City Index Review

Company Information

City Index is one of the oldest brokerages for retail traders in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1983 and was one of the first companies offer both spread betting and CFD trading in the United Kingdom. Since 2015, it has been owned by US based Gain Capital. It is regulated with the FCA, making it highly secure to deal with as UK regulation is among the best in the world. Its parent company, Gain Capital is regulated in eight different jurisdictions, offering extraordinarily transparent regulatory compliance.

City Index Account types

City Index offers clients to account types, CFD accounts and Forex trading accounts. There’s also a spread betting account available to UK clients, which of course features no stamp duty applicable. All accounts that city Index offer our commission free, with the exception of CFD trading on shares, and offer of leverage of up to 1:200 with variable spreads.

It should be noted that margin will be different depending on the level of account you choose. Obviously, the lower the margin, the higher initial deposit that there will be.

Trading conditions and deposits

Initial deposit

To open up an account with City Index, the minimum initial deposit is £100, which is in line with many other brokers in the United Kingdom. However, there are some brokers out there that require no initial deposit, but obviously you will need money to trade with. The minimal amount needed opens the door to the average trader without a doubt.

City Index Spreads and commission

City Index offers commission free trading with competitive spreads, especially when it comes to CFD markets. The average spread amounts to 0.73 pips on the EUR/USD pair, however in the Forex account on the MT 4 platform, the typical spread is roughly 1.6 pips in the EUR/USD market. That being said, the spreads are just a touch higher than some of their competitors in England.

Leverage

City Index offers maximum leverage levels of 1:200, which is roughly in line with most other British brokerages. There are some in the United Kingdom that offer as much as 1:500 and beyond, but quite frankly that is very dangerous trading and can greatly increase your losses. Because of this, the leverage is ample, and quite frankly more than enough for the average retail trader.

Trading platforms

City Index offers a variety of trading platforms. There is the proprietary desktop AT Pro, Advantage Web, and of course as previously mentioned MetaTrader 4. The Advantage Web software is extraordinarily customizable, and browser based, meaning that you can trade with it anywhere you have an Internet connection. This allows for extreme flexibility, and a platform agnostic situation where you can trade on either Windows or Macintosh based systems. The AT Pro is an advanced trading platform, with numerous technical indicators and customizable layout, it also offers automatic trading strategies. It even has a back testing tool, something that is extraordinarily helpful for those who are pursuing rules-based strategies.

Range of markets

It’s offerings are extraordinary. In fact, there are over 12,000 markets you can trade at City Index. This includes 21 global indices, 4500 shares, 84 currency pairs, over 25 commodities, and some of the most popular crypto currencies out there. This allows the trader to truly take advantage of global markets and the correlations that they often show. Beyond that, it allows traders to diversify away from traditional asset classes.

Payment methods

clients of City Index may use bank wire transfers, and debit/credit cards is payment methods. It’s free to make deposits from a debit card but there is a 1.5% charge if you use a credit card. This being said, it is one of the most highly regulated market makers out there.

Extras

City Index has a ton of extras for the retail trader. This includes webinars, educational series, and of course a huge amount of news and analysis available. Beyond that, they also have company earnings, and economic calendar, and trading signals. Overall, City Index is one of the more impressive brokerages that I have come across.