IG Group suspends leveraged bets in 900 shares
IG Group is withdrawing leveraged share bets on hundreds of firms as the London-based company reacts to the day-trading trend gripping financial markets.
Britain’s oldest spread-betting firm has stopped offering margin trading on 900 shares, the Financial Times reported.
IG said it was pulling the leveraged products it had been offering as part of an initiative to allocate its resources after rising market demand following the GameStop saga.
Some of the London-listed shares affected include Saga, Mulberry and Hikma Pharmaceuticals.
IG said the move involved less than 8 per cent of the leveraged equities it had been offering and does not affect the shares its customers can trade through its stockbroking service.
The boom in trading since the start of the pandemic has raised concerns in some quarters than unsophisticated traders will suffer big losses if their bets go wrong.
Customers have been given 30 days to unwind existing positions.