The bar for attaining Professional Trader status is very high (IMOA) and I doubt many normal traders will have the actually hit all three criteria required to covert to Professional status.
As I commented before, I have been with IG a long time and as a UK resident; am comfortable with service provided by IG as a UK entity.
Do “we” really want to jump through hoops to circumvent rules which actually (if you look at it with a clear head) can/will have minimal impact on normal trading bar the increase in margin (which I agree is disproportionate to outgoing margins).
I am looking at other brokers but will trade under the new ESMA rules for a while to see and assess impact/restrictions on my trades and orders.
Whilst I am in agreement with you all regarding the ESMA rules; let’s take a breath, pause and most importantly THINK before jumping from frying pan in to an “unknown” fire.