Unlock our pro services
Elective professional traders can open an IG professional account, and are not subject to recent regulatory product interventions. If you are able to answer yes to two or more of the following you may be eligible:
Have you traded leverage derivatives in significant sizes over the last four quarters?
Do you have a financial instrument portfolio worth over 500k Euros?
Have you worked in the financial sector, in a professional position requiring knowledge of derivatives trading, for at least a year?
IG professional client FAQs
What if I’m not eligible to become a professional trader?
Not a problem – you can trade as a retail client with us. You’ll have access to the same powerful platforms and great customer service we offer our professional clients. Please also note that retail clients get negative balance protection – a regulatory protection in the UK that ensures you’ll never lose more than the funds in your account.
What’s the difference between an IG trading account and an IG professional account?
With an IG trading account, you’ll need to hold more margin to cover your positions than an IG professional client would. Your account will also have negative balance protection, a UK regulation on retail accounts for all providers, meaning that the balance on your account can’t go below zero.
What protections do IG professional clients not get?
There are a few protections afforded to retail clients that professional clients don’t receive.
- Negative balance protections don’t apply to professional clients, who have an obligation to make additional payments if their account falls into a negative balance.
- We need to use clear language when talking to retail clients, but we can use more sophisticated language when talking to our professional clients.
- We may assume a level of knowledge and experience when assessing whether our products are appropriate for professional clients.
- We owe our clients a duty of best execution when executing orders. For retail clients we must prioritise overall prices and cost of a transaction in doing this. For professional clients we may prioritise other factors such as speed and likelihood of execution, if we determine they are equally or more important than overall price. In practice, it won’t change the way we execute your orders
What if I already have an IG trading account?
If you’d like, you can request that your account be reclassified as ‘professional’, by following the prompts in My IG. To check whether you could be eligible, see if you can answer ‘yes’ to at least two of these three questions.
Why is spread betting and CFD leverage being restricted?
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) imposed a range of leverage restrictions aimed at retail traders in early 2018, to try to increase conduct standards across the industry and improve outcomes for investors.
What is included in my ‘financial instrument portfolio’?
A ‘financial instrument portfolio’ includes:
- Cash
- Stock portfolios
- Stocks and shares ISAs
- Trading accounts
- Mutual funds
- SIPPs (excluding non-financial instruments)
It does not include:
- Company pensions
- Non-tradeable assets
- Property
Unlock our pro services
Elective professional traders can open an IG professional account, and are not subject to recent regulatory product interventions. If you are able to answer yes to two or more of the following you may be eligible:
- Have you traded leverage derivatives in significant sizes over the last four quarters?
- Do you have a financial instrument portfolio?
- Have you worked in the financial sector, in a professional position requiring knowledge of derivatives trading, for at least a year?
IG professional client FAQs
What if I’m not eligible to become a professional trader?
Not a problem – you can trade as a retail client with us. You’ll have access to the same powerful platforms and great customer service we offer our professional clients. What’s more, you’ll automatically get negative balance protection on your account.
What’s the difference between an IG trading account and an IG professional account?
With an IG trading account, you’ll need to hold more margin to cover your positions than an IG professional client would. Your account will also have negative balance protection, meaning that the balance on your account can’t go below zero.
What protections do IG professional clients not get?
There are a few protections afforded to retail clients that professional clients don’t receive.
- Negative balance protections don’t apply to professional clients, who have an obligation to make additional payments if their account falls into a negative balance.
- We need to use clear language when talking to retail clients, but we can use more sophisticated language when talking to our professional clients.
- We may assume a level of knowledge and experience when assessing whether our products are appropriate for professional clients.
- We owe our clients a duty of best execution when executing orders. For retail clients we must prioritise overall prices and cost of a transaction in doing this. For professional clients we may prioritise other factors such as speed and likelihood of execution, if we determine they are equally or more important than overall price. In practice, it won’t change the way we execute your orders
What if I already have an IG trading account?
If you’d like, you can request that your account be reclassified as ‘professional’, by following the prompts in My IG. To check whether you could be eligible, see if you can answer ‘yes’ to at least two of these three questions.
Why is spread betting and CFD leverage being restricted?
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) imposed a range of leverage restrictions aimed at retail traders in early 2018, to try to increase conduct standards across the industry and improve outcomes for investors.
A ‘financial instrument portfolio’ includes:
- Cash
- Stock portfolios
- Stocks and shares ISAs
- Trading accounts
- Mutual funds
- SIPPs (excluding non-financial instruments)
It does not include:
- Company pensions
- Non-tradeable assets
- Property
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