Weāre excited to share more information on the expanded stock universe today and are sharing the news here first.
Summary
We are planning for the free universe to include all stocks in the:
FTSE 350
FTSE AIM 100
MSCI US Prime Market (the 750 largest companies listed on major US exchanges)
IPOs, SPACs, and other highly-requested large cap companies
iShares, Vanguard, and Invesco ETFs
The Plus universe will include all stocks in the free plan, plus all stocks from the:
FTSE All-Share
FTSE AIM All-Share
S&P SmallCap 600
Plus any other highly requested small and micro-cap stocks not included in these indices
All other available ETFs
Weāre going to roll out these new stocks in batches over the coming weeks, so that by the time Plus is available to everyone, the list of stocks you get will be significantly larger than whatās in free.
Itās kind of a similar approach as HL in differentiating the tiers, with the obvious difference in how itās being offered. It seems like a reasonable approach.
I take it stocks requiring nationality declaration are coming to both then? Could we expect this by general release of plus, Or are these still an ongoing development?
There was a brief mention about access to all companies globally, can we take they to mean access to other markets in the future? It would be great to hear more about this vision?
Plus and Freetrade is beginning to look more attractive to me for holding the vast majority of my holdings but if Iām honest Iām still a bit reserved about it at the moment. Iām not sure if Iād take it up today or not (if I had access to plus to do so), but if these app improvements and product improvements keep happening itās very likely going to be at the top of my radar soon.
Edit: interesting, plus isnāt listed to sign up but searching for a plus share does allow me to sign up.
Others may disagree with me but the āPLUSā icon on the discover search looks a bit odd. Maybe itās the font or the size of it thatās messing with some of my ocd
Iām quite pleased with this announcement and the way it seems the availability divide between Free and Plus is going. It seems to fit well with the Freetrade ethos of making it easier for new investors to fall into the pit of success, while also offering more advanced functionality and risk to those wanting it.
It doesnāt feel like it fits in with the UI and Freetrades theming to me. Not something Iām to fussed over as there are more major UI issues to focus on
I tbink the gradient is making the right side look more squished when it isnāt. Maybe the monospace font (or at least similar sized letters) stand out too. I dunnlo doesnt look too bad, just stands out which is probablythe point. I dont mind the gradient as a differentiating factor for Plus, but the popularity of gradients comes and goes. I originally didnāt like it, but its growing on me.
We plan to enable nationality declaration stocks for both indeed. There is engineering work that needs to be performed to enable them. We will keep you posted.
It wonāt affect me because I have free Plus for being a founding member. But I think it would be better if those 136 stocks stayed in the free version. Thereās a few well known names in there so I bet a few people will be affected by this
I believe I just managed to upgrade my account to Plus by clicking on the āUpgrade your accountā hyperlink within a Plus stockās screen. Is this expected?
Yeah, I think its a tough one. FT have a set of rough guidelines for what will go i to Free and what will go into Plus (see first post in this thread). It makes sense to go back and apply those rules to the existing universe. That will definitely bug some people. Some may leave, some may sign up to Plus, some may have already bought as much as they want and just hold.
Being a part of change like that is part of being an early adopter (Iām sure you understand that as a founding member). The truth is, given the expected growth, there are millions of people who wonāt even know 136 stocks were ever in the Free universe. Theyāll have a very different perspective and hopefully just see universes that line up with FTās thoughts on investing.
But yeah, of course there will be some upset people now. I like that FT can look past them without being too dismissive.
