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Alison Heyerdahl is the Head of Content at FxScouts, a Chartered Market Technician (CMT), and an experienced trader, as well as a financial writer with extensive expertise in Forex trading, broker analysis, and market research. She has reviewed 100+ brokers, publishes weekly YouTube trading videos, and co-hosts the “Let’s Talk Forex” podcast.
In the fast-paced world of forex trading, choosing the right broker is crucial. IG and Saxo are two popular options, each with unique strengths and weaknesses. This comparison will dive into the key features of both platforms,helping you decide which one best suits your trading style and goals.
The radar chart above illustrates the comparison between IG and Saxo across several key metrics, with the highest possible score being 100 in each category.
At FxScouts, our mission is to assist traders in finding the broker that best suits their needs. Comparing brokers side-by-side is an effective method to achieve this goal. We evaluated IG and Saxo, using our standard criteria: trust and regulation, trading platforms, costs and trading conditions, and educational and market analysis resources.
Trust and regulation are crucial when selecting a Forex broker. A broker’s credibility is largely built on its regulatory status. We spend considerable time verifying the safety of each broker by examining their regulatory licenses. We also consider numerous factors when deciding which tier a regulator belongs to. Regulators that we rank as the world’s top regulators, gets a tier 1 rank, while regulators who only scores a tier 5-rank, provide virtually no regulatory oversight. The more top-tier authorities regulating a broker, the higher its trust rating. Read more about regulation and our tier system here.
In our comparison:
Based on these findings, IG earned a higher trust rating than Saxo.
When comparing brokers, trading costs are a significant factor. We consider the minimum deposit required to open an account and ongoing costs, including spreads and commissions. We measure the cost to trade one lot of EUR/USD using the broker’s account with the lowest minimum deposit, including both the spread and any commission charged.
We found that IG has overall lower trading costs than Saxo.
Trading Platforms Offered Traders prefer brokers that offer a variety of trading platforms. We rate brokers higher if they support multiple platforms like MetaTrader4, MetaTrader5, cTrader, and proprietary platforms.
Copy trading is beneficial for beginner traders or those unable to trade full-time. In this case both IG and Saxo offer copy trading.
A broader range of CFD instruments provides more trading opportunities. Saxo offers a greater variety of instruments compared to IG:
For those interested in trading cryptocurrencies, IG offers 10 cryptocurrencies, while Saxo offers 9 cryptocurrencies. Therefore, IG is the better choice for cryptocurrency trading.
Traders prefer brokers with quick and cost-effective deposit and withdrawal processes. We favor brokers that process withdrawals within 24 hours using multiple methods without charging fees.We found that neither IG nor Saxo charges a withdrawal fee. Overall, IG has better deposit and withdrawal processes than Saxo.
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 Saxo both have very good educational support. Both IG and Saxo offer educational support for more experienced traders.Access to frequent and high-quality market research and analysis is crucial.
We found that IG offers better research analysis than Saxo and that both IG and Saxo offer frequent webinars.
Founded in London in 1974, IG is one of the most established brokers in the world and is known for its competitive pricing, secure trading environment, and wide market access.
With over 320,000 clients globally, IG has been the largest CFD broker in the world by revenue for several years. Clients can trade more than 17,000 instruments with no minimum deposit requirement, including forex, indices, shares, commodities, ETFs, and bonds. All markets are available via IG’s award-winning proprietary platforms, MetaTrader 4, TradingView integration, and L2 Dealer for direct market access.
For traditional investors, IG also operates a fully licensed UK stockbroking service. Alongside its diverse market range, IG offers an exceptional suite of trading tools, professional-grade analysis, and one of the best educational resources in the industry, making it an excellent choice for both beginner and experienced traders.
An excellent all-round broker, Saxo Bank is a well-regulated investment bank and brokerage with two top-end trading platforms and an outstanding selection of financial instruments.
Geared towards more experienced traders, Saxo Bank’s ongoing trading fees are lower than average across all three account options, with spreads that average between 0.4 pips and 0.8 pips (EUR/USD), but it has a high minimum deposit of 500 GBP on its entry-level account and a whopping 1,000,000 GBP on its VIP Account. Experienced traders will also be satisfied with the number of financial instruments on offer, which includes no less than 190 Forex pairs.
Saxo Bank’s platforms are some of the best in the industry, and although MT4 and MT5 are not available, it supports algorithmic trading. We were also impressed at the quality and frequency of market research available at the brokerage, which is on par with some of the biggest players in the industry.
For more detailed reviews, please read our comprehensive assessments of IG and Saxo.
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Broker | Overall Rating Our overall rating evaluates brokers on platform quality, fees, service, regulation, and instruments. Higher scores reflect better performance and reliability. | Official Site Click to visit the broker’s official website for more information and to open an account. | Min. Deposit The minimum amount of money required to open an account with this broker. | Min. Spread | Trading Cost | Licenced by Displays the financial regulators licensing the broker, shown by national flags, ensuring compliance with financial standards for safer trading. | Accepts Traders from %s | Compare Select two brokers using the checkboxes to compare their features, fees, platforms, and more side by side. |
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 | USD 0 | 0 pips | USD 7 |    | jp, es, us, ca | |||
 | USD 3 | 0.10 pips | USD 7 |     | at, be, bg, cy, cz, de, dk, ee, el*, es, fi, fr, hr, hu, ie, it, lt, lu, lv, mt, nl, pl, pt, ro, se, si, sk, us, ca, au, nz, il, iq, sy, ir, kp, my, ye, sg, pr, gu | |||
 | USD 0 | 0 pips | USD 10 | | jp, be, el, lt, pt, bg, es, lu, ro, cz, fr, hu, si, dk, hr, mt, sk, de, it, nl, fi, ee, cy, at, se, ie, lv, pl | |||
| USD 5 | 0.60 pips | USD 6 |  | us, es, ca, ir, il | |||
 | USD 100 | 0.90 pips | USD 9 |    | es, be, cu, ir, kp, sy, us, nz, ru, by, lb, ye, im, uk, je, gg, af, dz, iq, ps, in | |||
 | USD 100 | 1 pips | USD 10 |  | jp, es | |||
 | USD 100 | 0.40 pips | USD 14 | | es | |||
 | USD 100 | 0 pips | USD 6 | | jp, es | |||
 | USD 200 | 0.10 pips | USD 8 | | jp, es | |||
 | USD 0 | 0.80 pips | USD 7 |  | us, es |
Select another broker to another broker to compare features, fees, and platforms side by side.
Alison and Chris cover a range of topics, including how to choose a Forex broker, safety and regulation, how to reduce your risk, trading psychology, trading platforms, and trading strategies, among others.
The FxScouts podcast helps beginner Forex traders get the best start to their trading careers.
