Freetrade: Trading & Investing 4+

Good but needs work.

I understand this is a relatively new platform, so teething problems are expected and that’s how systems get better. This has been a good app for me as I’ve been able to dive straight into the stock market and experience the excitement and devastation of earning and losing money. This platform isn’t great if you’re looking to day trade as the charts are very much delayed and inaccurate, however it is possible to use other charts and just purchase the stock through the app. This app stands out as the fees to date are free and you can execute a trade at no charge, other than small amounts of tax for each trade. Other platforms charge anywhere from £7-14 for one trade which is extortionate for someone having a dabble with a couple of hundred pounds. I would definitely recommend this app to experience the high and lows of buying stocks, but it’s very difficult to judge the market especially when you’re up against advanced AI systems that execute trades automatically. Be mindful and be careful and only invest what you can afford.

Fantastic App - deserves 10 stars

Love this app as it lets user take control. Serious tool for investors, and customer focused. Easy to use - invest how you want without the friction and treacle-like slowness of more traditional platforms. In fact going back to them to transact is a shock after the ease of use on Freetrade. Trads are sooo slow, unnecessarily so. And er.. sticky fingered. On Freetrade you move at the speed you want, we are adults after all and don’t need to be nannied. Fees and transactions are straightforward and honest, you are not dealing with top heavy bloated dinosaur of an organisation. Other modern platforms spam users with useless info and want to put you in touch with their ‘dedicated advisors’ ie sales force who hope to benefit from your cash, yuck, Freetrade doesn’t do this. But if you have a question, a human quickly gets back to you on FT and they couldn’t be more helpful. Refreshing! - Observations based on being customer for three years while trying other institutions along the way. Freetrade is best I’ve found. I can only think that most of the negative reviews I just read are left in bad faith, and perhaps linked to rivals who may feel threatened. I don’t recognise what they say from my own experience. Simple to try app for yourself and see how it is.

Developer Response ,

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Easy, but still dangerous

On Freetrade’s platform and pricing:

The app is targeted towards amateur investors, welcoming them into investing in the most seamless way possible. The app itself is very easy to use, albeit almost “gamifies” investing which may be quite dangerous, and I’m not sure if I agree with. This is shown through various examples such as a limited amount of information being provided for each stock, making it incredibly easy to buy/sell stocks, and getting free stocks for getting someone to sign up and top up as if it were a game. I am not saying I think every investing platform should have an overly complicated UI, but perhaps there is a reason not everyone should get into investing. The charges are reasonable for the amateur investor, but only for someone in a very small investing bracket: for a person who wants to try day trading, 1£ per instant order makes no sense, and is absolutely a steal; for a longer term investor who is an average person with no extreme wealth background, 36£ per year (3£/mo) for an ISA is also a bit of a steal. Nonetheless the basic feature of the app provides an ideal introduction for someone starting out in investing. The only concern I have is in terms of the app functionality, where at times features may not work, such as Apple Pay top ups, which seriously limits my capacity to trust the platform. This is our money we’re dealing with after all.