tactical trader

Conspiracy theorists please take note, this is not a disguised advert and IG Markets are not aware of what I am about to say. I opened a real account with my own money and this is what happened. I hope it is of some use.

While many of you will be familiar with IG from a spread betting point of view, their L2 dealer platform is, I think, a relatively new development designed to compete with a number of other direct access services. I decided to open the account as I am writing a book on Level 2 and wanted to get some experience of a cross section of Level 2 brokers.

Starting with the account opening process, you first have to apply for a ‘normal’ IG account and then apply for an upgrade to L2 dealer, this seemed a bit clumsy to me but I guess there are probably regulatory or technical reasons as to why.

Despite this it all ran pretty smoothly with all the steps explained clearly and followed up by confirmation emails. I was very relieved to discover that I could use my debit card to fund the account rather than have to mess about with wires. I know this is not a huge thing but I find it a real hassle to have to contact the bank to get money wired, especially in this day and age.

My pleasure was relatively short lived because having contacted IG to check the limits on how much could be transferred my attempts to make the transfer were rejected. In the end I had to make separate transfers to get the full amount in the account. No doubt there is some money laundering or banking reason for this but it would be helpful if the firm knew the limits when asked.

IG are not alone in this, I have been looking at various accounts over the last few weeks and there is almost always a discrepancy between what is said on the website and what actually happens and often when you phone up, the person you speak to does not know the answer to your question. In my experience these things usually get sorted out but it is all unnecessary time and frustration – with some institutions I have just given up…