The way we show FX rates on the contract note is meant to transparently show the FX rate you got versus the prevailing interbank FX rate. Unless you are a Barclays or JP Morgan, actually getting the interbank rate generally isn’t possible.
Some brokers are more opaque in how they present FX rates, so unless the FX markup is measured against the same benchmark the comparisons can be misleading. Eg calling the mid-market rate the ‘real’ exchange rate is false. That would be a ‘fake’ rate and the provider would be subsidising the cost for marketing/customer acquisition purposes.
When you buy a US stock on Freetrade, that order is being routed to the US, executed in USD, so we need to convert your GBP to USD and physically send it to the US before the trade settles on T+2. The conversion and transfer incurs a cost for us, so offering unlimited interbank rate conversions would imply unlimited costs for us. We’d take a loss on every US trade, which would need to be made up in some other way.
That said, there is some flexibility in setting the FX rate we provide to customers. A better rate for Plus customers is an interesting idea.