Buying shares online...

[Lither_1927]

Anyone here dabbled with share trading online?
I'm looking to invest a few quid in American tech firms. No idea what site use, any advice appreciated

[blue matt]

Anyone here dabbled with share trading online?
I'm looking to invest a few quid in American tech firms. No idea what site use, any advice appreciated

I use freetrade, its all App based ( the app icon is a pink square with 3 white lines on it ) works fairly well, mine is liked to Apple Pay and

I went mad and threw cash at Cruise companies and Airlines back during Covid, none of the cruise companies have recovered, most of the airlines have started to bounce back, doubled my money on some of them but they are still less than 1/2 they were before covid, so I'm holding firm on them ( for example united airlines fell from $90 to 20, currently at 50, I got them at 30ish )

[NYCBlue]

I use Acorns and Robinhood. I'm thinking of binning them both though. I don't have a lot invested but I've made a profit. But something just rubs me the wrong way. I work with the uber-wealthy on an almost daily basis. They're ****ing monsters.

[lardy]

I use Acorns and Robinhood. I'm thinking of binning them both though. I don't have a lot invested but I've made a profit. But something just rubs me the wrong way. I work with the uber-wealthy on an almost daily basis. They're ****ing monsters.

Robin hood has a terrible reputation.

Fidelity seems to be recommended in the US, as far as I've heard.

[NYCBlue]

Robin hood has a terrible reputation.

Fidelity seems to be recommended in the US, as far as I've heard.

If you're a serious investor then Fidelity, TD Ameritrade, Charles Schwab etc might be more your thing. But Robinhood is OK for what it is. Basically, a phone app on which you can play at stocks with no money down. Pay as you play.

[WJ99mobile]

I’ve used XO and have had a positive experience

[Doucas]

I'd just go with Trading212 or Freetrade, however every service like this is corrupt as hell. Your orders don't always make it to the stock exchange, often they're stored in a 'dark pool' where the hedge funds turn it off and on like a tap so can help stocks of certain shares to go higher or lower whenever they want.

These trading platforms also force you to lend your shares which again helps hedge funds who are shorting (betting against) a stock which is bad for retail investors like us.

[Doucas]

Robin hood has a terrible reputation.

Fidelity seems to be recommended in the US, as far as I've heard.

Yeah Robin Hood literally turned off the buy button for Gamestop because it was increasing too high which caused it to crash hugely, the whole app/system is designed to screw over the retail investor.

[Optimistic Nick]

I'd just go with Trading212 or Freetrade, however every service like this is corrupt as hell. Your orders don't always make it to the stock exchange, often they're stored in a 'dark pool' where the hedge funds turn it off and on like a tap so can help stocks of certain shares to go higher or lower whenever they want.

These trading platforms also force you to lend your shares which again helps hedge funds who are shorting (betting against) a stock which is bad for retail investors like us.

Force you you? Does freetrade even offer stock lending?

[Doucas]

Force you you? Does freetrade even offer stock lending?

It didn't used to, it does now.

[Optimistic Nick]

It didn't used to, it does now.

Are you sure? I think it's planned for later this year.

[Talksport]

Anyone here dabbled with share trading online?
I'm looking to invest a few quid in American tech firms. No idea what site use, any advice appreciated

I use IWeb. Just £5 per trade. Really good website too.

[FormerlyJohnnyBreadhead]

Yeah Robin Hood literally turned off the buy button for Gamestop because it was increasing too high which caused it to crash hugely, the whole app/system is designed to screw over the retail investor.

The entire basis of their revenue model is selling the order flow data of their users to big money trading firms. Including Citadel, a market maker for Robinhood who also had a massive short position in Gamestop (they were cleared of collusion by a judge, of course).

The sheer irony of calling themselves Robinhood.

[Trigger]

The apps are fine but the zero commission is made up in the spread.

I've used Hargreaves Lansdowne for years now and find them perfect for what I need. Not the cheapest but probably not the most expensive either depending on what you want.

It's all about how much you intend to invest though and for how long as the fees per trade on HL will start to stack up if trading regularly. This is where the free commission apps are great for regular trading, maybe even while learning and getting to grips with it.

Personally I don't touch individual stocks anymore, had some wins but some losses and found it stressful.

I now just have different index funds that track various markets. No fees to buy the funds on HL but there are maintenance costs which vary on fund.

For instance there's a fund run by legal and general which I invest into monthly which tracks the American market. At present because of the size of the tech firms the bulk of the fund is made up of the top US tech firms. But you could probably find one made up purely of tech. There are thousands on there. Vanguard is also decent for funds but perhaps easier to start with as they have less options, I think they only run their own funds, may be wrong. But again you can get one that tracks the ftse or snp500.

Just putting it out there as another option if you weren't sure on individual stocks. You may know all this already.

[lardy]

I use IWeb. Just £5 per trade. Really good website too.

How often do you trade? If it's DCA of a decent amount every month or so then that might work out, or if you're dealing with very large amount.

For the average retail investor, this seems expensive.

[lardy]

The apps are fine but the zero commission is made up in the spread.

I've used Hargreaves Lansdowne for years now and find them perfect for what I need. Not the cheapest but probably not the most expensive either depending on what you want.

It's all about how much you intend to invest though and for how long as the fees per trade on HL will start to stack up if trading regularly. This is where the free commission apps are great for regular trading, maybe even while learning and getting to grips with it.

Personally I don't touch individual stocks anymore, had some wins but some losses and found it stressful.

I now just have different index funds that track various markets. No fees to buy the funds on HL but there are maintenance costs which vary on fund.

For instance there's a fund run by legal and general which I invest into monthly which tracks the American market. At present because of the size of the tech firms the bulk of the fund is made up of the top US tech firms. But you could probably find one made up purely of tech. There are thousands on there. Vanguard is also decent for funds but perhaps easier to start with as they have less options, I think they only run their own funds, may be wrong. But again you can get one that tracks the ftse or snp500.

Just putting it out there as another option if you weren't sure on individual stocks. You may know all this already.

ETFs are the way to do it. Luckily I figured that out early on without getting burned too much by individual stocks. The people who had successes when they started and thought they had the magic touch wont be so lucky in the long term.

I'm definitely an investor not a trader.

[Lither_1927]

Thanks for all your replies, i quite like the sound of ETF's based around companies heavily involved with bitcoin, if anyone knows of such an ETF, I'd be interested!

[lardy]

Thanks for all your replies, i quite like the sound of ETF's based around companies heavily involved with bitcoin, if anyone knows of such an ETF, I'd be interested!

Search for crypto ETFs

[skunkatron]

I use Etoro easy to use, no commission though you do lose a bit on the spread but not a huge amount. Only real catch is a $5 withdrawal fee. Good luck and stay lucky.

[blue matt]

I see Shell are in the news for making a obscene profit

during lockdowns they were £10 a share, now £23 quid, almost back to where they were pre C19

BP are similar, pre C19 £6, lockdowns £ 2, now £4.23

I hope my cruise and airlines won't be far behind

[chris lee]

Most people try to overthink or 'play' the markets.

The best performing investment has, and always will be index funds (personally I split between the s+p500 and FTSE 250), even Warren Buffet the 'oracle' regarded as the best managed trader of all time has admitted, that index funds have outperformed him in his lifetime.

The problem is they are 'boring' and people keep investing in the lure of companies or managed accounts.

the first minute of this video is everything you ever need to know about investing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW0o...annel=darkmana

[chris lee]

Another good video for those interested.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dphm...heInvestorShow