To ensure that your investment is profitable, you should choose a brokering service that aligns with your learning style, educational needs, and investing goals. Especially for rookie investors, opting for the best online stockbroker in the UK that fits your needs can mean the difference between a frustrating disappointment or an exciting new income stream.
While investment returns are never guaranteed, there’s a way to set yourself up for success by choosing the online brokerage that best aligns with your needs. In this blog, we’ll tell you exactly what you should look for in an ideal brokerage, from the obvious to the not-so-obvious.
Step 1: Identify your needs
Before clicking brokerage ads, stop for a second, and identify what’s more important to you in a trading platform. Based on your investment goals and where you are in the investment learning curve, the answer will be slightly different.
If you’re just beginning, you may prioritize features like detailed glossaries, basic educational resources, a copy trading platform, ease access to support staff, and the ability to place practice trades before you start playing with real money.
Step 2: Narrow down the field
After getting a clear idea about your investment goals and what basic services you’re looking for in your ideal brokerage, it’s time to narrow down your options a bit. While some brokerage features may be important for some investors, there are certain things that any reputable online brokerage should have. Do your research and whittle down your options accordingly!
Step 3: Find out the fees
While fees may not be your primary consideration, you should begin with a clear idea of how much you’re willing to pay to use any specific brokerage.
For some, if the platform provides features that its cheaper competitors lack, a small premium may be justifiable. Generally, however, you don’t want to lose much of your investment returns to trading commissions and accounting fees. For example, the fees of XTB are generally low. They either don’t charge a brokerage fee at all for things other brokers do charge for, or they only charge very little. You can find detailed info on its fees here.
Step 4: Test the platform of the broker
While almost every brokerage description has a pretty good description of what kind of resources and tools their trading platform provides, sometimes the best way to evaluate the quality of a platform is through a test drive. For brokers permitting you to open a free account, it may even be worth the effort to proceed with the signup process just to test the trading platform. For example, you can try signing up for eToro – the most beginner friendly platform, which offers a demo service as well for you to try and test it out.
Step 5: How well does the stockbroker educate its clients
While a usable and useful trading platform is vital, you should also take the time to peruse the educational offerings of the brokerage and try out the search function. If you’re a beginner, you need to be able to explore terms that you aren’t aware of or find advice on how to analyze data. For instance, XTB is a great broker in this regard. It has a trading academy with a variety of courses, allowing you to familiarize yourself with trading throughtopics that range from basic to expert level.
Step 6: Ease of depositing/withdrawing funds
It’s imperative to know how easy it is to move money in and out of your brokerage account, especially if you’re investing to supplement your regular income. If the set-it-forget-it strategy is what you’re looking to employ, being able to take out funds may not be a huge concern. Still, life has a habit of throwing us things at times we least expect them to be, so it’s prudent to review the withdrawal, deposit, and funds settlement terms of any brokerage you consider.
Step 7: Customer service
By now, you’ve probably narrowed your options down to a couple of brokers that really blow you away in terms of usability, features, and resources. Whether you’re still on the fence or already found your perfect platform, take just a few more minutes to peruse the ‘help’ section of the brokerages you’re considering – it’s important.
Step 8: Get going and subsequent steps
After singling out your best broker in the UK, it’s time to get started. Don’t just sign up for an account and move on to the next thing. Really dive in. Use the research and educational resources available to you, make the most of every tool at your disposal, and start outlining your investment strategy. You’ve spent valuable time discovering which features matter most to you – now it’s time to put them to work.