Beginner friendly trading platform

[PotatoSalad]

I'm new to stock trading, made a bit of extra pocket money on cryptocurrencies and decided to try with real markets, more for fun than anything else. I signed up to eToro (just because I remembered seeing an ad), deposited $1000 few months ago and now I've got $1900 in assets, so it's a good start and satisfying experience for me.

I don't really take it too seriously, invested only in companies in the sector I'm interested in and know when someone is about to release a killer product and pulled out just in time on few occasions, more thanks to gut feeling and stock forecasts from FT than actual market research to be honest.. With so little of the initial investment losing a bit won't be a disaster, but making extra money with little effort got me hooked.


Sadly the stock selection on eToro is rather limited and few other small things annoy me (such as not listing market operating times next to stock, I need to look it up on other pages). It also operates in USD not GBP so sooner or later I'll get hit by conversion rates and fees. On the plus side it's easy to use and has very low minimum position sizes which works well for me.

Could anyone be so kind and recommend an alternative online platform?

[DuncB7]

I started from a stocks & shares ISA through Hargreaves Lansdown a few years back. I found it very easy to use as a beginner.

[PotatoSalad]

DuncB7 said:

I started from a stocks & shares ISA through Hargreaves Lansdown a few years back. I found it very easy to use as a beginner.

Thanks, I'll check them. Any thoughts on IG compared to HL?

[Condi]

PotatoSalad said:

DuncB7 said:

I started from a stocks & shares ISA through Hargreaves Lansdown a few years back. I found it very easy to use as a beginner.

Thanks, I'll check them. Any thoughts on IG compared to HL?

Very different things.

IG is spread-betting, You never own the shares, simply take a position on the price of them. IG make money on the 'spread' between the buy and sell prices. On il-liquid markets the spread is wide, on liquid markets such as FX the spread is narrower. The market is essentially made by IG.

HL are a stock brokers, so you buy shares or funds, and HL charge a fee for transacting the trade. They have no effect on the market at all, and just execute orders. You're buying and selling at the true exchange value.


There are advantages and disadvantages to both, it depends if you want to quickly dip in and out of markets making a turn on the day, or hold investments for longer periods. If you want to trade, IG is your platform. If you want to invest HL is very simple although there might be cheaper options out there.

[limpsfield]

Condi said:

Very different things.

IG is spread-betting, You never own the shares, simply take a position on the price of them. IG make money on the 'spread' between the buy and sell prices. On il-liquid markets the spread is wide, on liquid markets such as FX the spread is narrower. The market is essentially made by IG.
.

This isn't quite right. Whilst IG's main business is spreadbetting and CFDs they also launched a traditional online stockbroking business a few years back. I have used them for UK and US shares and all good.