City Index Review 2021
City Index is one of the leading Forex and CFD trading platforms since 1983. It is the subsidiary company of Gain Capital Holding. The Parent company for Gain Capital Holding is StoneX Inc. since February 2020. StoneX is a listed company on the NASDAQ exchange.
City Index offers a wide range of trading products through CFD and Spread betting. It is registered and regulated in several countries including the top-tier regulator FCA in the United Kingdom. An established history, intuitive trading platform, and a listed parent company means the City Index Trading platform is a secure and preferred choice of traders.
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City Index is a forex and CFD broker service provider. Its traders prefer the platform for the choice of spread betting and CFDs with a wide range of markets. Let us explore, what City Index has on offer.
Account Opening and Availability
City Index offers broker services through its online platform for international clients. It is primarily regulated by the FCA in the United Kingdom. It offers other international websites for different regions as well. The notable exceptions for trading accounts with City Index are the clients from the US and Canada.
City Index customers can open an online account within a few minutes. The account approval will take 1-3 working days after the ID verification of the applicant. The application process is fully digital with some verification document requirements.
City Index has three types of trading accounts. A Web Trader account that all customers can apply for. A Premium Trader and Professional Trader account. Both premium and professional accounts come with selection criteria and require manual approval from the City Index management. The costs, margins, and deposit requirements are all different for professional and premium accounts than a Web Trader Account. The minimum account deposits for a premium account are £ 10,000. Professional account holders must maintain a portfolio of € 500,000.
All customers can open a demo account before applying for the Live Account, which a standard feature offered by all online brokers.
Products and Markets
City Index has more than 12,000 markets to choose from for traders. As it offers spread betting and CFDs as the main trading options, the range of trading products widens significantly. Traders can use the spread betting and CFDs for different markets, mainly in Shares, Indices, Forex, and commodities.
Some key markets on offer by City Index include:
- Over 4,500 shares and 700+ ETFs from the top global stock exchanges.
- 84 Forex pairs including Majors and Minors.
- 21+ global Indices.
- 25+ Global Commodities.
- 15 global Bond markets.
- Spread and CFD trading for Cryptocurrencies, Oil, Metals, and Options.
There are no individual stocks, Bonds, and ETF trading options currently with City Index. Its UK clients will also be unable to continue with Crypto trading with newer regulations from the FCA. Clients in the US can trade through other GAIN Capital subsidiaries like Forex.com only.
Despite the limitations of the unavailability of direct stock trading, the market range of City Index is an impressive collection.
Fees Structure
City Index does not charge for account deposits and withdrawal options. The customers may incur credit or debit card charges through their respective banks. City Index does have account inactivity and overnight funding charges.
City Index has an account inactivity charge of $15 (or equivalent in other currency) for dormant accounts for over 1 year. There are no exchange data fees. Other trading costs include overnight funding, spreads, and commissions on trade transactions.
City Index charges its clients financing costs on LIBOR +/- 2.50% on long and short positions respectively. Its currency conversion charges include +/- 0.5% of the quoted conversion rates.
Let us take a glance at the spreads and margin information for City Index.
| Asset | Minimum Spread / Commission | Average Spread / Commission | Min. Margin Requirement |
|---|---|---|---|
| FOREX | |||
| AUD/USD | 0.5 | 0.9 | 5% |
| EUR / USD | 0.5 | 0.8 | 3.33% |
| USD / JPY | 0.6 | 0.8 | 3.33% |
| GBP / USD | 0.9 | 1.8 | 3.33% |
| Stocks | |||
| US Stocks CFD | $ 10 | 1.8 CPS | 20 % |
| FTSE 100 CFD | £ 10 | 0.08 % | 20 % |
| Other UK Stocks | £ 10 | 0.08 % | 20 % |
| US Stocks CFD | 0.0015 onwards | - | 20 % |
| FTSE 100 CFD | 0.1% | - | 20 % |
| Other UK Stocks | 0.2 % | - | 20 % |
| Indices | |||
| US SP 500 CFD | Fixed | 0.4 points | 5% |
| UK 100 CFD | Fixed | 2.0 points | 5% |
| EU Stocks 50 | Fixed | 2.5 points | 5% |
| Other Markets | |||
| UK Long Gilt | 0.3 point | - | 20 % |
| US T-Note | 0.2 points | - | 20 % |
| Gold | 0.3 points | - | 5% |
Overall, City Index offers a competitive pricing model. Its CFD trading commission rates are relatively average in comparison with its peers. However, the choice of spread betting provides zero opening commission and tax-free profits. CFD trades require a minimum opening commission of 0.01% (min £ 10).
The Forex trading costs are embedded into spreads. However, City Index charges currency conversion charges on account funding transactions to its international clients. Its premium and professional account holders receive a concession on overall spread costs. Both types of accounts require prior approval and fulfillment criteria.
Trading Platforms: Built-in and third-party
City Index has two trading platforms Web trader and Advance Trader (AT). It also offers the MetraTrader4 trading platform to its clients. All of these platforms come with intuitive features and offer great sets of trading tools.
City Index trading platforms have the supported versions for desktop download, online, and mobile applications.
The Web Trader Platform comes with the following features:
- Comes with a powerful technology backed by HTML5.
- A balance bar feature that works as a portfolio analyzer. It can analyze the margins, portfolio volumes, and PL positions.
- Comes with a market search feature.
- It comes with new advanced charting tools that include 11 chart types, 65 indicators, and 74 indicators for customized trading experience.
- Offers smart trading tools like guaranteed stop loss and hedging. Hedging trades can be placed simultaneously.
The Advance Trader Pro (AT) is a developed version of its old downloadable platform. It is designed for advanced traders for a more customized experience. It offers an extensive range of advanced trading tools.
- Option to create customized trading templates with C+, .NET, or utilize the readily available templates.
- It offers an extensive drawing tool range and 100+ indicators.
- Offers real-time trade signals, and industry news.
- Comes with comprehensive fundamental and technical tools.
- Economic calendar tool for market movement observations.
City Index offers a vital performance analysis tool that individual traders can use to improve the profits. It offers comprehensive analyses and reports on trading strategies deployed. It comes with PL. win ratio, timeframe study, and psychological trading analysis tools.
Unlike many of its competitors, City Index offers both Fundamental and Technical Analysis tools. Its range of Fundamental and Technical Analysis tools include:
- Market scanning and search function to identify trading opportunities with preset conditions.
- Customized and in-depth market analysis tool.
- Screen the market function for analyzing market sentiments and trends.
- Stop-loss alerts and notifications.
- Fundamental Analysis tools such as stock valuations, company performance metrics, and Global Stock Market reports.
City Index also offers several order types as we can expect from a reputable broker.
- Market and entry orders.
- Stop Loss
- Limit Loss
- Trailing stop loss
- Guaranteed stop loss
- OCO
- If-done order types
Overall the City Index trading platforms cover all the tools and performance indicators that we can expect. Its third-party partner platform is MT4 that comes with a mobile app version as well. The MT4 comes with standard and popular trading features that most of the traders are familiar with.
Platform Security and Regulation
City Index is a leading global spread betting and CFD trading provider. It was founded in 1983 in the UK and is part of the Gain Capital Holding group. Its parent company is StoneX that is a listed company.
City Index is registered and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the United Kingdom. It is regulated in Australia by the ASIC. It is also registered and regulated in Singapore by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
Apart from an established trading service provider history, City Index is part of a financial strengthened group. The StoneX group assets currently mark at the $ 10.9 billion figure.
Some key security and safety features that investors may look for in any trading service provider:
- It is owned by a listed company with strict financial compliance.
- It offers negative balance protection to most of its clients as a compliance requirement from the FCA in the United Kingdom.
- Comes with an Automated Margin Closeout feature.
- Investors’ money is placed with segregated top tier bank account as a regulatory compliance measure.
- It offers investor money protection of £ 85,000 to its UK clients as covered by the FCA.
The negative balance protection does not cover the professional trading account holder. There is no negative money or investor money protection for clients outside the UK as well.
Deposit and Withdrawal Options
There are no account deposits and withdrawal charges from City Index, which is a mandatory feature these days from most online brokers. However, international clients outside of the UK undergo currency conversion charges.
Customers can use the following account deposit methods:
- Bank Transfers
- Debit Cards including VISA, Master, Electron, and MAESTRO.
- Credit Cards include VISA and MasterCard only.
- PayPal
The withdrawal method will use the same medium as for the deposits. The withdrawal amount of currency should also be the same as the deposits. It can be a little disadvantage to clients. For example, payments from more than one card or card or bank transfers will be withdrawn in the same manner separately.
PayPal funds transactions can be made in the EUR, GBP, and USSD. The minimum withdrawal amount is £ 10, with a maximum of £ 20,000 per transaction limit.
Customer Support
City Index comes with comprehensive training material and a set of FAQs to answer most of the customer queries. The wider range of educational material such as blogs, guides, and webinars provide much-needed guidance to new traders. There is a lot of guidance material on City Index trading platforms as well. Traders can test run their trading strategies and platform tools with a Demo Account as well.
However, providing prompt customer support is a mandatory feature expected by all customers. City Index provides customer support through:
- Live Chat
- Phone Calls
- Emails
- Social Media Accounts
The customer support timings are 24 hours during the 05 working days only.
Things We Like about City Index
City Index enjoys an industry reputation for global spread betting, Forex, and CFD trading service provider. It is owned by a listed company which provides enhanced financial compliance satisfaction.
Here are our top features that we loved with City Index Trading Platforms.
- It is regulated by top tier regulatory authorities like FCA and owned by a listed company.
- It offers an intuitive and user-friendly trading platform with online, desktop, and mobile applications.
- Offers a comprehensive range of trading products with over 12,000 products.
- Comes with an industry reputation as a leading service provider in spread betting and CFD trading.
- Competitive spread and commissions. Choice of Fixed and Variable spreads.
- Offers a popular third-party trading platform MT4 for web and mobile applications.
- Provides comprehensive portfolio analysis, performance, charting, and market search tools.
Things We Wish To See From City Index
Most of the online brokers provide specialized broker and trading services. It means there is always room for improvements or customer expectations.
Here are a few features that we would like to see from City Index:
- Choice of more trading products such as trading of individual stocks, Cryptocurrencies, Futures, and ETFs.
- A comprehensive technical analytical toolset must also include the social trading feature as offered by many of its competitors.
- Service expansions to the US and Canadian clients.
- Customer support can be improved with dedicated phone lines and 24/7 online support.
- Some discounts on margins and spreads are restricted to professional account holders only.
A Quick Wrap Up
City Index is a global service provider for spread betting and CFDs. It offers competitive trading costs overall. Its built-in and third-party trading platforms offer comprehensive trading and performance analytical tools. The products and markets range is impressive, however, all trades are offered through spread betting or CFDs only.