IG vs Charles Schwab 2024

Trust Score is a data-driven rating system that provides an at-a-glance rating of a broker’s overall trust by tracking 60+ brokers and over 100 regulatory jurisdictions across the globe. To make things clearer for everyday traders, we’ve created a five-tier system for regulators and Trust Score rating labels. Learn more about Trust Score, and check out our country guides to see the most trusted brokers in your country of residence.

IG has a Trust Score of 99, giving it a "Highly Trusted" Trust Score Label.

Charles Schwab has a Trust Score of 99, giving it a "Highly Trusted" Trust Score Label.

Year after year, IG has shown itself to be the best broker in the forex industry. Highly trusted and regulated in a staggering eight Tier-1 jurisdictions, IG holds a Trust Score rating of 99. Though IG does offer MetaTrader 4, IG’s proprietary web-based trading platform steals the show with its wide variety of rich features, market research, and powerful trading tools. IG also offers seamless integration of trading signals into its web platform. IG has won countless Annual Awards from our sister site, ForexBrokers.com, and is a fantastic choice for forex traders of all experience levels.

Charles Schwab is a leader in platform technology and trusted by millions of investors globally with trillions in assets under its brands. Available exclusively to U.S. residents, Charles Schwab's forex offering consists of just over 70 currency pairs, along with powerful research, trading tools, and comprehensive educational resources for investing.

Tier-1 is reserved for the strictest, most stringent regulatory jurisdictions in the world. Tier-1 regulators impose additional capital requirements and require a tougher initial screening process. IG holds regulatory licenses in the following Tier-1 jurisdictions: Australia (ASIC Authorised), Japan (SFC Authorised), Singapore (MAS Authorised), New Zealand (FMA Authorised), United Kingdom (U.K.) (FCA Authorised) and USA (CFTC Authorized). Charles Schwab, on the other hand, is licensed in these Tier-1 regulatory jurisdictions: Canada (CIRO Authorised), Hong Kong (SFC Authorised), Singapore (MAS Authorised), United Kingdom (U.K.) (FCA Authorised) and USA (CFTC Authorized). Neither have CBI Authorised (Ireland) and Switzerland (FINMA Authorised)

Tier-2 and tier-3 licenses are still important in evaluating the overall trustworthiness of forex brokers. As far as tier-2 licenses go, IG is Cyprus (CySEC Authorised), South Africa (FSCA Authorised) and UAE (DFSA/Central Bank Authorised), while Charles Schwab is none.. Neither have China (CBRC Authorised), India (SEBI Authorised), Israel (ISA Authorised), Russia (CBR Authorised) and Thailand (SEC Authorised). When comparing tier-3 licenses IG is Bermuda (BMA Authorised), while Charles Schwab is none.. Neither have Bahamas (SCB Authorised), Belize (FSC Authorised), British Virgin Islands (FSC Authorised), Cayman Islands (CIMA Authorised), Mauritius (FSC Authorised) and Vanuatu (VFSC Authorised).

Whether your broker develops its own proprietary platforms or provides access to popular third-party platforms, you should make sure you can use your preferred type of trading platform. In our testing, we found that both IG and Charles Schwab offer a Proprietary Platform and Desktop Platform (Windows). Neither have cTrader, DupliTrade and ZuluTrade

For MetaTrader IG provides MetaTrader 4 (MT4), while Charles Schwab provides neither of these. If MetaTrader is a must for you, read our guides on the best MT4 brokers or best MT5 brokers.. Neither have MetaTrader 5 (MT5)

IG requires a minimum deposit of £250.00, while Charles Schwab requires a minimum deposit of $0. It's also important to ensure your broker accepts the funding options and deposit methods that work best for you. In our research, we've found that IG supports Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw), Visa/Mastercard (Credit/Debit) and PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw) for funding and deposit methods, whereas Charles Schwab supports Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw). Neither have Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw)

When choosing a forex broker, it’s important to consider each broker’s available investment products and tradeable asset classes. We’ve researched each broker’s individual offering of investments to help you pick the right broker for what you want to trade. During our testing, we found that IG delivers a more diverse selection of investment options than Charles Schwab, offering tradeable asset classes and investment types such as Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs), Spread Betting, Metals, Energies, Agriculturals, ETF and U.S. Stocks (CFD). Neither have Social Trading / Copy Trading.

We also keep track of each broker’s total number of tradeable symbols; IG offers 19537, and Charles Schwab offers a total of 40000 tradeable symbols.

Crypto trading has become popular among forex traders across a range of international jurisdictions. As a result, many forex brokers now offer crypto products to their clients; most crypto assets are offered either as an underlying physical asset (such as when you own actual bitcoin assets, for example) or as a derivative product like a CFD. If you are looking to trade physical cryptocurrencies, you’ll find that neither IG nor Charles Schwab allow you to trade physical cryptocurrencies.

Market research plays a huge role in any forex trader’s ability to conduct analysis within the global forex market. We test each broker’s research offering to help you decide which broker is right for your technical or fundamental analysis needs. IG delivers the following research tools: Autochartist, Daily Market Commentary, Stock Charts and Forex News (Top-Tier Sources). Charles Schwab, on the other hand, provides the tools listed here: Daily Market Commentary, Stock Charts and Forex News (Top-Tier Sources). Neither have Trading Central (Recognia) and Social Trading / Copy Trading

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