FreeTrade

hi all

Im looking to re start delaing with shares n what not.I used to have a share dealing account with my bank, i felt it was safe and could easily transfer money between my bank accoutn and share delaing account and i guess having thing in *one place* helped,Just that started to charge a £36 per year charge and well with £9.5 per deal charge, i have started to look around and noticed that freetrade seems to be a good palce to buy and hold shares.

has anyone used them...anty good, bad things about them?from my research i think i d like to join but am a lil worried incase i ve mis read anything.From my understanding you dont pay any commision , zero fees for holding shares, no opening, closing fees, no monthly fees ( im looking at the basic level gia account)

so any advice would be welcomed, good or bad points
thank you for looking
bob

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Originally Posted by bobbyhibs1983

hi all

Im looking to re start delaing with shares n what not.I used to have a share dealing account with my bank, i felt it was safe and could easily transfer money between my bank accoutn and share delaing account and i guess having thing in *one place* helped,Just that started to charge a £36 per year charge and well with £9.5 per deal charge, i have started to look around and noticed that freetrade seems to be a good palce to buy and hold shares.

has anyone used them...anty good, bad things about them?from my research i think i d like to join but am a lil worried incase i ve mis read anything.From my understanding you dont pay any commision , zero fees for holding shares, no opening, closing fees, no monthly fees ( im looking at the basic level gia account)

so any advice would be welcomed, good or bad points
thank you for looking
bob

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No straight answer to this Bob.

It all depends on how much cash you are looking to invest, what type of investments, how often you are going to trade and if you need to protect it from the tax man etc.

On the tax front the U.K. Gvt is currently looking to slash div tax and CGT allowances to a level where even a modest trading account may fall foul of the reduced levels.

Free trade is indeed ‘free’ for its basic service but if you want an ISA then you pay £4.99 or whatever a month.

It also doesn’t have many (any?) funds just stocks and it also ‘only’ covers about 6,000 companies.

You also do pay for is service through the spread or the price they offer…it’s just not explicit.

That’s not to say it’s a bad offering just that there is pros and cons to it when compared to other platforms based on some of the parameters I’ve pointed out above.

Fortunately there is plenty online where then different providers are compared and contrasted so hopefully a bit of research on that front will help more than I have [emoji12]

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Originally Posted by RyeSloan

No straight answer to this Bob.

month.

It also doesn’t have many (any?) funds just stocks and it also ‘only’ covers about 6,000 companies.

You also do pay for is service through the spread or the price they offer…it’s just not explicit.


Fortunately there is plenty online where then different providers are compared and contrasted so hopefully a bit of research on that front will help more than I have [emoji12]

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hi
and thank you for the feedback!

as far as this *spread* from my *limited and very limited* understanding i assume if stock A is currently trading at a £1 then freetrade (and maybe others?) would *sell* it to me ( in theory) at say £1.03 per share for example? am i understanding it (i am a simple guy here!)
trying to do as much reasearch as i can, and try weigh up the pros and cons
thank you for the feedback !

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bobbyhibs1983

hi
and thank you for the feedback!

as far as this *spread* from my *limited and very limited* understanding i assume if stock A is currently trading at a £1 then freetrade (and maybe others?) would *sell* it to me ( in theory) at say £1.03 per share for example? am i understanding it (i am a simple guy here!)
trying to do as much reasearch as i can, and try weigh up the pros and cons
thank you for the feedback !

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Yeah that’s it.

All shares have a spread. The difference from the buy price and a sell price.

So in your example the sell / bid might be 98p and the offer / buy might be 102p in the market but Free trade might offer you the sell at 97p and the buy at 103p…their margin is the 1p difference and hence why you get the trade for ‘free’.

It might not really matter depending on the size of your trading. If you are buying £100 worth or so their hidden mark up might only equate to c£1 in this example so way better than the up front commission charged by the main platforms. If you are buying 10 grands worth tho the spread or the best quoted price from your platform is rather important.

Their spread margin is also probably quite small on the bigger companies so again if you are looking to trade the likes of Amazon or AstraZeneca or whatever then it’s probably not an issue.

As ever nothing is genuinely free but Freetrade certainly has its place and works for many folk.

I have accounts with FreeTrade and Trading212.

I prefer T212. Cheaper, better interface, access to more stocks.

Happy to share my referal code for either if you like, means we'd both get a free share of something.

I have a Trading212 account. Its only got the 10 free shares in it from referrals, free money 😀

hi

RyeSloan thanks for the response and taking the time to explain it to me thanks!

Speedy and jack, Thanks for the info regarding the info regarding trading 212... it seems similar to freedtrde..any other good points about it bad experinces on that platform?.
always happy to have a look n what not!
cheers

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bobbyhibs1983

hi

RyeSloan thanks for the response and taking the time to explain it to me thanks!

Speedy and jack, Thanks for the info regarding the info regarding trading 212... it seems similar to freedtrde..any other good points about it bad experinces on that platform?.
always happy to have a look n what not!
cheers

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Yeah it is a similar idea.

Different business models though - T212 earns their model from CFDs (you should avoid these like the plague, very easily avoided) which means it can supply a lot more for free.

FreeTrade doesn't do that so has to charge a bit more on its standard accounts.

I use both, purely to avoid having all my eggs in one basket but T212 is my preference and has the bulk of my investments.

Once you have a higher balance (say 5 or 6 figures) I'd start steering cash towards the likes of Interactive Investor, Interactive Brokers or Hargreaves Lansdown. They're more expensive but much larger companies so intheory they are more robust.

My Farher in Law used to dabble in shares, not massive investments, more just wee amounts spread out. I dont know if he ever profited, perhaps the odd few quid here or there. Very much like his horse bets, 50 pences on various bets

I remember he used to have the shares page up on the Ceefax and I didnt have a clue what he was looking at

For a starter point of view, looking at when I retire would this be a good interest for me to perhaps invest a few hundred pounds here and there or is it not worth the bother ?

Sorry Bobbyhibs, not meaning to take the thread off topic 👍

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bobbyhibs1983

hi

RyeSloan thanks for the response and taking the time to explain it to me thanks!

Speedy and jack, Thanks for the info regarding the info regarding trading 212... it seems similar to freedtrde..any other good points about it bad experinces on that platform?.
always happy to have a look n what not!
cheers

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As I said I (and my wife) only used it because you got a free share, upto a value of £100, for 10 'friends' that signed up.

We both ended up with around £350 worth of shares individually valued at between £10 and £70. My sister in law did get one at £130!

I did think about dabbling but the time wasn't right, covid. My shares are currently worth about £270.

Lloyds shares down at under 25p during covid have served me well.

Done ok out of them.

hi
and thank you all for the advice you ve been given so far!

PM
Speedy...i have zero understaning of cfd's so i ll def keep away from that! but thnaks for your time and responding!


AM
HH81.good to hear about your lloyds dealings !!:thumbsup:

Bridge hibs..dont worry about moving the thread anywhere, i dont mind! im unsure if its a good/bad thing for retirement, so i wont/cant advice you, in the view i never would wanna waste anyone money. The stock market goes up and down, down and up. best thing to do with it is buy low, sell high kinda thing, easier said and done though! but in my time at looking and stocks and shares it seems taking a long long term approch is best! there are loads of info out there of course so i d recommend trying to read up on stuff and forming a view!
best of luck!


thanks again all for the advice

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bobbyhibs1983

hi
and thank you all for the advice you ve been given so far!

PM
Speedy...i have zero understaning of cfd's so i ll def keep away from that! but thnaks for your time and responding!

Thanks Bobby, appreciated mate 👍

AM
HH81.good to hear about your lloyds dealings !!:thumbsup:

Bridge hibs..dont worry about moving the thread anywhere, i dont mind! im unsure if its a good/bad thing for retirement, so i wont/cant advice you, in the view i never would wanna waste anyone money. The stock market goes up and down, down and up. best thing to do with it is buy low, sell high kinda thing, easier said and done though! but in my time at looking and stocks and shares it seems taking a long long term approch is best! there are loads of info out there of course so i d recommend trying to read up on stuff and forming a view!
best of luck!


thanks again all for the advice

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Thanks Bobby, appreciated mate 👍

Buying low, selling high is very hard to do. Particularly if you are new to it. It is a recipe for losing money tbh.

If you want long term exposure to stocks but dont have much knowledge on it then an index tracker or Exchange Traded Fund may be your best option. (I have a couple of trackers invested in the S&P 500 and an All World Tracker.) It is what I wish I knew about 10 years ago - top up as I go, and keep them indefinately.

As with any threads like this, none of us are qualified to give advice so it is important to do your own research to form your own decision.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Speedy

Buying low, selling high is very hard to do. Particularly if you are new to it. It is a recipe for losing money tbh.

If you want long term exposure to stocks but dont have much knowledge on it then an index tracker or Exchange Traded Fund may be your best option. (I have a couple of trackers invested in the S&P 500 and an All World Tracker.) It is what I wish I knew about 10 years ago - top up as I go, and keep them indefinately.

As with any threads like this, none of us are qualified to give advice so it is important to do your own research to form your own decision.

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https://fullyvested.com/insights/st-...l-may-go-away/

Just something to consider when you're getting free shares to your Trading212 account.

I'm not sure there's any option for ethical shares only. I just remembered I got a few Shell shares and Uber ones. I certainly wouldn't have chosen Uber!

Personal opinion, unless you are looking to accumulate high dividend stocks over the long term, you would be better investing in Low cost index funds. I use Vanguard.
Takes alot of the hassle out of investing