City Index has been around since 1983 and was one of the first spread betting companies operating in the UK. It was also one of the earliest companies to provide trading in CFDs or Contracts for Difference in Britain.
In 2005, City Index bought Finspreads that was a leading online spread betting company. It then bought IFX Markets in 2006 that was an online forex trading firm, and then acquired forex broker FX Solutions in 2008. City Index was itself purchased in 2014 by GAIN Capital, which remains its owner.
City Index is based in London, England and is regulated and authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority or FCA in the United Kingdom with the authorization number of 113942.
The official website for City Index can be found at www.cityindex.co.uk . A screenshot of its Welcome page is shown below:
Features
In addition to offering traders the ability to execute deals in the forex market via MetaTrader4, City Index allows clients to trade commodities, stocks, indexes, and CFDs as well. Depending on their preferences, traders can open either a spread betting or a CFD account for this purpose.
City Index offers two proprietary trading platforms, with an advanced model for more sophisticated traders, as well as supporting MetaTrader. The firm also has competitive variable dealing spreads.
Furthermore, City Index has a wide variety of trading instruments that its clients can trade. These assets include: 21 global indexes with both futures and options contracts; 4,500 international stocks; 84 forex currency pairs including the major and minor pairs plus many exotic pairs; over 25 key commodities including softs and precious metals; and various interest rate products like government bonds and deposit rates.
Accounts
City Index offers three different types of accounts:
- A live funded spread betting account,
- A live CFD account, and
- A free demo trading account that does not need to be funded.
Funded accounts only require a minimum initial deposit of £100, or enough funds to cover the margin requirement for your initial trade.
Transactions
Making an initial deposit when funding an account at City Index is possible by using: (1) a Visa or MasterCard credit card; (2) a Visa, MasterCard, Electron or Maestro debit card; or (3) a wire transfer from a bank.
Withdrawals from a City Index account have a £50 minimum size or the current account balance, whichever one is less. The maximum withdrawal is £20,000 at a time, or £20,000 per day when withdrawn to a credit or debit card. Withdrawals have no associated fees unless you need a CHAPS payment that will incur a £25 fee if the payment is less than £5,000.
The time required for a withdrawal to hit your account is three to five business days for debit and credit card withdrawals, but only one to two days for bank wire transfers. Some banks can complete withdrawals within a day if they subscribe to expedited payments services.
Platform
City Index offers two proprietary trading platforms that both offer access to multiple markets from the same interface. The first is known as Advantage Web, and it is a web-based trading platform that is simple to operate and can be accessed using any suitable web browser. The platform offers technical analysis features, including more than 80 indicators, and also has fundamental information like a very useful Reuters news feed. A screenshot of this trading platform appear below showing its on screen trade buttons and charting capabilities.
More sophisticated traders might like to check out City Index’s AT Pro trading platform that has advanced functions and a customizable interface. You can even create your own templates if you know how to program in C#, .NET or Visual Basic, if you do not find one of the numerous premade templates to your liking. This platform features trading signals, more than 100 indicators, and a back testing tool that works with Excel to help you optimize your trading strategy based on performance results derived from historical data.
Many forex traders will be delighted to learn that City Index offers support for the popular MetaTrader4 platform. This lets traders create or use Expert Advisors to fully or partially automate their trading strategies or provide trade signals.
Finally, for those who like to trade on the move, City Index gives its clients access to a mobile trading platform that operates on both Android and Apple iOS mobile devices.
- WebTrader – Fast and reliable HTML5 technology for optimum performance. Fully customisable workspaces allowing personalisation and flexibility. Advanced charts with custom indicators and precision drawing tools. Intelligent trading tools including smarter trade tickets and advanced risk management tools. Curated market information with detailed market analysis to identify trading opportunities.
Support
City Index offers support to its clients on a 24/5 basis via telephone, email and live chat. This support is available in multiple languages, and City Index’s website also has helpful support information and FAQs.
Information
City Index provides its client access to its Trading Academy that offers a good selection of educational and trader training material on its website that includes videos, trading tips and webinars. Fundamental and news traders will also appreciate the Reuters news feed that provides high quality financial market commentary and prompt economic data release announcements.
Safety
City Index is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK, which gives traders the security that their funds are safe with this broker. In addition to FCA regulation, the company’s parent, GAIN Capital, is well capitalized and regulated in many other jurisdictions.
Overall
City Index is a seasoned firm in the retail trading business and should make an excellent partner for both seasoned and beginning traders to consider, especially those that might wish to speculate in markets other than just foreign exchange. In addition to supporting MT4, their web-based trading platform is straightforward for novices to use, while more advanced traders will enjoy trying out the features of their AT Pro platform. Providing access to the Reuters news feed is a great bonus too.