Compare Forex Brokers side by side

How do IG and ThinkMarkets stack up against each other?

The Radar Chart below highlights how the brokers stack up against each other across various metrics. The highest score a broker can receive in each area is 5.

At FxScouts, we help traders find the broker that suits their trading needs. In many cases, the best way to achieve this is to compare brokers side-by-side.

To compare IG and ThinkMarkets, we used the same factors we use when reviewing brokers: The trust and regulation of the broker, the trading platform, the costs and trading conditions, and the level of education and market analysis available at the broker.

Does IG or ThinkMarkets have a better trust and regulation rating?

Trust and regulation are some of the most important factors to consider when choosing a Forex broker. Trust in the Forex trading business is almost entirely founded upon regulation. We spend many hours evaluating the safety of each broker by delving into their fine print and confirming each one of their regulatory licences on the online registers. The more top-tier authorities a broker is regulated by, the higher its trust rating.

In our comparison, we found that IG holds six Tier 1 and four Tier 2 licences, and ThinkMarkets holds three Tier 1 and no Tier 2 licences.

 

Is IG financially regulated?

Yes IG was founded in 1974 and is regulated by ASIC, MAS, BaFin, CFTC, DFSA, FCA, FSA-Japan, FSCA, Fi, FINMA and FMA.

 

Is ThinkMarkets financially regulated?

Yes ThinkMarkets was founded in 2010 and is regulated by ASIC, CySEC, FCA and FSA-Seychelles.

 

Based on these findings, IG earned a higher trust rating than ThinkMarkets.

Does IG or ThinkMarkets have lower costs?

Another important aspect we consider when comparing brokers is the cost of trading. When evaluating trading costs, we always consider the minimum deposit required to open an account and the ongoing trading costs, including the spreads and commissions. When calculating trading costs, we measure the cost to trade one lot of EUR/USD using the broker’s account with the lowest minimum deposit. The cost includes both the spread and any commission charged. 

Not all brokers publish their trading costs, so we often open accounts and trade on their platforms to verify the spreads and commissions. Based on our reviews, we found that IG has overall lower trading costs than ThinkMarkets. 

 

Does IG or ThinkMarkets offer a better choice of trading platforms?

Traders want Forex brokers to offer them a choice of trading platforms, so we give brokers who offer multiple platforms higher ratings. Trading platforms we consider include MetaTrader4, MetaTrader5, cTrader and proprietary mobile and web-based platforms. 

In this case, 0 offers support for and 0 offers support for . 

Do the brokers offer copy trading?

Copy trading is a great option for beginner traders who can’t trade full-time or lack experience with Forex trading. In this case both IG and ThinkMarkets offer copy trading.

 

Which broker offers a better choice of trading instruments?

A variety of CFD instruments – and a large range of CFDs for each instrument category allow traders more opportunities for profitable trading. The best brokers will have thousands of CFDs to trade, covering all these instrument categories. We found that IG offers a greater range and depth of instruments to trade than ThinkMarkets. IG offers 80 Forex pairs to trade and ThinkMarkets offers 46 Forex pairs to trade.

And what about Cryptocurrencies?

In this case, ThinkMarkets offers 27 cryptocurrencies while IG offers 10 cryptocurrencies. So if you want to trade cryptocurrencies, we advise trading with ThinkMarkets.

Which broker offers better deposit and withdrawal processes?

Although brokers may have reasonable trading fees, many traders are caught out by the high non-trading fees charged by some brokers, including deposits and withdrawals. Traders want to be able to deposit and withdraw funds quickly and cheaply. Most brokers have multiple funding methods with zero fees for making deposits, but some brokers make it more expensive and take longer to process withdrawals. 

We rate brokers more highly that process withdrawals within 24 hours by multiple withdrawal methods and without charging processing fees. We found that neither IG nor ThinkMarkets charges a withdrawal fee. Overall, IG has better deposit and withdrawal processes than ThinkMarkets. 

Which broker offers better educational support?

We often find that brokers offer very little in the way of educational materials, forcing traders to use other third-party sites or self-educate elsewhere. Beginner traders need well-structured, well-presented materials in multiple formats to get a good start at trading. More experienced traders also benefit from webinars led by experts in the field and advanced trading strategy sections with new trading ideas. 

IG and ThinkMarkets both have very good educational support. Both IG and ThinkMarkets offer educational support for more experienced traders.

 

Which broker offers better market analysis materials?

To successfully predict the price movements of an instrument, traders will need access to frequent market research and analysis. We find that research and market analysis are always better when they are produced in-house and updated frequently. Third-party resources don’t show the same expertise in trading ideas, so we place a strong emphasis on frequent in-house updates. Some brokers also often offer interactive webinars where traders can learn from experts in the field. 

We found that 0 offers better research analysis than 0 and that both IG and ThinkMarkets offer frequent webinars.

 

Our overall Verdict on IG

Founded in 1974 and ASIC-regulated since 2001, IG has a long history of providing safe and secure trading, low trading fees, and a vast range of trading instruments.

Our research found that IG has over 320,000 clients worldwide and has been the largest CFD broker in the world by revenue for the last few years. It has two low-cost trading accounts with no minimum deposit requirements and offers trading on over 17,000 instruments, all of which can be accessed on its award-winning app and web trader platform.

For more traditional investors, IG also runs a fully licenced stock brokerage on the side. And in addition to a wide range of trading tools, IG has a world-class selection of educational and market analysis materials to get new traders started.

Our overall Verdict on ThinkMarkets

ThinkMarkets is a multi-award-winning brokerage company with its headquarters found in the UK and Australia. The FCA (UK) and ASIC (Australia) are two of the most well-known regulatory authorities that oversee the company. The broker provides easy-to-use platforms with a wide variety of tradable assets and tools, making it suitable for both novice and expert traders. However, on the Standard account, trading costs on ThinkMarkets are higher than competitors’ costs.

ThinkMarkets offers trading on a wider range of tradable assets than other brokers, including Forex, indices, commodities, crypto pairs, and 3600+ share CFDs. The ThinkMarkets Standard Account, with no minimum deposit requirement, has high trading costs compared to other brokers, at 12 USD per lot EUR/USD. On the other hand, the 500 USD minimum deposit ThinkZero account delivers better pricing at 8 USD per lot EUR/USD, which may interest more experienced traders. 

ThinkMarkets offers support for the MT4, MT5, and in-house ThinkTrader platforms, and traders have access to some of the best trading tools in the industry, including Trading Central, Zulutrade, and a VPS hosting service. Trading Central is offered free of charge to account holders. The Zulutrade copy-trading service requires a subscription of 30 USD per month, and the VPS service has a subscription fee unless traders trade over 15 lots per month. 

The ThinkMarkets education package is a good place to start for beginners. Daily market commentary is missing from the website, but real-time news from FX Wire Pro is integrated into the ThinkTrader platform, along with advanced order management, risk management tools, charts, and more.

Which broker has the highest overall rating?

IG has an overall rating of 4.69 and ThinkMarkets has an overall rating of 4.43. For more detail please read our reviews of IG and ThinkMarkets.