I notice freetrade have recently changed the terms of service for free share promotion.
While I respect that fact you make the rules, and rules are rules and all that jazz.
I think that operationally this may not be in freetrades best interest in the long term.
I will give my best explanation as to why I’m saying this.
It’s no secret that Trading 212 is now onboarding new clients after a period of reorganization. From what I understand they are not placing such restrictions on Thier version of the free share offer. If I remember correctly there are still unlimited referrals and every new sign up gets a free share.
For the record I see Trading 212 as freetrades biggest competitor.
I suspect some may be thinking something along the lines of “come on Sam, your just full of sour grapes”.
My answer to this sort of critique is I’ve only ever got 2 free shares on freetrade ever and one was for ISA transfer. The point I’m trying to make is I never had any great success with the free share promotion thing. This should demonstrate that I personally don’t have a horse in the race.
I’m happy to stand corrected if any of what I’ve said is factually wrong. I also am open to a wider debate on the subject.
Not sure it has really changed though. They will no doubt still push social media z- list celebs/influencers to post links and we can all refer friends and family still. It just means people can’t post to strangers and expect free shares.
Most places they mentioned don’t want/allow you to post links anyhow. I actually don’t think it was a bad move at all.
I agree that many forums see it as spam, and to tell you the truth, they are absolutely correct!
I do find it perplexing though as you can still spam a Trading 212 free share link all over all four corners of the internet, if you so please, and expect a free share. This might somehow give 212 an advantage in some areas.
The main point is that I see 212 as freetrades biggest competitor in the UK and Freetrade has to put it’s best foot forward.
The timing of this announcement might not be a great move operationally.
I totally see your point about the free shares but not sure it would make much difference TBH. I mean who joins an investment platform with a link from someone they don’t know? Most people won’t click a link they don’t trust nowadays, at least people who would follow finance etc.
About 212 being a main competitor I definitely agree
One of my ideas to give the Freetrade NFT some value (and resale value for its holders) was that it could give the holder of the NFT some enhanced referral perks. Infinite referrals, increased value referrals, something, anything… etc
Of course, we still don’t know how many Freetrade NFTs will have been created and whether this would help address your points
Personally speaking I don’t see the value in NFTs.
That said others do so I suppose it’s a matter of personal preference.
As I say, it’s a mere observation on my part as I’ve never really had much in the way of success with the free share promotion since I joined freetrade back in April.
In that sense I don’t miss what I *largely never had to begin with.
I have had 2 free shares but that’s not a huge success story on my part.
The only time I could imagine someone having any grandiose success with any platforms free share promotion is.
A) Someone who is lucky to have many friends that have some level of interest in investing, and wouldn’t take much in the way of persuasion.
B) Investing and finance YouTubers who are posting links to all platforms free share links on every video they make. These few individuals likely have a monopoly on number of free shares received.
I suspect freetrades new rules will probably affect the latter.
I don’t. Maybe on the face of it it looks like it, but the under the facade the business practices seems to be very different. Freetrade is much more in line with a mainstream broker (despite missing a few features)
212 is more the same as etoro and the shady terms that come with it
I get your point but they are direct competitors in the free entry market. They are the exact 3 I considered to test out the market and I imagine the 3 who most new investors would do the same with, maybe lightyear as well now.
I started with Etoro due to the superior marketing and later joined FT but only due to being told by T212 I was on a waiting list. As someone who had no knowledge of the budget platforms but a bit about companies to invest in they were the logical entry points. I just wish FT stuck out more at the time so I started with them and not Etoro.
FT to me now is by far the best platform, for me, and I will eventually make it my main/only budget platform but when people start they tend not to know about the shady terms etc as they all look the same on the face of it. I do agree about your description of comparisons though!
Before signing up to multiple platforms I attempted to join them from affiliate free share links posted by reviewers on YouTube. None of them worked and all of them were safe. Of course if you can get a free shares when you sign up it is sensible to do so versus not getting a free share.
I suppose in the long run not allowing free share links could improve the quality of reviews on YouTube but on the other hand it may not - because it may encourage reviewers to pick or promote those platforms that earn them more from affiliate links.
Maybe FT should have an affiliate link program where reviewers can benefit from promoting the platform? It would certainly benefit shareholders.
Just look at how a certain youtuber loved FT and the second they reduced the referrals he did a 180 turn. My point was many influencers get special links and I doubt that FT will stop this but the policy will stop nobodies posting randomly.
I assumed they do this now and not just with reviewers. I thought they want to decide who promotes/distributes links. I am off course probably very wrong
There is certainly a lot of noise out there @Big-g
I ended up signing up to several platforms and seeing for myself what I liked. FT is my main now, but I quite like ET and certain aspects of DeGiro. 121 had awaiting list so I wonder if actually, FT don’t want sudden floods of new members from YouTube? Maybe new members cause server volume that can’t be eased fast enough?
Yeah I quite like Etoro but love the simplicity of FT. Now that they are gaining some stocks I have there I will slowly transfer over when it is good to sell my stuff there. All the features on ET are decent but it is too busy for a quick glance on a phone for me.
That said I do love how my virtual portfolio is performing there compared to my real one.
Your not wrong on that on the face of it it looks like they’re the same kind of business, and I’m not sure there’s an easy way to show that otherwise since they’ve never going to advertise how they actually operate.
Ultimately there’s so many people who are not invested that there’s no shortage or potential customers either way.
Fair point. It’s estimated that only 5% of all ISAs are stocks and shares ISAs. If true this is an indication that very few people are into investing in the grander scheme of things.
Even though covid has bought a new crowd to investing the grander numbers are still small.
It’s a really small amount, I forget the numbers but it’s something like a few million UK adults are invested in a S&S isa out of around 50 million adults. There’s no shortage of potential customer base
My point was many influencers get special links and I doubt that FT will stop this but the policy will stop nobodies posting randomly.
. I think it was more so they had control of who did.