Guides

A round trip on £1,000 of US shares costs £1.19 at Interactive Brokers, £3.00 at Trading 212, £9.98 at XTB, £14.94 at eToro and £19.70 at Freetrade's free plan, as of October 2026. Three scenarios, a general account and an ISA, every fee from the platforms' own price lists, and the method in full.

A CFD is a leveraged contract with a broker that pays out the change in an asset's price, without you owning the asset. A worked long and short share trade with margin, spread and overnight financing, the FCA's retail rules, and why most accounts lose.

Leverage lets a small deposit control a much larger position, and it multiplies losses by exactly the same factor as gains. How ratios translate to margin, the FCA retail caps by asset class, the 50% close-out rule, and what a 1%, 3% or 5% move does at 5:1, 30:1 and 500:1.

Trading 212 is FCA-regulated and your money is protected, but the protection has edges: interest on cash, share lending and CFDs each sit outside part of it. Here is exactly what is covered, with the licence numbers to check.

3.60% AER variable, tax-free, protected up to £120,000 — and held entirely in banks, unlike the QMMF-backed interest on Trading 212's other accounts. Here is the rate, the promo bonus, what a flexible ISA means in practice, and where it doesn't fit.

XTB is FCA-regulated, listed in Warsaw and covered by the FSCS for UK clients, but it has two KNF fines on record and its CFD side is where money is lost. The licence numbers, limits and small print.

Trading 212 charges no commission, but it is not free. The FX fee, the card-deposit threshold, stamp duty, CFD financing and the cost of leaving interest switched off all add up. Here is every charge, with worked examples in pounds.

XTB charges no commission on stocks and ETFs up to €100,000 of monthly turnover, but it is not free. The 0.5% currency conversion fee, CFD spreads, overnight financing, the custody fee on large portfolios and the inactivity rule all add up. Here is every charge for UK clients, with worked examples in pounds.

eToro is regulated by the FCA, CySEC and ASIC and has been listed on Nasdaq since May 2025. Here is what that protects, what it does not (crypto, copied losses, CFDs), and the licence numbers to check yourself.

eToro charges UK clients no commission on stocks and ETFs, no inactivity fee and nothing to withdraw from a GBP account. The real cost is the 0.75% currency conversion each way. Every charge, with a worked £1,000 example.

XM is regulated, but not by one regulator. The EU entity is CySEC-licensed with €20,000 compensation cover; the offshore XM Global entity offers 1000:1 leverage and no compensation scheme. Here is how to tell which one you are with.

Plus500 is FCA-regulated, listed on the London Stock Exchange and holds UK client money in segregated accounts, but it is a CFD market maker and 76% of its UK retail accounts lose money. The licences, limits, fees and history.

Spread betting pays no capital gains tax and no stamp duty; CFD losses can offset other gains and CFD positions are available outside the UK and Ireland. Same leverage limits, same negative balance protection. Here is which one actually suits you.

Pepperstone is FCA-regulated in the UK and CySEC- or BaFin-regulated in the EU, with segregated client money and negative balance protection for retail clients. Which entity you get, what the FSCS and ICF cover, and what Razor and Standard accounts cost.

IBKR is cheap, but its pricing is a maze. Fixed vs tiered commission on UK and US shares, stamp duty, the two ways to convert currency, interest on cash, margin rates, market data, withdrawals and the ISA activity fee, with worked examples in pounds.

Kraken is FCA-registered in the UK, MiCA-licensed in the EU and publishes proof-of-reserves reviews, but registration is not FSCS cover. The licences, the SEC history, the security record and the gaps.

Kraken charges 1% plus a spread on instant buys in the app, and 0.40% maker / 0.80% taker on Kraken Pro at the entry tier since its July 2026 fee change. Faster Payments deposits are free, GBP withdrawals cost £1.95. Every charge for UK users, with a £500 Bitcoin example.

Five UK stocks and shares ISAs side by side: account fees, dealing commission, FX fees, interest on cash, minimums, flexibility and transfer charges, plus what £200 a month into a global ETF costs on each over a year.

Trading 212 has a 4.6 Trustpilot score from around 100,000 reviews, and a steady stream of people saying it is terrible. We took the ten complaints that come up most on Trustpilot, Reddit and the Trading 212 community and checked which are true, which are misunderstandings, and what to do about each.

eToro's CopyTrader mirrors another investor's trades from $200, with no extra fee for copying. How proportional copying, the copy stop-loss and Popular Investor payments work, what you really pay, and why past returns are a weak guide.

The UK dividend allowance is £500 in 2026/27 and the rates rose to 10.75% and 35.75%. Worked examples for each band, how to report dividends to HMRC, and how a stocks and shares ISA keeps them tax-free.

Dividend tax for 2026/27 by band, with the £500 allowance and ISA dividends. English only.