How to buy shares in The Smarter Web Company

Summary

A great choice to deal shares with low costs in a variety of investment accounts.

• Investments: Shares, ETFs, bonds & funds
• Minimum deposit: £500
• Account types: GIA, ISA, SIPP, JISA, JISA, JSIPP
• Share dealing account charge: 0.25%
• Share dealing fee: £3.50 – £5

Fees: AJ Bell share dealing account fees are capped at £3.50 a month. Dealing costs are £1.50 for funds and £5 for shares but drop to £3.50 when there were 10 or more online share deals in the previous month.

Special Offers:

• Recommend a friend, and you’ll both get £100 gift vouchers – When you recommend a friend to AJ Bell that invests more than £10,000 in a SIPP or ISA, you and your friend can get One4All gift vouchers worth £100.
• Switch your share dealing account and receive up to £500 to cover exit fees – If you transfer your share dealing general investment account valued at more than £20,000 to AJ Bell they will help cover any exit fees charged by your current provider. They will cover £35 per investment moved and up to £100 for general exit fees, up to an overall maximum of £500 per person.
• Free subscription to Shares Magazine worth £220
  Get a free subscription to Shares (worth over £220 per year) by maintaining a balance of £4,000 or more across your AJ Bell investing accounts.

Is it expensive to buy and sell shares on Hargreaves Lansdown?

Hargreaves Lansdown is not as expensive as it used to be as there is no account charge for holding shares in a general investment account and a max of £3.75 in a stocks and shares ISA. HL does still cost more than competitors like AJ Bell and Interactive Brokers to buy and sell shares, but the account running costs can be lower because of the monthly cap.

HL won the Best Stock Broker in our 2024, 2022 awards, and in 2021, it won Best Full-service Stockbroker for their all-round approach to customer service..

Another added bonus of dealing shares through HL is that their clients benefit from price improvements for best execution. HL say they reach out to multiple brokers to get the best prices for a trade and clients can make a saving of £18 per trade on average.

This is particularly relevant if you are dealing with cap UK shares, which is where Hargreaves Lansdown excels.

Overall, Hargreaves Lansdown is an excellent choice for most types of share dealing on UK and international markets.

Is Saxo any good for share dealing?

Yes, you can deal shares directly on exchange with Saxo. In fact, Saxo is one of the best DMA brokers for trading shares inside the bid/offer price as you can place your orders directly on the order book.

Saxo’s platform has share dealing on more than 50 stock exchanges around the world with 22,000 shares available for investors. Making it one of the most diverse investment platforms for share dealing in the UK. Its forte is on the trading side for traders that need direct market access and are more price-sensitive to bid/offer spreads.

Saxo is a good share dealing platform for sophisticated and advanced investors who also need direct access to capital markets.

Fees: Saxo Markets charges a share dealing commission based on a percentage of transaction size. They are very competitive though, and UK share dealing commission starts at 0.1% (£100 if you buy £100,000 worth of stock) and drops to 0.05% for more active traders.

As Saxo is a prime broker with a retail and institutional client base, they are one of the best share dealing platforms for larger customers.

However, there are some downsides. Firstly they do not offer acesss to smaller cap shares on their trading platform like brokers Spreadex and IG, who have a much braoder range of shares to trade online.

Secondly, you cannot trade shares as financial spread bets (where profits are free of capital gains tax).

Finally, the cost of dealing shares with Saxo is higher than with a broker like Interactive Brokers. But Saxo wins hands down when it comes to customer services, research and analysis.

Summary

One of the most advanced share dealing platforms for beginners and professional investors.

• Investments: Shares, ETFs, funds & bonds
• Minimum deposit: £500
• Account types: GIA, ISA, SIPP, CFD
• Share dealing account charge: £0
• Share dealing fee: 0.05%

Fees: Interactive Brokers does not charge share dealing custody fees and minimum share dealing commissions are £1 in the UK or 0.05% of the deal size.

Is an IG share dealing account any good?

An excellent share-dealing platform for those who want to deal shares regularly in the short and long term.

You also get access to a huge range of UK small-cap shares, where you can request quotes from marketmakers via RSPs. This is something that is not available from other trading/investing platforms like CMC or Trading 212.

An IG share dealing account is different from a spread betting or CFD trading account in that you actually own physical shares as opposed to trading derivatives. The ability to deal in shares with IG means that you can invest in companies for the long term alongside your short-term higher-risk speculation.

An excellent share-dealing platform for those who want to deal in shares regularly in the short and long term.

Summary

Interactive Investor is a great choice for anyone who wants to buy and sell shares on a regular basis and has a large portfolio.

• Investments: Shares, ETFs, bonds & funds
• Minimum deposit: £1
• Account types: GIA, ISA, SIPP, JISA
• Share dealing account charge: £4.99 per month
• Share dealing fee: £3.99 – £5.99

Dealing Fees: Interactive Investor share dealing commissions are a free trade every month, then UK Shares and Funds, US Shares charged £7.99 or upgrade to a £19.99 “Super Investor” account 2 free monthly trades and deal for £3.99. Regular investing is free.

Special Offers:

• One free trade per month – One buy or sell order is free every month, after that, the cost is between £3.99 and £5.99 depending on what plan you are on.
• Free investing for your friends and family –  You can give up to five people a free investment account subscription with Interactive Investor’s Friends and Family plan. You pay a single extra fee of £5 a month, and their monthly cost is zero. Each member can invest up to £30,000 in an ISA or a general investing account with free regular investing and no account fees. However, they will still pay normal dealing commissions when they buy and sell investments.
• Get £200 when you refer a friend to Interactive Investor – Recommend a friend or family member to ii and get a £200 reward. Your friend will get their first year’s service plan for free – saving £120. To qualify, your friend must transfer or fund their account with at least £10,000 in combined cash/investments. However, your friend will not receive the usually monthly free trade.