Share dealing charges

[Deleted User]

I have stayed loyal to my stockbroker, Rowan Dartington, over many years, but cannot help but be concerned by the difference in share dealing prices. They charge me 0.5% on the value of the deal (execution only) whereas competitors charge as little as £10.

I'd just like to check with those with experience of low price share-dealing platforms: are you happy with the strike prices you obtain? Are they the same as anybody else would get at any moment?

Also, for those who deal in US stocks: Have you calculated how much you lose on the exchange rate?

Thanks in advance.

eskbanker

In the context of your posts on other threads, it's interesting to see that you've been choosing to support the financial services industry by paying over the odds

I've only made occasional low-value purchases of US stocks through II, where low-frequency trades are already effectively funded by standing charges - I was happy enough with purchase prices and exchange rates but to be honest didn't try to make any sort of market comparison....

Edit: a useful feature with II is the ability to hold cash balances in USD (and other currencies) as well as GBP, so if, for example, selling and then buying in the same currency, there's no need to convert back to/from GBP at all.

MaxiRobriguez

Many places charge lower than £10 per trade...

If you're transacting in amounts of more than £1,500 then I would suggest it's time to move.

torrence

Can I suggest you look at monevator.com broker comparison table. It may help choose the most cost effective for your needs.
I tried to put a link to it for you but it won't let me. Strange - I can't see why. But if you search Google for "monevator.com broker comparison table" you will find it.

[Deleted User]

Hi,


X-O have been mentioned before, but never used them.

MaxiRobriguez

X-O and iWeb are typically the cheapest of the bunch.

I use iWeb, it works well enough and is £5 a trade.

Malthusian

eskbanker wrote: »

In the context of your posts on other threads, it's interesting to see that you've been choosing to support the financial services industry by paying over the odds

Ah, but you've missed the crucial difference between Rowan Dartington charging the OP 0.5% to move money from A to B and an IFA charging the OP 0.5% for ongoing financial advice, which is that Rowan Dartington don't challenge the OP's beliefs and level of knowledge. Why would they, they're earning 0.5% comm on fund trades from it

To attempt to be helpful and answer the OP's question; you are not getting any benefit from Rowan Dartington by paying them 0.5%. Unless you're buying illiquid shares on extremely obscure stock markets, any other platform could get the same prices.

torrence

MaxiRobriguez wrote: »

X-O and iWeb are typically the cheapest of the bunch.

I use iWeb, it works well enough and is £5 a trade.

Agree iWeb are very good value.

[Deleted User]

My investments are long-term, and daily market volatility amounts to more than a year's dealing charges, which have never been a priority; so a review is probably well overdue..

Thank you for the helpful replies and links.

bowlhead99

ZingPowZing wrote: »

I'd just like to check with those with experience of low price share-dealing platforms: are you happy with the strike prices you obtain? Are they the same as anybody else would get at any moment?

One might imagine if all stock exchange trades were done in the way that you see in 80s movies about Wall Street (a la Trading Places), where people are running around a trading floor frantically giving and accepting trade tickets from buying and selling parties while the price ticks along on a LED display, it might be important to have your broker right in the thick of the action with the fastest runners and a great set of contacts.

Theoretically, in a thinly-traded stock, you may find one broker obtains you a worse price than another by simply not polling all the market makers. As such, the big brokers which have relationships with 20 pricing sources before giving you a quote might be able to get you a better buy or sell price then the broker who didn't look beyond the first two market makers.

In reality, you're unlikely to come across this when you're dealing with electronic price quotation services for liquid stocks. These days anyone can pull up the electronic order book on a screen and simply get stuck in - if you are a day trader on AIM you might want to pay your broker an extra monthly fee for 'level 2 access' to see how much volume was available, which MM was on the bid and which in the offer -rather than just doing dummy trades to see what prices you get offered with the standard 15 seconds to accept or decline the price.

Most of us would not bother with Level 2 access, and instead just presume that the broker owes us a duty of 'best execution' on the placed trades, and know that the trades are all reported and can be checked later if you are dubious about how good the price they got for you was in the context of other trades happening and being reported that minute (or fraction of minute).

If you don't want the high prices of the quaint old world of discretionary/ advisory stockbroking it would probably make a lot of sense for you to move to a modern execution-only brokerage with fixed fee trades.

Many large brokers offer discounted fees for someone booking purchases in advance for popular stocks as part of a monthly investment program - e.g. £1 50 per trade instead of a tenner if you do it on the 10th of the month and they can pool your order with other people who want to do likewise.

For that type of trading you will save on fees but have no control over when the trade gets struck - it may be the worst or best price of the day. Whereas if you stick to trading on market and approve or reject the specific prices offered to you when placing a trade manually, you will know you are not getting screwed because you can see the reported prices in the public domain.

I only mention this latter couple of points as we know you have a skepticism around being treated fairly by financial firms.

[Deleted User]

Thank you bowlhead, that is useful too.
Your post at the end reminds me of how much worse things used to be, you have to be a certain age to remember this practice so I'll share:
At the end of the 'Eighties I sold all my shares, sharesave and privatisation stocks like most people had. I took all the certificates to my bank, Lloyds (there was a hurry concerning the settlement cycle) A couple of days later I got the contract notes, but they didn't time of any trades. Either they were very unlucky in their timing or they simply ascribed to me (and many like me) the worst trades of that particular day.
That's how it was for a lot of people then. We only saw the share prices in next morning's papers.
Thank goodness things aren't that bad now.