With the shift from paper shares to online share trading it has never been easier to take the reins and manage your investments online.
Online stock trading is now available from most major trading companies. It allows you to manage your investment portfolio online wherever you are, and of course be more active in monitoring and managing your online share trading account.
By stock trading online you can check how your portfolio is performing in real time. So if your investments are performing badly, or you spot an opportunity to profit, you will be able to place a buy or sell transaction quickly via your online share dealing account so you don’t miss out.
Choose the best online share trading platform
Each share dealing account provider will offer a slightly different service tailored to let you trade shares online with access to different markets and managed by different platforms.
Ultimately you will find the best online share trading site to be a combination of the platform you find easiest and most intuitive to use, and the online trading account that matches your intended use.
Many of the best online stock trading sites offer demo accounts as a trial of their particular online trading platform so can decide for yourself how easy it is to use.
Choose the best online trading account
Equally as important as the platform is the account itself: choosing from the best online trading accounts is a matter of comparing the features they offer against your wishes.
For example, many accounts offer to match your first deposit up to a stated percentage; if you have a large sum of money to open your account with, this can really help maximise the potential of what you can invest in. Other accounts might offer introductory low fee periods, for example.
However, all offers have strict qualifying criteria. For this reason it’s important to check the trading features on offer, and the corresponding charges, before you open a share dealing account.
You can choose between the best online trading accounts by using our online share trading comparison tables.
Online stock trading – fees and charges
If you trade shares online on a regular basis you can find accounts that charge as little as £5 - £6 per trade.
However you also need to be aware of annual management fees, inactivity charges and transfer costs. You can use our comparison tables to compare the cost of trading via different online stock trading accounts.
Before you apply it’s also a good idea to read online share dealing reviews as this will help you to make an informed choice on the best online trading accounts for you, helping you to maximise your profits.
