Britain’s IG Group to Buy U.S. Options Firm Tastytrade For $1 Billion

Britain’s IG Group to Buy U.S. Options Firm Tastytrade For $1 Billion

IG Group Holdings PLC, a U.K.-based operator of online trading platforms, has agreed to buy U.S. brokerage and financial-media firm Tastytrade Inc. for $1 billion in a bid to capitalize on the boom in options trading by small investors.

The deal, which the companies unveiled Thursday, would substantially increase IG's presence in the U.S. market. The company is best known for offering derivatives products that let individual investors overseas bet on whether stocks, foreign-exchange rates, gold or cryptocurrencies will rise or fall.

Founded in 1974 and listed on the London Stock Exchange, IG has expanded over the years from its U.K. base to Europe, Australia and Asia. In the U.S. it already owns Nadex, a small exchange for binary options, a type of exotic derivative contract.

Tastytrade, based in Chicago, caters to individuals seeking to trade options, with a brokerage arm called Tastyworks and a free online-video network featuring tutorials on trading strategies and interviews with veteran traders. About 900,000 people have registered for Tastytrade's