Forum AMA with Freetrade CEO & Founder, Adam Dodds, Thu 26 May

Lots of good questions have been asked already. I have one other question regarding competition.

  1. How do you see the increasing competition from the dozens of new stock brokers popping up in the UK affecting user growth and pricing power for Freetrade?
11 Likes
  1. Are we worrying about the competitors or are obsessively focused on serving our customers, while paying attention to what competitors are doing just in case we can learn something from them?

  2. Can we use the Freetrade app when on holidays on the International Space Station? (this has to be the best question I have ever asked which serves to show there’s room for improvement for my question asking skills)

  3. Any chance we can have a shareholder meeting or AMA on the metaverse? (I’m in search of a rationalised excuse to buy an headset)

5 Likes

Considering the current financial environment, are you considering putting the expansions to Canada, Australia and Japan on hold to reduce burn and focus on Europe where you already have a licence?
It seems to me that getting a licence (among other expansion related costs) is a lengthy and expensive process.

4 Likes

Congrats on the convertible round. Perfect solution for the current market.

  1. I would like to see the introduction of recurring and regular investing enablement for our customers. i.e. autopilot, sweep of funds from saving pots in monzo, employer sipp. When can we expect this? This should significantly improve AUM.

  2. Please look at partnerships with TransferWise & Monzo, they have a massive customer base - potential to reduce Fx fees for joint customers of TransferWise and maybe £1-2 savings for Monzo customers. Are we considering any partnerships?

  3. Enhance the referral model, free shares are great. However, I think free shares should only be given post completing a Freetrade course and a social media post. Increases awareness and educates potential customers - are you considering a change to increase revenue on the back of these customers? What are the retention rate for these customers? Do you do follow up mails for customers which don’t fully convert?

  4. I want to invest in the convertible, will it be available to the crowd? Any info on terms?

  5. Crypto bear market and retail lull is great for our delayed roadmap. I think we have 3-6 months before markets start to pick up significantly - can you advise what from our road map will be delivered by then? We need to capitalise on this.

  6. We need to improve our ability to educate customers and help them make diversified trading decisions. Can we include diversification scores or any other sector based reporting? I honestly feel Freetrade customer will benefit from this education.

  7. Not a question, but good luck. This year has huge potential.

13 Likes

I have one question,When will autopilot be available? To make it an easy question to answer,the year will do!

5 Likes

It’s my most liked comment on this forum with 52 likes. :cow:

You did answer last time…

But I’m going to ask again…will LISAs come before the end of 22/23 tax year? Please @adam, save me from ā€˜Hey! Jay, well?’

c15f025b3c1f76115272e0a42b4a62a3

14 Likes

Given the repeated delays about expansion in Europe with various dates being reported but not being met:

  1. could you please provide a realistic and feasible timetable for when Freetrade will expand into the rest of Europe and how it will do so?

  2. in another thread it was mentioned Q3 2022 for EU expansion, but could you specify if at that date FT will launch in all European countries at once or at that date FT will just start the rollout country by country?

  3. If the second option is the case, which countries will be chosen after Sweden: the 4 initially indicated (Ireland, France, Germany and the Netherlands) or did FT change the focus of how rollout will be done?

  4. When do you think FT will be accessible in all occidental countries of Europe?

Thanks!

6 Likes

Are uk fractionals being worked on this year ?

When do Freetrade hope to break even ?

How is the recruiting going ?

Whats the biggest challenge for Freetrade this year ?

5 Likes

Do Freetrade have any paying corporate clients making use of Freetrade IP / APIs?

10 Likes

Can you confirm what the current runway is for the business?

Given the current environment, I would imagine marketing budgets and other areas have already been significantly reduced. So the previous pitch deck would no longer be accurate.

6 Likes

Like this question.

Freetrade previously had Api as a source of revenue in the future. Is there anymore than we can share?

6 Likes

Last question: how long will it take to @adam to reply to all these questions? It’s gonna be a loooooong session :wink:

1 Like

Hi there,
Firstly, really well done on the additional raise. In such a tough environment it would appear to have been a great effort…and also means there are investors out there that believe in the product.

Question for Adam:
Are there other revenue streams that can/will/should be unlocked within Freetrade?
Is there a place within Freetrade for a low cost DFM approach? Stock picking is certainly easier when a rising tide lifts all boats. There are likely many that could do with a sensible asset allocation being prescribed, not necessarily for their entire investment, but certainly for some, to help them in somewhat choppier markets.
This may also help to grow AuM from investors not looking to be entirely DIY and are looking at value for their GIA, ISA, SIPP as the main driving force behind switching, but still want managed portfolios/DFM as an option for all/majority of their investment.

4 Likes

@adam

You mentioned a while back that you had plans to enable user to open short position. Are you able to share anymore on this.

Timescales? Years rather than months?
Naked shorts or Back v Lay arbitrage?
Only short securities from within the Freetrade lendable securities?

2 Likes

A bit of a community question again. Given the ability, once autopilot has been launched (an update would be very well received) can you see a time where people don’t need thematic EFT’s with high fees?

I’d like a feature like this -

I build a portfolio and post it allowing other to mirror it, Freetrade could charge 0.10% undercutting many thematic ETF’s and split the revenue with me.

Guard rails would be needed but it would be a great way to generate revenue and build out the community amateur managers CAMsters.

8 Likes

How do we tune in for the AMA? Where is it going to be broadcasted?

Following the decline of the markets in the last 6 months, Freetrade experienced a decline of the trading volumes? there is a strong correlation between market trends and users trading activity?

2 Likes

It says Forum AMA so assuming he is just replying to posts

Please can you explain why an Autoinvest MVP hasn’t been delivered? The fact I can’t automatically invest Ā£10 in a tracker fund every month means the product isn’t on parity with every pension product and most brokers out in the market.

6 Likes
  1. Why the pause in European stocks rollout? Where’s France, Sweden etc?

  2. What’s your vision for Plus and other premium tiers and when will we get there? It’s basically a tax wrapper and interest on cash - so far from a no-brainer for most customers.

  3. After European stocks are rolled out, what market will you provide access to next?

  4. Aus/Canada regulatory updates? Do these markets still make sense to launch in post a settling of stock trading euphoria?

  5. Crypto was a q1 2022 deliverable. What happened?

17 Likes