City Index broker Review: Is City Index broker Legit?

by Edith
Updated October 1, 2021

City Index has has one of the most advanced trading platforms. The broker is registered in the UK and regulated by the FCA. Further, its parent company – StoneX Group Inc. – is a publicly listed company that trades on NASDAQ.

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Broker Summary
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Features
Account Types
Trading Platforms
Regulation and Reputation
Customer Support
Deposit and Withdrawal
Trading Size and Fees
Leverage and Margin
Trading Instruments

City Index broker Review: Is City Index broker Legit?

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City Index is one of the oldest and the most reputable spread betting, CFDs, and forex trading brokerages. The award-winning brand has been around for 35+ years and is currently headquartered in London, UK. 

Over the years, City Index has received numerous awards, including being voted the best professional trading platform, best mobile application, and best trading platform. But these aren’t the only factors making it one of the best Forex and CFDs brokerages. 

Others include its appeal to both retail professionals, and corporate traders. It supports more trading instruments than your average broker – exposing you to 12,000+ international markets. Its services are also available in 200+ countries and territories across the world.

But is City Index a legit broker? We answer this by taking a comprehensive look at the broker and services in this review.

Quick Broker Summary

  • Headquarters                       United Kingdom
  • Regulation                            FCA, ASIC, MAS
  • Platforms                              MT4, AT Pro
  • Instruments                         Forex, Indices, commodities, stocks
  • Demo Account                     Yes
  • Minimum Deposit               $50
  • EUR/USD Spreads               1.0

Pros and Cons of using City Index broker

Pros:

  • Both beginner and pro trader friendly
  • Exposes you to premium trading and charting tools
  • Gives you access to more trading instruments than most other brokers
  • City index is highly reputable and has the backing of a publicly listed company
  • Maintains a quick and straightforward account opening process

Cons:

  • One may consider their web trader too advanced for beginner traders
  • Charges high stock trading fees
  • Charges account inactivity fees

Features of City Index broker

City Index brokerProprietary trading platforms: As most CFD brokerages embraced the MetaTrader, City Index sought to build a more advanced proprietary trading platform. Though the broker allows you to host your account on MT4, it runs a more advanced web trader, desktop app, and mobile trading platforms.

Over the years, these proprietary platforms have scooped numerous awards for their innovativeness, integration of advanced trading and analytic tools, and user-friendliness. The proprietary trading platforms, however, stand out because they are easy to customise. They also integrate advanced charts with custom indicators, customisable workspaces, and ultra-fast order processing speeds.

City Index broker supportTrader training and support: City Index has also invested heavily in trader education. The broker has even dedicated an entire section of their website to trader training. Here, City Index features the ‘Introduction To Trading’ section dedicated to newbie traders.

It also has the ‘Trading Strategies’ and ‘Enhance Your Trading Skills’ sections that appeal to both beginner and expert traders. This education is offered in the form of articles and blogs, video tutorials, and live webinars.

City Index broker securityRisk management and security:

City Index has also made tremendous strides in guaranteeing the safety of the customer deposits. For starters, it ensures that the customer funds are held in segregated bank accounts. It has also insured each of its client’s accounts with the FSCS – with an £85,000 cover.

Importantly, it demands that its traders verify their identity and pass the KYC/AML tests. Within the trading platforms, the broker has introduced advanced risk management tools such as the guaranteed stop and maximum tolerable slippage level.

City Index brokerEconomic calendar and news:

The broker also keeps you updated with the current happenings within the global finance industry. It features an up-to-date economic calendar that monitors the finance industry happenings – and how they are expected to impact your trades.

It also features the markets news section with a real-time feed of the finance industry news. These come in handy in informing your buy and sell decisions.

Account types offered

City Index provides its clients with three types of trading accounts. These are:

  • Trader account:

The Trader account is arguably the most beginner-friendly trading account by City Index. Like all other City Index accounts, its creation process is fast and takes no more than a few minutes.

Trader account operators have access to such risk management tools as negative balance protection and margin closeout.

They also have access to 24/hour trading support and competitive trading fees. The account can be operated on the broker’s proprietary platforms or the universal MetaTrader 4.

And it gives you access to all the 12,000+ markets offered by City Index. There is no minimum deposit for Trader Account operators.

  • Premium trader account:

The premium trader account by City Index gives you access to all the features and benefits of the Trader Account. But it also gives you additional premium features and benefits. These include priority services from a dedicated relationship manager.

Opening this account gives you a ticket to exclusive events and webinars. You also have access to premium research and financial news portals like Reuters. The account is dedicated to professional trades and has a minimum deposit of £10,000.

  • Professional trader account:

The professional Trader account is a service extended to active professional traders and institutional investors. To qualify for a professional trader account service, you must have placed 10 sizable trades in the past quarter and have an investment portfolio balance of over €500,000.

In addition to accessing all the services and features offered to a Premium Trader Account, you also benefit from broker-assisted dealing. The professional trader accounts don’t enjoy negative balance protection and their leverage limits are considerably low.

  • Corporate Accounts:

Corporate Accounts are made available on demand. Contact the City Index customer support for guidance on how to create one. City Index will in most cases require proof of business ownership, such as the registration certificate. And the business current account must hold more than €50,000.

Trading platforms offered

The Web TraderThe Mobile trading app AT Pro trading platform The MetaTrader 4

City Index brokerCity Index’s web trader is a fully customisable platform that allows for the personalisation of trading workspaces. It is powered by HTML5 technology that guarantees ultra-fast order execution.

It also integrates intelligent trading tools like smart risk management tools and real-time margin calculators. The web-based platform also features advanced and customisable indicators and supports in-chart trading.

City Index brokerThe proprietary City Index mobile trader lets you trade 12,000+ markets while on the move. It is highly customizable and allows you to align its features according to your trading style.

It lets you stay ahead of the markets with real-time price alerts and premium finance industry news from Reuters.

Importantly, the app lets you create and regularly edit multiple watchlists. The mobile trader can also be synchronized with the web trader.

City Index brokerAT Pro is the proprietary desktop trading platform for the City Index brokerage. It is feature-rich and specially designed to serve the highly experienced CFDs trader. It, for instance, integrates 100+ technical indicators and multiple chart types with extensive drawing tools.

Most aspects of the trading platform, including the charts and the economic calendar, are highly customisable. It even has an intelligent technical and fundamental analysis portal that scans the markets and presents you with the best buy/sell patterns. AT Pro also features multiple order types, advanced risk management tools, and hedging tools.

City Index brokerCity Index also integrates the MT4 trading platform – for both demo and live trading. The MT4 is dedicated to City Index broker’s forex traders in search of fast order execution and unique trading tools.

The trading platform features unique trading tools and indicators, multiple customizable charts, and is available as a desktop and mobile trading app. It also lets you interact with 80+ major, minor, and exotic forex crosses.

Regulation and Reputation

City Index is the trading name of GAIN Capital UK Ltd, a registered financial services company that is in turn wholly owned by StoneX Group Inc.

GAIN Capital UK Ltd, has its headquarters in 58 St. Katherine’s Way, London. It is registered in England and Wales as a financial services company and regulated by the FCA. The brand is also regulated by the ASIC in Australia and Singapore’s MAS.

There are a lot of customer complaints about City Index Broker’s level of service on the different review platforms.

Trust Pilot, the broker has a 1.8/5 star rating and is also rated 1.4/5 on Forex Peace Army, The client complaints on both review sites echo the concerns addressed by City Index brokerage users on Quora and Reddit.

On all these platforms, reviewers have complained about the broker’s sluggish response to customer queries, slow withdrawal processing, and exaggerated stock trading fees. Check out what users say about the broker.

City Index broker

City Index broker review

Customer support

There are multiple avenues that you can use to reach the City Index broker’s customer support team. You can choose to consult their detailed FAQ section or contact them via the live trading feature on their website.

Here is how City Index stacks against other brokers in terms of customer service.

EagleFX 91%
HugosWay 89%
CedarFX 86%
Exness 94%
LonghornFX 90%
Alpari International 40%
City Index 31%
FxPro 51%

Alternatively, follow them on the following social media pages:

Minimum deposit and withdrawal and supported payment methods

City Index supports the following deposit and withdrawal methods:

  • Credit and debit cards
  • Maestro
  • PayPal
  • Bank Transfer

The minimum account balance varies from one trading account to another, but the minimum you can deposit using any of the supported payment methods is £100. Deposits into your trader account are free, except in the case of Credit/debit card deposits that attract a 2% processing fee. The minimum and maximum withdrawal limits are set at £50 and £20,000 respectively.

Trading fees

City Index charges commissions, spread, swap fees, and inactivity fees. You, however, will only pay a commission when trading Stocks CFDs. This commission varies depending on the types of shares but has its minimum set at £10.

The spread and swap fees charged on the platform are highly competitive and vary from one trading instrument to another. Spread for the EUR/USD starts from 1 pip and you will not know the actual spread and overnight fees until you open the trade.

Leverage and margin

When trading on CityIndex, you have access to leverage of up to 1:30. Different trading instruments, however, have different leverage limits:

  • Major Forex crosses 1:30
  • Minor/exotic FX crosses: 1:20
  • Indices: 1:10
  • Stocks: 1:5

Trading instruments

City Index exposes its platform users to 12,000+ international trading instruments. These include:

  • Forex: 84 FX Major, FX Minor, and FX Exotic crosses
  • Shares: 4500+ international shares
  • Commodities: 25+ metals and energies
  • Indices: 21 global bonds

Is City Index broker legit?

Yes, City Index is arguably one of the most reputable online trading brokerages. It has been around for 35+ years, during which time it built a solid reputation of reliability and safety.

It is also a registered company, it is regulated by popular financial industry agencies, and is backed by a publicly-listed company. We especially liked the broker’s commitment to and the safety of client deposits.

It has put in place several security measures around the client funds, even insuring them with the FSCS. We, however, hope that the broker addresses the sluggish support and expensive commission raised by its customers online. 

 

Also Read: IC Markets Signals Review

{{ reviewsOverall }} / 5 Users (1 rate)
Customer Support3.5
Security4
Commissions, Fees & Rates4
Education4.5
User Friendly4
Deposit & Withdrawal4
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