IG Markets Extends Market Lead in Volatile Markets

MELBOURNE, Australia, Aug 22, 2011/PRNewswire-Asia/ --

• IG Markets extends its market lead
• 40% of active CFD traders have an account with IG Markets*
• Traders shift from share trading towards forex

An independent survey of Australia's CFD market has named IG Markets the largest CFD provider across active traders, new traders and traders switching from other providers.

With 34% of active traders choosing IG Markets as their main CFD provider, this has consolidated IG Markets' lead with the closest competitor some 14% behind. This is the third year running that IG Markets has been Australia's leading CFD provider.

The drivers behind traders' choice of IG Markets included the trading platform's ease-of-use and features, the range of markets available and tight trading spreads.

According to the sixth annual report by Investment Trends, a specialist market research organisation in the financial services sector, the twelve months to May 2011 saw growth in the number of active CFD traders slow. However, there was still significant movement within the industry, and the volume of trading on underlying markets shifted, moving away from shares to forex trading, which accounted for 27% of CFD trades over the year.

Charting and platform features were important factors for CFD traders switching between providers, with over a third of switchers moving to IG Markets. Most traders considering switching said that charting packages would impact their decision while nearly half of demo-account users used the accounts to compare trading platforms.

IG Markets was also a leader in client satisfaction, with the highest scores for the range of markets available, trading platform features, charting, and trading tools.

Mr Tamas Szabo, IG Market's Chief Executive Officer, attributed much of the company's growing market share to developments over the past twelve months that have strengthened IG Markets' role as an industry pioneer.

"We are thrilled to be the provider of choice for so many CFD traders. IG Markets is committed to offering clients the very best trading tools to improve their trading experience. Our award-winning platform, PureDeal, offers traders an extensive charting package including pattern recognition software, and we are at the forefront of mobile technology with browser-optimised platforms for a range of smart phones."

"In June 2011 we also released Australia's first iPhone App offering DMA CFDs, allowing traders to trade inside the market spread and straight into the order book of global exchanges, as well as view full market depth and liquidity."

"Alongside consistently offering great value through market-leading software and quality pricing, we have also cut the minimum spreads across our most frequently traded forex pairs. With the recent increase in forex trading, we believe in the importance of giving our clients value for money in this popular market and they can now trade the AUD/USD, EUR/USD, EUR/GBP, GBP/USD and USD/JPY from just 1 pip."

"More recently, we have also reduced our minimum spread on some of our most popular stock indices, with the FTSE 100 cash and the Germany 30 cash now available for trading from 1 point, and the Wall Street cash available from 2 points."

About IG Markets

IG Markets specialises in financial derivatives, principally CFD trading on over 7,000 global share CFDs, indices, forex, commodities, options, binaries and more. IG Markets is a part of IG Group, a FTSE 250 company established in 1974 which now employs over 1000 staff in 15 countries. IG Group has over 130,000 clients globally making over 5 million transactions a month, with 99% of them online.

IG Markets advises that trading CFDs may not be suitable for everyone, since CFDs are a geared product and can result in losses that exceed an initial deposit, and that product disclosure statements are available from www.igmarkets.com.au

* 40% of active CFD traders have an account with IG Markets - Investment Trends May 2011 Australia CFD Report

Contacts:
Jacqueline Pretty
[email protected]

SOURCE IG Markets