Pepperstone or IG on execution speed and slippage, which is better?
Verdict
- On execution, Pepperstone is our pick: it publishes execution from 50 milliseconds, a 99.32% fill rate and no dealer intervention, based on its fills from January to March 2026. IG publishes no comparable speed or fill statistic in the material we checked.
- On stop-loss slippage, IG has the edge: it offers guaranteed stops, free to place with a premium charged only if triggered. Pepperstone's UK terms say it cannot guarantee stop or limit orders fill at your level.
- Both firms are FCA-regulated: Pepperstone Limited (684312); IG Markets Ltd (195355) for CFDs and IG Index Ltd (114059) for spread bets.
- Pick Pepperstone if you trade actively with market orders and want raw pricing; pick IG if you hold positions over weekends and need a hard cap on gap losses.
Speed and slippage are two different problems. Speed is how fast your order reaches the market; slippage is the gap between the price you asked for and the price you got, and the worst slippage happens when markets jump over your stop. Pepperstone is stronger on the first and publishes evidence for it; IG answers the second with guaranteed stops.
Our verdict: Pepperstone for execution, IG only if you need guaranteed stops
Pepperstone states that orders execute from 50 milliseconds with a 99.32% fill rate and no dealer intervention, measured on its own fills between 1 January and 31 March 2026. That is a broker-published figure, not our test, but it is specific and dated, which makes it checkable over time. IG's UK pages that we checked make no equivalent claim, so there is nothing to put side by side. For a day trader sending market orders on FX or indices, Pepperstone's Razor account adds raw spreads from 0.0 with a commission from £2.25 per lot per side in a GBP account, so the price you see is close to the underlying quote.
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What each firm actually publishes
| Pepperstone | IG | |
|---|---|---|
| Execution speed claim | From 50 milliseconds | No figure found |
| Fill rate | 99.32% (fills 1 Jan to 31 Mar 2026) | No figure found |
| Dealer intervention | None, per Pepperstone | Not stated |
| Guaranteed stop-loss | Not offered; UK terms say stops can't be guaranteed | Yes; free to place, premium only if triggered |
| EUR/USD published floor | 0.0 Razor CFD; 0.5 spread bet | From 0.6 points |
| Platforms | MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView, own app | Web and app, MT4, MT5, ProRealTime, L2 Dealer, TradingView, APIs |
| FCA reference | 684312 | 195355 (CFDs); 114059 (spread bets) |
Where slippage really costs you
In normal hours on liquid markets, a fast fill keeps slippage small. The expensive cases are different, and a published fill rate does not help with them:
- Weekend and overnight gaps: if a market opens beyond your stop, an ordinary stop fills at the first available price. Example: a £10-a-point stop on the UK 100 that gaps 20 points through costs an extra £200.
- News spikes: liquidity thins out for seconds, and market orders fill wherever the price is.
- Guaranteed stops remove gap risk on the stop itself, which is why IG's version matters if you hold through weekends. You pay the premium only when it is triggered.
- Neither firm's fill statistics cover your exact order size or time of day, so treat them as a guide, not a promise.
How to test execution yourself before you commit
- Open a small live account with each firm; Pepperstone's minimum deposit is £10.
- Place a few minimum-size market orders on EUR/USD at the London open and record requested versus filled price.
- Repeat during a scheduled data release to see behaviour when spreads widen.
- Compare the spread you were charged with the published floor: 0.0 Razor or 0.5 spread bet at Pepperstone, 0.6 at IG.
- Decide whether gap protection or raw pricing matters more for how long you hold trades.
Sources
Broker-published terms; we did not run our own latency tests.
Does Pepperstone offer guaranteed stop-losses in the UK?
No. Its UK terms say it can't guarantee that stop-loss or limit orders execute at the level you set, and no guaranteed stop appears on its UK pages.
Is Pepperstone's 50ms figure independently verified?
No. It is Pepperstone's own claim based on its fills from 1 January to 31 March 2026. We report it as published.
Does IG charge for a guaranteed stop?
IG says a guaranteed stop is free to place and you pay a premium only if it is triggered.
CFDs and spread bets are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Pepperstone says 73.6% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider. Consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. This page is not investment advice.