Advice on trading platform

wmb194

Doshwaster said:

wmb194 said:

maxsteam said:

wmb194 said:
You keep obsessing over that one phrase and ignore everything else...

That one phrase is in bold, in a prominent position on their website and it is incorrect.

It isn't, though, it's a subsidiary heading with text below it clearly stating, "Commission-free, unlimited instant trades."
The main "lead" on the homepage, at least six times the size, is: "Invest. Commission-free."
You can clearly see all of this in the screenshot I posted yesterday.

I don't think it's any different to those "Commission Free" signs to see at Bureaux de Change. They may not be charging you any commission but they made their money on the spread. No planform is ever going to be 100% as they have to make their money from somewhere.
I've been dabbling with Freedtrade recently. It's very basic in functionality but at least it keeps things simple. I like the idea of fractional shares though at present these are only available for US stocks.

I did wonder about this in the beginning but like I've said, I've been seeing no difference between Freetrade's prices and those quoted by AJ Bell, iWeb and Barclays on the securities I'm interested in and, unlike Trading212, the trades execute as immediately as you'd expect - they always appear in the real-time LSE feeds before the app even tells you it's completed. To give me access to a wider range of companies, I upgraded to the £9.99pm 'Plus' account, though, so it is making a little something from me. I think that as a basic, execution only stockbroker it's pretty good and it can do basic things that many established brokers cannot do like e.g., give service messages, send an e-mail when a dividend has been received.

maxsteam

Doshwaster said:

I don't think it's any different to those "Commission Free" signs to see at Bureaux de Change. They may not be charging you any commission but they made their money on the spread. No planform is ever going to be 100% as they have to make their money from somewhere.

I would not grumble so loudly if, like many money changers, they plastered their site with the phrase "commission free" or "no commission". However, I have yet to see a money changer offering to change money for free.

I expect, in the world of serious investing, brokers to be honest. As it is the investor and not Freetrade.io who pays the costs of spread, changing currencies and stamp duty, Freetrade.io are being dishonest and they are misleading investors with statements like "Build and track the portfolio that suits you with no fees or charges".

Corum_uk

To the OP, if your looking to build a simple portfolio and are happy to restrict yourself to trading on the London Stock Exchange, then I can strongly recommend taking a look at X-O. They offer a really bare bones service but have very reasonable and straightforward fees and are reliable.
The only reason I've been looking for alternatives recently is due to having invested slightly more than the max covered by the FSCS with them.
I've got an account with Degiro as well but their fee structure is overly complicated and not always as cheap as you might expect.

Koloto

Thanks everyone for their help. It’s been appreciated. I got a freetrade account open. It’s fine but will look at x-o too. Used a link from a referrer for a free share too