IG Australia has launched IG Trading: CFD Assistant, a ChatGPT app that connects clients' live CFD trading accounts to the artificial intelligence service. It describes the tool as a first for retail broking.
The app lets clients ask questions in plain English using live account information already loaded into the conversation. That includes open positions, profit and loss, available margin, transaction history and watchlists. Order execution and trading decisions remain on IG's own platform.
Developed in Melbourne by IG's APAC Incubator, the product follows clients' growing use of artificial intelligence tools, such as ChatGPT, to review market moves, assess exposure, and understand their trading activity.
Until now, that process often involved copying screenshots, exporting CSV files or manually entering positions into a chat window each time a user started a new conversation. The new app removes that step by linking the account directly to ChatGPT through its official app store.
Traders can query live account data rather than rely on information pasted into a session or reconstructed from older files. Users can ask how overnight news affects their positions, request pre-market briefings linked to watchlists, or analyse trading history in plain English.
The launch comes as retail investors and traders test how generative artificial intelligence can be used in personal finance and trading workflows. It also highlights the risks of relying on general-purpose AI without enough account-specific context, particularly when users make their own investment decisions.
Michael Jones, Managing Director of IG Australia and New Zealand, said the broker was responding to a pattern already visible among clients.
"We knew clients were already using AI to support their trading, but the experience was clunky, and frankly, frustrating. They were screenshotting positions, copying data across, exporting files and rebuilding their account context every time they opened a chat window," Jones said.
He said the direct account link was designed to remove that extra work while leaving control with the client.
"IG Trading: CFD Assistant removes that friction. The AI can see what you hold, what you've traded and what's on your watchlist from the moment you start the conversation, while keeping the trader in control. It helps clients ask better questions of their own account, and helps them spend their time trading more efficiently and effectively," Jones said.
How it works
The tool is built on Model Context Protocol, an open standard for integrating artificial intelligence tools with external systems. IG says the structure should enable the assistant to be extended to other major AI platforms beyond ChatGPT.
For now, the app is available to IG Trading clients with an active CFD trading account and no minimum balance requirement. Existing customers can connect their accounts through the ChatGPT App Store, while new users must first open a live IG Trading account.
Retail shift
The launch underscores how quickly consumer-facing financial services groups are adapting their products to incorporate generative artificial intelligence. While many institutional investors have used data tools and automation for years, retail traders have tended to rely on off-the-shelf consumer AI products not designed for direct account access.
IG's move aims to narrow the gap between a trader's portfolio data and the responses generated by an AI assistant. By linking watchlists, positions, and trading history to a live conversation, the broker seeks to make those responses more relevant to the user's current account.
The approach also reflects a wider industry question about how AI should be used in retail investing. Brokers and platforms are looking for ways to let clients use generative AI for research and analysis without handing over execution authority or presenting the service as automated financial advice.
IG says the assistant operates within its existing licensed framework and serves as an interface to information about its CFD product rather than as a separate product. Trading decisions and order execution stay on IG's platform.
According to the company, the product was developed by a small in-house innovation unit in Melbourne with a brief to create new trading tools. The app gives retail clients access to account-linked AI analysis without the need to repeatedly upload files, screenshots or manual summaries of their holdings.
IG Australia provides access to more than 17,000 global financial markets through CFD and share trading services.