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 TD Ameritrade, 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 TD Ameritrade 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 TD Ameritrade holds three Tier 1 and no Tier 2 licences.

 

Is IG financially regulated?

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

 

Is TD Ameritrade financially regulated?

Yes TD Ameritrade was founded in 1975 and is regulated by CFTC, MAS and SFC.

 

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

Does IG or TD Ameritrade 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 TD Ameritrade. 

 

Does IG or TD Ameritrade 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, IG offers support for and TD Ameritrade offers support for . 

Do the brokers offer copy trading?

In this case both IG and TD Ameritrade 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 TD Ameritrade. IG offers 80 Forex pairs to trade and TD Ameritrade offers 75 Forex pairs to trade.

And what about Cryptocurrencies?

In this case, IG offers 10 cryptocurrencies while TD Ameritrade offers 0 cryptocurrencies. So if you want to trade cryptocurrencies, we advise trading with IG.

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 TD Ameritrade charges a withdrawal fee. Overall, IG has better deposit and withdrawal processes than TD Ameritrade. 

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 TD Ameritrade both have very good educational support. Both IG and TD Ameritrade 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 TD Ameritrade offer frequent webinars.

 

Our overall Verdict on IG

Founded in 1974 and regulated by the CFTC, IG is a low-cost CFD broker with a long history of providing safe and secure trading 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 and a spread betting account 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 TD Ameritrade

Founded in 1975 and CFTC-regulated, TD Ameritrade is a popular U.S. broker listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Known for its award-winning thinkorswim platform, TD Ameritrade caters to traders with different experience levels and different financial goals.

Forex traders can open an individual account with no minimum deposit requirement (unless trading with margin) with a spread of 1.2 pips (EUR/USD) and no commissions. These trading costs are around the industry average.

TD Ameritrade has solid educational resources, including a learning center with instructional videos, online courses, and trading demonstrations. It also offers a wealth of market highlights and analyst reports from Dow Jones and Benzinga, among others.

The only drawbacks of an otherwise excellent offering is the lack of funding methods, limited to bank-related transfers and that no support is offered for popular third-party platforms like MT4 and MT5.

Which broker has the highest overall rating?

IG has an overall rating of 4.69 and TD Ameritrade has an overall rating of 4.14. For more detail please read our reviews of IG and TD Ameritrade.