Tempted to upgrade to FreeTrade Plus, however

Freetrade Chat 🔥
#1

As per the title, I’m tempted to upgrade to FreeTrade Plus. I don’t like the stock limitations on the free version nor the inability to place limit orders. I have a small FT portfolio of around £1,500 and also have £1500 in an H&L ISA - but of course they charge £11.95 per trade as well as FX fees. Hence why I am considering FT Plus.

However, multiple sources online seem to suggest the PLUS subscription is a flawed business model that will hurt the platform in the long run - and they advise against it. e.g.

and

https://www.inkmattic.com/freetrade-plus-is-it-worth-it/

and

Thoughts?

#2

Naturally people who have invested in the Plus stocks before they Plus launched will not see the value of Plus (as per some of these reviews).
If you’re coming from a HL or AJ Bell then it’s fantastic value.
FT needs to make money and other comission free brokers make money from their users losing money. Is that sustainable?

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#3

If you have 4k pounds of cash to park - no brainer.

If not hard to say without knowing your specific use case.

Also Plus in 12 months will be a different beast than it is today as the product is constantly evolving.

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#4

The conclusion in your second link summarised is:

"If you make 3% a year on a £10k balance, you’re losing 50% of your gains due to the fee. Oh and by the way click this link for a free share".

If you’re only making 3% a year whilst having access to all the plus stocks, then you’re probably better off just putting your money into VWRL anyway and living a relatively stress free life.

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#5

It does depend on your personal circumstances, but the way I see it is that the 3% interest is basically a 100% cashback on the cost (ÂŁ120 / year) - so you get everything else for free.

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#6

Almost for free, you can keep those 4K in a saving account at 0.5% which will give you ÂŁ20. Plus is still costing you some money :slight_smile:

#7

It’s opportunity cost.

Limit orders can easily save you more

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#8

Wow, has anybody told the Freetrade management their business model is flawed? Must be true as some random in his kitchen on YouTube said so. :man_facepalming:

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#9

I was triggered by many parts of that youtube video, but he completely lost me when he boasted about paying ÂŁ145 a year for a dividend tracker LOL

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#10

I suppose the pub bores have to got to find an alternative outlet during lockdown.

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#11

Thanks for the replies. A couple of further newbie questions if I may.

1) With a Plus account, does it allow you place limit orders on US stocks?

2) A few days ago, I held a US stock in my GIA. The stock closed at $38. At around 10am GMT I placed an order to sell my holding, hoping to lock in that price of $38. However, when the order was executed at 3pm GMT I only got a price of around $36 per share. Where did I go wrong? Would having a Plus account have made any difference in this scenario?

#12

I have a £9k port in AJ Bell - paying £9.95 to buy and £9.95 to sell. That’s £20 per move.

I don’t trade too often as I try to keep costs low - so if I buy I use the regular investing feature to buy for £1.50 but have to take the price as at 10th of the month.

Anyway, I could easily spend ÂŁ300+ a year on moving in and out of positions (also scaling in/out of holds).

The way I see it is that Freetrade could allow me to maximise profits at a lower cost over 12 months than my other ISA’s.

Should I pay £120 for the year to buy and sell 10’s/50’s times a year? Of course.

In summary, is PLUS worth it? Definitely if it saves you in fees/costs vs your other platforms in return for moving in/out of positions/holds as and when you feel like.

I am currently in the process of moving stuff across just starting with cash balances for now.

4 Likes
#13
  1. Yes
  2. The market does not open with the last price of the previous day. There is after hours trading as well. Also, freetrade executes orders that were made outside of market times at 3pm. The US market opens at 2.30 though.
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#14

I have to say using it for this month that I honesty don’t think the £9.99 is worth the cost for a small investor I think that most profits are eaten up by this cost and yes if I had £4k sitting around then I could use the interest from that to pay the cost but I personally don’t what to use Freetrade as my banking account and wait days to withdraw money only to save myself £10pm I would much rather just invest what I can afford for as little cost as I can so once this month is over I will cancel my plus account and any trades I can’t do due to the pay wall I can get from another service for free, I also often find the stock isn’t available in time on Freetrade to be ahead of the curve and to get it added take far to long and can often results in missed opportunities so it’s another reason I use other services.

#15

That’s not what it’s meant for anyway

#16

If fees are 10%+ of your trade per month then definitely not worth it.

But if the fee was 1% of your trade then it’s a different story.

#17

Like I stated “as a small investor” that is what I would have to do, if I could afford to have £4k sitting around only to give me access to a service I can get for free on another platform then maybe but I would say that is still a bad investment.

When you look at the comments about the plus service most people who use it is dislikes all negative views about it trying to claim it’s good when in reality it just prices smaller investors out so for me personally it’s not worth the cost!

#18

Which platforms allow you to buy shares for free? This will be of interest to me.

1 Like
#20

I am not sure they like people to say other brand but a google sear for “free stock investing” it will come up in the first few results (not the ad’s)

#21

Ah, those who make their money on wide spreads. I see those. Yes, same %'s but hidden in the spread.

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