IG vs IC Markets - 2024 Comparison | FX Scouts Tanzania
AuthorAuthor: Björn MichelsUpdated: Oct 12, 2023

Last Updated On Oct 12, 2023

Björn Michels

Trading with a reputable online broker is a crucial factor for success in the international markets. At FX Scouts Tanzania, we help you find the broker that suits your trading needs.

Each year we spend thousands of hours testing brokers by opening accounts, testing their platforms, and rating them according to a set of over 200 metrics. We deposit real money with the brokers to ensure that the products and user experience they advertise are consistent with reality.

We have found that the best way for traders to choose a broker is to compare brokers side-by-side. The comparison tool below allows you to compare two brokers based on their ratings and features.

Select brokers to compare

Select brokers to compare

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Broker Score
Min. Deposit
Regulation
Trading Desk Type
Trading Instruments
Forex Pairs
Crypto Pairs
Pros
Cons
Regulation
Trading Conditions
Trading Platforms
Deposit & Withdrawal
Education & Research
Assets Available
Customer Service
% Lose with this broker
Leverage
Spread
Hedging
Scalping
Account Types
Islamic Account
Trading Platforms
Funding Methods
Trading Commission
11110.54.69/ 5 USD 0FCA Regulated BrokersASIC Regulated Forex BrokersFSCA Regulated Forex BrokersBundesanstalt für FinanzdienstleistungsaufsichtSwiss Financial Market Supervisory AuthorityMonetary Authority of SingaporeFinancial Markets Authority of New ZealandDubai Financial Services AuthorityFinancial Services AgencyCommodity Futures Trading AssociationFinansinspektionenMarket MakerBonds, Commodities, Cryptocurrencies, Digital 100s, Stock CFDs, ETFs, Forex, Indices, Interest Rates8010
  • Well regulated
  • Tight spreads
  • Great platform choice
  • Excellent education
  • Excellent market analysis
  • High minimum deposit
Read Review 111115/ 5 11110.54.5/ 5 11110.54.5/ 5 111115/ 5 111115/ 5 111115/ 5 111104/ 5 69%200:10.60 pips DMA, Live Account, Spread Betting MT4, L2 Dealer, ProRealTimeBank Transfer, Visa, Mastercard, PaypalFees Included in Spread
11110.54.56/ 5 USD 200CySEC Regulated BrokersASIC Regulated Forex BrokersThe Seychelles Financial Services AuthoritySecurities Commission of the BahamasECN/DMABonds, Commodities, Cryptocurrencies, Stock CFDs, Forex, Futures, Indices6418
  • Well regulated
  • Tight spreads
  • Wide range of assets
  • Great platform choice
  • High minimum deposit
  • Limited market analysis
Read Review 11110.54.5/ 5 11110.54.5/ 5 111115/ 5 111104/ 5 111115/ 5 11110.54.5/ 5 11110.54.5/ 5 70.81%500:10.10 pips RAW - cTrader, RAW - MetaTrader, Standard - MetaTrader MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingViewVisa, Mastercard, Bank Transfer, Paypal, Neteller, Skrill7 USD / lot - Raw Spread Account

How do IG and IC Markets stack up against each other?

The Radar Chart below highlights how the brokers stack up against each other across various metrics. The highest score a broker can receive in each area is 5.

IC Markets

IG

At FX Scouts Tanzania, we help traders find the broker that suits their trading needs. In many cases, the best way to achieve this is to compare brokers side-by-side.

To compare IG and IC Markets, we used the same factors we use when reviewing brokers: The trust and regulation of the broker, the trading platform, the costs and trading conditions, and the level of education and market analysis available at the broker.

Does IG or IC Markets have a better trust and regulation rating?

Trust and regulation are some of the most important factors to consider when choosing a Forex broker. Trust in the Forex trading business is almost entirely founded upon regulation. We spend many hours evaluating the safety of each broker by delving into their fine print and confirming each one of their regulatory licences on the online registers. The more top-tier authorities a broker is regulated by, the higher its trust rating.

In our comparison, we found that IG holds six Tier 1 and four Tier 2 licences, and IC Markets holds two Tier 1 and no Tier 2 licences.

 

Is IG financially regulated?

Yes IG was founded in 1974 and is regulated by ASIC, BaFin, CFTC, DFSA, FCA, FMA, FSA-Japan, Fi, FSCA, MAS and FINMA.

 

Is IC Markets financially regulated?

Yes IC Markets was founded in 2007 and is regulated by ASIC, CySEC, SCB and FSA-Seychelles.

 

Based on these findings, IG earned a higher trust rating than IC Markets.

Does IG or IC Markets have lower costs?

Another important aspect we consider when comparing brokers is the cost of trading. When evaluating trading costs, we always consider the minimum deposit required to open an account and the ongoing trading costs, including the spreads and commissions. When calculating trading costs, we measure the cost to trade one lot of EUR/USD using the broker’s account with the lowest minimum deposit. The cost includes both the spread and any commission charged. 

Not all brokers publish their trading costs, so we often open accounts and trade on their platforms to verify the spreads and commissions. Based on our reviews, we found that IG has overall lower trading costs than IC Markets. 

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Broker
Trading Conditions
Base Currencies
EURUSD (Standard)
Trading Cost (Standard)
EURUSD (Best)
GBPUSD (Best)
USDJPY (Best)
Commission
IG
11110.54.5/ 5
AUD, USD, JPY, GBP, EUR, CAD, CHF, NZD, SGD, HKD
0.60 pips
USD 6
0.85 pips
1.40 pips
0.94 pips
USD 0
IC Markets
11110.54.5/ 5
AUD, USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, SGD, NZD, JPY, CHF, HKD
0.10 pips
USD 8
0.02 pips
0.23 pips
0.14 pips
USD 7

 

Does IG or IC Markets offer a better choice of trading platforms?

Traders want Forex brokers to offer them a choice of trading platforms, so we give brokers who offer multiple platforms higher ratings. Trading platforms we consider include MetaTrader4, MetaTrader5, cTrader and proprietary mobile and web-based platforms. 

In this case, IC Markets offers support for and IG offers support for . 

Do the brokers offer copy trading?

Copy trading is a great option for beginner traders who can’t trade full-time or lack experience with Forex trading. In this case both IC Markets and IG offer copy trading.

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Broker
Platform Choice
Copy Trading
Platforms
IG
11110.54.5/ 5
L2 Dealer
ProRealTime
IC Markets
111115/ 5
TradingView

 

Which broker offers a better choice of trading instruments?

A variety of CFD instruments – and a large range of CFDs for each instrument category allow traders more opportunities for profitable trading. The best brokers will have thousands of CFDs to trade, covering all these instrument categories. We found that IG offers a greater range and depth of instruments to trade than IC Markets. IG offers 80 Forex pairs to trade and IC Markets offers 64 Forex pairs to trade.

Toplist Forex Pairs

And what about Cryptocurrencies?

In this case, IC Markets offers 18 cryptocurrencies while IG offers 10 cryptocurrencies. So if you want to trade cryptocurrencies, we advise trading with IC Markets.

Which broker offers better deposit and withdrawal processes?

Although brokers may have reasonable trading fees, many traders are caught out by the high non-trading fees charged by some brokers, including deposits and withdrawals. Traders want to be able to deposit and withdraw funds quickly and cheaply. Most brokers have multiple funding methods with zero fees for making deposits, but some brokers make it more expensive and take longer to process withdrawals. 

We rate brokers more highly that process withdrawals within 24 hours by multiple withdrawal methods and without charging processing fees. We found that IC Markets charges a withdrawal fee and IG does not. Overall, IG has better deposit and withdrawal processes than IC Markets. 

Which broker offers better educational support?

We often find that brokers offer very little in the way of educational materials, forcing traders to use other third-party sites or self-educate elsewhere. Beginner traders need well-structured, well-presented materials in multiple formats to get a good start at trading. More experienced traders also benefit from webinars led by experts in the field and advanced trading strategy sections with new trading ideas. 

IC Markets and IG both have very good educational support. Both IC Markets and IG offer educational support for more experienced traders.

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Broker
Beginner Course
Advanced Course
Well Structured Education
Education Quality
Webinars
IG
High
IC Markets
High

 

Which broker offers better market analysis materials?

To successfully predict the price movements of an instrument, traders will need access to frequent market research and analysis. We find that research and market analysis are always better when they are produced in-house and updated frequently. Third-party resources don’t show the same expertise in trading ideas, so we place a strong emphasis on frequent in-house updates. Some brokers also often offer interactive webinars where traders can learn from experts in the field. 

We found that 0 offers better research analysis than 0 and that both IC Markets and IG offer frequent webinars.

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Broker
Economic Calendar
Autochartist
Trading Central
Trading View
Free VPS
IG
IC Markets

 

Our overall Verdict on IG

IG Markets, regulated by the FCA, ASIC, the FSCA (amongst many other jurisdictions) is an extremely well-regulated CFD broker with a massive variety of trading assets. With trading on Forex, indices, shares, commodities, cryptocurrencies, ETFs, digital 100s, interest rates and bonds, any trader would not struggle to find a to trade. IG Markets is well suited for the professionals with an advanced custom trading platform and integrations with powerful 3rd party charting tools while still offering educational support to beginners through the IG Academy and world-class trading conditions.

IG Markets offers MT4 and their bespoke and superior L2Dealer platform to traders, which offers direct-market access trading functionality, provides improved liquidity, faster trade execution and advanced order management. The L2Dealer platform is still suited to beginners and professionals, where advanced traders can activate the ProRealTime extension for advanced charting, trading automation, and detailed technical analysis to extend the trading experience.

Our overall Verdict on IC Markets

IC Markets is an Australian broker offering CFD trading on Forex, commodities, indices, bonds, cryptocurrencies, stocks, and futures. Compared to other ECN brokers, IC Markets has low trading costs, fast execution, and wide trading platform support – with MT4, MT5 and cTrader all available.

IC Markets caters to advanced traders with periodic strategy webinars, advanced analysis tools and a free VPS service for active traders. But – despite its focus on providing great trading conditions – IC Markets fails to deliver a structured course for beginners and Forex education, in general, is weaker than IC Market’s competitors.

Which broker has the highest overall rating?

IG has an overall rating of 4.69 and IC Markets has an overall rating of 4.56. For more detail please read our reviews of IG and IC Markets.

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