You can apply for an LCG account by applying directly through our website here, it should take no more than 3 minutes. You will also find an ‘Open Account Now’ button at the top of most pages of our website.

As part of our security procedures we will run an online check on your identity and address. This will not affect your credit rating.

We offer deposit accounts, as soon as you have made your first deposit, you’ll be able to start trading. If you would like to set up a corporate, joint or foreign currency account, contact our Sales team at sales@lcg.com

Yes – you can nominate a family member, business partner or friend by completing a Power of Attorney form.

 Power of Attorney allows the person you have nominated to trade on your account, however they cannot withdraw or deposit funds. Please contact our Trading Services team should you wish to add Power of Attorney.

Windows 2000 / XP / Vista / Windows 7

2 .0 GHz or faster CPU

512 MB RAM (1GB recommended)

Screen resolution 1024x768 or higher

Modem/connection speed 36.6 Kbps or faster

Google Chrome/Internet Explorer version 7.0 / Mozilla FireFox 2.0 or later (We recommend Chrome for the best trading experience)

The minimum deposit is 100 to start trading, all you need to do is fund your account with enough to cover the margin requirement for the trade you wish to open.

To calculate the margin you require, please consult our Market Information pages for the minimum margin requirement for the market you wish to trade.

Please note that it is the client’s responsibility to ensure they have sufficient margin to maintain their open positions and to make further deposits if necessary.

We offer a variety of fast, secure payment methods, including debit/credit cards, bank transfer and online payment services Skrill and Neteller. See below for more info.

The Financial Conduct Authority regulations prevent us from accepting funds from any other source than your own funds.

Deposit money by debit/credit card:

You can securely deposit quickly and easily by logging into the My LCG Account Management portal and funding your account. There is a 2% charge for payments made by credit card.

We accept all major debit and credit cards. We do not accept American Express and some International Visa Electron cards.

As a credit card customer you should be aware of changes to the way some credit card companies charge for online trading transactions. These transactions, which have previously been treated in the same way as any other purchase, will be treated as cash advances by some credit card companies. Cash advances are usually subject to a higher rate of interest than standard transactions, so you should check the terms and conditions of your card carefully.

Registering your card details:

If you enter your card details for the first you have to make a minimum payment to your account.

After you have registered your card once, you will not need to re-register this card unless your card expires or it is inactive for over 12 months.

In addition to advanced digital encryption technology, we’ve further improved the security of our card payment processes in line with the highest industry standards.

We operate Verified by Visa & MasterCard® SecureCode™ for some card types. These schemes, known collectively as 3D Secure, are designed to improve the way that your card payments are authenticated and significantly reduce the likelihood of card fraud.

If you have enrolled for this service with your bank, you will be asked to authenticate your card when making payments.

If you would like to request a withdrawal from your account, please complete the online request form in your My LCG area. Completing this form online will ensure your withdrawal amount will be automatically debited from your trading account balance.

You are also able to request withdrawal on the mobile optimised web page for My LCG.

If you are unable to access MyLCG you can request a withdrawal by calling our Trading Services team, however the requested withdrawal amount will not be automatically debit from your trading account balance.

We action refunds as quickly as possible and normally the same business day, once the funds leave your account it can take up to 3 - 5 working days to register in your bank account.

Please note: It is possible that we may require proof of your bank account details to establish that the account is in your name. This should be in the form of an original bank statement dated within the last three months. The statement should include your name, account number and, for international clients, an IBAN or Swift Code.

The Fees for UK customer withdrawals will be as follows:

BACS (3-5 working days transfer)         Free

Faster Payment (request prior to 1pm GMT for 24-48 hours - working days transfer)           £2.50

CHAPS (request prior to 1pm GMT for same day - working day transfer)          £15

Please note that due to transaction costs, LCG reserves the right to refuse any refund under £50.00 (or the equivalent currency amount) unless you are closing your account. Please bear this in mind when requesting a refund.

You can see details of the trades that you have made by clicking on the 'History' tab found in the lower right section of the LCG Trader platform.

If you move house or change your mobile number, please advise us by logging into your My LCG portal and updating your details under the ‘My Settings’ section.

It is important for us to have all of your most up to date contact information so that we may contact you regarding your account.

If you have forgotten your username or password, please call us on +44 (0) 20 7456 7020 and we will conduct a security check to confirm your identity before amending your account details. We are unable to send passwords via email for security reasons.

You can view full Account History, including online statements, balances and accounts once logged in.

We provide a variety of products to trade on between the hours of 21:00 on Sunday until 22:15 on Friday (UK time). You can make your trades directly on the platform, via the mobile apps or by telephone with our trading team. To watch an in-depth tutorial on how to use our trading software, visit our Platform tutorial page now.

If you wish to trade by telephone, or you have any problems or questions please contact us.

Yes, as the LCG trading software is web-based you can trade from anywhere in the world. However, remember that when you opened your account you confirmed that you would not place any trades from the USA. When trading from other jurisdictions, please note that local laws may apply. From any system worldwide that has access to the internet, simply use your username and password to log into the dealing platform and start trading.

At LCG you can trade  on a wide range of over 7,000 financial markets, with industry leading spreads across forex, indices, shares and commodities.

Margins for different markets are shown on our website on the Market Information pages or under the market information for each product on the deal tickets with the LCG Trader trading platform.

Please consult the trading desk for help with any calculations.

Stop Out may activate to close any/all open positions if the market moves sufficiently against you so that your overall equity becomes less than the total margin requirement to maintain those positions. If Stop Out is activated we will endeavour to close the position utilising the most amount of margin first at the next available price. In the instance where trading is unavailable on that market, i.e. during a close period, then the trading platform will attempt to close the next largest margined position, and so on until there is adequate equity to cover the margin requirement. Please see LCG's full Terms and Conditions for more information.

On markets where it is available, you can choose absolute risk protection attaching a Guaranteed Stop to your trade. This special kind of stop order lets you trade safe in the knowledge that, should a market gap through your stop level, you will be stopped out at exactly the level you requested, and you will not be subject to any slippage.

To use this guaranteed risk protection you simply select ‘ Guaranteed Stop’ on the trade ticket when you open your position. There is a premium for using a Guaranteed Stop, which is charged as additional spread when you open your position. This is calculated as a multiple of your trade size. For example, the Guaranteed Stop charge for UK 100 Rolling Daily is 2, so if you attach a Guaranteed Stop to a £1/point position  you would be charged £2.

This one-off premium is charged when you open your position, or if you attach a Guaranteed Stop to a new order, in which case the Guaranteed Stop will only come into effect and your premium will only be charged if and when your new order is filled. There is also a minimum distance at which you can place your Guaranteed Stop, which is generally larger than the minimum distance for a regular stop. 

Please note that, if you close your position before your Guaranteed Stop has been triggered, your premium will not be re-credited. Also, you cannot attach or amend a Guaranteed Stop when the market is closed. For full details of the Guaranteed Stop charges and minimum distances for all our markets please see our Market Information pages or the market information attached to the deal ticket on the LCG Trader platform.

Information on contract sizes can be found listed in our contract specifications on the relevant Market Information page of the website or by clicking the information symbol on the deal ticket on LCG Trader.

Trades can be closed online via the Positions tab of your LCG Trader account. To close a trade click the Close button at the far right of the entry for the relevant trade. If you would like more information on how to close your trade, watch our trading platform tutorials. 

If you are unable to close a position via the online platform or mobile app you can close a trade over the telephone by calling our dealing team on 0207 456 7010 

You can partially close a trade by double clicking a trade in the Positions tab. On the ticket that opens, amend the stake size to the size of trade you wish to remain open and click Modify.

Your P&L will be calculated by the movement in the 'quote' or 'term' currency; in this case JPY then that value will be converted into USD at the current rate of USD/JPY.

If you chose to roll any quarterly or monthly contracts, you will need to contact us shortly before our expiry date to leave a rollover instruction. We will close the existing trade at our bid or offer price and  open a new position in the next contract at the corresponding mid-price. This means you pay spread on only one leg of the trade.  

Please note that by executing a rollover of any quarterly or monthly contract, the existing trade is closed, realising any profits or losses incurred and a new position is subsequently opened. Stop or limit orders on the new trade may need to be adjusted to account for any difference in price between the two contracts.

Our Spot contracts provide a cost-effective solution for short to medium-term trading. These contracts do not expire at the end of the day but are automatically 'rolled over' to the next trading day. Any corresponding orders are also rolled over automatically. An overnight financing rate is applied on a daily basis to reflect the interest cost of holding your position. The adjustment is applied at 10pm UTC time.

Rolling Daily contracts are available a range of markets, and combine the tight spreads available on a short-term expiry with the flexibility of a longer-term contract. As the rollover happens automatically you do not have to worry about your positions expiring at the end of the day.

The overnight financing rate, sometimes referred to as a rollover charge or “swaps”, varies across different products.

Indices and equity markets will use an underlying market financing rate, for example Libor in the UK, plus a charge of 2.5% (annualised).

Overnight financing for forex positions works slightly differently, as the applicable interest rate is calculated from the difference between the two base rates of the underlying currencies concerned, plus a charge of 1%. For example, if the interest rate on the currency you bought is higher than the interest rate of the currency you sold, this positive differential is taken into account. If the interest rate on the currency you bought is lower than the interest rate on the currency you sold, then you will pay financing.

It is possible to receive a credit when overnight financing is applied, and this will depend on the interest rates of the markets concerned.

Financing for holding a position over the weekend is charged on different days depending on the settlement of the trades in the underlying market. On the market information this is referred to as “3-Days Swaps”. Please consult our trading desk for more information.

Your trade on any given futures contract is active until our market expiry time, as stated in our Market Information tables or the market information for that market on the trading platform. If your position is open at this time it will be closed automatically and the profit or loss realised according to our settlement details for that market. 

Many of our markets are offered on Spot contracts. This means that your position does not expire at the end of the day but automatically ‘rolls over’ to the next trading day, along with any attached orders. An overnight funding adjustment, which may be a debit or a credit, is applied at midnight UK time to any Rolling Daily position.

A dividend represents a return of capital to a company’s shareholders. Dividends are paid on a per share basis. When a stock goes ex-dividend the value of the stock should effectively fall by the dividend amount. This is because the shares no longer trade with the value allocated to this dividend entitlement.

If you hold a long position prior to the ex-dividend date you will be credited with the dividend (less any applicable withholding tax). If you are short, you pay the dividend. This is considered to be a net zero event.

Stock dividend example

Barclays agrees to pay a 5p dividend. You have a long position, equivalent to 5k shares. Your account will be credited with the following.

5000 (shares) x £0.05 (dividend) = £250.

If you hold the equivalent short position you will be debited £250.

Index values are derived from the individual stocks which make up that particular index. When a constituent pays a dividend, the stock will drop by the dividend amount and this value in turn is removed from the index. The amount that the index drops is dependent on the weighting of the stock within that index.

If you hold a long position at 10pm UK time, the evening prior to the ex-dividend date, you will be credited with the dividend. If you are short, you pay the dividend. A price adjustment and corresponding cash adjustment are made simultaneously. This is considered to be a net zero event.

Index dividend example

UK 100 is scheduled to pay a 10 point dividend. You have a long position, equivalent to 1 lot. Your account will be credited with the following.

1 (lot) x £10 (lot size) x 10 points = £100.

If you hold the equivalent short position you will be debited £100.