Patrick Foot is a financial markets writer at CFD trading company IG.

IG is a global leader in online trading, providing fast and flexible access to over 10,000 financial markets - including shares, indices, forex, commodities and binaries.

Established in 1974 as the world's first financial spread betting firm, its aim is to become the default choice for active traders globally. It is already an award-winning multi-platform trading company, the world's No.1 provider of CFDs* and a global leader in forex, and will be launching its new execution-only stockbroking service in late 2014.

It is a member of the FTSE 250, with offices across Europe, Africa, Asia-Pacific and the US, where it offers limited risk derivatives contracts via the Nadex brand.

*Based on revenue excluding FX, published financial statements, August 2013.