Arguably the most popular trading platform, MetaTrader 4 creates a powerful and flexible trading environment. It is suitable for beginners and advanced traders and offers automated trading through the use of Expert Advisors and a selection of order types. Keep up with financial announcements, and stay ahead of market movements, with news and analysis built into our online trading platform. Trades entered into this paper trading account will not actually execute on any exchange or settle at a clearing house. However, the price of your executions will be determined by real market prices and sizes.

However, no dealing fee for funds and is unusual is charging a non-tiered platform fee. Low share dealing fee of £4.95 although one of higher platform fees at 0.4% (under £250,000). Given the range of options, it can be daunting for beginners to find the right trading platform.

Fast, efficient online trading platform

You may also have to pay capital gains tax if you sell the shares for a higher price than the price you paid. Some platforms may offer more competitive buy-sell spreads than others, and less traded shares, such as FTSE Small Cap companies, typically have wider spreads than FTSE 100 companies. Some of the platforms charge other types of fees, such as inactivity fees and withdrawal fees and fees for trading by telephone. This was carried out between 9-10 am on the same day to allow a fair comparison of response times. It provides free one-on-one investment coaching sessions with financial planners and offers comprehensive market research although company-specific research is more limited.

There is a limit of £30,000 for this account – accounts will be transferred to the Investor plan (costing £9.99 per month) if the value exceeds £30,000. The largest DIY trading platforms, including Hargreaves Lansdown, interactive investor and AJ Bell, continue to dominate the market. However, there has been a rise in zero-commission, app-based trading platforms, including eToro, Freetrade and Trading 212, over the last five years.

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Investors are also able to view their investments in real-time, enabling them to monitor their portfolio and make investment decisions. These products may not be suitable for all clients, therefore ensure, that you understand the risks and seek independent advice. 72% of retail investors lose money when https://xcritical.com/ trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how spread bets and CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. It charges one of the lower share trading fees of £4.95, along with no trading fees on funds or US shares.

Trading by telephone is provided to customers with a portfolio of $25,000. AJ Bell provides a six-day-a week telephone service, with our calls answered within a minute. What’s more, it stood out on the quality of responses to our questions. It was also one of the few platforms xcritical trading platform to offer a live chat facility. Clients wanting to buy a wider range of shares will need to pay £4.99 or £9.99 a month to upgrade to Freetrade Standard or Plus respectively. Overall, HL is a good option for investors willing to pay the extra cost for a premium service.

Customer Service

Information provided on Forbes Advisor is for educational purposes only. Your financial situation is unique and the products and services we review may not be right for your circumstances. We do not offer financial advice, advisory or brokerage services, nor do we recommend or advise individuals or to buy or sell particular stocks or securities. Performance information may have changed since the time of publication.

73% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. 84% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Investing made simple

One of the best ways to simplify your trading is with indicators, scripts and other apps. Trading Station comes pre-loaded with dozens of helpful indicators. But with FXCM apps, you can easily download indicators and other apps to help you customise your charts. Like your favourite apps stores, FXCM’s forex trading apps offer hundreds of unique applications, indicators and strategies, ideal for any trader. The Speculative Sentiment Index is a proprietary contrarian indicator designed to help you trade trending markets. The index ratio tells you whether the number of positions held by traders are net long or short a particular currency pair, and to what degree.

• Each platform will also come with a set of order types, and most will include such features as stop losses and pending order types.
• Check out how the major indices are doing, what’s on the agenda, currency exchange rates, the latest news and more.
• If you do not see this, you are trading in your production account and will be liable for all trades that fill.
• Some manual platforms, such as MT4 and MT5, support automated trading functionality.
• However, it responded very quickly via its messaging facility, and provided an excellent level of information in response to our questions.