Investa Customer Reviews & Expert Rating

Investa is a mobile-first investing app offering zero-commission trading of US stocks and options, with an intuitive interface and a simplified options chain that is on a mission to make options trading more accessible and easier in the UK.

Pricing: Zero commission stocks and options which is good, but the 0.99% FX fee is quite high compared to 0.02% from Interactive Brokers (although IBKR charges commission).

Market Access: You can trade stocks and buy near the money call and put options on major US stocks same day or up to a year in advance. No UK shares, indices, commodities or currencies (although you can trade sector and index ETFs like SPY).

Apps & Platform: Great iPhone app, but no desktop or Google Play version. The dealing ticket is very clear with some good explanations around breaking even.

Customer Service: Very good, an experienced and attentive small team give a bit of much needed personal service in the world of mega apps.

Research & Analysis: You get some basic Greeks data and charts on the app. The website has more educational guides on how to trade options.

What’s it like to trade options on Investa?

I like trading options, I like the way they are limited risk (when buying at least, which is all you can do on Investa at the moment) becuase you can set your stake, trade with what you are only prepared to lose and sit back and wait. You can trade End of Day Options on Investa, but for that sort of thing I prefer day trading on financial spread betting (because it is tax free god forbid I should make any money).

But I think options are great for long term positions becuase unlike spread betting or CFD trading, you don’t have to pay overnight funding fees to run a long term position. Which is important as interest rates are so high at the moment you can run up fees of over 10% a year, especially if you are trading with eToro who charge a whopping 6.4% +/- SONIA (ouch).

However, if you want a long term punt with options (or to hedge a position which is what everyone says they should be used for rather than straight speculation) your only cost is the premium you pay. After that there are no more fees until you sell or are exersised.

Talking of hedging, I think Snapchat is destroying my daughters life. She spends too much time on it. I hate Snapchat with the passion of a thousand suns. We don’t allow TikTok as it’s too adictive, Youtube is fine becuase there are tutorials for everything on it, Instagram is apparently for old people and she doesn’t even know what Facebook is.

But Snapchat is so ingrained in her and her friends social life, that it’s how they meet, how they communicate (WhatsApp is ignored) and where they share things that it’s impossible to ban. Of course with the exception of taking her phone away completely, but that is a ridiculios notion in this day and age.

So, I’ll hedge that hatred by reveling in the fact that whilst most other social media companies shares prices are doing well, Snap Chat is down about 30% over a year.

I’ve gone out as far ahead as possible on Investa and bought a single (becuase I’m a one lot wonder) Sept 26 $7 Put, which gives me the right, but not the obligation to sell 100 shares in Snap at $7. I am obviously hoping they go down significantly over the next year.

If they do, and I make a profit, I’ll use that to buy some shares in something that will stand the test of time like Rolls Royce (which is being touted as potentially the UK’s first Trillion dollar company) for her Junior SIPP, so that whatever damage Snap Chat has done in her teenage years, will maybe pay off for her retirement when I and Snap Bloody Chat are long gone…