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Richard Berry
- Updated
We have ranked, reviewed and compared the best UK share trading platforms let you buy and sell UK companies via CFDs or spread bets so you can potentially profit in the short-term when they go up as well as down and trade on leverage to maximise your risk capital. Share trading differs from share dealing, which is more geared to buying UK shares for long-term capital growth and dividends.
Compare UK Share Trading Platforms
In our comparison of UK share trading platforms you can see how much a broker charges when you go long or short shares as well as how much they charge for holding positions overnight. You can also compare how many UK shares are available on their platform as well as if they offer access to UK shares through CFDs, spread betting, have direct market access and also offer longer-term investing accounts.
| UK Share Trading Platform | UK Shares Available | UK Share Trading Costs | GMG Rating | More Info | Risk Warning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 5,000 | 0.08% | See Platform | 69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | |
 | 192 | 0.1% | See Platform | 75.3% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | |
 | 1,575 | 0.1% | See Platform | 64% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | |
 | 107 | 0.04% | See Platform | 80% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. | |
 | 3,925 | 0.1% | See Platform | 69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider. | |
 | 3,500 | 0.05% | See Platform | 65% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | |
 | 745 | 0.1% | See Platform | 68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | |
 | 500 | 0.02% | See Platform | 60% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | |
 | 0.15% | 292 | See Platform | 51% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money | |
 | 230 | 0.08% | See Platform | 75% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | |
 | 5,000 | 0.08% | See Platform | 74% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. |
Our picks of the best brokers for trading UK shares
❓Methodology: We have chosen what we think are the best UK share trading platforms based on:
- over 17,000 votes in our annual awards
- our own experiences testing the UK share trading platforms with real money
- an in-depth comparison of the features that make them stand out compared to alternatives.
- interviews with the share trading platform CEOs and senior management
City Index: UK share trading signals and post-trade analysis
- Costs & spreads: 0.08%
- UK shares available: 5,000
- Overnight financing: 2.5% +/- SONIA
- Account types: CFDs & spread betting
69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
City Index Review
Name: City Index
Description: City Index is one of the oldest spread betting and CFD brokers based in the UK. They were founded in 1983 and offer trading in over 13,500 financial markets, to around 126,000 active clients. City Index is currently owned by StoneX, a US brokerage listed on the NASDAQ valued at $1.75bn.
69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Why we like them:
City Index offers some of the best trading tools and analysis to help traders perform better. Their unique post-trade analytics and voice brokerage service make it an excellent choice for large and frequent traders.
Pros
- Excellent trading tools
- Post-trade analytics
- Publically listed (part of StoneX)
Cons
- Trading only, no investment account
- Limited options markets
- No direct market access
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Pricing
(4)
-
Market Access
(4.5)
-
Online Platform
(4)
-
Customer Service
(4.5)
-
Research & Analysis
(4.5)
Overall
4.3Pepperstone: UK share trading on MT4
- Costs & spreads: 0.1%
- UK shares available: 192
- Overnight financing: 2.5% +/- SONIA
- Account types: CFDs & spread betting
75.3% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Pepperstone Review
Name: Pepperstone
Description: Pepperstone were founded in 2010 in Australia and have since then grown to be a global brokerage with international offices and around 400,000 active clients. They offer spread betting and CFDs on 1,200 major market instruments, which means they focus on the most heavily traded assets, mainly forex and indices trading. Of those 900 are shares on the major stocks on international exchanges.
75.6% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.
Why we like them
Pepperstone is a good choice for traders that want to automate their trading strategies through MT4. As far as MT4 brokers they are one of the biggest and best and offers so good EA packages.
Pros
- Tight pricing
- Wide range of MT4 markets
- Pre-built MT4 indicator packages
Cons
- Limited market access
- Only third-party platforms
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Pricing
(5)
-
Market Access
(3.5)
-
Online Platform
(4)
-
Customer Service
(4)
-
Research & Analysis
(4)
Overall
4.1Spreadex: UK share trading with personal service
- Costs & spreads: 0.1%
- UK shares available: 1,575
- Overnight financing: 3% +/- SONIA
- Account types: CFDs & spread betting
72% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Spreadex Review
Name: Spreadex
Description: Spreadex is a financial spread betting broker that has been in operation since 1999. It was founded by ex-city trader Jonathan Hufford and unlike many of its peers, it is not based in London, but instead is headquartered in St Albans Hertfordshire. Spreadex offers both financial spread betting and CFD trading from the same account. The company has some 60,000 account holders and offers access to more than 10,000 financial instruments, including UK small-cap shares, where it is something of a specialist.
64% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Is Spreadex a good broker?
Spreadex is one of the most established spread betting brokers. They focus on providing excellent customer service through experienced dealers and a trading platform built from scratch in-house. A good choice for those that like to spread bet.
Pros
- Spread betting & CFDs
- Smaller cap stock trading
- Great customer service
Cons
- Not publically listed
-
Pricing
(4.5)
-
Market Access
(4.5)
-
Online Platform
(4)
-
Customer Service
(5)
-
Research & Analysis
(4)
Overall
4.4Plus500: Global CFD Trading Platform for UK Shares
👍Featured👍
- UK shares available: 107
- Minimum deposit: £100
- Account types: CFDs
80% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.
Plus500 Review
Name: Plus500
Description: Plus500 is an online trading company that operates in more than 50 countries worldwide. Founded in 2008, it has more than 26 million customers today.
Plus500 is headquartered in Israel, however, it’s listed in the UK on the London Stock Exchange (it’s a member of the FTSE 250 index). Here in Britain, its platform is operated by Plus500UK Ltd, which has offices in London.
In the UK, you can only trade CFDs with Plus500. CFDs are financial instruments that allow you to profit from the price movements of a security without owning the underlying security itself.
80% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Is Plus500 a good broker?
Overall, Plus500 is a good online trading platform for traders who do not want to do anything more complicated than buy and sell CFDs. The broker does provide sentiment indicators and are quite transparent with costs and fees. In summary:
- Plus500 is a trading platform that offers CFDs.
- You can trade a range of assets on Plus500 including stocks, indices, and currencies.
- There are no commissions when placing a CFD trade on the Plus500 platform but there are some other fees to be aware of.
- The platform offers a range of features including a demo account, alerts, market news, and an economic calendar.
- There are platforms that offer more markets than Plus500.
Pros
- With Plus500, you can trade CFDs on a range of assets including shares, currencies, indices, and ETFs.
- There are no commissions when placing a CFD trade on Plus500’s platform.
- Plus500 offers a range of features to help traders navigate the markets and capitalise on opportunities including charting tools, alerts, an economic calendar, and market news.
Cons
- Other platforms offer more markets than Plus500.
- You can only trade CFDs on the platform (you can’t invest in stocks directly).
- You can’t contact the company by telephone if you require support.
-
Pricing
(4.5)
-
Market Access
(4.5)
-
Online Platform
(4)
-
Customer Service
(4)
-
Research & Analysis
(4)
Overall
4.2IG: Deep share trading liquidity & market range
69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider.
IG is one of the best UK share trading platforms based on our data matrix and analysis as they offer the most UK companies (large and small), through the most account types (CFD, spread bet and investment) as well as provide a huge amount of analysis, news, trading signals and have an industry-leading online and mobile trading platform. They also provide DMA CFD trading for higher volume and advanced traders.
IG Review
Name: IG
Description: Founded in 1974 as Investors Gold Index, then IG Index, now just “IG” is one of the world’s largest margin trading brokers. IG offer CFDs, FX and Spread Betting (in the UK) alongside share trading and prime brokerage to over 313,000 active clients and offers 17,000 tradable markets. IG also recently introduced physical share dealing and smart portfolios for longer-term investors.
69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider.
Is IG a good trading platform?
Yes, IG provides an excellent all-round trading and investing brokerage service. IG pioneered online trading and financial spread betting for private clients and remains not only one of the largest online trading platforms, but also one of the best. IG stands out through deep liquidity, high market range and excellent added value such as trading tools and analysis.
Pros
- Vast range of markets
- Excellent liquidity & DMA equities
- Listed on the London Stock Exchange
Cons
- Customer service can be slow
- No DMA futures trading
- Still charges inactivity fee
-
Pricing
(4.5)
-
Market Access
(5)
-
Online Platform
(5)
-
Customer Service
(4)
-
Research & Analysis
(5)
Overall
4.7Interactive Brokers: Discount UK share trading & investing
- Costs & spreads: 0.02%
- UK shares available: 500
- Overnight financing: 1.5% +/- SONIA
- Account types: CFDs, DMA & investing
60% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Interactive Brokers is the best UK share trading platform based on our testing. IBKR has some of the most advanced order functionality for working large UK share trades, including VWAP, iceberg, pairs trading and drip feeding.
Interactive Brokers Review
Name: Interactive Brokers
Description: Interactive Brokers is a major US online automated electronic broker company. The financial broker is listed on the Nasdaq Exchange with ticker IBKR. The firm operates in 150 electronic exchanges in 34 countries, and offers trading in 28 currencies. Interactive Brokers has more than 3.19 million institutional and retail customers.
Why we like them
Interactive Brokers is an exceptional trading platform that offers institutional-grade trading capabilities to private clients around the world. IBKR has some of the lowest trading and investing fees and the widest market range in the industry.
Pros
- Very low dealing fees
- Wide market range
- Direct market access
- Complex order types
Cons
- Customer services can be slow
- No financial spread betting
-
Pricing
(5)
-
Market Access
(5)
-
Apps & Platform
(5)
-
Customer Service
(4)
-
Research & Analysis
(5)
Overall
4.8CMC Markets: High-tech UK share trading platform
- Costs & spreads: 0.1%
- UK shares available: 745
- Overnight financing: 2.9% +/- SONIA
- Account types: CFDs & spread betting
74% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
CMC Markets Review
Name: CMC Markets
Description: CMC Markets is one of the original spread betting and CFD brokers based in the UK. They have been providing forex trading services since 1989 and are now listed on the London Stock Exchange. The broker has over 300,000 active clients trading online and is operated from 13 global offices, with headquarters in The City of London.
68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Is CMC Markets legit?
Yes, CMC Markets has always offered, and still does one of the best trading platforms for high-frequency and active traders. It’s a good choice for those who want to trade on tight spreads, with a platform built on exceptional tech.
Pros
- Excellent trading platform
- Good liquidity
- Unique sentiment tools
Cons
- Trading only, no investing account
- Limited smaller cap stocks
-
Pricing
(5)
-
Market Access
(4)
-
Online Platform
(5)
-
Customer Service
(4)
-
Research & Analysis
(5)
Overall
4.6XTB: Good UK share trading educational material
- Costs & spreads: 0.08%
- UK shares available: 230
- Equity overnight financing: -0.02341% / -0.00159% DAILY
- Account types: CFDs
81% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
XTB Review
Name: XTB
Description: XTB is a CFD and forex broker headquartered in Poland and listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE:XTB) valued at over $1bn. XTB was founded in 2003 and offers forex, indices, commodities, ETF and stock CFD trading. XTB has historically used celebrity endorsements to promote it’s brand including Jose Mourinho, Conor McGregor, Joanna Jędrzejczyk and Jiří Procházka.
75% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Summary
XTB, are a decent all-round trading platform and a good choice for most small-to-medium sized CFD traders. They are publically listed in Poland and offer, competitive spreads on a fairly wide range of markets.
The key things to focus on when considering trading with XTB are:
- They have their own proprietary trading platform. When I interviewed Omar Arnaout, the XTB CEO Omar Arnout, he said “I’m really proud of our platform and honestly believe it’s one of the best in the market.” Rightly so.
- They really push client education, XTB won “Best Trading Platform Education” in our 2023 awards (although they didn’t show up to collect the trophy, they never do). You can read their Q&A on forex education here.
- Customer service is paramount. Omar said that “first and foremost is the customer service”. I really agree with this as I think it’s important to have a few different trading accounts (diversify, diversify, diversify) and you’ll trade more with the broker that treats you best.
Pros
- Publically listed
- Mulitple platform choices
- Innovative order types
Cons
- Not UK based
- No DMA
-
Pricing
(4)
-
Market Access
(4)
-
Online Platform
(4)
-
Customer Service
(4)
-
Research & Analysis
(4)
Overall
4Saxo Markets: Professional grade UK share trading platform
- Costs & spreads: 0.05%
- UK shares available: 3,500
- Overnight financing: 2.5% +/- SAXO RATE
- Account types: CFDs, DMA & investing
70% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Saxo Markets is the best broker for UK share trading with direct market access. Their SaxoTraderGo platform offers access to both UK shares to physical investing, CFD trading and also UK share options.
Saxo Review
Name: Saxo
Description: Saxo is one of the largest CFD brokers worldwide and provides direct market access to equities, bonds, forex, futures and options as well as being a major liquidity and infrastructure provider to wealth managers, banks and smaller brokers.
65% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Is Saxo Markets a good broker?
Yes, Saxo is a good choice for more sophisticated traders. The platform, analysis, and direct market access may be too complicated for beginners. But, for experienced traders its coverage, commissions and research are unrivalled.
Pros
- Direct market access
- Low commissions
- Robust trading platform
Cons
- Seen as a trading platform for professionals
-
Pricing
(4.5)
-
Market Access
(4.5)
-
Online Platform
(5)
-
Customer Service
(4.5)
-
Research & Analysis
(4.5)
Overall
4.6eToro: Copy other people’s UK share trading
- Costs & spreads: 0.15%
- UK shares available: 292
- Overnight financing: 6.4% +/- SONIA
- Account types: CFDs & investing
51% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money
eToro Review
Name: eToro
Description: eToro is a social trading platform that lets their users share new and existing CFD positions and their investment portfolios. eToro was founded in 2007 in Tel Aviv, Isreal and has grown to offer investing and trading on 3,000 global assets (including real cryptocurrencies) to 30 millions users worldwide.
51% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money
Is eToro a good broker?
Yes, eToro does have its flaws for experienced investors, but if you are just getting started eToro is a great introduction to financial markets. eToro is actually a very innovative trading platform offering copy trading, social networking and unleveraged CFDs.
Pros
- Really simple to use
- Social and copy-trading
- Set your own leverage
- Pre-built sector portfolios
Cons
- Can only trade and invest in USD
- No SIPPs or ISA
- No direct market access
-
Pricing
(4)
-
Market Access
(4)
-
Online Platform
(4.5)
-
Customer Service
(4)
-
Research & Analysis
(4.5)
Overall
4.2How to choose a UK Share trading platform?
The main things to consider when choosing a broker for trading UK shares are:
- Pricing – how much do the broker charge per trade
- Market access – how many UK shares are you able to trade on their platform
- Overnight financing – if you are trading on leverage what are the overnight costs
- Account types – can you trade on margin through CFDs and spread bets as well as invest in a SIPP, ISA or general investment account?
Advantages of using a UK share trading platform
- Regulated by the FCA and funds protected by the FSCS
- Leverage trading means you can get more exposure to the market
- You can go long and short to profit from rising and falling markets
- Profits from spread betting on UK shares are tax-free
- Do not have to pay stamp duty on OTC trades
Disadvantages of using a UK share trading platform
- It is hard to make money in the short-term compared to long-term share investing
- Losses from short positions are potentially unlimited
- Overnight financing means holding a position longer than a month wipes out stamp duty savings.
How can you trade UK shares?
The main three ways to trade UK shares are:
- Physical shares – where you buy and pay in full for company shares through a share dealing platform.
- CFDs – through a contracts-for-difference broker, where your profit and loss is based on the difference between the opening and closing price of a trade
- Spread betting – where you bet on the price movement of shares through a spread betting broker
Best UK Share Trading Platforms For CFDs & Spread Bets
IG often ranks as the best UK share trading platform for trading shares as a CFD or spread bet versus physical investing.
The main advantage of trading CFDs on stocks instead of physically buying them is that you can use leverage to increase your exposure. A stock with a deposit margin of 10% for instance would enable you to buy (or short) £10,000 worth with only £1,000 on account. CFDs for private and retail traders are generally used for short-term speculation rather than investing in the long term. You also have the ability of shorting stocks, meaning you can speculate on the price of a share going down as well as up.
The disadvantage of this of course is that as exposure increases, so does risk. By using leverage to trade it is possible to lose your entire account balance with just a 10% movement in the share price. As such the regulators are have put put limits on the amount of leverage private clients with limited experience have access to.
Share CFDs are generally not a good tool for longer-term positions as there is an overnight financing charge (as the broker is essentially lending you money to fund your position) of around 2.5% over the LIBOR rate. So holding a position any longer than a month or so becomes less economical than paying the stamp duty (0.5%) on normally stock broking purchases.
Private client CFD brokers like IG, Spreadex, and City Index, are execution only which means you have to make your own trading ideas. There are a few advisory CFD brokers around, but these should generally be avoided as brokers work on commission so have a vested interested in their clients trading more which is a conflict of interest.
Most retail CFD broker will earn revenue from clients by either widening the market spread or not hedging client positions.
Best UK Shares Trading Platform For DMA (Direct Market Access)
Saxo Markest has won our award for best DMA broker and is a good choice for traders that want direct market accounts to UK share exchanges.
For more experienced CFD traders getting direct market access is essential for trading UK shares. DMA, or direct market access mean that you work your orders direct on the exchange order book rather than trading from a CFD brokers widened price.
The main advantages of trading with DMA are that you get better prices because you can work limits inside the bid/offer. However, you are charged commission on trades, so must factor this in as an extra cost to your P&L.
DMA trading is also essential if you are a particularly big trader. Even in FTSE 100 stocks there is often not more than a few hundred thousand pounds worth of stock at the market price. If you are buying or selling a large position being able to nip away at the best price or work automated orders to drip feed your trades into the market are essential. This is called level-2 pricing and also shows you the market depth allowing you to execute orders more efficiently.
Best UK Share Trading Platform For Professional & Advanced Traders
Interactive Brokers offers some of the best execution and order types for trading UK shares and is a good choice for sophisticated traders.
For hedge funds, family offices or professional traders institutional CFD brokers like, IBKR & IG provide online execution platforms and experienced voice brokers to handle large orders than need finessing in the marketplace.
The key advantage for hedge funds using CFDs are a trading tool is that they provide anonymity as you don’t actually own the underlying assets of a CFD. You are just entering into a contract based on the different between the opening and closing price of a stock.
This was how CFDs were first used and gradually became available to private traders. For hedge funds and family offices looking for an institutional CFD broker you can compare prime brokers here using our interactive prime broker finder tool.
UK share trading FAQ:
UK shares traded on the London Stock Exchange are open in the main market between 8:00 to 16:30.
Yes, you can trade UK shares pre and post-market with most UK trading platforms. Brokers like IG, even offer UK share trading on the weekends.
Share trading is high-risk short-term speculation. Investing is when you buy shares in the long-term.
Yes, it is possible to make money trading UK shares is you predict the correct direction of the market.
However, If you are trading UK shares as a CFD or spread bet it is very risky as you are trading on margin. Typically only around 25% of retail traders make money trading UK shares this way.
The best UK shares to trade are the ones with the most liquidity and news flow. These are typically in the FTSE 100 which is the 100 most valuable companies listed on the London Stock Exchange.
NMS means the “normal market size” it refers to the maximum amount of shares a market marker is obliged to trade in one go.
The main types of UK share trading client are: retail clients (the majority of retail traders will fall into this category.), professional and, Institutional.
Yes, most trading platforms will have some information on trading signals. If yo are looking for inspiration on what stocks to buy and sell you can also see key indicators here:
- Shares that have recently had a daily breakout
- Shares that have recently climaxed (either at the top or bottom of a range)
- Shares that have recently displayed a “hi-lo” pole
- Shares with an overextended point and figure spike or tail
- Shares that have a short or medium-term reversal signal
- Shares with a recent moving average crossover
- Shares that are trading at 52-week highs
- Shares that a trading a 52-week lows
This article contains affiliate links which may earn us some form of income if you go on to open an account. However, if you would rather visit the UK share trading via a non-affiliate link, you can view their equity trading pages directly here:
⚠️ FCA Regulation
All UK share trading platforms that operate in the UK must be regulated by the FCA. The FCA is the Financial Conduct Authority and is responsible for ensuring that UK share trading platforms are properly capitalised, treat customers fairly and have sufficient compliance systems in place. We only feature UK share trading platforms that are regulated by the FCA, where your funds are protected by the FSCS.
