In our opinion, we are highly competitive, disruptive and transparent (no surprise fees) when you look at the all in cost of trading (although I would like to think £1 per instant trade is pretty competitive as a standalone option!).
We have not sought to be cheaper than every competitor on every element of their fee schedule, but are focused on driving down the total cost of investing. This does mean that you can find an element of a brokers fee schedule that is lower than ours, however most brokers charge for services we don’t, e.g. live pricing, custody fees, exchange access etc
To clarify, we are not charging a 0.5% commission - we are saying that you will get the interbank rate+0.5%. The rates you’ve quoted are the amount that the other brokers charge on top of the rate they get. The two are not straightforward to compare, as they do not typically state the benchmark they use. We felt it was important to be transparent on the FX rate you get against a recognised benchmark.
@Louis the cost to sell is the same as the cost to buy, we don’t differentiate, so no hidden charges to exit positions ( https://freetrade.io/pricing/)!