Urgently need a decent UK broker

Hi all,

First, all I want to trade for now is plain, ordinary shares on LSE, all of those, which are possible to trade as a private trader. I am not intersted in CFDs or spread betting. Just ordinary shares for now.

I MUST have the market depth (DMA Level 2 or similar), which MUST show me VWAP (Volume Weighted Average Price). I really want to have integrated order execution!

Ideal case, mobile trading enabled, and level 2 pricing available on mobile also.

Here is my frustrating experience so far:

1. Shareprice.co.uk - subscribed to "Level 2 streaming prices". What a mockery of a service! It does not show you anything other than a few levels of bid/offer.
Also, for trading, they would not allow to trade about half the stocks on LSE.

2. Equitrade. Appears just right on their website. I called 3 times, left 2 emails. Registered for opening account. Still nobody can be bothered to contact me whatsoever. Perhaps they have too much money and don't want money anymore?

2. Interactive Investor (iii). Got nice Quotestream feed, very useful (i thought). But alas, not integrated order execution.
Placed order to buy share in LSE code SHFT. 30 mins later the order is not appearing in the market. I called the support and the guy told me that you only see the market makers bids in Quotestream (not everybody else' bids, like mine). And that marker makers decided to limit volume of trade, and they have to ring them to execute my order.

Question - are iii totally incompetent and ripping me off, or is this a normal industry practice these days???

I would go for Barclays BARX, but currently trying to avoid expensive quarterly charges.

Can you recommend a reasonable UK broker with inetgrated live Level 2 platform and reasonable charges? One where I can get my orders onto the market, and ACTUALLY SEE the status of my orders, and not have to ring them up!

Further exerience with Interactive Investor this morning.
At limit orders to sell - not getting onto the market whatsoever, not getting executed. Order to sell at best gets a price about 3 levels below he best bid but at least gets executed instantly (ripping me off about 4.8% of share price).

Called them up to report on problems. The line just drops off, took about 8 attempts to get through. They saidthey will investigate, and line dropped off.

In regard to not placing my orders and selling at 3 levels below the best buy bid - is this pure incompetence, logic errors in the system or downright dishonesty?

They lost me as a customer. I need a more honest and reliable and competent broker!

Interactive Brokers

Chucky11 said:

Further exerience with Interactive Investor this morning.
At limit orders to sell - not getting onto the market whatsoever, not getting executed. Order to sell at best gets a price about 3 levels below he best bid but at least gets executed instantly (ripping me off about 4.8% of share price).

Called them up to report on problems. The line just drops off, took about 8 attempts to get through. They saidthey will investigate, and line dropped off.

In regard to not placing my orders and selling at 3 levels below the best buy bid - is this pure incompetence, logic errors in the system or downright dishonesty?

They lost me as a customer. I need a more honest and reliable and competent broker!

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Chuckup you sound like and act like a gormless pillock. Your broker is there as your BITCH not the other way round. There is no such thing a a "decent" broker. Do some research, make your decisions alone and then keep it to yourself. We have a huge party every time somebody gets ripped off because it could well be me that is taking the other side of your trades.

interactive brokers

Sidekicker said:

Interactive Brokers

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Mmm! I find the TWS ok but that is not all of it. Their security is a bind, to say the least. In fact, the whole site is a bit difficult to navigate when you start moving funds or asking any questions.

I've moved from there.

Bint_Crusher said:

Chuckup you sound like and act like a gormless pillock. Your broker is there as your BITCH not the other way round. There is no such thing a a "decent" broker. Do some research, make your decisions alone and then keep it to yourself. We have a huge party every time somebody gets ripped off because it could well be me that is taking the other side of your trades.

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You know what he means by using the word "decent" broker, don't you? Or isn't English your first language? If it isn't, I apologise. Looks like you are trying to belittle the guy with your superiority. A civilised question deserves a civilised answer.

By "decent" i mean "reasonable" in their charges, execution speed, competence, helpfulness (should I say being contactable at all) and have DMA Level 2 trading platform, or something similar.

Bint, if you actually have something useful to say in my thread, please advise on what broker you would recommend.

Drop me an email [email protected]

I am now having a tethink. It appears that trading ordinary equities is unpopular in UK, and so the better brokers are now oriented more towards CFD's. The market is always right, so I will adjust to trade CFDs on equities.

Equitrade appear to have an excellent platform, however the fees are steep at 0.25%.

Please recommend a reliable broker with a fast DMA Level 2 platform, with integrated order facility, and ideally mobile trading!

Above all they MUST be competent enough to place orders onto the live order book etc., much unlike the retards at Interactive Investor (iii).

I have never traded CFD's and do not profess to know anything about them except that, if I recall from a thread on T2W, a lot of banks and brokers seemed to trade their own and the prices varied quite a bit between them. In other words, it was a bit of a minefield. Probably been cleaned up a bit now, though.

https://www.stockbrokers.barclays.co.uk Big names work over here.

I think the disadvantages of Barclays Stockbrokers are:
1. Very expensive platform ie 45 pounds per month (Equitrade do not charge for Level 2 platform access as such)
2. No mobile app trading at all.

Chucky11 said:

I think the disadvantages of Barclays Stockbrokers are:
1. Very expensive platform ie 45 pounds per month (Equitrade do not charge for Level 2 platform access as such)
2. No mobile app trading at all.

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1. You get what you pay for, If you want to trade on a mobile then you are more than a bit of a kcid.
If you know all of this then why are you asking on this forum
Buy 2000

It appears that CFD trading is not all that clear. It is illegal in USA due to conflict of interest that brokers have. Here in UK it appears that plenty of brokers (who are also the market makers) are happily and actively trading against you, the client!

If anybody had good experiences with CFD equity trading, please recommend the brokers. No fake positive recommendations please.

Chucky11 said:

I am now having a tethink. It appears that trading ordinary equities is unpopular in UK, and so the better brokers are now oriented more towards CFD's. The market is always right, so I will adjust to trade CFDs on equities.

Equitrade appear to have an excellent platform, however the fees are steep at 0.25%.

Please recommend a reliable broker with a fast DMA Level 2 platform, with integrated order facility, and ideally mobile trading!

Above all they MUST be competent enough to place orders onto the live order book etc., much unlike the retards at Interactive Investor (iii).

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Chuckup I think you are living in a dreamworld or are plain mentally ill. Why don't you give me yer cash to "invest" for you. :smart::smart::smart::smart::smart::smart::smart::smart::smart::smart::smart:

Chucky11 said:

It appears that CFD trading is not all that clear. It is illegal in USA due to conflict of interest that brokers have. Here in UK it appears that plenty of brokers (who are also the market makers) are happily and actively trading against you, the client!

If anybody had good experiences with CFD equity trading, please recommend the brokers. No fake positive recommendations please.

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I'm trying to give you some useful food for thought. Ask advice from Barjon, because I know that he is a trader of UK stock. I used to be but have drifted onto index trading. That is not, necessarily, a hint that you should do the same. You are thinking of UK stocks, so investigate it before you move on.

Mr. Charts trades US stocks. Ask him, as well, why he does not do UK ones. These are established posters who will tell you, sensibly, what they think.

Brokers drummed up the CFD idea to increase their profits. That may not include a desire to increase yours, though. In fact, I would suggest the opposite, so think along those lines. If a broker offers you a certain method of buying and it is his suggestion, not yours, ask yourself what he is getting out of it.

Chucky,
By broker I guess you mean a broker where you can buy with your own cash and pay stamp duty. I am in the same boat trying to find a "decent" broker too.
IF you mean CFD is also ok then you could do a lot worse than to use Accendo on an IG L2 platform with free advanced charts available if you make 2 round trip trades (4 x £10 broker fees) per month.
You get a "personal broker" who takes an interest in you.
Buzz me if you want to know more

RS

Chucky11 said:

By "decent" i mean "reasonable" in their charges, execution speed, competence, helpfulness (should I say being contactable at all) and have DMA Level 2 trading platform, or something similar.

Bint, if you actually have something useful to say in my thread, please advise on what broker you would recommend.

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Have you found a decent broker yet?

Made my recommendation, Barclays ROCKS. ROCKS ROCKS ROCKS