help choosing trading platform

imavillan

Hello everyone,
Can you guys help me with a trading platform for a S&S ISA?
I want to put 1k in as an initial investment and then £100 pm top up.

Given how the market is at the moment I want to be able to do it myself and yes, i recognise the risks etc and i could end up losing money. I see this as something for the next 5 years plus as market/confidence recovery. I am not out to get rich. I just want the opportunity to make more than the bank rates.

I would like an easy to use platform with a app so i can track on my phone.

I would prefer quality of the provider/stocks on offer etc over cost. Obviously theres a balance as i dont want any profits being swallowed up by high fees.

I have been looking at AJ Bell, Fidelity, Freetrade and Moneybox. I'm open to any suggestions from the more experienced on this site.

Thanks in advance.

Alexland

Vanguard Investor don't have an app but they offer very good value for your potential account valuation and their website displays nicely on mobile phones so you can put a shortcut on your phone screen. Moneybox and Freetrade ISAs would be expensive for that account valuation.

We have accounts with AJ Bell and Fidelity (again expensive for that account value, better for larger capped fee LISAs and SIPPs respectively) and their apps aren't worth installing. Again a mobile shortcut to the websites work well.

I tend to track most of our investments in the HL app watchlist even though we aren't customers anymore as they were too expensive too - maybe because they are paying app developers to do a good job.

Of course the wrapper choice (have you considered a S&S Lifetime ISA if under 40?) and actual investment choice (tracker, multi asset fund, etc) are more important and will influence your platform choice.

Also ensure you are making the most of investing in S&S via your pension particularly if you can get employer contributions and/or higher rate tax relief.

eskbanker

imavillan said:

I would prefer quality of the provider/stocks on offer etc over cost. 

How do you plan to measure quality?  Stocks on offer is more straightforward, although it's typically recommended that new investors steer clear of individual shares and stick to collective investments such as funds, to achieve sensible diversification at low cost.

imavillan said:

I have been looking at AJ Bell, Fidelity, Freetrade and Moneybox. 

Hopefully you'll have picked up on the variances so far then - the first two are what I'd consider to be mainstream platforms with wide offerings, whereas the latter two are much more limited.

There are plenty of other major platforms to consider though, so you might wish to look at the likes of Hargreaves Lansdown, Interactive Investor, IWeb, Charles Stanley, and so on - there are a number of comparison sites allowing you to evaluate the costs of each for your preferred investment profile, even though you're right that it isn't all about cost:

http://monevator.com/compare-the-brokers/

http://www.comparefundplatforms.com/

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5583030rel="nofollow" href="https://www.boringmoney.co.uk/calculator/">https://www.boringmoney.co.uk/calculator/

imavillan

@Alexland @eskbanker
Thanks for the replies.

I will take a look at Vanguard. I had not really considered them as i didnt think they offered a diy S&S ISA. I'm in a lucky position where i'm retired, so this is more for shortish term, 4/5 years, to try to take advantage of the current state of the market and for the recovery when it comes. 

Albermarle

We have accounts with AJ Bell and Fidelity (again expensive for that account value, better for larger capped fee LISAs and SIPPs respectively) and their apps aren't worth installing.

Have you tried the new Fidelity app ( about 6 months old ) ? Seems ok to me but I am not an expert. 

Alexland

imavillan said:

I will take a look at Vanguard. I had not really considered them as i didnt think they offered a diy S&S ISA. I'm in a lucky position where i'm retired, so this is more for shortish term, 4/5 years, to try to take advantage of the current state of the market and for the recovery when it comes. 

Well it depends what you mean by DIY. Do you want to select your own funds (to broadly capture a market return) or trade individual company shares? To a UK based investor the global equity markets are only down about 15% at the moment so it's hardly rock bottom prices given the lasting damage done to some of the underlying companies. The FTSE100 is down more but then its not been a good investment for decades. Generally investment is only suitable for at least 5 years and preferably a lot longer to stand a good chance of withdrawing more than you contributed.

Alexland

Albermarle said:

Have you tried the new Fidelity app ( about 6 months old ) ? Seems ok to me but I am not an expert. 

I downloaded it about a week ago and it seemed really basic and no better than the website so it was uninstalled again. Give the HL app a try it's very nice and you don't need to be a customer to populate a watchlist on your device with no login each time you want to see it.

imavillan

Alexland said:

Well it depends what you mean by DIY. Do you want to select your own funds (to broadly capture a market return) or trade individual company shares? To a UK based investor the global equity markets are only down about 15% at the moment so it's hardly rock bottom prices given the lasting damage done to some of the underlying companies. The FTSE100 is down more but then its not been a good investment for decades. Generally investment is only suitable for at least 5 years and preferably a lot longer to stand a good chance of withdrawing more than you contributed.

I was thinking more along the lines of individual company shares.
I think there are some bargains to be had at the moment albeit with risk.
I quite fancy building a smallish portfolio.
I think i will try a couple out in 'demo' mode first just to see how each one operates.

Alexland

For individual company shares in an ISA wrapper then I would consider iWeb (run by Halifax at £25 setup then £5 per trade) or Jarvis X-O (£5.95 per trade but an eventual £50+vat closure fee). Freetrade or Trading 212 would both be cheaper however they are less well established and I wouldn't trust them with my money. However you might find it's uneconomic to pay trade fees on the amounts you are proposing. Most people would do better with low cost funds.