City Index is a global spread betting, FX and CFD Trading provider. City Index is part of the Nasdaq listed StoneX Group and is regulated by the

Financial Conduct Authority The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a financial regulation, financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom, but operates independently of the UK Government, and is financed by charging fees to members of the financial services industry. The ...

in the UK, The Australian Services and Investment Commission in Australia and

Monetary Authority of Singapore The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is the central bank and financial regulatory authority of Singapore. It administers the various statutes pertaining to money, banking, insurance, securities and the financial sector in general, as well ...

(MAS) in Singapore. The company has offices in the United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, and Poland.

History

City Index was founded by Chris Hales and Jonathan Sparke in September 1983 and started trading in March 1984 offering spread betting. In 2001, the company launched its CFD Trading function in the UK. During 2005, City Index acquired the IFX Group, in doing so procuring FX broker IFX Markets and spread betting provider Finspreads.com. The following year, the group opened offices in Sydney, Singapore and Shanghai to serve clients across the

Asia Pacific Asia-Pacific (APAC) is the part of the world near the western Pacific Ocean. The Asia-Pacific region varies in area depending on context, but it generally includes East Asia, Russian Far East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and Pacific Is ...

region. In 2008, City Index purchased FX Solutions, a US market leader in retail and white label foreign exchange services. 2009 saw City Index launch City Trading, the first spread betting and CFD trading application for the iPhone. This app was later also available on Blackberry and Android devices. In Autumn 2012, City Index ran the Trading Academy – a six-week web series produced to demonstrate that with the right education, technical support, dedication and discipline, aspiring traders from a range of backgrounds and experience levels can be taught how to trade the financial markets. In November 2014 the company was sold to US based rival

Gain Capital GAIN Capital is a US-based provider of online trading services, headquartered in Bedminster, New Jersey. The company provides market access and trade execution services in foreign exchange, contracts for difference (CFDs) and exchange-based prod ...

for $118 million by

Michael Spencer Michael Alan Spencer, Baron Spencer of Alresford (born 30 May 1955), sometimes known as "Spens", is a British billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He is the founder of NEX Group, a UK-based business focused on electronic markets and post- ...

who had owned the company since it 1997 when he had purchased controlling interest from its original founders. In 2020 INTL FCStone acquires GAIN Capital, becoming the StoneX Group.

Brands

City Index Limited – Established in 1983 as one of Britain's first spread betting providers, the company carried on growing – and in 2001 launched its Contract for difference (CFD) trading function in the UK. Finspreads – Finspreads is a leader in interactive online spread betting starting in 1999 before it was acquired by the Group in 2005. City Index Group relaunched its updated Finspreads brand in January 2013. As of 24 March 2018 all Finspreads accounts ceased operating and were migrated to become part of City Index. Forex.com –

Foreign exchange The foreign exchange market (Forex, FX, or currency market) is a global decentralized or over-the-counter (OTC) market for the trading of currencies. This market determines foreign exchange rates for every currency. It includes all as ...

broker Forex.com was founded in 2001 and is part of the GAIN Capital Group. The brand operates predominantly in the United States and currently has affiliates and partners in over 140 countries, processing 62 million trades globally in 2015. The Forex.com service offering was extended to the United Kingdom in 2017. SALT – Based in Truro,

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, SALT (Short And Long Trading) is a personal trading service providing independently researched advice on CFDs, spread bets and rolling spot FX products. GTX – The GTX

electronic communications network An electronic communication network (ECN) is a type of computerized forum or network that facilitates the trading of financial products outside traditional stock exchanges. An ECN is generally an electronic system that widely disseminates orders ...

is owned by

GAIN Capital GAIN Capital is a US-based provider of online trading services, headquartered in Bedminster, New Jersey. The company provides market access and trade execution services in foreign exchange, contracts for difference (CFDs) and exchange-based prod ...

designed to offer a pool of FX

liquidity Liquidity is a concept in economics involving the convertibility of assets and obligations. It can include: * Market liquidity, the ease with which an asset can be sold * Accounting liquidity, the ability to meet cash obligations when due * Liqui ...

from both anonymous and disclosed liquidity providers to institutional traders. Daniels Trading – Daniels Trading is a

futures Futures may mean: Finance *Futures contract, a tradable financial derivatives contract *Futures exchange, a financial market where futures contracts are traded * ''Futures'' (magazine), an American finance magazine Music * ''Futures'' (album), a ...

brokerage firm based in Chicago, United States. The firm was established by Andy Daniels in 1995 and was acquired by

in March 2014. Faraday Research – Faraday Research provides real time trade signals for CFD trading,

spread betting Spread betting is any of various types of wagering on the outcome (game theory), outcome of an event where the pay-off is based on the accuracy of the wager, rather than a simple "win or lose" outcome, such as fixed-odds betting, fixed-odds (or mon ...

markets, cash

equity Equity may refer to: Finance, accounting and ownership * Equity (finance), ownership of assets that have liabilities attached to them ** Stock, equity based on original contributions of cash or other value to a business ** Home equity, the dif ...

and spot FX markets.

iPhone trading platform

In October 2009, City Index launched City Trading, a mobile spread betting application for the iPhone.AM – The future of trading is here, and it's mobile
/ref> The innovation contributed to the company's entire mobile trading offering being named 'Best Mobile Trading Platform' at the MoneyAM Online Finance Awards 2010 and 2011. City Trading is also available on Blackberry OS6 and Android mobiles, the first spread betting and CFD App for these devices.

Desktop Trading Platforms

City Index currently offers a suite of trading platforms which include Advantage Web, AT Pro and MetaTrader 4. Advantage Web is a browser based trading platform which offers traders HTML5 charts, a fundamental and technical analysis portal and real-time market news from Reuters. The Advantage Web platform was awarded Best Spread Betting Platform at the ADVFN International Finance Awards 2017. AT Pro is a downloadable, professional

trading platform In finance, an electronic trading platform also known as an online trading platform, is a computer software program that can be used to place orders for financial products over a network with a financial intermediary. Various financial products c ...

with enhanced functionality. Traders can create their own trading templates in programming languages including C#, .NET and

Visual Basic Visual Basic is a name for a family of programming languages from Microsoft. It may refer to: * Visual Basic .NET (now simply referred to as "Visual Basic"), the current version of Visual Basic launched in 2002 which runs on .NET * Visual Basic (cl ...

. The AT Pro platform also offers trading signals,

technical indicator In technical analysis in finance, a technical indicator is a mathematical calculation based on historic price, volume, or (in the case of futures contracts) open interest information that aims to forecast financial market direction. Technical indi ...

s and access to a technical and fundamental research portal. City Index also offers an MT4 platform which is the company's dedicated FX trading platform. The platform offers traders automated trading strategies, custom indicators and a customisable economic calendar.

City Index Trading Academy

In October 2012, City Index launched City Index Trading Academy – an online TV series and competition aimed to demonstrate that with education and support, anyone can learn to trade the global markets. The competition took place over six weeks as eight traders competed for a £100,000 cash prize. The series was broadcast on City Index's website and syndicated on YouTube. City Index Trading Academy was won by trainee Black Taxi Cab driver John Walsh, who delivered a return on investment of 23.6% in the finale.

Commercial partnerships

City Index has partnered with a number of financial institutions to provide their clients with Forex, Contract For Difference (CFD) and spread betting services.

References

{{Reflist Financial services companies established in 1983 Financial services companies of the United Kingdom British companies established in 1983 Financial derivative trading companies 2014 mergers and acquisitions 1983 establishments in the United Kingdom Trading companies of the United Kingdom Multinational companies headquartered in the United Kingdom