London Capital Group (LCG) Review
The Best Forex Platform?
London Capital Group is a forex broker/platform which was established in 1996 to provide access to a large number of markets via a proprietary platform..
LCG is one of a clutch of London-based forex platform/brokers who provide users with the ability to trade in a regulated environment. Their offering spans the "forex", stocks, derivatives and commodities markets.
Despite the firm's holding company commencing operations in 1996, it launched its spread-betting broke - "CapitalSpreads.com" - in 2003 and then in 2005, after a management buyout and IPO, launched its traditional forex trading platform - LCG.
The system works similarly to other platforms - offering a "mobile", "web" and "desktop" platform experience with native integration into MetaTrader4.
Because it is not only regulated by the FCA, and also a public company, it has to adhere to even stricter regulations than most other financial institutions, instilling a lot more trust into its service than before. To this end, US clients are not accepted.
The service is currently trusted by over 100,000 traders and verifies each new account, which further adds to its reputation as a sturdy & reliable broker. Whilst it may seem appealing, there are bound to be pitfalls - which are examined below.
What is LCG?
Non-US Only
Because of the regulated nature of the enterprise, only UK or EU citizens are able to sign up presently. This is partly due to their regulatory obligations, and partly due to their focus on providing users with the best service possible. Not being in the US prevents them from doing this for US buyers.
Regulated UK Business
The LTD business in the UK and their PLC are all regulated, meaning they have to abide by the various directives provided by it.
Publicly Traded
LCG's holding company is publicly traded, meaning that it has a large number of obligations in relation to what it can, and cannot, say in a financial capacity.
No Crypto
Unlike a number of other "brokers"/"platforms" in the Forex market, LCG has stayed away from "crypto" for the time being. Although the are rumours that it will be supported, there are currently no ETA's in place.
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Because it's FCA regulated, they have to abide by the KYC (Know Your Customer) directive and any other similar rules - not only as a regulated financial services provider but as a publicly limited company.
This means that if you're looking at the company from the perspective of having a system that may be more profitable than others, you may be disappointed. All forex "platforms" are predominantly the same (offering access to financial markets).
If you're looking at the system from the perspective of having a reliable and effective way to trade currencies, stocks or other financial assets - it's very reliable. It also has a strong customer support team, who are able to provide financial insights as well as economic advice.
Being regulated actually helps them here as they get some reprieve on the level of advice they can give (if you're not regulated, you cannot give financial advice).
To this end, the service is trusted by 100,000 active traders and is now known for being relatively robust.
Features
The main features of LCG are its ability to provide users with the ability to trade the wide variety of assets/commodities etc that give you the ability to make the most of the system.
The following features provide traders with the ability to profit from trading on the LCG platform:
Platform
The main feature of LCG is its platform. This tracks users' portfolios as well as giving them the ability to invest into a range of other financial instruments (including the likes of stocks, shares, etc).
The system is built on top of the MT4 trading platform, meaning that it's compatible with both the MetaTrader app - and all of the features that it may bring to other systems.
Deposits & Withdrawals
You're able to deposit into the system using Visa or Mastercard payments, and you're able to withdrawal to any USD/GBP/EUR bank account.
Remember, the service is entirely regulated, meaning that it has to abide by all the laws and regulations surrounding the practice. Without this, most people would become disenfranchised with the service and leave to the likes of IG.
Beginner Support
The beginner support on the system is strong, with many of their support staff trained in various aspects of trading methodology. On top of this, their web property at CapitalSpreads.com also provides a large array of videos & other information to help beginners. Ultimately, remember that they cannot trade for you.
Mobile
As with other platforms/brokers, the service is also accessible through mobile.
Conclusion
LCG still maintains a heavy market share of institutional clients and third-party partnering arrangements. However, if you are a professional trader looking for a robust, simple and effective solution without having to pay for all the glitz & fancy features of other systems, it is still one of the favourites...
LCG ensures that low fees, service reliability, excellent support, and the peace of mind that comes with FCA regulation in London are all packaged together for one no-nonsense deal that focuses on your results.
With low fees, high reliability and excellent support, the system provides the ability for seasoned professionals to partake in FCA-regulated trading activity without being disturbed by retail traders or annoying newbies.
Along with IG, LCG is seen as one of the best in the business. And whilst it doesn't (yet) support "crypto" assets, it does allow user to focus on the plethora of services that it does support. This is pretty much the same as 90% of other forex "brokers".
The most important thing to understand with the whole thing is that "forex" & "stock" trading is the same whether you use LCG, IG or one of the other platforms/brokers. The main differentiator comes in the backend infrastructure the various companies provide.
For example, if you have a system that's able to provide users with access to particular markets in a safe way, you've got 90% of what the other brokers do. The only difference lies in the types of trades they allow you to make, as well as giving you the ability to manage the way in which you're able to grow your portfolio.
As with many other reviewers, we are hugely impressed with the quality of the LCG platform. Not only does it provide users with the ability to trade across many markets, but it's not tried to forget who it is in order to add all sorts of unnecessary bells & whistles to their system.
In all, we rate the system 4.5 / 5, just below IG in terms of quality and efficiency.
We've reviewed quite a few forex platforms and the ones worth using are generally the longest-running. IG was originally founded in 1974; LCG in 1996. The experience and momentum gained over those decades have provided for a very robust set of infrastructure that provides a reliable profile & product.