Best brokers for active ISA and SIPP traders

HarbyTrage

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Greetings fellow traders.
I wonder if I could pick your collective experiences.... Long story short I need to find some new brokers to handle my accounts. I am a seasoned investor / trader, UK based and have been running long equity strategies for many years. I have already been gearing up to broaden my investment horizon and this has coincided with my need to find a new broker/brokers, as it happens. So, who do you guys use for execution of your trading in your ISAs / SIPPs and oridinary accounts? I tend to place 100 or so trades a month but can easily do 300+ per month if the market conditions suit me - low costs and an easy platform are going to be important.
Anyone got any suggestions?
 
Greetings fellow traders.
I wonder if I could pick your collective experiences.... Long story short I need to find some new brokers to handle my accounts. I am a seasoned investor / trader, UK based and have been running long equity strategies for many years. I have already been gearing up to broaden my investment horizon and this has coincided with my need to find a new broker/brokers, as it happens. So, who do you guys use for execution of your trading in your ISAs / SIPPs and oridinary accounts? I tend to place 100 or so trades a month but can easily do 300+ per month if the market conditions suit me - low costs and an easy platform are going to be important.
Anyone got any suggestions?

I use iWeb, £5 a trade for UK and international shares, and no annual fees on the ISA. Sipp has a fee. I guess that would add up to quite a lot of charges with 100-300 trades a month though.
 
Greetings fellow traders.
I wonder if I could pick your collective experiences.... Long story short I need to find some new brokers to handle my accounts. I am a seasoned investor / trader, UK based and have been running long equity strategies for many years. I have already been gearing up to broaden my investment horizon and this has coincided with my need to find a new broker/brokers, as it happens. So, who do you guys use for execution of your trading in your ISAs / SIPPs and oridinary accounts? I tend to place 100 or so trades a month but can easily do 300+ per month if the market conditions suit me - low costs and an easy platform are going to be important.
Anyone got any suggestions?

contact saxobank they have a SIPP product where you can trade through their multi-asset platform.
 
I use iWeb, £5 a trade for UK and international shares, and no annual fees on the ISA. Sipp has a fee. I guess that would add up to quite a lot of charges with 100-300 trades a month though.

Thank you, iWeb is one that had come up in my research as offering low transaction cost - how do you find them? what is their platform like to use in practice? straightforward placing trades? I think iWeb are what used to be Halifax, aren't they? iWeb is definately one I am going to consider so any further comment you (or anyone else) can offer would be welcome.

contact saxobank they have a SIPP product where you can trade through their multi-asset platform.

Saxobank is another that had come up in my research that looked interesting - thanks, I will look at them a bit more closely.

I also see that Interactive Brokers offer a SIPP facility - a couple of my friends use IB and they are another I am considering. Again, I would welcome any thoughts here.
 
Thank you, iWeb is one that had come up in my research as offering low transaction cost - how do you find them? what is their platform like to use in practice? straightforward placing trades? I think iWeb are what used to be Halifax, aren't they? iWeb is definately one I am going to consider so any further comment you (or anyone else) can offer would be welcome.



Saxobank is another that had come up in my research that looked interesting - thanks, I will look at them a bit more closely.

I also see that Interactive Brokers offer a SIPP facility - a couple of my friends use IB and they are another I am considering. Again, I would welcome any thoughts here.

I've been happy with iWeb. It is run by Halifax sharedealing, a whitelabel version of it I think. I used to use their standard one but the dealing costs were higher and iWeb is the exact same system. I think the SIPP fee is about £60 a quarter but ISA has no fee (one off set up fee applies I think). Their system seems to work. I have had a couple of occasions where the dealing screen won't load, but it seems to be only when in Chrome. Internet explorer always works ok.

The trade plan stuff is good for my needs, you can have trailing stops, limit orders, stop loss and also "range trading" orders.

I don't trade any where near 100 times a month though. Maybe ~20-30 times.
 
I also see that Interactive Brokers offer a SIPP facility - a couple of my friends use IB and they are another I am considering. Again, I would welcome any thoughts here.

I have a SIPP using IB and find it great especially if you want to trade US stocks or futures or in fact any worldwide exchange.

Brit
 
Hi folks
i am also looking to set up a SIPP. I want to trade US options but not sure if this is allowed in a SIPP. I not then hargreaves lansdown seem competitive on fees. I found interactive brokers trading quite complex but that was about 3 years ago.
 
I can't see why you wouldn't be allowed to trade Options in a SIPP, so long as you are not writing naked. Whether you can actually find someone who will allow you to do so is another matter! I am surprised how difficult I am finding it just to find someone who will allow me to trade forex in a SIPP at sensible margin (Alpari and Saxo Bank seem viable so far - anyone else got any suggestions?).
What sort of strategies are you using for your Options, as that may make a difference? and when you say US options are you talking options on US stocks or just refering to US exercise style options in the UK?

From the phonecall I had with IB this afternoon, it seems they WON'T let you trade forex within their SIPP offering... anyone got any thoughts on Forex in SIPPs?
 
Hi Harby
I wish to do conservative strategies such as selling put options (back by cash) and writing covered calls. I would also like to be allowed to buy call and put options. I trade stocks and ETFS that are listed on the US exchanges. I have heard that FXCM do SIPPS aswell as forex but could not confirm from their website - fxcm.co.uk. shame about IB. word of warning..avoid berkeley futures!!!
 
Hi Harby
I wish to do conservative strategies such as selling put options (back by cash) and writing covered calls. I would also like to be allowed to buy call and put options. I trade stocks and ETFS that are listed on the US exchanges. I have heard that FXCM do SIPPS aswell as forex but could not confirm from their website - fxcm.co.uk. shame about IB. word of warning..avoid berkeley futures!!!

Hi Original OT,

FXCM Securities offers SIPP accounts allowing you to trade stocks, futures and options in addition to forex. It's important to note that when trading in the financial markets, your capital is at risk. If you would like more information about our SIPP accounts, I can have one of my colleagues in our London office follow up with you. Just send me a private message, if you're interested.

Jason
 
Just to update this with my findings :D
For trading in an ISA there are a number of discount ex-only brokers and for me, at the time of writing (Aug 2013), iWeb looked to be the best all round compromise. £5 per deal, online execution (with phone backup), full suite of instruments and real-time pricing on UK. iWeb is a discount arm of Halifax share dealing, so they have some pedigree.

For trading in a SIPP its slightly more complex - straight equity trading can be done at great value for money through Sippdeal, iWeb also have a SIPP offering for straight equity trading and all the discount brokers with SIPP offerings are also the scheme administrator. This means that if you already have a scheme administrator you cannot appoint a discount broker with their own SIPP product as a nominated broker, you have to go direct to the discount broker.
If you want to be able to trade more exotic instruments (CFDs, Forex, Commodities etc.) it can be done but a scheme administrator is required that will allow the appointment of the broker of your choice. The choice of administrators is bewildering and there are very few resources on line to be able to compare them side by side. Independent Financial Advice (IFA) Nottingham | Best Buy Savings Tables | ISA's | Pension Annuity Calculator rate a mention here as this is one of the few websites contianing comprehensive information on a big range of SIPP providers. After a good deal of crunching, I shortlisted three SIPP providers that appeared suitable for me and these were Corporate & professional Pensions, Curtis Banks SIPP and InvestAcc Minerva SIPP. There are plenty more that will do the job, its just a question of checking they will allow what you want and assessing how much they charge for the privilege - everyone is likely to have their own specific circumstances and needs here, so (as always) DYOR. I plumped for one of the three listed above and transferred my SIPP from my existing provider / sceme administrator (which was remarkably painless).

With regards brokers for SIPPs, again there is a wide choice depending on what you wish to achieve. Assuming there is a desire to trade Forex or currency pairs directly and CFDs, those already set up for handling SIPP accounts include Alpari, FXCM, GFT, and SaxoBank, with available margin levels varying between them. They all offer MT4 if that is your bag. It is then a question of opening an account via the SIPP provider and lodging funds. I plumped for one of the ones above. IB also rate a mention here as they too have a SIPP compliant account, offering a huge array of tradeable instruments with the attractive IB levels of commission etc. although they won't allow FX trading (in my understanding) - hence no good for me.

I will update this in due course to expand on my real world experiences of the platforms, execution and functionality, but the above may save some fellow traders a little time if looking to trade forex in a SIPP.
 
Hi Original OT,

FXCM Securities offers SIPP accounts allowing you to trade stocks, futures and options in addition to forex. It's important to note that when trading in the financial markets, your capital is at risk. If you would like more information about our SIPP accounts, I can have one of my colleagues in our London office follow up with you. Just send me a private message, if you're interested.

Jason

Thanks! :) been looking for something like this!
I presume it would be easy to transfer a personal pension into the fxcm sipp!
 
Hi Original OT,

FXCM Securities offers SIPP accounts allowing you to trade stocks, futures and options in addition to forex. It's important to note that when trading in the financial markets, your capital is at risk. If you would like more information about our SIPP accounts, I can have one of my colleagues in our London office follow up with you. Just send me a private message, if you're interested.

Jason

Hi Jason, just phoned Phone: +44 207 903 6150, to get the ball rolling, but the most unhelpful guy! He says that I need to first find a SIPP provider, who in turn will allow me to trade with FXCM

I asked can you provide me with a list of sipp provider?
he says he cannot give advise!

all i want is a list of sipp providers who use fxcm
 
Hi Jason, just phoned Phone: +44 207 903 6150, to get the ball rolling, but the most unhelpful guy! He says that I need to first find a SIPP provider, who in turn will allow me to trade with FXCM

I asked can you provide me with a list of sipp provider?
he says he cannot give advise!

all i want is a list of sipp providers who use fxcm

Hi Forex,

I apologize on behalf of my colleague who took your call. If you email me at [email protected] I can give you a list of SIPP providers and arrange a follow up call for you with one of my colleagues who can help you in setting up such an account.

Jason
 
hi jason
i finally got a call today from FXCM only to be told that retail customers are not allowed to trade options on any of your platforms.
not too surprised as the website does not even mention SIPPS and when i rang the main desk the person had to check whether FXCM even do SIPPS!
guess my search for a SIPP broker continues.
 
good news I can trade options in a SIPP. so far i am limited to 3 brokers. IB, Sucden and Redmayne bentley. i know the latter two are established UK options derivatives brokers so now i am checking their prices and looking for an administrator. best to do this by asking broker for list of administrators that will do what you want to do i.e. options and then asking the administrators which brokers they recommend. leavinf this post for those who may struggle to find a genuine options broker for their SIPP.
 
good news I can trade options in a SIPP. so far i am limited to 3 brokers. IB, Sucden and Redmayne bentley. i know the latter two are established UK options derivatives brokers so now i am checking their prices and looking for an administrator. best to do this by asking broker for list of administrators that will do what you want to do i.e. options and then asking the administrators which brokers they recommend. leavinf this post for those who may struggle to find a genuine options broker for their SIPP.

Hi Original OT.

Did you eventually get anywhere trying to set up a sipp account and brokerage account to trade options? If so what combination are you currently using?

There is suprisingly little information online from either the sipp providers or brokers regarding any of this.
 
sipps

Hi
I did get sorted and I am now happily trading option strategies in my SIPP.
I returned to interactive brokers and my experience this time round had been excellent. if you need a sipp administrator let me know.
 
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