Is IG Legal And Available In The US?
IG legally operates in the United States through two US-regulated subsidiaries: ‘tastyfx’ for forex and ‘tastytrade’ for exchange-traded stocks, options, and futures. Whilst the ‘IG’ brand itself isn’t available in the US, you can open a tastyfx or tastytrade account, and it’s still IG under the hood, with the same infrastructure.
Written ByJames Barra
James is an experienced broker analyst with a background in financial services. He has spent 2,500+ hours testing brokers, used 35+ different platforms and apps, audited 120+ broker T&Cs, and verified 300+ regulatory licenses. James has also been on US and UK TV, and been a guest on finance podcasts, discussing reports conducted by BrokerListings.com and sharing his expertise.
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Fact Checked ByTobias Robinson
Tobias is committed to helping traders find the right brokerage for their needs. He has tested 200+ brokers, spent 2,600+ hours using different platforms, and placed 2,100+ trades.
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Edited ByWilliam Berg
William Berg combines his expertise in law and finance to analyze trading brokers. He has checked 3,250+ regulatory licenses, investigated 2,365+ broker clones and trading scams, and placed 3,500+ trades.
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IG may be available and regulated in the US through the tasty brands, but it didn’t make our list of top-rated brokers for trading in the US.
Is IG Regulated In The US?
IG is a legal brokerage in the United States because, through its US arms, tastyfx and tastytrade, it’s authorized to provide online trading products:
- tastyfx LLC holds licenses with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and is a member of the National Futures Association (NFA), ID 0509630. We verified this, as you can see below. CFTC regulatory approval allows tastyfx to legally provide spot forex trading to retail investors in the US.
- tastytrade, inc. is a registered broker-dealer with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), CRD 277027, plus CFTC/NFA. We verified this, as you can see below. SEC and NFA approval allows tastytrade to legally provide options and futures trading to retail investors in the US.
tastyfx LLC – NFA Details
tastytrade, inc. – FINRA details
While IG is authorized in the US and has a registered office address at 1330 West Fulton Street, Suite 610, Chicago, IL 60607, it remains a UK-headquartered firm, where it’s registered on the London Stock Exchange (ticker: IGG) and regulated by the local Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Is IG Available In The US?
IG is available in the US, but through the tastyfx and tastyrade brands, with Ohio an exempt state. I confirmed this myself by searching for ‘IG broker’ on Google from a New York IP address, which took me to IG.com, where I then tried to sign up for a live account, but when entering ‘United States of America’ in the ‘Country of residence’ box, I was told US residents aren’t accepted, as you can see below.
Signing up for an account at IG.com from the US
I then followed the link IG directed me to ‘ig.com/us’, which redirected me to the tastyfx application form below. This demonstrates that US residents are not onboarded through IG itself, but can still trade through its infrastructure and liquidity by registering through tasty.
Signing up for an account at tastyfx from the US
The background is that IG has been accepting retail investors in the US since 2019. Then IG acquired the Chicago-based tastytrade brokerage in 2021 for $1 billion. This allowed it to secure a stronger foothold in the local retail futures, options, and forex market.
Then in 2024, what was known as ‘IG US’ rebranded to ‘tastyfx’. This was essentially just a name change, with clients still logging in to the same IG platform once they’d signed up through the tasty website. The rebrand also allowed it to put a clearer dividing line between its global CFD business and its US-compliant offering, as CFDs are banned in the US.
What’s The Difference Between IG, Tastyfx, And Tastytrade?
We’ve broken down the key legal, structural, and availability differences between the global US brand and tastyfx and tastytrade for US residents:
« Make Full Width »| Feature | IG (Global) | tastyfx (US) | tastytrade (US) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spot Forex Trading | Yes (Spot FX & CFDs), leverage varies by region | Yes (85+ Spot FX pairs), leverage up to 1:50 | Yes (Executed via integrated tastyfx account) |
| CFDs (Indices, Shares, Commodities) | Yes (key global offering) | No (CFDs banned for US retail clients) | No (CFDs banned for US retail clients) |
| US Options, Futures, & Equities | Region-dependent | No (Forex contracts only) | Yes (Core focus: Stocks, ETFs, Options, & Futures) |
| Platforms Supported | IG Web App, MT4, L2 Dealer, ProRealTime | IG Web App, MT4, MT5, TradingView, ProRealTime | tastytrade Desktop, Web, & Mobile Apps |
| US Regulation | Non-US regulators (UK FCA, ASIC, BaFin, etc.) | CFTC-registered Retail Foreign Exchange Dealer (RFED) & NFA Member | SEC-registered Broker-Dealer, FINRA Member, & CFTC/NFA Introducing Broker |
| US Investor Compensation | Some foreign protection schemes (e.g., UK FSCS up to £120,000); $0 in US | No SIPC or FDIC protection (Spot FX accounts exempt); Funds held in CFTC-mandated segregated accounts | SIPC Member (up to $500,000 for securities, $250,000 for cash) + Excess SIPC; Futures/Crypto exempt |
| Counterparty & Execution Model | Market maker (principal counterparty) for CFDs; Direct Market Access (DMA) available for shares | Market maker (acts as the direct principal counterparty using IG Group liquidity) | Agency broker (routes orders to public US exchanges/market makers; does not act as trade counterparty) |