My Freetrade Review/A Look At The Investing App

A FREETRADE REVIEW LOOKING AT THE STOCK AND SHARES TRADING APP

I have been investing for a few years now and have used multiple investing platforms including Freetrade. What follows is my honest Freetrade review.

WHAT IS FREETRADE?

Freetrade was launched in 2018 and is a trading app with which you can buy stocks and shares in a wide variety of companies both here in the UK and abroad in the US and Europe.

Freetrade has around 500,000 customers and it is growing week by week. I signed up around 3 years ago and am loving it so far. So on that note here is my Freetrade review.

Some of my posts may contain affiliate links. This simply means if you purchase something after clicking one of the links I may receive a commission at no extra cost to yourself. Many thanks for the continued support.

Freetrade Review

Freetrade’s aim is to make buying stocks and shares as easy as possible.

You may notice if you read my blog regularly that I don’t mention investing a huge amount.

The main reason is that I am not a seasoned pro in investing. I am just a guy who buys boring yet dependable stocks that will always beat the inflation rate.

Freetrade realises that many people would like to invest but are potentially scared away by the bigger companies such as Hargreaves Lansdown and AJ Bell.

So what Freetrade have done is create a simple-to-use mobile app that is as simple as signing up to Amazon Prime.

With a few details added in you have your brand new trading account and away you go.

Freetrade wants you to with a couple of clicks be able to buy shares in Apple or Microsoft. With super low fees without all the mumbo jumbo that the bigger companies can sometimes overwhelm their customers with.

This is the great thing about Freetrade. Most of the companies you can invest with such as Hargreaves Lansdown are big websites and go into lots of technical jargon that new investors do not fully understand.

This can be quite offputting and Freetrade realised this and created this app to help new investors start to navigate their way through the world of investing and to make it simple for them.

The other great thing with Freetrade is that you can start an account with just £1. You need to have £2 to buy any shares and just as in most normal cases, you can purchase parts of some shares instead of having to buy 1 whole one.

HOW DOES FREETRADE WORK

Freetrade was founded in 2018 by Adam Dodds and Davide Fioranelli. They wanted to provide a simple trading app for the everyday user with low to no fees and commissions.

Signing up is a really simple thing to do. All you need to do is enter your name, and email address and then connect the app to your bank.

Freetrade is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). This means any contact with your bank account is secure and safe as too is any money or shares in your account.

All Freetrade accounts are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). This means you should feel really safe about using Freetrade to buy stocks and shares.

Once you have downloaded the Freetrade app from the Apple Store or The Play Store you just sign up and put some money in your account.

You can buy shares in companies with just £2. Freetrade is ideal for UK-based investors and has more than 600 assets available for you to trade with. Popular stocks and ETFs from both the UK and the US are available.

Mutual funds, Cryptocurrencies and options are not available through Freetrade and probably won’t be in the future either.

WHAT DO I NEED TO SIGN UP?

Signing up to Freetrade is really easy to do and can be done in 5 minutes or so.

• Name
• National Insurance Number
• Proof of identity
• Proof of your address which can be your driving license or Passport
• Address 

These are the only things you will need to prove who you are. They can then make sure your identity is correct.

WHAT CAN I INVEST IN?

At the time of writing, Freetrade has over 5000 stocks to buy and sell commission-free. Im certainly not going to list them all here.

Some of the most traded shares are Tesla, Gamestop, Vusa (ETF), Apple, Amazon and Microsoft.

For example, I currently have shares in the S&P 500 and Tesco the biggest supermarket chain in the UK.

You can invest in pretty much most companies you can think of as well as quite a few ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) These are somewhat considered relatively safe as they are a collection of companies.

This manages risk, If one company does not do too well one year it won’t make much of a difference if your particular ETF is made up of 500 companies like the S&P 500

IS FREETRADE SAFE?

This is perhaps one of the biggest and most important questions any potential investor would like to know.

For a lot of investors, the simple fact you can buy multiple stocks and shares just through a couple of clicks on a mobile app could potentially scare people away.

This type of reaction is perfectly normal as you might think that if it is just an app how can it be safe?

Well, the first thing to remember and one of the most important is that Freetrade is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Not only that but they are also a member of the London Stock Exchange. This gives you an added layer of protection for your money.

All Freetrade accounts are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).

This simply means if Freetrade goes bust or out of business then You will receive up to £85,000 per eligible person.

Once your investments start getting towards this sum then it may be time to think about moving your investments or getting further insurance protection.

As Freetrade is protected by both the FSCS and regulated by the FCA this means they cannot do anything untoward without risking their business going bust and you are covered for that too.

500,000 people cannot be wrong. I feel their customer service could be a level above what it is currently but this is surely a work in progress.

REFER A FRIEND:

I could not write a Freetrade review without mentioning their refer-a-friend scheme. This is a little different from most refer-a-friend schemes. With this you dont get money or discounts etc for referring a friend you get shares!!

All you have to do is to refer a friend through your special link Once your friend has clicked on the link like mine all they have to do is to download the app, sign up and fill in the W-8BEN form which allows you to purchase US stocks and then you both get a free share of a value between £3 and £200.

Below are the full rules and procedures for getting your free share.

HOW TO GET YOUR FREE SHARE 🎁

1. Click the Refer A Friend Link from your friend.
2. Submit your email.
3. Download the Freetrade app from the App Store or Google Play
4. Once you’ve completed the account setup, you’ll be guided through a couple of steps:

• The W-8BEN form lets you invest in US stocks.
• Topping up your account.

Once you’ve topped up and the money has arrived in your account and you have filled out your W-8BEN form, a mystery share will appear in your General Investment Account on your portfolio screen. You will find out what share you have received within a couple of weeks.

FREETRADE VS TRADING 212

The next best app on the market for trading in stocks and shares is Trading 212. I will have a review on their app shortly.

There was a time a couple of years back when they paused new members joining up which was frustrating but luckily for us, you can now join as a new member with no problems.

Trading 212 is preferred by many due to its more features and a better layout. Everyone has opinions on both platforms and you will have to try both and see which you prefer.

A FREETRADE REVIEW LOOKING AT THE STOCK AND SHARES TRADING APP

If you are new to buying stocks or shares and want a quick and convenient method of being able to do this without any fees or commissions then Freetrade is for you. Your money is protected and Freetrade is regulated.

If you are looking for a wider spread of shares and looking to perhaps have better features such as DRIP (Dividend Reinvestment Plan) then you would look to go with one of the big brokers such as Hargreaves Lansdown. Trading 212 also Allows DRIP.

I decided to do this Freetrade review after investing in the platform myself. Personally, I prefer to use Trading 212. This is a personal opinion though.

Freetrade is a perfectly good platform for beginner investors to get a feel for the market and how to benefit from investing.

Freetrade also at the time of writing has a 3.9-4 score on Trustpilot. This would potentially be a bit higher if they had 24-7 live chat, hopefully this is something they add at a later date.

Sign up to Freetrade via my referral link above and receive a free share to get you started. What are you waiting for?