Our Methodology for Reviewing IG Markets

Every broker page on this site, including our IG Markets coverage for Australian traders, runs through the same scoring sheet. IG Australia Pty Ltd sits in a fairly unusual spot on the market map: it's one of the few CFD and share dealing names in Australia that holds a full ASIC licence (AFSL 515106) rather than serving locals from an offshore entity. That single fact changes how the rest of the review reads, because ASIC's rules bite harder than most offshore regimes.

Our job isn't to sell you an account. It's to show you exactly what we checked, what we found, and where the gaps are, so you can line IG Markets up against whatever else you're considering.

What We Actually Check

We score brokers on six dimensions and weight them by how much they affect a real account over 12 months. Licence and entity come first, because everything else is downstream of who holds your money.

The licence check is the one most people skip. For IG Markets in Australia, the entity serving local clients is IG Australia Pty Ltd, headquartered in Melbourne and licensed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission under AFSL 515106. That licence covers OTC derivatives dealing, securities dealing, custodial services and general financial product advice.

How ASIC Rules Change the Numbers

ASIC's product intervention order applies to retail CFD clients, and it sets hard limits that we use as our benchmark line. We compare every broker's advertised leverage against these caps, because anything above them for a retail client in Australia is a red flag on the compliance side.

• 30:1 on major forex pairs
• 20:1 on minor forex pairs, gold and major indices
• 10:1 on other commodities and minor indices
• 5:1 on shares and other underlying assets
• 2:1 on crypto-assets

IG Markets is reported to offer up to 30:1 on major forex pairs for retail clients, which sits right at the ASIC cap. The same order also requires margin close-out protections, negative balance protection, and a ban on inducements like trading credits, rebates or free gifts.

Because inducements are banned, an ASIC-licensed issuer cannot run deposit bonuses. IG Markets doesn't run deposit bonuses.

Where Costs Sit Against the Market

IG Markets advertises $0 commission per trade on domestic shares and ETFs through the Australian share trading account, and spreads from around 0.6 pip on AUD/USD on the CFD side. Fee details vary by product and by how you fund the account, so costs fall into buckets rather than a single line.

Zero commission on shares and low FX spreads are two different products with two different economics. For a share investor, the zero-commission line is the one that matters. For a CFD trader, the spread and overnight financing dominate the cost of doing business. Don't mix the two when comparing.

Platforms, Markets and Funding

The Australia-facing platform list includes the IG web platform and app, MetaTrader 4, native TradingView, ProRealTime, L2 Dealer and the IG Trading API. There is no MT5.

On funding, Australian clients can use credit or debit card, PayPal, Apple Pay, BPAY and EFT for larger deposits. The minimum first deposit is A$100 by card, Apple Pay or PayPal, A$10 via BPAY, and A$450 for EFT with proof of payment. BPAY is the slowest but cheapest route; card and PayPal are faster but check whether your card issuer treats a broker deposit as a cash advance, because that changes your cost.

AUD is the local operating currency for Australian clients, and USD is also commonly supported. The Australian sources don't publish a full country-specific base-currency list, so confirm multi-currency support directly before funding.

The Checks We Run Behind the Scenes

Our scoring isn't just a feature list. For every broker we cover, we establish four things independently of what the marketing pages claim. First, we confirm the entity that actually holds the client relationship for the target country, not the group brand. Second, we verify the licence number against the regulator's own register rather than trusting a footer logo. Third, we reconcile advertised costs against what the product documents say, because headline spreads and effective spreads diverge. Fourth, we look at the corporate track record, because a broker's history is the best predictor of how it behaves in a stressed market.

IG Group was founded in 1974 and is listed on the London Stock Exchange as part of the FTSE 250. The company says it has over 51 years of global experience. Publicly visible Australian-facing claims emphasise 18,000+ markets, weekend trading, and award-winning platforms. We treat marketing claims as claims, not facts, and only carry them through to the score where we can anchor them to something checkable.

The Fine Print Worth Reading

No broker is frictionless. The limitations that come up in practice, framed as what to watch rather than reasons to avoid.

• Weekend trading is only on selected CFDs, not the full market list.
• No MT5 means MT5-dependent workflows need rethinking.
• Overnight financing on CFDs accrues daily and can materially change your holding costs.
• BPAY deposits clear slowly; EFT has a higher threshold and needs proof of payment.
• Cryptocurrency CFDs face the tightest leverage cap at 2:1 under ASIC rules.
• Swap-free or Islamic accounts aren't confirmed for Australia, so check before assuming.

The Australian entity is ASIC-regulated, which means it operates inside Australian financial services law and ASIC's CFD intervention rules. The practical question is whether the specific protections you care about, such as negative balance protection and margin close-out, apply to the products you intend to trade.

There's a tax dimension too. The tax authority in Australia is the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), and forex or CFD profits are generally assessed under ordinary Australian income tax principles rather than a special standalone regime. Whether your activity is treated as trading income or as a capital gain or loss depends on your facts and circumstances. That's a conversation to have with your accountant, not a number we can hand you.

Choosing the Right Broker for You

If you're weighing up an ASIC-licensed broker against an offshore alternative, here's the constructive version of the verdict. Onshore regulation like ASIC's, or equivalent-tier oversight from FCA, CySEC, ASIC's peers, comes with segregated client funds, defined leverage caps and enforceable complaint routes. That combination is the standard we'd measure any name against, including this one.

Reasonable if: You want an ASIC-licensed counterparty onshore, you trade a broad market range across forex, indices, shares and commodities, and you value native TradingView plus API access. The $0 commission on domestic shares and ETFs is a genuine plus if you're doing share investing alongside CFDs. The long corporate track record since 1974 also means you're not dealing with a startup.

Unreasonable if: You need MT5 specifically, you require a confirmed swap-free account in Australia, or you want deposit bonuses as part of your decision. A trader who depends on MT5 indicators should be comparing against a broker that offers it, and someone who needs swap-free terms should verify availability with any candidate before opening anything. In those cases, look for a broker with equally strong regulation and the specific feature you need, rather than compromising on a core requirement.