Update on US stocks

Hey everyone,

Just thought I’d post an update on a certain big upcoming feature:

17 Likes

This has probably already been asked and answered … but I’m going to ask anyway.

Can I buy US stocks inside my ISA?

1 Like

You can hold any foreign stocks of a recognisable stock exchange in your ISA. Most ETFs, unfortunately, will not be eligible as they do not tend to apply for UK authorisation.

AIM stocks are also not allowed to be within your ISA. Tencent is an example of such (but it is not in the current universe anyway). This ban was removed to incentivise investing in smaller companies.

would ETF’s like Vanguard S & P 500 (VUSD) be ISA eligiblle?

Yes

1 Like

AIM stocks are allowed, much to my personal pain - if they weren’t I might not have lost so much considering the trash on AIM.

1 Like

One other thing to bear in mind when looking at investing in US stocks in your ISA is ADR’s.

Firstly, what are they? An American Depositary Receipt is a way for non-US companies to allow trading in the US market, they are owned and issued by US banks.

Can they be held in an ISA? This all depends on the underlying company and where it is traded, it is not based on where the ADR is traded (eg NYSE, NASDAQ). If the underlying company is traded on a recognised exchange then you can invest in your ISA, but if it isn’t then you can’t.

So, if you buy an ADR for a Canadian company which is listed on the Toronto stock exchange, that can go into your ISA. But, if you buy an ADR for an Indian company, where there isn’t a recognised exchange, this can only go into a GIA.

9 Likes

Such an ISA nerd :nerd_face::wink:

1 Like

You are right here, my source was five years old :grimacing:

Thanks @Nicola, for such an extensive ISA clarification! :slight_smile:

2 Likes

Will 20% of a US stock be the smallest fraction available to buy ?

1 Like

£1 will be the minimum, regardless of the original share value:

image

Or even 1 penny, it is not perfectly clear what the definition of “any amount” is :sweat_smile:

2 Likes

It would be quite curious to know if Freetrade will at some point allow pre-market (from 4 am EST / 9 am GMT) and after hours (until 8 pm EST / 3 am GMT) trading for the US stocks. At least the most liquid ones, whose spreads do not change drastically.

4 Likes

Hi! That’s correct, we announced that in this :point_up_2: blog post:

When are fractionals coming? ⅜

Next year!

For those who haven’t heard previously, fractional stocks are the ability to buy or sell fractions of whole shares. Instead of buying 1 share of Apple for £150, you could just invest £30 and get 20% of a share. Or 1/5 if you like your percentages expressed as fractions. It’s the same thing! Ah, maths: what don’t you think of?

No other UK broker offers fractional stocks and they’re a vital part of our roadmap.

PS - sorry for moving your post around a few times, I hope I didn’t make you dizzy!

5 Likes

Curious on how the chosen stocks so far came about? Would have thought the entire DOW would be among the first stocks

1 Like

We chose our initial bunch based on what we saw and predicted the most initial user demand for - we’re going to expand the list dramatically as we improve the Discover tab over next year.

Think we’re missing a couple out of the DOW - an insurance company and United Tech.

4 Likes

So to be clear is 1 pound the min?

At the moment, while fractional shares are not yet available, the minimum is purchasing a single share. In the UK these can be as low as £2 (maybe even less), whereas in the US you’d be looking at about £20-30, mostly above £100 and sometimes above £1,000, purely depending on what you are buing.

2 Likes

Here’s a challenge - what’s the cheapest US stock?

3 Likes

From Freetrade’s list I’m going with Snap Inc because it has been suffering at $5.66 :scream:

Actually you can add Fitbit and Go Pro to that as well

2 Likes

(Ford) $8.54 > $5.75 (Snap) :wink:

2 Likes