Margin rates
Our tiered spread bet and CFD margining system means we can offer competitive rates that reflect the size of your position and associated liquidity of the market.
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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 from 9am to 5pm (UK time), Monday to Friday.
Contact us 0800 409 6789
Call 0800 195 3100 or email newaccounts.uk@ig.com to talk about opening an 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 from 9am to 5pm (UK time), Monday to Friday.
Contact us 0800 409 6789
What is margin?
Margin is usually required on leveraged trades, which means you don’t have to pay the full value of the trade upfront. Instead, you’ll use a deposit that’s a fraction of the position’s value. Bear in mind that the profits and losses of leveraged trades are calculated on the full position size, not the margin amount. This means that you could lose or gain more than the amount you paid to open the trade.
Our spread betting and CFD trading margin rates
All our margins are kept to competitively low rates. We offer tiered margining, meaning there are different margin requirements at different levels of exposure. Smaller deal sizes attract our lowest margin rates because they generally benefit from better market liquidity.
Our tiers start from one and go up to four. Tier one has the lowest margin rates, while tier four has the highest.
You can see a summary of tier one margins for some of our most popular markets below. For all tier one margins, you can limit your potential for losses by using stop orders. This limits your exposure to risk by automatically closing out your positions if losses reach a certain level, predetermined by you. However, if markets move too fast and your position is not closed in time, your trade can go through negative slippage. To counteract this, you can use guaranteed stops, which will always close out your trade at the predetermined level, but which you’ll pay a premium for.
- Indices
- Forex
- Commodities
- Shares
Spread betting |
||||
| Stock index | Retail | Leverage equivalent | ||
| FTSE 100 | 5% | 1:20 | ||
| Wall Street | 5% | 1:20 | ||
| Germany 40 | 5% | 1:20 | ||
| US 500 | 5% | 1:20 | ||
| US Tech 100 | 5% | 1:20 | ||
CFD trading |
||||
| Stock index | Retail | Leverage equivalent | ||
| FTSE 100 | 5% | 1:20 | ||
| Wall Street | 5% | 1:20 | ||
| Germany 40 | 5% | 1:20 | ||
| US 500 | 5% | 1:20 | ||
| US Tech 100 | 5% | 1:20 | ||
Spread betting |
||||
| Commodities | Retail | Leverage equivalent | ||
| Spot Gold | 5% | 1:20 | ||
| Spot Silver (5000oz) | 10% | 1:10 | ||
| High Grade Copper | 10% | 1:10 | ||
| Oil - US Crude | 10% | 1:10 | ||
| Oil - Brent Crude | 10% | 1:10 | ||
CFDs |
||||
| Commodities | Retail | Leverage equivalent | ||
| Spot Gold | 5% | 1:20 | ||
| Spot Silver (5000oz) | 10% | 1:10 | ||
| High Grade Copper | 10% | 1:10 | ||
| Oil - US Crude | 10% | 1:10 | ||
| Oil - Brent Crude | 10% | 1:10 | ||
Spread betting |
||||
| Shares | Retail | Leverage equivalent | ||
| Apple | 20% | 1:5 | ||
| Barclays PLC | 20% | 1:5 | ||
| BHP Group PLC (LSE) | 20% | 1:5 | ||
| GlaxoSmithKline PLC | 20% | 1:5 | ||
| Vodafone Group PLC | 20% | 1:5 | ||
CFDs |
||||
| Shares | Retail | Leverage equivalent | ||
| Apple | 20% | 1:5 | ||
| Barclays PLC | 20% | 1:5 | ||
| BHP Group PLC (LSE) | 20% | 1:5 | ||
| GlaxoSmithKline PLC | 20% | 1:5 | ||
| Vodafone Group PLC | 20% | 1:5 | ||
US options and futures margin account
When trading US options and futures, you can open a cash account or a margin account. When you open a position in a cash account, you must pay for the total cost of the trade upfront. However, with a margin account, you can use leverage to trade marginable assets.
Note that US exchange-listed stocks are marginable, but other assets aren’t.
When trading options and futures, losses can exceed your original investment.
| Non-marginable assets |
| Stocks below $3 |
| OTCBB/unlisted penny stocks |
| Long and short options |
| Futures |
| Options on futures |
| Volatility-based ETFs and ETNs |
Your initial margin requirement is the amount of buying power (BP) needed to open a position. Standard margin accounts use a fixed-percentage, strategy-based system. Initial requirements affect opening orders on stocks and ETF shares and are typically 50% of the position’s value. But, in certain scenarios, margin may be higher.
Let's take a look at the BP requirements of some commonly traded products and strategies. These can change at any time and may vary based on the underlying’s price.
| Product and strategy | Margin/BP required | Marginable |
| Long stock or ETF shares | Typically, 50% initial requirement and 25% maintenance of the underlying value1 | Yes |
| Short stock or ETF shares | Initial: 50% of notional value or $10 per share, whichever is greater1 Maintenance: 30% of notional value or $10 per share, whichever is greater1 |
Yes |
| Long options | Cost of the options (debit paid) | No |
| Long options spreads2 | Cost of the spread (debit paid) | No |
| Uncovered/naked/short calls | The greatest of the following:
|
No |
| Uncovered/naked puts | The greatest of the following:
|
No |
| Short options vertical spreads2 | Spread width minus credit received | No |
| Futures | Overnight requirement (subject to risk profile) Note: instead of the entire overnight requirement, intraday futures provide 4x leverage or 25% of initial margin requirement |
|
| Long options on futures | Cost of the spread (debit paid) | No |
| Short options on futures | SPAN margin requirement | No |
| Long/short options on futures spread | SPAN margin requirement | No |
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*Demo accounts are only available for spread betting and CFD trading.
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Fast execution on a huge range of markets
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*Demo accounts are only available for spread betting and CFD trading.
Open an account now
Open an account now
Fast execution on a huge range of markets
Enjoy flexible access to 17,000+ global markets, with reliable execution
Deal seamlessly, wherever you are
Trade on the move with our natively designed, award-winning trading app
Feel secure with a trusted provider
With 50 years of experience, we’re proud to offer a truly market-leading service
Margin for professionals
Professional clients are exempt from regulatory limits on leverage that are in place for retail clients. If you qualify as a professional client, you won’t have to commit as much of your capital to the initial margin deposit as a retail client would.
For example, if a retail client wanted to take a position on the FTSE 100, a margin of 5% would be required. A professional client, on the other hand, would only need to put down a margin of 0.45%.
You can find out more, and check if you are eligible for professional status, on our professional trading page.
What’s maintenance margin?
Maintenance margin, also known as required maintenance, is the minimum account equity needed to maintain a position.
This type of margin is charged via a ‘margin/maintenance call’, which is a status applied to your account when it’s fallen below the minimum required to keep a position open. If you go into margin call, we’ll attempt to notify you by email. However, it’s important to note that it’s your responsibility to monitor accounts and ensure that you have enough funds to cover both margin and losses at all times.
Find out more about spread bet and CFD margin calls and how they work
Try these next
Learn about the risks associated with trading and how you can manage them.
We are transparent about 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.
1 Due to market conditions, margin requirements are subject to change at any time.
2 Spreads refer to multi-leg options strategies, such as verticals, iron condors, diagonals, etc
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