One of the amazing experiences during the Free Share testing was how pleasantly surprised our community were about getting stocks, ETFs, and trusts they wouldnāt have considered investing in otherwise.
It was a good reminder of how essential it is to open up the entire world of investing to achieve our mission.
So today, weāre starting a new, big drive to bring a lot more stocks to our universe.
First up, weāre going to add 200 more UK stocks in the next two months, at a rate of around 20ā25/week. This will roughly double the number of UK equities on your app.
These will be London Stock Exchange main market stocks with a minimum market cap of Ā£800m-Ā£1b. We basically plan to cover the vast majority of the large and medium-sized equities in the UK.
Once weāve run through these 200, weāll start to look at more AIM stocks too.
What about the US and other overseas stocks?
This is just phase one of a big expansion of the stocks on Freetrade.
Weāre going to add far more US stocks too in the coming months (near the end of 2019). Itāll require more backend work, so weāre getting started with this UK expansion right now.
A partial shot of our upcoming new roadmap. It shows only a fraction of the roadmap, a lot of features are coming up!
Some of todayās newbies: REITs
Real estate investment trusts or REITs are a special kind of investment company that invests directly in property. They own huge swathes of property and collect rent, like a supersized landlord. One important rule is that they have to distribute 90% or more of their income to their shareholders so they can be an interesting option for income investors. Note that REITs usually have to pay that income in the form of a special type of dividend called āproperty income distributionā (PID). That dividend has different tax rules and implications to normal ones. Tax on PID dividends is usually charged for most individual British taxpayers at 20%. REITs can also pay normal dividends, which are subject to the standard dividend tax rules.
Right now, you can only invest in REITs on Freetrade on your Basic Account. REITs require an extra level of tax reporting. Weāre working on integrating that to our ISA management, but in the meantime weāve made them available for Basic Accounts.
REITs are a diverse bunch; some invest wherever thereās opportunity, others focus on a specific property type. Today weāre adding:
British Land ā Diversified (commercial and residential)
Land Securities ā Diversified (commercial and residential)
Derwent London ā London only (commercial and residential)
Segro ā Business parks
Ah, the rich tapestry of this beautiful land! 
Some of todayās newbies: stocks and trusts
Stocks from the London Stock Exchange main market.
Ashmore Group
Requested in the community, Ashmore Group manage funds specialising in emerging markets investments.
Foreign and Colonial Investment Trust
One of the oldest funds in the world, the F&C started off investing in UK government bonds financing various colonial enterprises. Now they select and invest in equities worldwide.
Melrose Industries
A firm that specialises in buying flailing but potentially valuable manufacturing companies and turning them around. A bit like private equity but rather than running funds, itās a holding company that owns subsidiaries outright.
These are just a few of the new stocks hitting the app; there are 25 in total.
there are 25 in total.
- Melrose Industries
- Ferguson
- CRH
- Ashmore Group
- RIT Capital
- Smurfit Kappa
- Howden Joinery
- Spectris
- Hikma
- Intemediate Capital Group
- DCC
- Meggitt
- Polymetal
- Phoenix Group
- NMC Health
- SPIRAX-Sarco
- Croda International
- Weir Group
- Investec
- Pershing Square Holdings
- Foreign and Colonial Investment Trust
- Segro REIT
- British Land REIT
- Landsec REIT
- Derwent London REIT
Go check them all out. Go now, seriously! Weāll be fine.
Weāll be adding 25 more UK stocks and trusts more next week ā stay tuned for them!
OK folks our second set of 25 stocks are live:
Including requests like Greencoat (a specialist investment trust in wind power), AJ Bell and cybersecurity firm Sophos Group. Go check 'em out.
Newly added ā 23 August:
BSIF - BLUEFIELD
RDW - REDROW
AGK - AGGREKO
UDG - UDG HEALTHCARE
CPI - CAPITA GROUP
BCA - BCA MARKET
SCT - SOFTCAT
JLG - JLEN Environmental Assets Group Ltd
DNLM - DUNELM
CAPC - CAP & COUNT
GPOR - GR.PORTLAND
ENOG - ENERGEAN OIL
TCAP - TP ICAP
PHP - PRIMARY HEALTH
VCT - VICTREX
SRP - SERCO GRP.
GNS - GENUS
SYNC - SYNCONA
DPLM - DIPLOMA
BYG - BIG YELLOW GRP
QQ - QINETIQ
MRC - MERCANTILE INV.
AGR - ASSURA
ASCL - ASCENTIAL
VVO - VIVO ENERGY
ETFs
EMIM - iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets IMI UCITS ETF
SEMB - iShares J.P. Morgan USD Emerging Markets Bond UCITS ETF (Dist)
IH2O - iShares Global Water UCITS ETF
INRG - iShares Global Clean Energy UCITS ETF
SEML ā iShares J.P. Morgan EM Local Government Bond UCITS ETF
30/8/19 added stocks
Weāve just added todayās (30/8/19) batch, a whopping 30 stocks. In this batch are a bevy of stocks, trust and REITs. Highlights include online gambling operator Playtech and iron ore pellet (itās a thing) giant Ferrexpo.
Plus ETFs to track developed market property, gold producers and healthcare firms, an accumulating fund of the S&P 500 and Vanguardās FTSE 100 ETF.
| Ticker | Stock Name |
|---|---|
| CCC | COMPUTACENTER |
| MYI | MURRAY INTL.TST |
| FXPO | FERREXPO |
| PAGE | PAGEGROUP |
| ERM | EUROMONEY INST. |
| BVS | BOVIS HOMES |
| GRI | GRAINGER |
| PFC | PETROFAC |
| SEQI | SEQUOIA ECO |
| VSVS | VESUVIUS |
| FGP | FIRSTGROUP |
| PTEC | PLAYTECH |
| CSP | COUNTRYSIDE |
| ULE | ULTRA ELEC. |
| SAFE | SAFESTORE |
| TRY | TR PROP.INV.TST |
| CWK | CRANSWICK |
| HSTG | HASTINGS GP |
| MSLH | MARSHALLS |
| SPT | SPIRENT |
| PIN | PANTHEON INT. |
| RAT | RATHBONE BROS |
| DRX | DRAX |
| GLO | CONTOURGLBL |
| COA | COATS GROUP |
| ETFs | |
| IHCU | iShares S&P 500 Health Care Sector UCITS ETF (Acc) |
| VUKE | Vanguard FTSE 100 UCITS ETF |
| IWDP | iShares Developed Markets Property Yield UCITS ETF |
| SPGP | iShares Gold Producers UCITS ETF |
| CSP1 | iShares Core S&P 500 UCITS ETF (Acc) |
| EMIM | iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets IMI UCITS ETF (Acc) |
13 September 2019 - new stocks
Weāre running through by market cap but weāll also bump up highly requested UK stocks so to get them sooner, vote and suggest.
27 September 2019 - new stocks
)