IC Markets vs IG for UK Traders: Costs, Tax and Safety

If you live in the UK, IG is the stronger choice for most people. It is authorised by the FCA, owned by a group listed on the London Stock Exchange, offers tax-free spread betting through IG Index, and prices forex with no commission, with EUR/USD from 0.6 pips and GBP/USD from 0.9. IC Markets (now trading as IC) can be cheaper for a high-volume trader who lives on raw spreads, but a UK resident is in practice served by its Seychelles company, which the FCA has placed on its Warning List. That means no FSCS, no Financial Ombudsman and no UK leverage caps.

The two firms are built for different people. IG is a full-service UK broker with its own platform, huge market coverage and a long record under British regulation. IC is a raw-pricing specialist whose appeal rests on tight spreads, low commission and MetaTrader or cTrader execution. Most comparison pages online treat the choice as a feature checklist and give IC a UK safety score it does not have for a UK resident. We compare what matters for someone paying UK tax and relying on UK protection.

Two pricing models: spread-only versus raw plus commission

IG builds its cost into the spread. There is no commission on forex spread bets or CFDs, and its charges page lists minimum spreads of 0.6 on EUR/USD, 0.9 on GBP/USD, 0.9 on EUR/GBP and 0.7 on USD/JPY. Spreads are variable, so those are the tightest you will see, typically in the busiest hours. IG also charges a fee for converting profits or losses from another currency back to your account currency: 0.8% on its UK charges page, although one of its help articles quotes 0.7%. It is easy to miss if you trade instruments priced in dollars.

IC splits the cost in two. On its Raw accounts the spread can sit at 0.0 pips, and IC says its average on EUR/USD is about 0.1 pips, while you pay a fixed commission on top: £2.75 per lot per side on a GBP Raw account, or USD 3.50 per side on a USD MetaTrader account. Its Standard account drops the commission and starts spreads from 0.8 pips. Raw pricing rewards frequent, short-term trading, because the commission is predictable and the spread stays thin even when you trade a lot.

Where the break-even sits

On one standard lot of EUR/USD, a pip is worth USD 10, about £7.50 with sterling near 1.33. At IC's quoted 0.1 pip average, the spread costs about £0.75 and the GBP Raw commission adds £5.50, so a round trip costs around £6.25. IG's minimum 0.6 spread puts the same trade at about £4.50. IG therefore stays cheaper while its EUR/USD spread is below roughly 0.83 pips. Once it widens past that, in the Asian session or around data, IC's raw account becomes cheaper. For cable the comparison is less clear, because IC does not publish a consistent GBP/USD average.

Tax: spread betting at IG, CGT at IC

IG has offered financial spread betting for decades and runs it through IG Index Ltd. HMRC's guidance is that no chargeable gains arise from spread betting and, for an individual, the profits sit outside income tax. You stake in pounds per point, so your profit and loss is in sterling and there is nothing to convert. The trade-off is that losses cannot be used to reduce tax elsewhere.

IC sells only CFDs. For a UK resident, net CFD gains above the £3,000 annual exempt amount are taxed at 18% or 24%, and you report them on self assessment. Losses are allowable, which is a genuine benefit if you have gains to offset. You also have to convert each disposal to sterling at the rate on the day, which is fiddly on a USD account. Our IC Markets tax guide covers the record-keeping.

Safety: an FCA broker listed in London versus an offshore arm

IG's UK companies are authorised by the FCA, and the parent, IG Group Holdings plc, is listed on the London Stock Exchange, which means published accounts and public scrutiny. Retail clients get the FCA's CFD rules: 30:1 on major pairs, a 50% margin close-out, negative balance protection and a ban on bonuses. Money sits in segregated client accounts. If the firm failed, the FSCS could pay up to £85,000 per person for any shortfall, and complaints can go to the Financial Ombudsman Service after IG's own process.

IC is a genuine, licensed group, regulated in Australia by ASIC and in Cyprus by CySEC. Those companies do not serve UK residents today. The Seychelles company that does is named in an FCA Warning List entry saying it is not authorised and may be targeting people in the UK, and that UK customers have no access to the Ombudsman or the FSCS. Leverage can go far above UK limits, and IC does not guarantee negative balance protection. None of that means your money will vanish. It means the UK safety net you might assume is there is not.

Platforms and markets

IG runs its own web platform and app, and also offers MT4, MT5, TradingView, ProRealTime and L2 Dealer. We checked its UK pages: MT4 supports both spread bets and CFDs, MT5 lets you choose a spread bet or CFD account, and TradingView can be linked to either. IG says its MT4 minimum spreads are the same whether you spread bet or trade CFDs. It does not offer cTrader. Market coverage is far wider than IC's, with shares, indices, commodities, bonds and options alongside forex.

IC is stronger for algorithmic and cTrader traders. It offers MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView through its cTrader Raw account, a web trader, IC Social copy trading, ZuluTrade and Signal Start, and a free VPS if you trade 15 lots or more a month of FX and metals. IC lists over 2,000 CFDs. If your strategy runs on a cTrader cBot or needs a VPS next to the server, IC is more set up for you. For spread betting a FTSE move on your phone, IG is the better tool.

Beyond CFDs: IG's share dealing, ISA and SIPP

IG is also an investment platform. Alongside spread betting and CFDs, its UK site offers a share dealing account, a stocks and shares ISA, a Junior ISA and a self-invested personal pension (SIPP), as well as IG Smart Portfolio, where IG builds and runs the portfolio for you. These sit in separate accounts from your trading account, under different rules, and none of them uses leverage.

IC offers none of this. Everything it sells is a leveraged CFD, share CFDs included, so there is no ISA, no pension wrapper and no ownership of the underlying shares. For a UK resident that goes beyond convenience: an ISA or SIPP shelters long-term investments from tax in a way a CFD account never can. CFDs and spread bets are not qualifying ISA investments, so IG's ISA holds shares and funds, not forex.

A single login for a small forex habit and your long-term savings is something IG can offer and IC cannot. Keep the two pots apart in your head, though: trading money should never be money your pension depends on. Our guide to forex, spread betting and ISAs explains why the wrappers do not mix.

Deposits and withdrawals

IG keeps funding simple and UK-centred. Debit card deposits are credited immediately, up to £99,999 per transaction, and credit cards are accepted up to £30,000 per transaction. Bank transfers are free, with international or currency transfers taking one to three working days. When we checked, IG's UK funding pages did not list PayPal or crypto.

IC accepts more methods: GBP by card, PayPal, Neteller, Skrill, wire, Rapidpay and Klarna, plus crypto. There are no deposit or withdrawal fees from IC itself, although banks and intermediaries may charge. Withdrawals follow its own rules: card withdrawals are capped at what you paid in by card and take three to five business days, international wires can take up to 14 days, and IC may require you to withdraw to earlier deposit methods in an order it decides. Our IC Markets GBP deposits and withdrawals guide has the detail.

Who should pick which

For most UK residents the answer is IG, or another FCA-authorised firm. That goes double for anyone new, anyone trading small sizes where a fraction of a pip changes little, and anyone who wants profits outside CGT. IG's spread-only model is also simpler to understand: one number, shown before you trade.

• Beginners: IG. Capped leverage, negative balance protection, education and a demo account, plus spread betting.
• Swing traders and part-timers: IG. Fewer trades means commission savings are small, and the tax difference is large.
• Very high-volume scalpers who accept offshore risk: IC's raw pricing can work out cheaper, particularly outside peak hours.
• cTrader users: IC offers it; IG does not. An FCA alternative with cTrader and spread betting is Pepperstone.
• Traders who need CFD losses for tax relief: IG also offers CFDs, under FCA protection.

For a CFD-only FCA option with shares and an ISA in the same app, read IC Markets vs XTB. Traders leaving IC who want the closest FCA match on raw pricing, cTrader and TradingView will find it in our IC Markets alternatives guide.

Frequently asked

Related reading

• IC Markets vs Pepperstone
• Is spread betting tax-free?
• IC Markets vs XTB
• Best FCA-regulated forex brokers
• IC Markets alternatives in the UK
• Our IC Markets review