Compare Forex Brokers side by side

How do IG and HFM stack up against each other?

The Radar Chart below highlights how the brokers stack up against each other across various metrics. The highest score a broker can receive in each area is 5.

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 HFM, 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 HFM 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 three Tier 2 licences, and HFM holds two Tier 1 and one Tier 2 licences.

Is IG financially regulated?

Is HFM financially regulated?

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

Does IG or HFM 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 HFM. 

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Broker

Trading Conditions

Base Currencies

EURUSD (Standard)

Trading Cost (Standard)

EURUSD (Best)

GBPUSD (Best)

USDJPY (Best)

Commission

HFM

4.5/ 5

EUR, USD, ZAR

1.00 pips

USD 10

0.10 pips

0.50 pips

0.30 pips

USD 0

IG

4.5/ 5

AUD, USD, JPY, GBP, EUR, CAD, CHF, NZD, SGD, HKD

0.60 pips

USD 6

0.85 pips

1.40 pips

0.94 pips

USD 0

Does IG or HFM 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 MT4, L2 Dealer and ProRealTime and HFM offers support for MT4, MT5 and HFM Trading App. 

Do the brokers offer copy trading?

Copy trading is a great option for beginner traders who can’t trade full-time or lack experience with Forex trading. In this case both HFM and IG offer copy trading.

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Broker

Platform Choice

Copy Trading

Platforms

HFM

4.5/ 5

Yes

MT4, MT5, HFM Trading App

IG

4.5/ 5

No

MT4, L2 Dealer, ProRealTime

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 HFM. IG offers 80 Forex pairs to trade and HFM offers 53 Forex pairs to trade.

And what about Cryptocurrencies?

In this case, HFM offers 40 cryptocurrencies while IG offers 10 cryptocurrencies. So if you want to trade cryptocurrencies, we advise trading with HFM.

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 HFM nor IG charges a withdrawal fee. Overall, IG has better deposit and withdrawal processes than HFM. 

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. 

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Broker

Beginner Course

Advanced Course

Well Structured Education

Education Quality

Webinars

HFM

Yes

Yes

Yes

High

Yes

IG

Yes

Yes

Yes

High

Yes

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 IG offers better research analysis than HFM and that both HFM and IG offer frequent webinars.

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Broker

Economic Calendar

Autochartist

Trading Central

Trading View

Free VPS

HFM

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

IG

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

Our overall Verdict on IG

One of the most popular brokers in Philippines and the largest CFD broker in the world by revenue, IG Markets has two low-cost trading accounts - one of which provides direct market access. With possibly the widest range of CFDs in the world, IG Markets offers trading on over 17,000 instruments, including Forex, indices, share CFDs, commodities, cryptocurrencies, digital 100s, options, ETFs, bonds, and interest rates.  

On both accounts – the OTC Account and the DMA Account - IG Market’s trading costs are low compared to other similar brokers, with no minimum deposit requirements and tight spreads, averaging 0.85 pips on the EUR/USD.  IG Markets offers trading on its own award-winning platform, as well as MT4 and L2 Dealer - a DMA specific platform for experienced traders. In addition to a wide range of trading tools, IG Markets also provides a world-class selection of educational and market analysis materials to get new traders started. 

Overall, both beginner and experienced Forex traders won’t find a much better broker than IG Markets, and it is one of our highest-rated brokers for good reason. Combined with regulation from the FCA and ASIC, a long history of satisfied clients, and vast industry recognition, IG Markets is hard to beat.

Our overall Verdict on HFM

HFM (formerly known as HotForex) is a well-known international broker with a strong presence in the Philippines. It has excellent regulation and customer support, and has a range of accounts to suit both beginners and more experienced traders.

HFM offers four standard accounts and two specialised copy trading accounts, but the Cent Account stands out with no minimum deposit and reasonable trading fees. We were also pleased to find that HFM has recently reintroduced cryptocurrency trading, no doubt because of the popularity of the asset. This is alongside an excellent range of trading instruments, including over 950 other international stocks.

HFM supports the MT4 and MT5 platforms in addition to its own mobile HF App, which allows clients to trade from charts and make deposits and withdrawals. It also has several excellent trading tools to assist traders further. Unfortunately, access to tools such as Autochartist, which other brokers offer as a free service, requires an account balance of 100 USD.

Which broker has the highest overall rating?