Apple Watch App Spread Betting and CFDs Guide

Spread Betting on a Watch

The CleanFinancial.com guide to Apple Watch trading apps.


When the Apple Watch (not iWatch!) was released on 9 March 2015 the financial markets were somewhat underwhelmed – see the live Apple stock chart.

But what about using the watch as a trading app for your spread betting, CFD, stock broking or binary trading?

IG have already brought out an app which has some interesting pros and cons.


Where to Get the Apple Watch Trading App?

The selection seems fairly limited at the moment but we imagine that other brokers will soon bring out apps. At the moment, you can get an app with:

  • IG (spread betting, CFD, stock broking, binaries)
As mentioned, other firms might be offering apps but we haven’t seen many.


How to Download the New Apple Watch App

IG’s new app should automatically download to your Apple Watch if you already have their app on your iPhone.

The IG iPhone apps are normally free to download from the App Store.


Video of How the IG Apple Watch Trading App Works




The Pros of the IG Apple Watch Trading App

The app has some good features, you can:

  • Trade from your spread betting, CFD, stock broking and binary accounts
  • View live prices
  • Open and close trades
  • See open positions
  • Access your Market Watchlists
  • View today’s economic calendar
  • Use the 1 touch login – assuming you have your details saved on your iPhone

The Cons of the IG Apple Watch Trading App

Apple Watch Spread Betting Apps
Well done IG for bringing out an app so quickly but I can’t see it replacing the spread betting mobile apps that most firms have.

This isn’t IG’s fault, they are one of the few firms to have brought out an Apple Watch trading app. Kudos to them.

The issues are naturally to do with the technical and size limitation of the phone:

  • No charts
  • No adding / removing / updating Stop or Limit Orders – this is particularly poor if you don’t have a spread betting / CFD account with automatic Stop orders
  • 18 hour battery life (on a good day)
  • You still need an iPhone for the Watch app to work
  • If either your iPhone or Apple Watch battery dies then you can’t use the Apple Watch app
For me it’s a nice gadget but at the moment it can’t replace the iPhone app and so it seems a little superfluous.

However I can see some people liking it and it won’t be long before IG, and other brokers, improve the experience. (they can only guess at the moment and will need extensive user feedback to make a good app).


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