SVS Securities - shut down?

johnburman

But all brokers who are members of the stock exchange have Best Execution rules and obligations. Are you saying that the zero commission brokers do not comply with these? 

masonic

johnburman said:

But all brokers who are members of the stock exchange have Best Execution rules and obligations. Are you saying that the zero commission brokers do not comply with these? 

Best Execution rules are an FCA requirement introduced through MiFID II and all UK regulated investment firms must abide by them.

There is no requirement in the Best Execution rules for a firm to execute an order immediately upon receipt, and as far as I can see the firm cannot be held responsible for movements in the price of the security in question between acceptance of the instruction and execution, even if they are selling the data to high frequency traders between acceptance and execution. So most likely these brokers are complying with their legal and regulatory obligations.

There is also no obligation, as far as I can see, for a firm that does not support live quotes to achieve equivalent outcomes to a rival firm that does support live quotes.

Standard_Goose

sweeter_strudel said:

Standard_Goose,

Try a different web browser - looks like the chance to progress from proving who you are is otherwise never going to arise. Try from a different device laptop/Smartphone. 

They may not be verifying documents over a weekend - see if there is progress on Monday lunchtime.

Otherwise a name change to "Stranded and Goosed" may be appropriate.

Thanks for the advice. I'd already tried Firefox, Chrome and Microsoft Edge with no difference. I just tried my wifes laptop in case it was the machine... no difference. I guess my only option is the forum name change!

Standard_Goose

johnburman said:

But all brokers who are members of the stock exchange have Best Execution rules and obligations. Are you saying that the zero commission brokers do not comply with these? 

I'm certainly  no expert in this, but I suspect that a company that offers commision free trading would have a contract with you that allows them to use their choice of market maker (such as one that pays a fee to them). Whilst this doesn't guarantee that you'll get a worse price it does make it more likely.

Another possibility is that they fulfill your order internally from their own 'pool' of shares, thus making money from the spread. I'm afraid I don't know the rules they must follow to get the price, but again if it's not the best possible price I would expect to find something hidden in the depths of their terms and conditions which means they are complying with the rules.

I personally would not worry too much about any of this as it's all swings and roundabouts. Go with a broker who has a nice platform and good reviews and is of a decent size - that's the lesson i've learnt from SVS. By trying to save a few quid on a few trades I nearly lost the lot (touch wood)!

One thing I would remind people who are thinking of spreading across multiple brokers is that you may only be risking losing control of (e.g.) a third of your portfolio, but by having (e.g.) three brokers you have three times the chance of this happening to you again!

johnburman

Standard Goose  - the way the commisison free brokers make mony is to "lend2 out your shares to third parties who may wish to short the shares.  There is a risk in this.  I do not think that wiht the best execution principles they can do what you suggest (unless people knwo differently - see the FCA Fine for ITI under its earlier name and management).

As to losing control - and other brokers going insolvent, only have a max of £85k in any one account.  That is the max £ the FCSC will pay if you lose money through maladministration - remeber that any special adminstration will cost each client a sum £ in admininstrators fees too.    I am really shocked that other countries have alimit of only 20k euro.  This is wholly inadequate in the case of loss caused by breaches in the segregation rules, called the CASS rules in the UK.

My2penneth

I on boarded my wife's account a good few hours ago. There is nothing there. I wonder if ITI will be informing the administrator that they on boarded x thousand accounts over the weekend ? 

Sheris

Unable yesterday and today to even log in, a ghost has changed my password, what a crazy mess this has been from the start and no sign of a finish. I should of taken legal advice at the start but L&C stated that it was not required. unbeliveable.   

My2penneth

Folks, please leave a review on the ITI Capital website if only to let others know how badly they have managed our accounts.

manorhouse

Standard_Goose said:

My2penneth said:

johnburman said:

As a new client of Trading 212 if your portfolio is under 85k GBP the 0 commission offering must be a winner. Keep below the FSCS limit of 85k just in case things go wrong.... in a SVS or worse way... and what's there not to like? A limited stock selection sure and no 15 second period in which to decide to deal and the pain of only dealing 95 percent of the monies in your account (a weird rule this one) but for simple zero commission XO deals with no holding or inactivity fees it's a worthwhile option. 

The 95% dealing leaves 5% to allow for currency fluctuations when you are buying foreign shares.

And the hidden cost is the price you get filled at. If you are buying 1000 shares but get filled at a 1p worse price then it's cost you £10 to do the trade anyway. Hard to quantify these things, but this is how the experienced traders on youTube explain it and it seems credible to me.

To share my experience of other platforms:

I used Interactive Investor before SVS... I moved because they changed their fee structure which didn't suit me at the time. I don't need to tell you how much I regret that decision. ii was a great choice for me and i liked the platform and never had any issues with them. If they suit your investment style i recommend them.

I opened an AJ Bell account when I wanted to start investing in a SIPP. I feel safe with them and their share dealing is great for someone investing over medium/long term. Not very good information/stats for companies you're looking to invest in - unlike ii. Good solid reliable company - recommend.

I have also opened an Interactive Brokers account as I intend on doing some high frequency day-trading with some of my savings (if I ever see them again). I have found their website extremely confusing and also the 'Tradestation' platform that I intend to use to do the trading is confusing as hell to learn and seems very glitchy. This is probably due to me being very close to minimum spec on this PC (although slightly above it). Again I have selected another big name because after my SVS experience I am going nowhere near a small company (such as ITI Capital!).

Basically, i've never had any issues with the above three brokers.

Thank you for sharing Interactive Broker info  had them in mind and had asked for this several times in the past .
They do not do ISA's i was told .
Please keep sharing your experiences  with them .
Are they covered by UK or USA regulator ? if UK why are they different from the two European brokers.
I am with most of the brokers liked on here i think HL the most annoying platform i noticed cash in it yesterday , cash is in two different "bits" 
One can be withdrawn one can not .
Looking to see were cash came in from deliberately made difficult in my opinion  i gave up in the end .
I am slowly selling down the funds and can not wait to be done with them.
If they had done a SVS i assume i would of been charged for waiting for my own money .
 

t237

My2penneth said:

I on boarded my wife's account a good few hours ago. There is nothing there. I wonder if ITI will be informing the administrator that they on boarded x thousand accounts over the weekend ? 

I'm not sure whether to complete the onboarding - mine is showing nothing there but is asking me to complete the onboarding.