IG
Founded in 1974 as IG Index by British financier Stuart Wheeler, IG is a well-known forex and CFD broker. Based in the United Kingdom, IG offers online trading services, including spread betting and CFD trading. It provides access to over 100 forex currency pairs, CFDs, commodities, stocks, indices, gold, silver, oil, bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies for personal investment and trading. As of 2021, IG had a market value of £2.9 billion and offered trading in 17,000 investment markets. Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), IG is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
IG Markets Overview
- Founded In: 1974
- Minimum Deposit: $250
- Maximum Leverage: 200:1
- Regulations: ASIC, FCA, FSA, NFA , AMF, FMA, MAS, DFSA
- Trading platform: MT4, WebTrader, MobileTrader (MobileApp), ProRealTime
- Account Types: Standard account, DMA Account
- Payment Options: Bank Wire (BankTransfer/SWIFT), VISA, MasterCard, PayPal
- US Traders: Accepted
BlackBull Markets
Founded in 2014 in Auckland, New Zealand by Michael Walker and Selwyn Loekman, BlackBull is a forex and CFD broker that enables the trading of over 26,000 instruments including forex, CFDs, real stocks, and ETFs. The available platforms are MT4, MT5, TradingView, cTrader, BlackBull shares and BlackBull Trade. Social trading is through BlackBull CopyTrader and ZuluTrade. Trading tools such as free VPS and Autochartist are provided. To learn more about Blackbull Markets, you can read our review where we have covered features, pros, cons, and more.
Blackbull Markets Overview
- Founded In: 2014
- Founder: Michael Walker and Selwyn Loekman
- Trading Instruments: 26000+ trading instruments including Forex, Equities, Commodities (Energies, agriculture, and Metals), Futures, Indices
- Minimum Deposit: between $0 and $20,000 ( $0 for Standard, $2000 for Prime, $20,000 for Institutional Accounts)
- Maximum Leverage: upto 1:500
- Regulations: FMA ,FSA
- Trading platform: MT4,MT5, Ctrader, Tradingview
- Trading Tools: Trading Tools: VPS, Zulutrade, Myfxbook, Calculators,
- Trading Fees: starting from 0.8 pips spreads for Standard account, 0.1 pips spread+$4 per lot for Price account, Spreads 0.0 + $4 per lot for Institutional Account.
- Account Types: Standard, Prime, Institutional
- Payment Options: Bank Wire (BankTransfer/SWIFT), VISA, MasterCard, Cryptocurrency, FasaPay, Neteller, Skrill, UnionPay
- US Traders: Not Accepted
IG vs : BlackBull Markets Features
IG
- Trading Instruments: 17,000+ trading instruments including forex, indices, cryptocurrencies, shares, commodities, bonds, options, etc
- Maximum leverage: 30:1 to 200:1 ( dependent on Jurisdiction and Tradable assets)
- Minimum Deposit: No Minimum Deposit. However, the Minimum requires $250 if traders use credit/debit cards or PayPal
- Account Types: Ig Offers couple of account types including Standard Accounts, Limited Risk Accounts, Spread Betting Accounts, Options Trading Accounts, Turbo24 Accounts, Share Dealing Accounts, Professional Accounts, etc
- PAMM/ MAM: Available
- Scalping: Allowed
- News Trading: Allowed
- EA/ Robot Trading: Allowed
IG vs BlackBull Markets: Pros and Cons
IG Pros & Cons
- Regulated by multiple top tire regulators like NFA, FCA, ASIC, FSA, AMF, FMA, MAS, DFSA
- Allows scalping, EA/ Robot Trading, News Trading
- Offers web trading, mobile trading and ECN Trading
- IG's acquisition of tastytrade for $1 billion brought options trading and listed-derivatives (such as futures) trading to clients in the United States
- 16,000 trading instruments, investments in IPOs and exchange-traded funds;
- Quality choice of trading platforms, including MT4, WebTrader, MobileTrader (MobileApp), ProRealTime
- Relatively good spreads, from 0.6-1 pips depending on the type of instrument;
- Offers passive investment programme ( MAM, PAMM accounts)
- Relatively high Minimum deposit ( Min Deposit $250)
- Conservative leverage in some areas ( The max leverage is 1:200)
- IG charges $/£12/€14 per month after 24 months of inactivity
- Limited product range on MT4
- High Stock CFD fees
BlackBull Markets Pros & Cons
- Regulated by FMA, FSPR, FSP, FSA-S
- Founded in New Zealand and operating globally
- Professional and Retail Trading options
- No Minimum Deposit Requirement ($0)
- The Maximum Leverage is as high as 1:500
- Allow Scalping, News Trading, EA/Robot Trading
- Offers Multiple Trading platforms including MT4, MT5, WebTrader, TradingView
- Supports multiple third-party copy trading platforms, such as ZuluTrade, Duplitrade, and Myfxbook.
- BlackBull lacks additional Tier-1 regulatory licenses outside of New Zealand.
- $2,000 minimum deposit for Prime Account
- The Ctrader platform is not offered
- Withdrawal fees
- Limited Research Tools
- Not very diverse range of tradable assets
IG vs BlackBull Markets: Side-by-Side Comparison
IG Vs BlackBull Markets: Our Scores and Ratings
We rated both brokers, IG and BlackBull Markets, on a scale of 1 to 10, with 0.1 increments. To achieve a comprehensive rating, we broadly grouped all services offered by brokers into 6 macro categories and assigned percentage weights to them. Each macro category is subdivided into several data points which contributes to the total score of 1.0-10.0 assigned to each macro category. Since all categories are not equally important, our weight percentage plays a significant role in assessing the broker accurately. For example, Regulation and Security contributes a total weight of 40% to the whole ratings because this is the most important rating category. To learn more, read our methodology.
