Professional trading
Professional clients gain access to account features not available to retail clients, but lose certain investor protections.
For professionals only. Losses can exceed deposits. Negative balance protection is not available for professional accounts.1
Call 010 500 8624 or email newaccounts.za@ig.com to talk about opening a trading account. We're around 24 hours a day from 9am Saturday to 11pm Friday.
Contact us: 0105008624
Pro features
Professional traders also gain access to a range of choices not available to retail clients.
Cash rebates
If you trade in high volumes, you may be eligible to receive a rebate on your spread each month.
More products
You’ll still be able to trade option CFDs, and restricted products such as digital 100s*.
Collateral service
Use up to 95% of the value of your shareholdings as margin for CFDs.
Greater flexibility
Your margins could decrease by up to 90%.
Am I eligible to be an IG professional client?
If you answer ‘yes’ to two or more of the following, you could be eligible to be classified as a professional trader.
- Has your trading averaged 10 significantly sized leverage transactions per quarter over the last 4 quarters?
- Do you have a financial instrument portfolio, including cash deposits, exceeding the ZAR equivalent of €500,000?
- Have you worked in the financial sector in a professional position, requiring knowledge of derivatives trading, for at least a year?
What should you be aware of?
You will forgo some protections afforded to retail clients.
Higher leverage
Pro accounts are not subject to leverage caps, which ESMA believes could lead to poor outcomes.
No negative balance protection
Losses can exceed deposits on a professional account.1
Assumed experience
We expect pro traders to have a certain level of knowledge and understanding.
Sophisticated language
We won't necessarily use simple language in our communications to pro clients.
Explore the IG professional account
Discover the options available to certain traders, and how you can find out if you are eligible.
The benefits of choosing IG
Founded in 1974 as the first company of our kind, we’ve been at the forefront of our industry ever since. More traders trust us with their money than anyone else, making us the world’s No.1 choice for spread betting and CFD trading.2
Protected funds
Rest assured that when you trade with us, your funds are safeguarded in a range of ways.
Intuitive platforms
Find the perfect vehicle for your trading from our range of platforms and apps.
Greater opportunity
Choose from over 17,000 markets, with many available for out-of-hours dealing.
Friendly, expert support
Get help 24 hours a day, from 8am Saturday to 10pm Friday.
Effective risk management
Use our range of stop and limit orders to help protect your interests.
Timely news and analysis
Inform your decisions with in-platform market insight.
Not eligible?
You can still trade over 17,000 markets on our award-winning platform with a retail account, with the added bonus of negative balance protection.
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.
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.
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
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
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1 As an IG professional client, you’ll be responsible for ensuring that your account doesn’t fall into a negative balance. If it does, you’ll need to make additional payments to bring your balance back above zero.
2 Based on revenue (published financial statements, 2022).
Contact us
Interested in opening an account?
Contact 010 500 8624 or
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