Best Execution Leeds

[image 1] Execution-only share trading has survived the collapse of the technology boom to power ever upwards, with an extra 300,000 private investors setting up online accounts in the past 12 months. There are now 2.8 million share dealing accounts in total, according to research from The Share Centre. This suggests that Margaret Thatcher’s distant vision of a share-owning democracy really is starting to happen.

Yet most online traders aren’t particularly active. The total number of deals last year rose ten per cent to 8.6 million – but that works out at just three share trades per account. The once-trendy idea that Britons would turn into a mob of goggle-eyed day traders has been consigned to science fiction. *p>Something for everyone

Still, there is nothing wrong with setting up a share trading account to contain your portfolio of long-term holds and fine-tuning only occasionally. Whether you are a frenetic trader or an occasional dabbler, you have to find an execution-only service that matches your patterns of activity. Otherwise you could end up paying disproportionately high charges.

The good news is that trading charges have tumbled in recent years, thanks to the rise of the internet and the ensuing competition between scores of online stockbrokers. If you want the personal touch of chatting to your trusted stockbroker, you can still pay £40 or £50 per trade, but online you can generally do it for a tenner or less, particularly if you are a frequent trader.

Sharedealing sites have a number of charges, but the two key fees are trading charges and account administration charges. These admin charges may be imposed quarterly, half-yearly or annually, depending on the site, so make sure you are comparing like with like.

To keep costs down, regular traders should look for a site that offers the lowest dealing charges, even if that means paying slightly higher account administration fees. If you only plan to make one or two trades a year, higher dealing costs might be a price worth paying for lower management charges.

Many stockbroking services may give you a choice of trading rates to match your likely pattern of use. Regular traders can get rock-bottom rates. Barclays Stockbrokers, for example, offers a frequent trader account charging just £6.95 if you trade 11 times or more a month, or £7.95 if you do between six and ten trades. Less than five trades, and it is up to £12.

range of charging options

If you prefer to trade by telephone, it can cost a lot more, particularly for larger trades. Barclays’ commission starts at £17.50 for trades under £1,000, then rises to £24 for trades up to £2,000, £36 for trades up to £4,000 and so on, reaching £70 for trades above £20,000.

Other sites don’t charge extra for telephone trading. Selftrade, for example, charges a flat online fee of £12.50 for all online and phone trades. Flat fees can work well for people trading larger amounts.