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LCG Review
Updated May 13, 2021
Risk Warning: CFDs and spread bets are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 78% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with London Capital Group Ltd. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Access to 7,000 assets
- No fees on deposits/withdrawals
- Regulated in the EU and the UK
- Accepts Japanese clients
Regulations and Money Protection
5.0
| Entity Name | Licence & Regulation | Client Money Protection | Deposit Compensation Scheme | Negative Balance Protection |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LCG BHS (BA) | Bahamas SCB Licence | ✔️ segregated client money |
❌ | ✔️ |
| London Capital Group Ltd (UK) | UK FCA Licence | ✔️ up to £85,000 |
✔️ | |
| London Capital Group (Cyprus) Ltd (EU) | Cyprus CySEC Licence | ✔️ up to €20,000 |
✔️ |
Entity/Regulation
- International customers: LCG BHS will be the counterparty for International customers. This entity, with registered address at Sassoon House, Shirley Street and Victoria Avenue, Nassau, Island of New Providence, P.O.BOX SS-5383, Bahamas is authorised and regulated by the Securities Commission of Bahamas (SCB) with licence number SIA-F194.
- UK customers: London Capital Group Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales under number 03218125. Principal and registered office at: 3rd Floor, 80 Cheapside, London , United Kingdom. London Capital Group Ltd is authorised and regulated by the FCA with licence number 182110.
- European customers: London Capital Group (Cyprus) Ltd, with address at Arch. Makariou III, 205, VICTORY HOUSE, 5th floor, 3030, Limassol is a Cypriot Investment Firm (CIF) under number 356430 and is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) under licence number 341/17.
Client Money Protection
- LCG complies with the highest safety standards for client's funds. For this reason, LCG client's funds are kept in top-tier international banks, such as Banco Santander and Rietumnu Banka, fully segregated from the company's funds.
- LCG also complies with the client money handling rules and employs strict policies and procedures regarding the maintenance and operation of these accounts. LCG holds client's money separately to the company funds and does not use these funds for any operational expenses or purposes.
Deposit Compensation Scheme
- London Capital Group Ltd is a member of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), an independent compensation fund of last resort for customers of authorised UK financial services firms. If London Capital Group Ltd is unable to pay claims against it in the event the firm has stopped trading or has declared to be in default, clients might be entitled to compensation (up to the value of £85,000) per claim.
- London Capital Group (Cyprus) Ltd is a member of the Investor Compensation Fund (ICF), an investor compensation fund for CIF clients and its functions are regulated by the directive DI87-07 of the CySEC. If London Capital Group (Cyprus) Ltd is unable to meet its obligations, clients might be entitled to compensation (up to the value of €20,000) per claim, irrespective of the number of accounts held, currency and place of offering of the investment service (within Europe).
Negative Balance Protection
For accounts opened via any entity of the LCG Group, there is a default Negative Balance Protection mechanism in place, for the sake of no negative balance. With NBP, LCG customers are protected from any losses bigger than their original investments, in cases of extreme market volatility.
Accounts, Instruments and Platforms
| Accounts | Instruments | Platforms | Social trading | Maximum Leverage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ✔️Classic ✔️ECN ❌PAMM ✔️Islamic Accounts |
✔️Forex ✔️Indices ✔️Stocks ✔️Futures ✔️ETFs ✔️Bonds ✔️Commodities ❌Cryptos |
✔️MT 4 ❌MT 5 ❌cTrader* ✔️LCG Trader* *same platform |
✔️Myfxbook ❌ZuluTrade |
30:1 Europe 500:1 Rest of World |
Account Types and Currencies
- LCG offers only two types of trading accounts; Classic and ECN modelling. LCG also offers swap-free accounts for traders of Islamic belief.
- LCG allows for social trading, including copy trading, through Myfxbook.
- LCG does not have any PAMM accounts alternatives for money managers.
- LCG maximum leverage is 30:1 for accounts opened within Europe and up to 500:1 for accounts opened in other countries around the world.
- Currently, LCG trading accounts are only available in CHF, EUR, GBP and USD.
Financial instruments
Trading with LCG can be done via the Metatrader 4, available on desktop terminal and mobile versions and LCG's own proprietary platform, the LCG Trader, a branded version of cTrader, also available on desktop and mobile versions. LCG offers an excellent selection of more about 7,000 instruments to trade, across 9 asset classes, including Forex, indices, stocks, commodities and ETFs. Cryptocurrencies, currently, are not available.
- FX market - 60+ currency pairs (including Minor and Exotic crosses).
- Indices - 15 world indices including US 500, US 30 and GER 30.
- Stocks - 4,000+ stocks CFDs from worldwide top companies and banks, such as Amazon, Bank of America, Netflix and Google.
- Bonds - 6 bonds CFDs based off highly rated government issued debt securities including GER and US 10 Year and 3 interest rates, Euribor, Sterling and Swiss.
- ETFs - 4 ETFs including UK, EU and 2 US.
- Commodities - 4 commodities CFDs available for trading; 2 metals, Gold and Silver, and 2 energies, UK Oil, and US Oil. Including in the commodities, the possibility of trading 3 futures contracts asset classes, divided by metals, energies and softs, with instruments as Gold, Carbon Emissions and Wheat.
Pricing
3.0
| Pricing/ Account |
Classic | ECN MT4 ECN LCG Trader |
|---|---|---|
| Spread EUR/USD | from 1.0 pip | from 0.0 pip |
| Commissions (1 lot/$1,000,000 traded) | ❌ | from 10 USD/from 45 USD |
| Minimum Deposit | from 0 USD | from 10,000 USD |
Spreads
LCG trading spreads are not the most competitive in the market, especially for the entry-level account (Classic). For the most traded pair EUR/USD the spread on the Classic account starts at 1.0 pip, with an average of 1.45 pip. On the positive side with the ECN modelling account the EUR/USD minimum spread is 0.0 pip (typically 0.2 pip).
To access the better trading conditions of the ECN modelling account (lower spreads), the cost is a broker commission. For the EUR/USD, the standard lot commission for 1 lot (100,000 units) is an incredibly high 10 USD commission (5 USD per side/per lot) on MT4 trading platform. The same account type, on LCG Trader platform, for the EUR/USD, carries a commission of $45.00 per $1,000,000 traded. More bad news? To open an ECN account and qualify for the "ECN Status" traders will need to maintain a $10,000 account balance!
To access the better trading conditions of the ECN modelling account (lower spreads), the cost is a broker commission. For the EUR/USD, the standard lot commission for 1 lot (100,000 units) is an incredibly high 10 USD commission (5 USD per side/per lot) on MT4 trading platform. The same account type, on LCG Trader platform, for the EUR/USD, carries a commission of $45.00 per $1,000,000 traded. More bad news? To open an ECN account and qualify for the "ECN Status" traders will need to maintain a $10,000 account balance!
Rollover Rates
LCG swap rates, as of 27-10-2020, for 1 lot EUR/USD (100,000 units) stands at an average rate of -9.32 for holding overnight a long 1 lot contract and at +4.28 for holding overnight a short 1 lot contract. We consider these swap rates to be higher (for the long positions) and extremely attractive (for the short positions) when compared with the rollover rates offered by other top Forex brokers.
Deposits/Withdrawals and Other Fees
- Deposit fees - Trading accounts can be opened in 4 different currencies and maintained via 5 different funding methods, including cards (credit and debit), bank wires and e-payments such as Neteller and Skrill. Deposited funds are available within 30 minutes. LCG does not charge any fees for deposits (except credit cards that carry a 2% deposit fee).
- Withdrawals fees - Same policy applies for withdrawals (processing times vary from instant to 1 working day). LCG does not charge any additional fees for withdrawals. However, we advise caution as deposits/withdrawals may incur fees on payments to and from some international banking institutions or/and eWallets. For more information, please visit the LCG deposit and withdrawals dedicated page.
- Inactivity fee - LCG charges an inactivity fee. When no activity has occurred on a trading account for 180 calendar days or more (the qualifying charging period), trading accounts will be deemed inactive. In such cases, a monthly inactivity fee will be applied to accounts as follow: 15 GBP, 18 EUR, 20 USD, 20 CHF.
Popularity
3.0
| Forex Education | Deposit Options | Deposit/Withdrawals Fees | Non expiring demo account | Customer Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Webinars Technical Analysis Trading Videos Market Reports |
Cards Bank Wire E-payments |
❌ | ✔️ | Multi language 24/5 Support |
Opened for business in 1996, London Capital Group is an expanding broker and with more than 7,000 tradable instruments across 9 asset classes and, as according to their corporate website, they boast to have more than $1 billion in deposits. Still, the broker seems to fail in capturing the attention of new traders as it's popularity is just average. Let's start with the unpopular bits:
LCG overall trading costs are slightly higher when compared with other FX brokers. The spreads of the Classic account are just average, with no added value for traders. Then the ECN modelling account, with much attractive spreads, carries an incredibly high commission cost and it loses it's savings appeal. On top of that, to qualify for the "ECN Status", accounts need to maintain a 10,000 USD balance, which could be a problem for a lot of traders.
Also on the negative side, the offering of trading platforms, currently the MT4 and a branded version of the cTrader, could be improved to cater for more traders and trading styles.
- Trading accounts - Regarding trading accounts, we consider the LCG ECN account to be the best-value, despite it's higher than average trading commissions, as the Classic account does not offer any real savings compared to the offering of other top FX brokers.
- Forex education - LCG gets extra popularity points for their range of Forex education materials, available through the Analysis & Education tab. LCG clients can enroll on webinars, watch and learn with video trading tutorials, read and make informed decisions with LCG fundamental & technical analysis reports and follow the market insights by the LCG experts.
| Funding Methods | Bank Wire, Cards, Neteller, Skrill (Moneybookers) |
|---|---|
| Support Languages | Arabic, Chinese, English, Farsi, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese |
- Minimum deposit - Opening a trading account with LCG is fast and can be done online, taking around 15 minutes to complete the required forms. The minimum deposit requirement (for the Classic account) is... 0! Of course, with a zero balance, LCG clients will not be able to open any trades. But traders can have a real feel for the broker's trading platforms, how the spreads widen on high impact news and for the overall trading conditions. The minimum deposit, and balance, for the LCG ECN account is 10,000 USD (or 10,000 units of the other accepted currencies). Also extra points for the LCG free deposits and withdrawals policy.
- Customer support - LCG multi language customer support service is available 24 hours, 5 days a week, in 16 languages. LCG support is available via phone call, contact form and email. Live chat directly from the broker's website is not available.
Broker Profile
London Capital Group was founded in 1996 and since then has grown into a global trading house, building and expanding on its 20 years of experience in the trading industry. Now, one of the largest global CFDs and spread betting providers, LCG has won numerous awards for innovation, technology and service. The company is committed to providing competitive prices, advanced technology and a professional first-class service for all types of traders.
With LCG, traders have access to over 7,000 global markets across 9 asset classes - FX, indices, shares, commodities, bonds, interest rates, vanilla options and ETFs. Trading can be executed via the award-winning platforms and mobile apps; the LCG Trader (cTrader) and the classic MT4, providing clients with the ultimate trading experience. Safety and security are paramount to LCG, which is why the company achieved a solid reputation for dependability and trust over the last two decades.
As a highly regulated Forex broker, London Capital Group Holdings plc is listed on the NEX Exchange. LCG is authorised and regulated in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and in Cyprus by the Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), both tier-1 Financial Authorities.
Overall, on our LCG review, the broker scores an excellent 3.8 out of 5 as it is a great choice for traders looking for a highly regulated broker with guaranteed safety of funds. On the downside, the limited choice of trading platforms, the less competitive pricing of the Classic and ECN accounts, plus the imposition of a 10,000 USD minimum balance to qualify for "ECN Status", are all ingredients that penalize the broker's popularity.
Data supplied in partnership with CashBackForex - Forex Rebates places LCG on the top 20 brokers for popularity with traders opening an account in 2020.
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With LCG, traders have access to over 7,000 global markets across 9 asset classes - FX, indices, shares, commodities, bonds, interest rates, vanilla options and ETFs. Trading can be executed via the award-winning platforms and mobile apps; the LCG Trader (cTrader) and the classic MT4, providing clients with the ultimate trading experience. Safety and security are paramount to LCG, which is why the company achieved a solid reputation for dependability and trust over the last two decades.
As a highly regulated Forex broker, London Capital Group Holdings plc is listed on the NEX Exchange. LCG is authorised and regulated in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and in Cyprus by the Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), both tier-1 Financial Authorities.
Overall, on our LCG review, the broker scores an excellent 3.8 out of 5 as it is a great choice for traders looking for a highly regulated broker with guaranteed safety of funds. On the downside, the limited choice of trading platforms, the less competitive pricing of the Classic and ECN accounts, plus the imposition of a 10,000 USD minimum balance to qualify for "ECN Status", are all ingredients that penalize the broker's popularity.
Data supplied in partnership with CashBackForex - Forex Rebates places LCG on the top 20 brokers for popularity with traders opening an account in 2020.
Was this review helpful? Share it with a friend!
LCG User reviews
LCG Account types user rating
(2)Classic
(1)ECN
(1)Spreadbetting