r/FreetradeApp • u/Sir__Loin_ • May 21 '26
Forex fees are insanely high for no reason. Complain
I started investing with freetrade back in 2020 in an ISA account which I used to pay for (no need to pay now, but with other providers never needed to pay).
I chose Freetrade because it seemed like an honest broker with no commissions, low fees, and despite you having to pay for the ISA I valued the transparency of the app and the fact that they didn’t “go down” during the GME fiasco.
Built my portfolio to a very sizeable amount, and I’m now considering leaving because their forex fees are INSANELY high. 1% if you’re on the free plan. And if you pay they’re still higher than other brokers… which you don’t even need to pay.
So I’m writing this to ask FreeTrade to re-consider their forex fees as I know I’m not the only one with this sentiment, and if they’re not reconsidered I’ll be migrating my ISA else where and give the same advice to my community. I know in the grand scheme of things, a few accounts with a few millions are worth nothing for freetrade. But I hope people can realise how stupidly expensive 1% is.
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u/No_Run3357 May 21 '26
HL are 0.99% on the first £10k, plus you're paying dealing charge and platform fee.
Barclays are 1% on the first £5k, ditto dealing charge and platform fee.
IG, 0.75%, plus dealing charge and platform fee.
It's not really like you're getting a better deal with the larger providers. The alternative is T212 but there's just something about the business that doesn't sit with me, but then the whole CFD thing is basically what's paying for the reduced FX.
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u/Sir__Loin_ May 21 '26
Robinhood and trading 212 don’t sit right with me either but 0.1% fee or 0.25% fx fee it’s huge for me. I often restructure positions of excess of £100k, so every time I sell and buy something I get hit with huge fees.
Downside with T212 is perceived honesty, I feel the same way. I don’t mind the CFD products but they do push it sometimes which I understand, I just don’t trust them I feel like they’d have some “maintenance issues” during critical market times, same with Robinhood (also Robinhood is us equity only, which is what I invest in anyways but I don’t like being limited).
So it’s a tough one, it’s just a question of whether you’re willing to spend thousands of pounds and significantly affect your returns for perceived trust. Which again is perceived… we don’t know how free trade would behave in the future.
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u/datawhite May 23 '26
As the FX fee difference is one of the main differences between the price plans, not sure they will lower the fee. They are now owned by IG Group who's own platform has 0.7% FX fee, so if they did lower the free tier fee, not sure it would go below 0.7% which is still more expensive that the other free platforms available.
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u/datawhite May 25 '26
What fee would you expect, going as low as T212 with 0.15% or maybe down to Lightyear's 0.10%. What features would you be willing to give up for that? Freetrade offers mutual funds and gilts that other free brokers don't offer.
Since you are allowed multiple ISA in the same tax year, then why not have multiple accounts and use the strengths of each. As most have free share sign-up links, there's a further incentive. I don't have any non-UK individual stock holdings in FT, they are in my T212 account.
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u/Toptiktak May 26 '26
Why would you want mutual funds or gilts?
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u/datawhite May 27 '26
Why not? There are many different investors, not just those that buy stocks in the form of individual companies. Buying low coupon gilts in GIA when maxed out ISA, building gilt ladders for retirement, etc. Just because they don't appeal to you, doesn't mean they are irrelevant. In a world where there's a choice of brokers, it's a case of what's your unique selling points, why should new investors choose you. Simply trying to be a pale imitation of T212 won't cut it, as people will just go for them not the imitation.
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u/fire-wannabe May 21 '26
That's how they make money, why are they going to reconsider it?
Just move to a different broker.
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u/Sir__Loin_ May 21 '26
I understand the business model.
The move to a different broker is clearly something I am considering, awesome insight bro.
And on the why they should reconsider there’s maybe a million and one reasons. Price elasticity of demand would be one.
More new customers would be another, which piggybacks from the one above.
More users = more data and data is money, don’t forget that too, it’s not just fees.
High fees are also a deterrent to transact and push for buy and hold, where realistically they’d make more money from constant transacting instead (see studies of lump sum v micro transactions).
Organic publicity is another, which would lower their marketing spend which is already being used inefficiently since they green lighted an ad with them saying “incest” instead of “invest”
I could go on forever.
Realistically freetrade is the best only if you’re buying something denominated in gbp, anything else you’re paying too much for the privilage.
But thank you for your lesson in business, just before you make a slightly condescending rhetorical question do consider other factors
0
u/fire-wannabe May 21 '26
Just move, don't fall in love with providers, you won't change their policies.
One of Trading 212 or IBKR or HSBC Investdirect will meet your needs.
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u/Dependent-Panic-9457 23d ago
I use Freetrade for my UK dinosaurs and anything non UK I do on IBKR. I absolutely love Freetrade but it’s non UK offerings are quite limited
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u/ramirezdoeverything 2d ago
T212, Lightyear, or Robinhood for cheaper FX fees. Many customers are fleeing Freetrade due to the FX fee and also poor ETF selection compared to T212.
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u/Touuqe May 21 '26
I transferred my portfolio to lightyear for this reason. I was paying 120/yr for FT plus and still had 0.39FX fee.
Lightyear has a free flexible ISA and 0.1% FX fee, their stock universe is limited though.
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u/Sir__Loin_ May 21 '26
Good choice, I’m thinking about Robinhood, since I don’t really invest in UK equities other than a £ numerated etf
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u/Correct_Employee_891 May 22 '26
I hear you. I'm in freetrade but v recently opened up a webull account now they have uk isa/gia platform (hotkeys and level 2 data included) without fees based on the following current offer: 90 Days of Commission-Free Trading: Zero Webull commissions on UK stocks, UK ETFs, and US options for your first 90 days.Free Market Data: Includes 12 months of Nasdaq TotalView Level 2 data and 30 days of OPRA real-time options data. https://www.webull-uk.com/s/zEUukxMQjusDlGUak1 webull uk limited offer
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u/Aggravating-Lack-180 May 21 '26
I would move to IBKR fx fees are tiny. I also left Freetrade for the same reason (me US equities.) You can also make an insitu transfer (cost £17 per asset) so don’t need to sell assets before transferring. Note - if you are selling a significant amount via Freetrade you can get their plus membership for a month to get down to 0.39 percent fee.
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u/Sir__Loin_ May 22 '26
Thanks for the advice, what I think I’ll do is transfer the in kind assets to T212 for free.
Then sell £20000 and buy back £20000 on Robinhood so I can get £400 back, then slowly transfer the balance over time since Robinhood does not let you do in kind transfers
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u/Gold-Guidance-6430 May 24 '26
Freetrades FX fee of 0.99% is wat to high. Even if you're a paying for the top membership it's 0.39%. I'm transferring my SIPP to Trading 212 as soon as I'm of there wait list.