stock market dabble

andydis

Hi Everyone .,

whats the best (cheapest) online platform for trading shares?  would it be an ISA?
Wanted to setup a monthly Direct debit and buy bits here and there frequently , would it be Etoro? or best to be  a member of a shares group where everyone buys in bulk at the same time to minimise buying fee's ?    

thoughts appreciated ,    

george4064

A lot of basic questions are answered here: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/stocks-shares-isas/

boaby18

Cheapest would be Trading212 or Freetrade.
They make their money on the buy/sell spread (mainly) and on the CFD account for T212.

You can open an ISA with them but be careful you can only contribute to one S&S ISA per tax year and this subject to a 20k limit (across all types of ISAs)

Albermarle

A S&S ISA is just a tax wrapper for your shares/investments . IN English it means when your investments are in an ISA you do not have to worry about any tax issues.
It has no bearing on the cost of the investments or trading costs .

Thrugelmir

Is your aim to day trade individual shares? 

FirstTimeSolo

Trading 212 is the cheapest S&S ISA as in it is free - no charge per trade, no fees, no withdrawal free. Etoro is good but charge a withdrawal fee and do not offer an ISA.

grumiofoundation

SebastianQuinng said:

Well, trading 212 is an obvious choice then.

Trading 212 is not currently open to new applications.

maxsteam

You can also look at Degiro and x-o (particularly if you decide to use an ISA). You should only use an ISA if there's a tax reason for doing so. You may find that brokers that are members of the London Stock Exchange (such as x-o = Jarvis) are more professional that those that are not. There's nothing wrong with opening a few accounts and seeing whom you prefer, certainly Degiro will happily let you try investing on their platform (and their fees make it economical to do so) with £100.
Personally I avoid anything that promises discounts for buying in bulk or buying at a time that suits someone else. I am unsure about the nature of the "shares group" that you mention but if it's something that a few helpful neighbours are organising, you should definitely avoid it.
You need to remember that fees can take at least two forms. There's the commission on a transaction which most brokers clearly state, then there is the spread, that is the difference between the price you can buy and the price that you can sell at.  I personally am uncomfortable unless I can see both prices before I commit myself to either buying or selling. Spreads can vary between a fraction of a percent for a FTSE stock traded through a reputable broker on the LSE to ten percent or more. A reputable broker will make both the commission and the spread clear to you. Some platforms offer lower spreads than others.

barnstar2077

If you just want a bit of fun, then fair enough, but if you are trying to build up a useful pot for the future then buying a globally diverse multi asset fund inside a stocks and shares ISA  would be a safer, more predictable option.