Top Spot for IG Markets Australia

A leading researcher in financial markets has named IG Markets as the number one CFD provider for active traders, new traders and traders switching from other providers in Australia.

According to the sixth annual report by Investment Trends, a specialist market research organisation in the financial services sector, in the twelve months to May 2011 the volume of trading on underlying markets shifted, moving away from shares to Forex Forex Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi Read this Term trading, which accounted for 27% of CFD trades over the year. This does not come as a great surprise with the amount of coverage global currencies have received over the last 12 months.

The report also highlighted that the growth in the number of active CFD traders slowed. However, there was still significant movement within the industry with many traders switching between providers ‐ with over a third of switchers moving to IG Markets. Charting and platform features were cited as important factors for CFD clients moving providers. Demonstration accounts played an important role too, with almost half of those who opened one, using it to compare platforms. IG Markets received the highest satisfaction scores for the range of markets available, Trading Platform Trading Platform In the FX space, a currency trading platform is a software provided by brokers to their respective client base, garnering access as traders in the broader market. Most commonly, this reflects an online interface or mobile app, complete with tools for order processing.Every broker needs one or more trading platforms to accommodate the needs of different clients. Being the backbone of the company’s offering, a trading platform provides clients with quotes, a selection of instruments to trade, real In the FX space, a currency trading platform is a software provided by brokers to their respective client base, garnering access as traders in the broader market. Most commonly, this reflects an online interface or mobile app, complete with tools for order processing.Every broker needs one or more trading platforms to accommodate the needs of different clients. Being the backbone of the company’s offering, a trading platform provides clients with quotes, a selection of instruments to trade, real Read this Term features, charting, reporting and trading tools.

Forexmagnates has been closely monitoring the competitive FX environment which shows phenomenal growth and an influx of new brokers.

Australia's financial markets are very sophisticated and as well as derivatives traders are active in ETF's. A report shows there are about 53,500 investors active in ETFs in Australia since the start of this year (2011), the number could grow to somewhere between 72,000 and 80,000 by the end of 2012. This is a fair amount as the total retail online share trading market stands at about 700,000.

ASIC has closely been monitoring the FX industry, in particular high leverage accounts offered by brokers. In addition ASIC has been monitoring the use of algos and is keen to ensure that Australia is 'clean' and transparent. ASIC earlier Wednesday published its second report on the supervision of markets. In the year's first six months, ASIC has investigated six cases of potential market manipulation and a further ten breaches of market integrity rules. In some of these cases, charges have been filed in cases that will soon go to the country's court system.

With 16 million internet users, a healthy and stable economy; the use of online trading will certainly see strong growth.

Grab your latest copy of the Forex Magnates Retail Forex Industry Report.