As far as I can understand it volatility is used as a proxy for risk in the academic world, but it is not risk
If memory serves Howard Marks addresses the issue in āThe Most Important Thingā
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My slightly flippant answer may have worked better is Iād asked if - volatility isnāt a risk? What I was alluding to is that I wasnāt sure which points a response was deemed outstanding for.
I keep getting drawn back to this thread hoping for some more information from Freetrade but it mostly continues to be people asking why canāt FT cater for every niche, so that it remains free, even in an extreme case of the incremental cost being Ā£3 per year.
Probably time to ignore or mute the thread if I can.
The response required was from Freetrade rather than by other community members. I was specifically after a response with regard to:
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Why Freetrade is allowing people to represent its decision as one driven by the relative risk of the different stocks.
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Why Freetrade has said in the past no currently available shares/ETFs would be moved into Plus but has since gone back on its word.
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Why Freetrade is claiming the decision about stocks/ETFs is āimpartialā yet Freetrade will be adding extra stocks to the free offering as it choices. If Freetrade can do this for SPACs, why canāt it also make sure that stocks within the indexes stay in Free even if they drop out of the indexes themselves.
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Euan genuine question here. At Ā£10 price point do you genuinely feel in its current iteration that Alpha is value for money?
Itās not all about wanting everything for free at all. I get as a business they need to make money but trying to use stocks as a feature to pad out for an overpriced offering because they currently donāt have features to add at present doesnāt seem right. They are already missing basic features compared to so many platforms this is where the focus should be.
These forums are full of posts saying the same then also on twitter, FB and YT. Bare in mind those that take the time to even post on these forums are more interactive than the average user.
I want FT to succeed, I currently find value in their ISA which I pay for, I would like REITs in an ISA and the popular US REITs but after the QQQ situation Iām wary theyāll just chuck it behind alpha of they ever turn up at all.
As an investor you want them to succeed too, can you hand on heart say alpha is good value at Ā£10?
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From my point of view yes it is. Iām coming from HL though where I start at Ā£11.95 a trade gradually going down, so even at 1 trade per month I save money. Probably worth remembering that while Iāve signed up for it no money has been taken yet (actually Ā£0.77p was then refunded immediately) so Iām trialling it for free. When it actually goes live there may be more features or more markets or fundamental analysis but Iām ahead even without any of that.
Now, having said that, even though the universe is expanding it still doesnāt have all the stocks Iād want to buy so I havenāt opened an ISA with FT yet, so Iām not even getting all the advantages of current Plus yet still saving money. I would be prepared to open a SIPP if itās included within Plus and start to transition part of my HL SIPP while the offering builds out, because again it gets me away from the relatively outrageous HL fees and poor execution when I canāt get a price for a buy or sell.
So, in effect Iām running portfolios across providers which Iād prefer not to, but Iām happy doing that in the short term while the FT universe and wrapper offering builds out.
At the moment most of my holdings are on Aim so hopefully Plus expands enough to cover them, but Iād also like to see ASX stocks on here for which I may need to go to a third provider in the meantime.
I do get the appeal of 212, free everything is great, but I donāt like the cross subsidy from people who are most likely going to lose all their money, sure itās their choice but Iād rather not be part of that. Years back there was a bus company which did the same thing, undercut everyone, more frequent services etc, killed all the competition then starting jacking up their prices and running the buses less often. It didnāt work for them in the city I live in but it did in most other places.
Stake I donāt know much about as Iām not holding many US stocks but Iāll have a look.
I also agree that moving stocks from one side of the paywall to the other wasnāt a good move and could have been handled better. A compromise of Ā£1 a trade for those not wanting to commit to the Ā£10 seems reasonable.
In summary and again Iām invested into FT itself which may affect my views, Iām saving money immediately with Plus and I feel that by investing into Plus the offering will continue to get better. The FT management team do engage on here which Iāve not seen with competitors which I again count as a positive thing.
Iām a big believer that a rising tide should lift all boats.
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I donāt disagree that alpha should get better with time, when they add sipps then yes it would be value but right now I donāt know what justifies it at 10pounds a month value. Stocks behind a paywall especially when previously were free is deemed a feature?
What on there currently can you honestly say is worth the extra 7quid jump from an ISA account? You were saying previously you paid high fees, you can get an account for free even with FT.
Fair enough if you feel its good value and maybe many others do too and maybe Iām seeing it wrong then. It will be interesting to see how many sign up to it at its full asking price on release.
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Just got the notification that Plus went live but it seems the stocks that were meant to go behind the paywall are still free. Did FT listen to the users and backtracked or is it just a delay. Keeping these stocks available for free would signify a willingness to listen to the customer and I appreciate that.
No, Freetrade were quite explicit yesterday that they will be moving some shares that were previously free to be behind the Plus paywall
Is there / will there be a way to use both a ātriggered stop loss at the same time as a triggered fractional share order (goal price)
At the moment, when submitting a stop loss it removes the share allocation from future selling which means you cant have both at the same time?
I really hope you donāt use this analogy for every subscription you sign up forā¦
An alternative view: before you even start investing you are down Ā£120 for the year.
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Itās all relative. Ā£120 for a 25K portfolio may be represent decent value whereas a 5K portfolio it would be a big drag.
The analogy he uses is also relative. If youāre on Ā£15K income then spending Ā£10 at the pub every Friday is going to impact your personal finances more than if you were on Ā£50K.
As he said āPersonal, I thinkā I would say Ā£120 would not impact him as much as it might smaller investors. (assumption)
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Iām pulling some numbers to identify this kind of thing but itās right. If your just starting out and hold a small vanguard portfolio in an ISA itās more cost effective at Vanguard for the first Ā£20k or so.
For a GIA Freetrade is a no brainier at any amount, and for SIPP Freetrade will (when released) quite quickly be more efficient than the competitors (assuming no drawdown cost)
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Making a wild assumption here, but I would assume most portfolios on Freetrade are sub 25K or even sub 10K.
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Then the Ā£3/m ISA or GIA would fit these accounts perfectly unless they have a specific want?
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I think it the problem is that many ETF and share are put behind a pay well now. If was not the case them yes Ā£3/m ISA or GIA would fit these accounts perfectly. I think plus should be only for low cap ETF (e.g. FTSE AIM), low cap share and added functions. Let high / medium cap ETF and high / medium cap share like in 100 FTSE, 250, FTSE ALL, say in free.
For new investors the vast majority of the kind of EFTs theyād go for are free. I get thatās not accurate for every new investor. IShares, Vanguard, and invesco are all under free for example.
Itās a balance, lots of factors make it difficult to give good examples as thereās just so many.
Your average investor with a small holding is the kind of person whoās likely got a vanguard account or a HL account investing monthly into and ISA or SIPP into maybe only a single fund or just a couple of funds and a trust. The Freetrade ISA provides a step up for them at a certain threshold (not very much).
What happens if you try and buy a plus stock but you havenāt signed upto plus does it reject or sign you upto plus.Just asking as some of the plus stocks donāt have the plus sign next to them.
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