This would be an excellent solution to the issue of having a trade rejected.
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I think ultimately, we need to be able to see more information as to why the order failed, i.e was it a technical issue? Or was it a liquidity issue?
That said, Freetrade say that the limited stock universe is in part due to their stringent approvals - which include a liquidity check, and thereās definitely no way in which BP should suffer these issues.
I think being offered a free instant trade is a good idea, unless there is a valid reason for rejecting the trade, such as the price spiking/diving and it would be unfavourable to execute the trade.
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I got an explanation but I am still not happy (please see text in italic):
FT response:
*" Apologies for the delay here, Iāve just looked into this for you and there wasnāt anyone who was willing to offer a reasonable price when we tried to complete your order, so we didnāt make the order, to ensure that you didnāt get a bad deal. *
*Weāve explained why orders are sometimes rejected in more detail here. *
Weāre also working to add more detailed and automatic explanations in the app when your order is rejected"
Again my problem is that a platform should not decide what a ābad dealā is. I should be fully in control to make my own decisions about what I want to sell and why I want to sell it. I would refer this action as a āBig Brotherā or āNanny Stateā behaviour.
Let me explain why I am so angry:
15:30(ish) I requested a sell order for BP (I can see that this is queued)
16:00: I am under the assumption that my trades will be executed soon (My BP shares still up 2-3% at that time all good)
16:15(ish): My sell order was rejected (My BP shares still up and I am still happy to sell)
16:20: I text FT team with my complan.
So you guys can see why I am so angry that FT decides for me what a ābad dealā is and I was not able to execute my trading strategy.
Also yes I agree do the 1Ā£ trade its less than a cup of coffee but please also respect if I decide that my trading strategy is based on basic trades and that I am happy with that (also taking the risk that my shares might fall in value within the next 10-15 min while my order gets executed) but it should be the investor that makes these decisions not the platform.
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If this was an illiquid AIM listed stock, I can understand why there may be no one offering a reasonable price.
This is never the case with BP with volume in the millions.
When Freetrade implement limit orders, users should be able to determine what a reasonable price is.
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This is where being able to set buy/sell limits would be useful. looking at the chart BP dropped nearly 1% between 15:30 and 16:15.
While you would have been happy to sell, other users might not have wanted it to go through at that price. If youād been able to set a lower limit on the sell price you could have made the decision yourself
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If this is the case then your strategy must include that your trades may not be made. Does it account for that?
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Then the other users should use instant order if they not willing to risk 1%
Basic buy order for cineworld rejected after price drop
Still no dividends after A WEEK from GS or BAC via freetrade
on a plus note we have nice looking insightsā¦oh wait only for ios
After all this and the mess up with deposits i really not sure if i will stay with Freetrade
Hedging:
Using the megabus analogy. So every time I buy a bus ticket I might not get on the bus? So using a basic trade doesnāt mean your trade gets executed ā if thatās the case ok but FT should advertise it like that ā I hope you agree with that
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That is weird Player1. BAC have definitely paid out anyway, I received them on the 28th at 6am on DeGiro
yes my other uk broker has paid out BAC just not freetrade 
Hey, Iām sorry to hear your orders failed. If you could send me a DM with your Freetrade email, Iāll look in to your rejected orders with our Operations team.
We also have a post on order rejection here.
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I see it more like, you can pay to get on the bus now, or you can reserve a seat over here and weāll shove everyone we can on at 4.
Like I said, that needs to be put into your strategy as it seems like itās not, the 4pm trades are not guaranteed to go through, your taking a ticket for the free ride and hoping they get everyone in on the bell.
You even knew it failed before closing, you could have put it though for Ā£1 which if your strategy required a 4pm trade, just put it throughā¦ I donāt get why youād wait if it needed to go through that day.
Freetrade should probably put a bit more detail on it, how basic trades work and why they might fail. But honestlyā¦ if you have important trades, then put them though when you need to.
Freetrade has a way to go stillā¦ but relying on batch processing of trades for your strategyā¦ just seems flawed?
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From reading the link in your comment, it says a trade will be rejected if there are no RSPs (retail service providers) willing to take the trade. Apparently caused by the price moving too quickly.
Seems like a bit of a flawed system. Not Freetrade specifically, but just if this is how brokers work in general.
Iāve just read about Direct Market Access, would this have more/additonal liquidity? Some brokers use this system:
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agree we should not have to chase our dividends but after a week i gave up waiting and ask Freetrade payments are still being processed
When I use a basic order, I understand it to mean āI want to transact at the market price at 4pmā, I do not understand it to mean āI want to transact at a the market price at 4pm if and only if it is within an unknown band to the current market priceā.
I only want it to fail if there really arenāt enough buyers at the bid price.
I asked @adam whether the Freetrade Investment Platform would include Direct Market Access. I donāt think it is planned.
Iād like it to, I asked because I bought an AIM stock at Degiro, and saw the published trades on the stock exchange that I paid a market maker a 4% fee, which is fucking outrageous.
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I totally agree with you, I donāt think my broker, Freetrade, should be deciding what is a ābad dealā as it appears had happened from a comment from them above. This seems totally unprofessional and ambiguous.
As you say, if Iāve opted for the free trade at 4pm, then thatās my acknowledged risk even if the price drops 99% from when i placed the order. Iād rather have a clear system and assume all that risk myself than have my order not go through because the price has dropped 1% and is now subjectively considered ābadā. Hopefully I havenāt misunderstood this!
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No you understood this 100% ā good I am not alone with my thinking ā¦
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Agreed, this is how I see it too. Unless Freetrade were to publish the % banding for a trade to be successful prior to accepting your instruction then I donāt see how they can continue with this thinking for basic orders.
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This is a bit jarring to read! 
Let me clarify what weāre doing.
Weāre trying to protect you from getting a bad price.
When you place an order with us, we seek something called best execution for that order, which aims to get the best outcome for customers and is also a regulatory requirement for all European stockbrokers (Freetrade one of them of course).
It means taking all reasonable steps to obtain the best possible result for our clients. For retail customers (i.e. yāall), the best possible result means the best price, including any associated additional costs.
When you tap āBuyā or āSellā, we go out to market makers on the London Stock Exchange and do the trade with the best price we get back. When we assess the quotes we receive back, we compare the best quote to the observable prices on the main LSE market. In cases where that quote does not compare favourably, we do not accept it. The goal here is to protect customers from getting a bad price, but there is an inevitable trade-off in that it results in occasional rejected orders.
We wonāt do a trade unless itās within the bounds of the observable prices (which might not be the case for various reasons, e.g. the size of your order) but within that, we simply choose the best price.
More info on how weāre getting you the best price: Freetrade Invest Hub
But I do understand your frustration, and if locking in the price and guaranteeing execution is essential in your strategy, Instant Orders are more suitable.
Limit orders are slated to drop in 3-6 months [https://freetrade.io/roadmap], and they might be a somewhat more suitable tool as well.
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