UK online trading firm IG Group (LON:IGG) has indicated on its website that it is not taking on any new clients, as “unprecedented demand” has hit the broker amid the past week’s retail trading frenzy.

To slow the tide of retail traders looking to cash in on the short-squeeze activity happening around a number of heavily shorted US stocks, IG earlier introduced more strict margin requirements around a number of specific CFDs and equities, and also halted the opening of any new positions in the two most heavily traded names, GameStop and AMC Entertainment.

But those measures had not fully accomplished the goal of keeping new client signups at bay, and IG has been faced with the dream-nightmare scenario of just too many new clients looking to set up accounts and trade.

Visitors to IG’s home page now see the following message. We’d first note that the message, and the aforementioned restrictions, seem to have been put in place at IG’s main UK website, but not for clients visiting websites operated by other IG entities, such as in the EU.

We are not opening any new accounts at this time.

New applications for all account types are temporarily suspended across all channels, due to unprecedented demand and in order to prioritise the service we give our existing clients.

This will be reviewed on a daily basis.

Separately, IG sent out a note to clients explaining the moves, which read:

We have temporarily paused new account opening so that we can focus on providing our existing clients with the service they deserve.

We have also made the difficult decision to temporarily suspend new trading on GameStop and AMC Entertainment. We fundamentally believe in empowering our clients and enabling them to trade what they want, when they want, how they want. This decision has been entirely motivated by our desire to ensure our platform and services remain fully operational for existing clients, as we prioritise giving you the best service we can.

IG notes that it believes the current restrictions are only temporary, and will hopefully be reversed when conditions allow.