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CFDs are leveraged products. CFD trading may not be suitable for everyone and can result in losses that exceed your deposits, so please ensure that you fully understand the risks involved. CFDs are leveraged products. CFD trading may not be suitable for everyone and can result in losses that exceed your deposits, so please ensure that you fully understand the risks involved.

What to know about trading in the UK
Trading in the UK: what you need to know

Trading: everything you need to know

Trading enables individuals and institutions to get access to the financial market. Learn how trading works, which markets you can speculate on, and how to get started with us.

Start trading today. Call +65 6390 5133 between 9am and 6pm (SGT) on weekdays or email accountopening@ig.com.sg for account opening enquiries.

Start trading today. Call +65 6390 5133 between 9am and 6pm (SGT) on weekdays or email accountopening@ig.com.sg for account opening enquiries.

Start trading today. Call +65 6390 5133 between 9am and 6pm (SGT) on weekdays or email accountopening@ig.com.sg for account opening enquiries.

Start trading today. Call +65 6390 5133 between 9am and 6pm (SGT) on weekdays or email accountopening@ig.com.sg for account opening enquiries.

Trading essentials

Trading is the act of buying and selling financial assets for the purpose of making profit. You predict the price movement of the underlying asset by going long if you think the price will rise, or short if you think that it’ll fall.

You’ll get exposure through buying or selling different markets like shares, forex, commodities, and indices without taking ownership of the underlying asset.

With us, you can trade using CFDs. This is a popular way to trade because it’s more accessible than trading derivative products that are listed on an exchange.

Trading with us

CFD trading

Exchange the difference in price between opening the position and closing it using a contract for difference (CFD).

Markets and assets to trade

Shares

Trade shares to speculate on company stocks without taking ownership. You’ll take a position on the direction of the share price by going short or long.

Indices

Get exposure to an entire economy trading indices with us. You’ll speculate on the performance of groups of shares by going short or long on rising or falling markets.

ETFs

Speculate on exchange traded funds or ETFs, which are investment baskets that track the value of individual commodities as well as a collection of stocks.

Forex

Take a long or short position on the conversion of one currency into another. There are several types of forex pairs you can trade against each other.

Commodities

Choose from a variety of physical goods to buy or sell on the exchange. Trade commodities from different industries, from agriculture and energy to minerals.

Live market prices for traders

With us, you can get exposure to a wide variety of markets in real-time. Our platform provides traders an option to set alerts on the markets you’ve taken a position on to take advantage of changing market evens.

Out of hours market prices

Do you want access to the most popular stocks after hours? With us, you can trade after the market has closed. We provide you with the longest trading hours for US stocks such as FTSE 100, Dow Jones, DAX, Hang Seng, and many others.

Note that trading after hours comes with the risk of experiencing high volatility in prices. This is because the trade volumes during this period is modest, thus, you’ll experience highs and lows at irregular intervals.

This provides traders with the opportunity to capitalise on the fluctuation in price. Every trade needs to take into consideration that trading after hours offers low liquidity and a wider spread in the market.

Trading strategies and styles you need to know

Trading strategies

Explore different trading strategies and styles tailored for CFD traders. You’ll take your position on the price movements of various financial markets without taking ownership of the underlying asset. These strategies are particularly geared towards short-term trading plans to get the best outcome.

Learn more about trading strategies

Day trading strategies

Trade a variety of markets over a short time frame to capitalise on fluctuations in price movements on the same day. You’ll choose from the best day trading strategies that prioritise taking different positions multiple times in 24 hours as the market price fluctuates.

Learn more about day trading

Scalping trading strategies

Discover how scalping works and the best trading strategies to use to capitalise on small changes in price to make a profit. There’s four scalping strategies to choose from where you’ll open and close a position quickly once a profit has been made to limit your exposure to risk.

Learn more about scalping

Swing trading strategies

Learn more about swing trading strategies in order to open a position that lasts for a couple of days to get the best outcome. Your position will be opened after hours and you’ll take advantage of the prevailing trend in the price movement to close your trade once profit is realised.

Learn more about swing trading

Best position trading strategies

Back your judgement using position trading strategies that enable you to place long-term trades and keep them open for an extended period. You can choose position trading strategies when you identify a trend emerging in the market and take advantage of it.

Learn more about position trading

Free trading resources for traders

  • Learn how financial trading works by going through our comprehensive tools and resources available on
    IG Academy
  • You can open a free demo account to practise and discover the best trading strategies that work before you move to a live account
  • Beginners and seasoned traders can act on trading signals that describe emerging chart patterns and key levels on a range of markets
  • You can customise trading alerts to receive automatic notifications when prices reach your specified targets

FAQs

How do I start trading?

To get started to trading, you need to understand the tools and platform you will use. Luckily, you can use resources from IG Academy to learn everything you need to know about trading and practise how to place a trade on our demo account in a risk-free environment.

How can beginners learn to trade?

Beginners can learn how to trade on our demo account that features all of the markets that you can take a position on live. You will be credited with $200,000 in virtual funds to take your first position.

What are the best trading platforms?

We offer the world's best platform and app.1 Our platform has a user-friendly interface and fast response time, including on different programmes we offer like MT4, ProRealTime, L2 Dealer.

How can I start trading shares?

With us, you can start trading company stocks through buying and selling shares online using CFDs without taking outright ownership of the asset.

How can I start trading forex and currencies?

You can trade forex and currencies on the spot, or via forwards and options using a CFD trading account.

Try these next

Find out how to trade CFDs on our platform

Speculate on share prices using our leveraged trading products

Explore the main advantages of CFD trading

1 Awarded the Best Online Trading Platform by Influential Brands in 2019 and 2022.