Are there any free stock trading apps/systems like Robinhood available in the UK?

Joe_Faragelli wrote: »

Antiquated advice. OEICs are obsolete. Can anyone give an example where an OEIC is the best investment choice vs. the equivalent Vanguard or iShares ETF?

Vanguard FTSE All-World ETF - total cost 0.25%pa.

HSBC FTSE All World Index OEIC - total cost 0.2%pa, for exactly the same investment.

Similarly Vanguard FTSE 100 ETF - 0.09%pa. BlackRock OEIC - 0.07%pa for exactly the same investment. OEICs are only obsolete if you like paying more money to financial firms.

Robos like Nutmeg generally charge c. 1% pa when all fees are included, so would be curious what investment platform you use that you think 1% pa is a complete rip off?

Nutmeg is a robo adviser (aka a very expensive way of investing in a generic multi asset fund) so not comparable. In any case, as you said that 1% is all-in, not with fund management fees on top.

I consider 0.25% - 0.3%pa to be standard for platform charges, although I use Hargreaves Lansdown and am well aware they are on the pricy side. Twice what Hargreaves Lansdown charge plus a bit more = rip-off.

Obviously this is irrelevant if they are charging 0.12% a year plus dealing costs and the FT article is out of date. But I can't tell which is out of date, the FT article or the Crowdcube page. You'd expect a visit to Freetrade's website to sort that out, but it declines to disclose their charges, which is never a good sign. And ironic given a bit on their front page blurb saying "simple pricing - no hidden fees"!

Malthusian wrote: »

Vanguard FTSE All-World ETF - total cost 0.25%pa.

I consider 0.25% - 0.3%pa to be standard for platform charges, although I use Hargreaves Lansdown and am well aware they are on the pricy side. Twice what Hargreaves Lansdown charge plus a bit more = rip-off.

Obviously this is irrelevant if they are charging 0.12% a year plus dealing costs and the FT article is out of date. But I can't tell which is out of date, the FT article or the Crowdcube page. You'd expect a visit to Freetrade's website to sort that out, but it declines to disclose their charges, which is never a good sign. And ironic given a bit on their front page blurb saying "simple pricing - no hidden fees"!

Me too, which is why I switched to the Vanguard service this summer, which has a platform fee of 0.15%. Only issue is they limit you to Vanguard (UK) ETFs, which are executed only twice a day. Very similar to OEICs which transact once a day when the NAV is set.

Personally, I am excited about Freetrade because I'll pay something similar to the Vanguard service I use now, but will have the option of selecting ETF from other providers (including the US versions like SPY and GLD), in addition to shares. Call me 'incompetent compared to professionals' but I like to overweight my portfolio in companies I think are good long term investments, like Amazon.

(I get the newsletter from Freetrade so maybe have more information than what is on their admittedly quite basic website)

Has anyone actually used Freetrade since it has launched on IOS and hopes to be launched on Android by the end of the month?

vikpaw wrote: »

I’ve been using it since the very early stages on iOS. Mostly on the spot trades at an incredible £1 charge.
Also bought up some long term holds on the free of charge basis (based on end of day price).
U.K./US stocks and various funds. All good and getting some good dividends back already.
So far so good. No issues and the team are very friendly and responsive.
They have their own active forum/community too.

Thanks

Whats the FX charge like? Can you hold different currencies?