LCG MetaTrader 4

London Capital Group ("LCG"), which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA") in the UK (FRN: 182110), is a subsidiary of London Capital Group Holdings plc (LCGH'). LCGH is listed on the London Stock Exchange Alternative Investment Market. LCG is specialised in providing online execution-only service to retail, high-net-worth and professional clients. The current brand, logo and website (www.lcg.com) are the result of a year long restructuring and consolidation of two well-known entities within London Capital Group Holdings plc: Capital Spreads and London Capital Group.

LCG offers both its retail and professional clients a wide range of financial markets to choose from:

Forex: a large selection of currency pairs is available, from popular ones, such as EUR/USD and GBP/USD to Scandinavian (such as EUR/NOK, NOK/SEK) and Exotic/Emerging pairs (such as CHF/PLN, USD/MXN). They can be traded on two different types of accounts: "Standard Account", which has average spreads of 0.95 pips for EUR/USD or 1 for USD/JPY. LCG also offers a "Limited Risk Account" where the charge varies depending on each pair (3 pips for the Majors), not available for the CHF pairs. No surprise there, if we remember the havoc wreaked in the markets in January 2015 by the Swiss National Bank when they removed the EUR/CHF 1.2 floor. The other account option, ECN, is available to customers that maintain a $10,000 or equivalent balance. It comes with very low spreads (average of 0.2 pips for EUR/USD) and a sliding scale of commissions: the higher volumes you trade in one month, the lower the commissions you will pay.

Indices: popular stock market indices such as Dow Jones, DAX or Nikkei are offered both as spot and futures. The spreads are usually variable, depending on the time of the day and activity level of the underlying market. For instance, Dow Jones has a spread of 1 point between 14:30 - 21:00*, 4 points between 21:00 - 07:00* and 3 points between 07:00 - 14:30*. As with Forex, there is the option of a "limited risk" for which various premium charges apply.

CFDs and Spread Bet on Shares: over 1,000 shares across the UK, US and European markets are available as CFDs and Spread Bet for trading.

Commodities: diverse markets such as energy (oil, gasoline), metals (gold, silver) softs (orange juice) and grains (wheat) are offered for trading in the form of futures contracts.

Bonds and Interest Rates: several bond markets such as US 10 or 30 year and interest rates such as Euribor are available.

Beginners or more seasoned traders, LCG's customers can benefit from the Education and Analysis sections of the website. The first one is delivered in video format and several videos are available, covering various topics, from risk management and trading plans, to elements of technical and fundamental analysis. The analysis is done by a team of three analysts who can provide up to the minute information on forex, indices, shares and commodities.

There are two types of accounts offered by LCG:

- a standard one, with no minimum deposit (but bear in mind that each trading instrument has its own minimum margin requirements).

- A premium account, for traders with a balance of at least £25,000 or equivalent. This service comes with dedicated personal account managers and daily market commentary and key trading opportunities delivered by the research team.

At LCG you can trade either on the industry standard MT4 or on their own LCG trader platform. A detailed look at both of them will follow in the second part of this review.

Customer support is provided through email and phone - no live chat function is available at the moment.

Conclusion: LCG is a straightforward CFD and spread betting broker. After going through a consolidation phase in 2015, all the elements (from the new cutting-edge online platform to enhanced marketing) are now in place for the company to return to a period of sustained growth. Visit London Capital Group here.

Note: Spread betting and CFD trading carry a high level of risk to your capital and can result in losses that exceed your initial deposit. They may not be suitable for everyone, so please ensure that you fully understand the risks involved.