There are plenty of platforms in the UK where you can trade options and they all churn through customers because most people loose money. The ethos at the core of the FT business is about establish a recurring revenue relationship with ISA, FT+ & SIPP (and hopefully JISA nudge nudge).
As @Big-g says
That is a VERY rose tinted glasses approach
If it were that easy we’d all be doing it, but then who’s be buying them?
My viewpoint on this is slightly changing. When I started investing a few years back I had no interest in options trading, as I didn’t understand it. As Freetrade seeks to lock in lifetime customers, primarily in the younger demographic (with the ecosystem now including ISAs&SIPPs), these individuals will naturally become more proficient in the markets.
Personally speaking, I’m now interested in making long-term call options on stocks that I can see significantly outperforming the market in the next two/three years without making any major investment. If it doesn’t work out then it was a small position.
My worry as an Investor in Freetrade is as people say, the statistics are stacked against you in terms of generating returns. Robinhood has seen most of their issues related to the complexities of implementing the service. Coupled with the horror stories of people losing everything trying to play short term options bets. All of this has damaged their reputation, which is something Freetrade prides itself on.
However, as you say @NeilB I’m now having to consider signing up to another broker just to get the diversity in investment instruments.
It would be interesting to get an updated perspective from Freetrade on Options trading as the retail investment space has got so much more attention than expected over the last 18 months that its now common place in conversations.
In 2018 the company seemed dead set against ever introducing Crypto services with the question of it laughed out of community meet ups. Now they are actively working away in the background to launch it as soon as possible. I’m hoping once they’ve expanded into all planned territories they’ll refocus on expanding their range of investment instruments. Maybe a Pro version of the app could help keep the integrity of a simplified investment gui if options trading gets added. Binance seems to have this nailed down.
Probably a silly question… Are options trading only available with American Stocks?
I thought options trading (as per most US based YouTube investors do) was banned in the UK as it was deemed to be the same as fixed odds betting that was landing all the bookies in hot water a few years ago.
CFDs are a form of option but as I understand it in the UK we can only really using them when doing currency trading and CFDs can ruin you if you don t know what you are doing.
Anyway the point I’m making is that as far as I knew FT can never introduce options trading because it is illegal here.
That’s my two cents, from 10 mins of googling
It’s not illegal, there are brokers offering options in the UK
Interactive Brokers is one
Personally I don’t see a problem with them if used sensibly. There are safe ways to use them to limit risk rather than increase it.
Actually you can easily hedge your portfolio through option trading and one can easily get weekly or monthly income too. This is gambling for the people, they don’t know about money management.
The clue is in the name…
I would like to be able to buy call/put options on US stocks. There are many brokers available in the US, like Robinhood, but none in the UK. I’m happy to pay a commission, most US based brokers are around $1 - $2 per contract. This would be a new revenue source for Freetrade, and more flexibility for users.
Welcome! I’m afraid this is highly unlikely on FT anytime soon, if ever. I think I’m right in saying you can trade options in the UK through the likes of IBKR and Tastyworks though.
Thanks. A real shame if they don’t. I opened an IKBR account, but I need to “ask permission” to enable options, and they keep hitting you over the head with “options are too complicated for normal people” warnings. Will have another look at tasty works, it would be nice if there was a UK based company.
Saxo and Degiro may also offer options but I’m not certain. Those warnings and suitability questions are in place for good reason, so tread carefully.
Saxo offer options.