[CFDs no use to me, sorry..]

On 12/08/2022 at 00:10, ArvinIG said:

Hi @blackarrow,

Thank you for your post.

I think that the IG Academy is a good way to start. It has courses for beginners to advanced traders.
You can access the IG Academy with your demo account no need to have a live account.


On the IG website you can use the search function :


It will find the articles containing the key words your are looking for.

I think it is the best way to find relevant pages on the websites.

In regards to explanation on the platform it is always a work in progress, but you can find information but clicking on the 'i' icon on the platform few examples:


All indicators have a small description:


When placing a stop you also have some description
 

Let me know if you find this information usefull.

All the best - Arvin

thanks for that alvin, i will come back regularly to check out the academy resources.  i think share dealing in gbp on the lse is no more expensive, at around 3.00 per trade, on IB than it is here. so could confine activity to uk on IG.  but would carry on with nyse and nasdaq stocks on IB where fees are only 1.00usd per transaction. thanks again for the help.

[CFDs no use to me, sorry..]

On 10/08/2022 at 00:04, ArvinIG said:

Hi @blackarrow,

I will forward your feedback to the relevant department in regards to having Share Dealing Demo servers.

I understand your point. We do have products warnings on our website clearly stating that leverage products are risky. 
To open a CFD account , you will need to complete a questionnaire to assess your experience in trading. If you fail that questionnaire we wouldn't give you access to a CFD account to avoid exposing you to high risk products.

I don't know much of IB's offers, effectively you can compare both. 

We do have the IG Academy, free educational content on trading if you are after some courses before starting to trade.

All the best - Arvin

arvin, i appreciate your very supportive reply.  ive done some stocks portfolio filling on IB now with their live account but im a bit bruised and battered as a result

i dont give up easily so the more i learn from wherever, the more likely it is that i could do something at IG with the share dealing account despite lack of a demo option beforehand. good to know IG protects new users - they are very busy like that at IB but do not stop to think that using language that a newbie can understand might just be the smartest way to help.. they have a glossary for general terminology but even with google searching the site its difficult to get help with what site specific stuff means.. is IG thinking about what it actually is like for beginners to navigate the site too? best way to get this kind of perspective is to sit beside someone trying to do just that and see what kind of questions they ask at each step of the way. it seem like the only aim at IB is to make sure the help especially their videos makes sense to those that already know the answers. if IG can do better than that it might boost your ratings in reviews, etc. but i already rather think it is doing better.. heres an example of trouble with IB; in their (my) client portal, column header names like 'avg price' and 'cost basis' do not have any direct way (like a windows ? icon) to get an 'in a nutshell' explanation of what the header means. also there is no way to sort columns of numbers/ names according to different criteria. i cannot sort positions (stocks held) by exchange bought at, so all the nyse and lse and nasdaq are grouped together so its easy at a glance to see which figures are in gbp and which are usd. how does this compare with IG layout? (if i had tried CFDs on here i would know more on this, sure..).

sorry if this rant is a bit heavy going i will go and try to repeat some of it at IB next.. if i can get to the right site map link to reach community there.. if we want a good example of how to do it right then simplywallstreet is it for me - albeit not a broker platform, but the resources on there are huge and very thoughtfully put together and they treat free trial users with respect. subscription cost is not insanely high either, like many other similar sites. hope ive contributed something here that will in some way or other help others in the long run. thanks again for your help. will stick around as long as my CFD demo account login doesnt expire. but in any event i have not closed my mind to the IG share dealing account for alternative portfolio use, in due course

[CFDs no use to me, sorry..]

On 08/08/2022 at 07:08, ArvinIG said:

Hi @blackarrow,

Thank you for your post. 

Our Demo accounts are CFD accounts using leverage and margin. Our Demo servers and Live servers are separated. We do not have Share Trading demo account as share trading works with Direct order to the market.

You are looking for an account to hold your shares, you can find more information on share dealing accounts here:
https://www.ig.com/uk/investments/share-dealing

If you need further information, please let us know.

Thank you - Arvin

thanks arvin for your help. i think IG should look at what some of the competition are doing with their demo or free trial accounts which do simulate share dealing.  some work it so you keep access to demo whilst signed up for live account. for a beginner learning by doing is the best way but not by making expensive mistakes dont you think? which is the risk here at IG. sure its good to have demo for CFDs etc as that is the really risky stuff. also the most lucrative for the platforms though i guess?  hence the over emphasis on the CFDs and spread betting from the get-go on many of the platforms. 

if IG and many other platforms do need that particular revenue stream more than any other, then starting with demo share dealing and a demo for everything else your beginner share dealers might become confident enough to go down the platforms CFD route eventually.  otherwise a business model to make as much as possible out of those with little or no knowledge or experience on them tricky instruments is not, in the long run, going to be a good look if anything blows up in the news, dont you think?

thanks again for your input, it helps me to search better to get the big picture. thats what im doing with interactive brokers - trying to find answers on their pages is hard but google has it all pinned down.  sites generally may have hopeless search tools but as we know; google will sort it all out for you in a site specific way.  if that is the thing interactive brokers gets criticised for most then their competitors incl IG, need to make sure they are no worse than IB with everything else that they do do right.  shame mydemo here may be going nowhere if i get confident with IB in the fullness of time.. sorry, im not what you need i guess.

[CFDs no use to me, sorry..]

im in the uk on demo account and can see no way to simply buy shares to hold. just all this in-your-face CFD over promotion.. (resistance is futile?) i dont expect to want to short any stocks using CFD, its value investing for me. just like oracle of omaha WB of course - who else? :D

interactive brokers has it all but is really not an intuitive site to use.. etoro seems good but is creepy the way it draws you in via a demo account and then by stealth, after getting your NI number, you find you have a live account as well.. its asking me for a selfie now (says its the law, oh really?), even after email said account was verified. i had great hopes for IG but just disappointment here now as well.. unless someone know where the 'invest dashboard' lives.. thanks for any helps :| ?

[demo account confined to CFDs and spread betting?]

started a demo account under the heading share trading but no access to it.. is a new user being funneled into the risky stuff straight away? feeling uneasy about opening a live account already..