Thoughts on 212 introducing an FX fee?

General Chat šŸ’¬
22

One platform Iā€™ve had my eye on is Stake.

Instead of Freetradeā€™s FX fee of 0.45% each way on a trade (0.90% per full trade), Stake charges 0.50% on an account deposit and withdrawal but no fees at all on trades.

So, based on a deposit Ā£10,000, and 100 trades of Ā£1,000 in US stocks:

It will cost Ā£50 on Stake.
It will cost Ā£900 on Freetrade ā€“ nearly a tenth of the account.

And a lot of people do far more than 100 trades in a year.

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23

How many would do singular deposits of Ā£10,000? Far, far less than those who would put Ā£10,000 into an ISA. That would be a different type of consumer base so itā€™s unclear why the comparison has been made?

Eitherway, this topic is about T212, not Stake.

24

Just in case FreeTrade are considering this for UK trades, I will tell them absolutely no way will I stay if they do that. I do a lot of very small trades, both buying and selling, and have done very well due to the only thing I have to pay in the ISA being the stamp duty. This would totally ruin my strategy.

My stance on withdrawal or deposit fees is the same, if they do this, I will no longer be a customer. I recently sold all my stocks and removed my money from LightYear due to them introducing a currency conversion fee for existing customers.

If FreeTrade need to raise more revenue, then Iā€™m happy with limited and proportionate raising of the monthly fee.

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25

Why would you need FX for UK stocks? Itā€™s in pounds.

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26

Oh yes, of course! I think my early morning brain was conflating FX fees with transaction fees, but of course I do know the difference. The stance I mention above is for buying or selling transaction fees, which Iā€™m absolutely against as it would destroy my investment strategy as I do many very small transactions in both directions using my limited resources.

27

Regardless of deposit size, itā€™s still the same percentage - Ā£10,000 was just an example.

Either way, itā€™s a huge saving on the FX fees.

28

An FX fee basically is a transaction fee. Itā€™s just baked in.

The Freetrade FX fee is 0.45% on a buy and a sell.

T212 FX fee is 0.15% on a buy and a sell.

Again, using the 100 trades of Ā£1,000 example:

Freetrade: Ā£900 in FX fees.
T212: Ā£300 in FX fees.
Stake: $0 in FX fees.

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29

Your Trading 212 FX Fee is wrong - It 0.15

30

Thanks. Corrected

31

Why is the FX fee on Freetrade so much more than on Trading 121?

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32

212 makes more money from gambling :man_shrugging:

33

Itā€™s all relative, check out the FX fees in HL or AJ Bell for example. T212 make the majority of their profits from CFDā€™s so they can afford to subsidise FX fees and offer free accounts.

34

Trading 212 are the reason Freetrade got left in the dirt and had to sell for pittance.

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