iii Interactive Investor Share Dealing

veloo

I chose iii for my stocks ISA this year, as I wanted no inactivity fees or any other admin fees and low commission charges. i like their openness and upfront charge list, with no small print or hidden charges.

I am analysing the spot prices quoted to me, when I want to trade shares. Their buy quotes seem to be typically 1-2% higher, and sell quotes typically 1-2% lower than the current spread and/or trades listed on LSE. This is on top of their flat £10 commission on each trade. I am thinking of moving to another provider.

Please can I get some feedback from other users of iii? I wonder if it is just my perception. Also, I would like suggestions about other providers with no admin/inactivity fees, and flat/low (lower than iii?) commissions.

Thanks in advance.

for those coming in late (and for my own reference), i list iii and alternative (and cheaper) suggestions coming up on this thread:
- http://www.iii.co.uk - £10.00 flat commission, no inactivity fees, offers isa
- http://www.jpjshare.com - £5.45 flat commission, no inactivity fees, but no isa
- http://www.x-o.co.uk - £5.45 flat commission, no inactivity fees, offers isa

veloo

lfc84 wrote: »

just discovered this site, very low execution only rates:

http://www.jpjshare.com/

just found this on another thread. the site faq says "At present we are unable to offer ISA accounts". but their costs (flat £5.75/trade with no other fees) are attractive enough that i am thinking about trading there outside the ISA. i don't yet generate enough to top the capital gains tax limit.

IronWolf

I've never noticed, might go on and buy/sell the same share see what the difference in quotes is

tradetime

veloo wrote: »

What I am observing is the spot prices quoted by them, whenever I want to trade shares. Their buy quotes seem to be typically 10-20% higher, and sell quotes typically 10-20% lower than the current trades listed on LSE. This is on top of their flat £10 commission on each trade. I am becoming a bit suspicious now, and thinking of moving to another provider.

Please can I get some feedback from other users of iii? I just wonder if it is only me, or is just my perception. Also, I would like suggestions about other providers with no admin/inactivity fees, and flat/low (lower than iii?) commissions.

Thanks in advance.

I use iii for an ISA account, and this is not my experience. May I ask what is the source you are using to acertain

the current trades listed on LSE.

psychic_teabag

There's also http://www.x-o.co.uk/ which does offer an ISA, and has £5.95 per trade with no inactivity fee.

veloo

tradetime wrote: »

I use iii for an ISA account, and this is not my experience. May I ask what is the source you are using to acertain

the current trades listed on LSE.

as i said, i compared their real-time quotes with the actual trades listed on LSE website and the iii trades list too. i have also compared with my actual iii transactions and the trades listed on LSE/iii at that time.

i might well be misinterpreting, but that is my observation. also, i don't know whether other brokers do the same. i have not been around much.

tradetime

My query was designed to find out if you have a live LSE data feed?

Just looking now at the bid / ask spread to buy and sell BARC, your suggestion that the buy price is 20% above the current price while a sell price is 20% below would result in a bid ask spread of 40% this or approx 120p between what you can buy at and what you can sell at, so I suspect it is only you as I currently see a spread of 0.05p

veloo

psychic_teabag wrote: »

There's also http://www.x-o.co.uk/ which does offer an ISA, and has £5.95 per trade with no inactivity fee.

http://www.x-o.co.uk/important-information/our-charges
thanks psychic teabag, this looks very attractive, and i am seriously thinking of moving. i particularly like the no admin/non-activity fees. but they have some other interesting charges -

- "ISA account closure fee £50.00" and "All charges are subject to VAT" probably means i will have to pay them £60+ if i need to move my ISA to another provider?

- and they want £24, if i want to attend any shareholder meeting?

i don't see these charges listed on iii, and i don't forsee incurring them repeatedly. but something to keep in mind, if x-o suddenly decided to up their commission/etc.

ps: any sneaky provider puts a small print of "All charges are subject to VAT" while trying to hide their real charges from unsuspecting public who *have* to pay VAT.

veloo

tradetime wrote: »

My query was designed to find out if you have a live LSE data feed?

haha, if i could afford a live LSE feed, i probably wouldn't be sitting here crying about a few pounds... :-)

i got the real-time quotes on iii and compared those particular time/quotes to the price at that time on LSE trades. you can see the actual trade prices with a 15min delay. so you just have to wait and see what price the actual trades happened.

tradetime wrote: »

Just looking now at the bid / ask spread to buy and sell BARC, ... I currently see a spread of 0.05p

have you checked whether the bid/ask price that you see, is what is listed on the actual trades? i'm not talking about the spread difference. i seem to see different price spreads, depending on whether i'm buying/selling. yes, the actual quote is within this price range. but the spreads are outside the actual trading prices listed later for that time.

tradetime

LOL veloo, a live data feed from a secondary provider is perhaps not as expensive as you think, but anyway. Yes as you correctly note the prices you are looking at are at least 15 mins delayed. The thing that stands out in your query is this

Their buy quotes seem to be typically 10-20% higher, and sell quotes typically 10-20% lower than the current trades listed on LSE

BARC has just traded at 302.5 and to use the lower percentage you mention 10% then you would be suggesting that iii is quoting you 332 roughly to buy. If that were the case and you accepted and they executed at that price then you would buy at a price that BARC will never trade at today, thus you would quite rightly query this trade and most likely report them to the FSA.

Their bid / ask spread is "indicative" as they are giving you about 15 seconds to decide whether you accept or not, but typically on a liquid stock such as Barclays it will be no more than a fraction of a % outside the true bid / ask and the price you execute at will be the market price at that time.

veloo

tradetime wrote: »

The thing that stands out in your query is this
BARC has just traded at 302.5 and to use the lower percentage you mention 10% then you would be suggesting that iii is quoting you 332 roughly to buy. If that were the case and you accepted and they executed at that price then you would buy at a price that BARC will never trade at today, thus you would quite rightly query this trade and most likely report them to the FSA.

sorry, i'm a newbie trader, and as i've said, i haven't used other providers to compare myself. i'm still learning, but i'm naturally pedantic and over analyse sometimes to my detriment jumping to conclusions.

are you suggesting that if a broker sold me say XXX.L stock at say 1:15pm, and i see all/most prices traded at that time to be 10% out, i should report the trade to FSA? i do have the transaction records.