Trading & Options · Profile from Trading and Options Research Companion
IG Group
The London-listed retail trading group that Stuart Wheeler started in 1974 as IG Index ("Investors Gold Index") so that British clients could bet on the gold price at a time when UK exchange controls restricted buying physical gold (Wikipedia, citing the BBC, Reuters and the Telegraph). Out of that one bet came the UK's spread-betting industry and, later, a global business in contracts for difference (CFDs): over-the-counter, margined, cash-settled bets on indices, FX, commodities and shares in which IG is the counterparty and hedges the net exposure. For this knowledge base IG is the European counterpart of the US app brokers. Robinhood earns per contract on listed options sold to market makers; IG historically earned the spread and financing on leveraged OTC products it priced itself. That model met three regulatory walls — Japan's leverage limits (2010–11), the UK FCA's proposals of Dec 2016, and ESMA's 2018 caps on retail CFD leverage, which cut IG's net trading revenue 16% to £476.9m in the year to May 2019 (IG results, 23 Jul 2019). IG's answer was to buy the US options broker tastytrade for $1.0bn (completed 28 Jun 2021), then the UK share-dealing app Freetrade (£160m, 2025) and, in Jul 2026, the US prediction-market operator Underdog (up to ~$1.3bn, reported). It is the clearest case in this KB of a leveraged-product business re-shaped by regulation.
At a glance
- Founded
- 1974, London, by Stuart Wheeler with £30,000 from six friends, as IG Index (Wikipedia, citing BBC and Telegraph)
- Headquarters
- London (Cannon Bridge House) (company, from memory, verify the address)
- Ownership / structure
- Listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE: IGG): first listed Jul 2000; taken private in a 2003 management buyout backed by CVC at a ~£143m valuation; re-listed Apr 2005 at ~£1.3bn (Wikipedia, citing Financial News and Reuters). A Jersey holding company was proposed in Jul 2026, keeping the LSE listing and UK tax residence (Alliance News via Wikipedia — verify completion). Financial year changed from 31 May to 31 Dec in Nov 2025
- Leadership
- Founder Stuart Wheeler; CEOs Tim Howkins (Oct 2006–2015), Peter Hetherington (Oct 2015–Sep 2018), June Felix (Oct 2018–Dec 2023), Breon Corcoran (from Dec 2023); chair Andrew Barron from 1 Apr 2026 (Wikipedia, citing Evening Standard and company)
- Trading products
- Spread bets (UK and Ireland), CFDs, turbo warrants and knock-outs (Europe), share dealing and ISAs (UK; Freetrade), US listed options, futures and stocks (tastytrade), US spot FX (IG US, launched 2019, rebranded tastyfx Jun 2024), crypto (UK direct crypto 2025; Independent Reserve, Australia), prediction markets (tastytrade; Underdog)
- Scale (dated)
- Net trading revenue £569.0m (FY to May 2018) → £476.9m (FY2019, −16%, ESMA) → £853.4m (FY2021 as first reported) → £972.3m (FY2022) → £941.8m (FY2023); total revenue £987.3m (FY2024) → £1,075.9m (FY2025; adjusted PBT £535.8m, statutory PBT £499.2m) (IG results via Finance Feeds, Finance Magnates, AJ Bell). Seven months to 31 Dec 2025: revenue £658.9m; H1 2026 revenue £642.8m (+18%) (Wikipedia, citing the annual report and Reuters). Market value ~£4.5bn (Sep 2026, LSE via Wikipedia)
- US business
- US net trading revenue £186.7m in calendar 2025 (+18%; +23% in dollars), of which exchange-traded derivatives £153.2m (IG results, 19 Mar 2026, via Finance Magnates — same figure as the tastytrade profile)
- Regulators
- UK FCA (spread bets, CFDs, crypto registration 30 Sep 2025); EU national regulators under ESMA's product intervention (2018) and MiCA (licence Nov 2025); ASIC (Australia); Japan FSA; in the US, FINRA and the SEC (tastytrade), CFTC and NFA (IG US/tastyfx as a retail foreign-exchange dealer; Nadex to 2022)
- Moves in this profile
- Eight
- Signature moves (incl. failures and enforcement)
- The gold spread bet and the spread-betting model (1974); listing, buyout and relisting (2000–05); the first US entry via HedgeStreet/Nadex (2007–22); the Swiss franc shock (Jan 2015); FCA proposals and ESMA's CFD caps (2016–19); buying tastytrade (2021); Freetrade and crypto (2025); the Underdog prediction-markets deal (2026)
8 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
1974
Gold Spread Betting Founding
Founding or fund launch / new strategy, product or market
2000
Listing Buyout and Relisting
Acquisition, merger or IPO (listing; management buyout; re-IPO)
2007
HedgeStreet Nadex US Entry
Acquisition / new market — later closing a strategy (sale)
2015
Swiss Franc Shock
Loss, drawdown or blow-up response / counterparty or credit event
2018
ESMA CFD Caps and Professional Clients
Regulatory, enforcement or legal action / strategy pivot
2021
tastytrade Acquisition
Acquisition, merger or IPO
2025
Freetrade and Crypto Expansion
Acquisition / new strategy, product or market
2026
Underdog Prediction Markets Deal
Acquisition / market-structure bet