any good UK discount brokers? NOT IB

i have £2k, i haven't found a good cheap broker in the UK yet, it seems to be around £10 a trade- that is too expensive

i'm interested in too

In terms of flat fees, I think you'll be lucky to find a broker that charges less than, say, £9.95 a trade. I use E*Trade, who go down to £7 but you have to trade at least 20 times a month to get that. If you trade at least 5 times a month, they charge £9. The fees apply for the rest of the month and the whole of the following one, so other than my first 5 trades with them, I have never paid more than £9.

Some brokers will pool investments and deal at set times and charge lower fees - Interactive Investor's Portfolio Builder charges £1.50, but it is obviously far less flexible. Nevertheless, this is the only cost effective route for a small sum.

You may want to consider spreadbetting also.

Jock Strap said:

In terms of flat fees, I think you'll be lucky to find a broker that charges less than, say, £9.95 a trade. I use E*Trade, who go down to £7 but you have to trade at least 20 times a month to get that. If you trade at least 5 times a month, they charge £9. The fees apply for the rest of the month and the whole of the following one, so other than my first 5 trades with them, I have never paid more than £9.

Some brokers will pool investments and deal at set times and charge lower fees - Interactive Investor's Portfolio Builder charges £1.50, but it is obviously far less flexible. Nevertheless, this is the only cost effective route for a small sum.

You may want to consider spreadbetting also.

Click to expand...

what's Interactive Investor's Portfolio Builder?
what about stamp duty in E*trade uk?

thanks'n advance

Stewenson133 said:

what's Interactive Investor's Portfolio Builder?
what about stamp duty in E*trade uk?

thanks'n advance

Click to expand...

The Portfolio builder is available from iii.co.uk, although I know a number of larger firms offer this type of pooled service. This is some info from III's website:

With Portfolio Builder you choose one of four calendar dates on which to trade each month. III then collect everyone's requests and make bulk trades, passing commission savings on.
As well as letting you buy shares for just £1.50, Portfolio Builder gives you the flexibility to choose whether to invest with regular monthly payments or a one-off lump sum and to start and stop investing whenever you want. It is available within an ISA.
The minimum limit per investment is £20. There is no maximum limit. The Portfolio Builder plan has been created for new investors.
You can still buy or sell at a time of your choosing if required, with the normal trading commission of £10 for UK trades.

Click to expand...

I haven't used this type of service as I swing trade a much larger account but this could be a way to dip your toe with a small trading sum.

Clearly, the downside is that you are restricted by having to trade at set times of the month, but that is the price of having such low commissions. It is obviously not conducive to active trading but nor is a small account.

With regard to stamp duty, you can't avoid that unless you trade CFDs, but as it is proportionate at 0.5%, it will obviously be less on smaller trades

Have you considered spreadbetting? If you are dealing with small amounts and use a good broker with tight spreads, it can be a cost effective method of getting access to the stock market. There is no stamp duty or CGT etc as well and the spread usually covers all the fees, making it quite a straight forward method. But you need to do some research so you understand what you are getting into as it is easy to blow your account due to the leveraged nature of the product (small sums can command large equivalent positions).

Let me know if you need any more info.

Hello,

I'm looking too. I'm suspicious of spreadbetting because they are essentially run by bookies. But, the costs are much lower.

Have looked at e*trade also. I've found Share Centre with the Trader option is good if you do more than 10/qtr. Leaning towards iii at the moment.

Please post back if you find better.

Cheers,

Eek! said:

Hello,

I'm looking too. I'm suspicious of spreadbetting because they are essentially run by bookies. But, the costs are much lower.

Otherwise, the going rate is £10 a trade. You can get cheaper if you do more than 10/qtr (Share Centre) or 6/month or even better 20/month (e*trade). I'm also looking at iii cos they have no admin/activity charges.

Please post back if you find better.

Cheers,

Click to expand...

Most of the main brokers now run spreadbetting platforms, so in theory it is just another derivative, like CFDs. If they have a sensible business model, they will hedge their positions to remain neutral and will make their main profit from the spread, meaning the more money you make and the more you trade, the more profitable they are. I started spreadbetting with £1,500 in February, withdrew £1000 last week and have a current balance of £1,800 so you can certainly make money that way and for a small trading account it can be more cost effective.

Does "everyone" who is based in the UK and trading UK shares pay stamp duty or does it just apply to individuals, not companies or partnerships?
It seems difficult to imagine how folks could successfully scalp whilst chuicking 0.5% of their capital away each time. What do city firms do?

oops, posted that reply on the wrong thread - please ignore I'll re-post correctly

jammy1337 said:

i have £2k, i haven't found a good cheap broker in the UK yet, it seems to be around £10 a trade- that is too expensive

Click to expand...

Hi Jammy,

I got an email through today from these people:

CFD Advisory Broker | CFD Broker | CFD Trading | CFD Platform

They say that you trade DMA CFD's meaning market prices and dont have to pay a
minimum charge apart from 0.1% of the transaction. With your £2k you could in effect purchase £20k worth of shares as most of their leverage on UK shares is 10%. I repeat minimum 0.1% charge is on UK Stocks only.

Ive not read it all but have a look as it may be what you are looking for.

Ged