City Index Review
(23 votes, average: 2.13 out of 5)
Loading ...October 27, 2011 // By: Spread betting reviewer // 17 Comments
| Spread Betting Company | Spreads From | Deposit Margin | Trade Min. | Account Min. | Loyalty Program | Special Offers | Mobile Trading | Total Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 City Index | 1 pip | 10-100% | £1 | £0 |
|
|  Apple Android BlackBerry  Windows | 7.5 |
Referrals
City Index was this year named ‘Best Online Spread betting Service’ by the Money AM Online Finance Awards. City Index’s platform has been part of the market for over twenty five years and is one of the UK’s most popular trading platforms. The company prides itself on tight spreads and low IMRs that truly rival their competitors.
Trading Market
With a city Index account you have access to over 10,000 markets across the globe. You can spread trade on anything from commodities like soy beans and sugar, to bonds and interest rates. You can also choose to access spreads by sector, allowing a focus on areas you have experience or interest in.
Betting Platforms
City Index is primarily browser based, which allows you to access your spread betting account wherever you are. You don’t need to download any software to get started; all you need is an internet connection. You can also make small trades via telephone, as long as your minimum stake exceeds £0.50. For up to date information on the site you can also access their blog ‘City Wise’ or follow them on Twitter (@City_Wise) to keep up to date with the company’s latest news and offers. If you prefer to keep up to date with your spread trading when you’re away from your desk, you can check on your account by downloading their award winning mobile trading platform onto your iPhone, Blackberry or Android device.
Benefits
The variety and sheer size of the markets available here is one of the sites greatest achievements. The availability of help is also very impressive. However the ability to set up future spreads and set automatic guaranteed closures on your trades, is the real winning part of the site. You can easily hedge your positions in underlying markets in various time periods and at varying prices. The optional day trader account will also appeal to seasoned day traders and keep them interested where other sites have failed. It’s an inspired addition to the City index spread trading platform.
The rolling news feature is a particularly welcome addition and goes a long way to inform your spread trading decisions. The site also offers comprehensive training provisions. The training system is also incentive based; completing certain online seminars can reward you with a free £25 per point bet. These training features can be accessed by account and non account holders alike. There’s an intensive four-week Learn to trade programme available to new account holders too, City index provides you with a reduced risk environment to trade in, it’s much like the features of its free demo account but you have the opportunity to make (and lose) money.
Special Offers
City Index currently has a training incentive in place. When you deposit £1000 at the opening of your account they will credit you with £250 to trade as you please. This is rather generous when you think of it as an instant 25% return on your initial investment into your spread betting account.
Site Strengths
- The social media updates.
- The market availability.
- The current special offers available.
Site Weaknesses
- The Visa and Mastercard deposit commission.
Conclusion
The site itself is practically perfect. The only problem comes from the way deposits are made into your account. City Index has long removed the option to add funds from credit, and now only accept solid funds from you. There is nothing wrong with this and in fact it’s a safer way for all involved to spread trade. The problem is that all Mastercard and Visa payments are met with a 1.5% commission charge. This may seem like a low figure, but when you consider that the majority of cards in the UK are Visa, this will no doubt infuriate all of those losing out whenever they make a deposit.
More details
- Wiki: City Index
17 Comments
Impossible to close trades from time to time. It took over half an hour to close a trade which was moving against me the other day.
I thought that FTSE would be at the same level on every ones trading platforms, I guess with City Index is not like that.
Their pricing regularly slows to halt and sometimes freezes and you can watch the price roll by your stop losses without ever triggering them so you can watch your losses accumulate while trying to get them to answer the phone which I gave up on
City Index is my trading broker for a long time now, so I’m in a better position than most of the comment here. The mobile trading function is the best in the industry and the online trading platform offers a range of tight spreads. The free learning is a nice addition too
Just awful. Weird error message when using the platform. Low level charting when comparing to other offerings and does not help very much with the trading. Avoid.
Love your blog!
My experience with City Index is extremely bad. Their customer service never bothers to return calls. My advice is to stay away from them
Horrible service, will not recommend them at all. There’s no problem in deposit online to your account but it’s a different story when trying to withdrawal you have to call them! . Unless they dramatically improve their service, I would recommend staying away from this provider
I opened an account with City Index and ignored the comments I read about them- bad call. Their trading platform is completely unreliable.
Sometime half of my orders were not accepted for any reason – it’s very frustrating not be able to close a winning or even a losing position.
Don’t bother with them – It’s a very serious advice. IG Index, or probably any other one, is a much better option
Do not use City Index! Takes a really long time to close a profitable trade it seems they play unfair! Really frustrated
Using City Index for the past year. I’ve made over a hundred trades and both deposited and withdrawn money many times. Big trades can cause problems from time to time but in general they are reliable and trust worthy. Invest with confidence.
Their client service is very poor and it made me lose big sums of money. They terminating several positions simultaneously, losing me significant funds. I made no profit with City Index
4 months of trading with City Index and I have to say that it looks like all negative comments have vanished. The platform is very useable, especially the mobile trading app, which is by far the best out there. They don’t have great cash incentives, but the spreads are pretty good.
I started a demo account with City Index a week ago and I’m not really that impressed.
Maybe it’s too soon to declare, but I find the trading platform fairly awkward to navigate around and it doesn’t feel user friendly.
The thing I like about IG is that all the info you need is all on one line, more or less, but it seems like you have to jump around everywhere to find relevant info with City…
As it stands now though I would only give it 3/5…
City Index screwed me with over £14,000. Do not deal with them or any of their branches. I do not write this lightly; they are cheaters, thieves & liars.
They allow fractional bets which is something you don’t see everywhere and this is why I like them!-
I totally agree with you about the city Index platform, I think it is the worst one that I use. I also have an account with IG and I think theirs is the best platform and added information sources. However I do use City Index when I want to use fractional bets. They do cover a wider range of markets than Gekko who also allow fractional bets, and their spread is sometimes better than IG and Gekko
Can’t close trades on profit.
Tight stops taken straight away.
Small position higher stop loss guaranteed my recent profits using proper analysis.
Trade from daily charts minimized risk but intraday trades’ causes huge loss. – Adrian
I think they need to reduce their spreads a bit to be competitive. Their platform is really nice but the spreads for the most part don’t compete with the rest of brokers