Trading in ISA's

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fillyerboots

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Does any one out there actively trade shares in an ISA?

Although ISA's restrict the amount of capital you initially invest any profits are tax free.

You can actively trade in and out of the value of your ISA even if with profits, it has grown to be larger than what you put in.

As far as I am aware you can't put CFDs in an ISA... that would be taking the p a little.

But if you are confident of your long only equity strategy it seems a no brainer.

Downside is it is long only (no shorting).

Securities only (no futures)

Do many people out there trade actively within ISA accounts?
 
I did initially try trading within the ISA, but the costs are prohibitive. This was a couple of years ago when not many brokeres were available with self select ISAs. I then went for growth shares in the folder instead. But now more brokers are able to offer this self select, the charges are reducing so I am seriously thinking of moving my ISA elsewhere and activating the idea of trading it again. The only other bugbear - as you mentioned - no shorting so needs research for the right market, and you cannot buy everything you see, quite a lot of markets cannot be put in an ISA.
 
I trade my PEP/ISA portfolio actively. While there is no shorting allowed, the exit into cash provides a partial solution.

I use Comdirect, but E-Trade, i-Dealing etc offer low rates(£12.5 or less per trade).

As you quite rightly point out these accounts are tax free from capital gains (but there is no off-set for any losses). Given the track record of most investors this may not be such an advantage as it appears.

I treat my ISA/PEP assets as part of my overall portfolio. I use CFDs, SpreadBetting to facilitate any "shorting" urge.
 
Filly

My Broker (ODL Securities) have ISA/PEP accounts. No CFD's, shorting, options., but perfect for ordinary long trades.

What I'm looking for is a direct access broker with ISA, but haven't found one yet.
 
I also use comdirect to trade my ISA (and a PEP and a SIPP). I actively trade the i-shares FTSE-100 which has no stamp duty on it. It also has the added bonus that you can buy it for free within a comdirect ISA or PEP. It costs £12.50 to sell it though.

I still manage to rack up about £2000 of dealing charges a year so if anybody knows of a company with a better charging structure for people making a large number of orders - please let me know.

Thanks,

John.
 
darrren said:
Filly

My Broker (ODL Securities) have ISA/PEP accounts. No CFD's, shorting, options., but perfect for ordinary long trades.

What I'm looking for is a direct access broker with ISA, but haven't found one yet.
Click to expand...

Try i-dealing. If you are still looking!
 
Any update from those trading shares in an ISA?

Are dealing fees still as high as £12.50 one way?

Has anyone found a direct access broker with ISA facility?
 
Yes i-dealing offer direct access within an ISA.

I think the cheapest dealing costs you get at the moment are about £7 one way. I think the name is Hoodless Brenan or something like that.

John.
 
jls483 said:
Yes i-dealing offer direct access within an ISA.

I think the cheapest dealing costs you get at the moment are about £7 one way. I think the name is Hoodless Brenan or something like that.

John.
Click to expand...

John

I am looking into direct access trading of US shares quoted on the NASDAQ and doing so within an ISA tax free wrapper. I'm comparing the cost with taxable trading.

I've been looking at both iDealing and My Broker, as both claim to offer direct access. Here's what I found out.

MyBroker, also called ODL Securities, offers an ISA with admin fees of 0.3% quarterly with a minimum of £7.50. On the LSE it costs £12.50 per trade up to £2,000 and £25 per trade above £2,000. It costs $15.95 for US equities. MyBroker claims to offer direct access to all major markets, incl. NASDAQ.

iDealing offers an ISA with a £5 quarterly admin fee and £60 a/c closure fee. It costs £9.90 per trade on the LSE and $19.50 for a NASDAQ trade. Direct access for LSE only.

Catt
 
I use squaregain later selftrade. I chosen selftrade because it has access to many funds.
If you don't do many trades then even 12.5 per buy/sell is ok.
I'm long long time so fees make app. 1% of my earnings so is not bad.
 
Catt,

Thanks for the info. I use i-dealing for direct access in my SIPP and ISA and I am very pleased with the service. It's good to hear that it is also reasonably priced. The only thing that surprised me, and it makes perfect sense now, is that when doing direct access in an instrument priced in USD you will need dollars in your account - even if it is traded on LSE. After converting my account to dollars I hedged my exposure by buying some GBPUSD spreadbets. Now I don't have to worry about what happens to the dollar. So if oil goes from $50 a barrel to $100, but the $ goes from being worth 50p to 25p, unhedged the investment would not change, but when hedged I will double my money. If anybody wants to know how I did this - please ask.

Another advantage of holding dollars when trading dollar denominated instruments is that you won't lose out a little on exchange rates/fees when your pounds are converted to dollars each time as I believe some brokers do make a little extra this way.
 
archimg,

Selftrade does not offer Direct Access trading.


John,

Nice to hear you are pleased with iDealing. In their favour is the pricing structure, especially the admin. fee is not percentage-based like MyBroker's. But when you are trading anything other than LSE it is certainly not Direct Access.

Catt
 
landy

Take a look at the MyBroker and iDealing websites. Both offer email and telephone help if you want to ask them the question.

Catt
 
I believe choosing a broker on basic transaction cost might not be the most efficient way to deal in ISA's.
For example a broker charging £7 per deal may not use all the market makers to gain the best price for their client.Some brokers ,eg Barclays who charge £12, claim to scan the market before quoting.
Annual management fees , dividend collection and interest on cash balances could also be taken into consideration but overall it will be difficult to achieve all the benefits in one package.
Probably best to choose a named broker with competitive charges.
Ishares (ISF.L} as mentioned is a decent way to trade the FT100 as there is no stamp duty to consider and dealing can be done during trading hours.
I hear PEPS are to be merged with ISAs shortly and I would be interested to know if anyone has any updates on this.

Thanks
 
Hi JLS i read with interest your USD/ GBP hedging strategy with spreadbets.I have a trading account in USD, though I'm a UK citizen living in the UK...can you tell me more about how your spreadbetting works please

Cheers Landy

jls483 said:
Catt,

Thanks for the info. I use i-dealing for direct access in my SIPP and ISA and I am very pleased with the service. It's good to hear that it is also reasonably priced. The only thing that surprised me, and it makes perfect sense now, is that when doing direct access in an instrument priced in USD you will need dollars in your account - even if it is traded on LSE. After converting my account to dollars I hedged my exposure by buying some GBPUSD spreadbets. Now I don't have to worry about what happens to the dollar. So if oil goes from $50 a barrel to $100, but the $ goes from being worth 50p to 25p, unhedged the investment would not change, but when hedged I will double my money. If anybody wants to know how I did this - please ask.

Another advantage of holding dollars when trading dollar denominated instruments is that you won't lose out a little on exchange rates/fees when your pounds are converted to dollars each time as I believe some brokers do make a little extra this way.
Click to expand...
 
Sure, let's assume for the moment that cable is 2.0000 and that you have a dollar account with $40,000 of cash and dollar priced shares. To hedge this account all you need to do is buy 1 GBPUSD spreadbet.

At the beginning with cable at 2 your account is worth £20,000. If Cables falls to 1.9999 then your shares are worth £20,001 but your spreadbet is worth -£1. Similarly if cable goes to 2.0001 then your shares are worth £19,999 but your spreadbet is worth £1. You will find that your spreadbet will always cancel out any change in the exchange rate. Interestingly, whichever way cable moves you will make a small profit and the further the move the better the profit.



The first time I discovered this I thought about devising a strategy of hedging forex with a spreadbet to guarantee a profit, but I found the sums required were so large that the return was only something like 3%.

John.
QUOTE]Cable Shares Spreadbet Total
1.9000 21052.63 -1000 20052.63
1.9900 20100.5 -100 20000.5
1.9990 20010.01 -10 20000.01
1.9999 20001 -1 20000.0001
2.0000 20000 0 20000
2.0001 19999 1 20000
2.0010 19990 10 20000
2.0100 19900.5 100 20000.5
2.1000 19047.62 1000 20047.62
[/QUOTE]
 
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