Markets’ Australian site, read 27 September 2026, lists 11,000+ Australian and international share CFDs, 90+ currency pairs and 36 global indices.

One login reaching Australian and international share CFDs is the reason I would send you to this catalogue.

Forex runs to 90+ currency pairs on IG’s Australian site, read 27 September 2026. Direct share investing sits in the separate Share trading account, which the Australian application offered alongside the CFD and FX trading account, for investors who want to own shares rather than trade them as CFDs.

Share CFDs and rates

You get 11,000+ Australian and international share CFDs on IG’s list, per its Australian site read 27 September 2026. In my view the share CFD range is the lead strength this review scores, and it carries the 10 of 10 Range of Markets score, which is what I would weigh if your trading leans on share selection.

IG Markets’ rates CFDs cover the Australian 10-year bond, US T-Notes, the German Bund and UK Gilts, and I like that you can hold macro rates alongside your forex positions on the one account. Having bonds and currencies under the same roof makes it easier to trade a macro view without opening a second account.

IG Markets Knock-Out and Barrier options

Retail clients can trade Knock-Out and Barrier options at IG Markets, on the same login as its CFDs.

Both instruments are defined-risk products. The knockout level caps the maximum loss at the moment the position opens, so your worst case is a known figure rather than a margin calculation that moves with the market. That cost sits inside the product rather than in a separate commission line, and the figure is shown at the point of trade. Check that knockout cost before entry, because it is the price paid for the known loss.

This product structure answers a real problem. An ordinary margined account cannot show the worst case in advance, because a gapping market can close a position past the stop. A knockout cannot gap through its own level, because the level is the contract. That distinction matters if you need to know the maximum loss before committing.

No comparison page exists for the class anywhere on this site, so this section is the coverage. If that defined-risk exposure is what you are missing, this is the account feature to investigate first.

IG Markets customer service, research and education

IG Markets’ Australian site, read 27 September 2026, lists web chat and WhatsApp under Contact us. Our team has not tested IG’s support and holds no record of its hours, response times or languages, so this review states none.

You should check IG’s stated support hours before funding if you hold positions outside Australian business hours.

IG Markets research, tools and education

IG Markets publishes IG analyst daily commentary and weekly outlooks, Reuters news feed, MetaTrader Charts, ProRealTime advanced charting, economic calendar, client sentiment data, IG TV and IG Academy. We have not assessed the research or education live, so this section states only what the broker publishes.

Should you open an IG Markets account?

I would open an IG Markets account if you trade across several asset classes and want one broker for them.

You get share CFDs, forex and indices on one account held by IG Australia Pty Ltd under AFSL 515106.

You should look elsewhere if your workflow needs cTrader. MT5 users should confirm MT5 on an Australian account with IG before funding.

You should weigh the 1.35 pip all-in figure, 14th of 19 in our capture from 22 to 24 September 2026, if you trade a basket of pairs. Check IG’s withdrawal terms before funding, since our team has not yet tested a withdrawal.

IG Markets ranks fifteenth among the top-rated forex brokers in Australia on the 2026 scoring. Cost holds it there rather than trust, where it scores at the top of the field. Read the ranking as a cost verdict you can offset only if the market range or defined-risk products matter more.