IG to Increase Margin Requirements on Cryptocurrencies to 100%

IG Group, a leading online trading provider for spread betting, CFD and stockbroking, recently announced that it will increase margin requirements for existing positions on cryptocurrencies to 100%, effective from 3pm on Monday 22 February.

Markets affected are Bitcoin, Bitcoin cash, Bitcoin cash/Bitcoin, Crypto 10 index, EOS, Ether, Ether/bitcoin, Litecoin, NEO and Stellar.

On October 2020, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published final rules banning the sale of derivatives and exchange traded notes (ETNs) that reference certain types of cryptoassets to retail consumers. The regulator said that these products cannot be reliably valued by retail consumers.

In accordance with the ban imposed by the FCA, IG Group restricted UK retail clients from increasing their exposure to cryptocurrencies on 6 January.

“We have now reached our internal product limit for exposure to cryptocurrencies, and as a result will be removing cryptocurrencies from our offering to UK retail clients. Ahead of this, we will also be increasing margin requirements,”one of the administrators of the IG Community forum posted.

Furthermore, the company will start to close any positions still open based on its prevailing bid/ask prices from 3pm on Wednesday 24 March 2021, before which clients must close all their open spread bet and/or CFD positions on cryptocurrencies.