There have been many threads relating to online brokers, mostly covering trading costs. I would like to know who you think provides the best option in terms in terms of free research tools, ease of use, range of stock exchanges and to some extent value for money (I would be using a buy and hold type strategy - so frequent trader deals would be of no use).
For example how easy is it to find the fees associated with a particular fund or EFT through the broker web site.
I have had a TDWaterhouse account for some (though I seldom use it) and have found it unwieldy and slow to use - in fact I have found it almost impossible to do meaningful funds research through it.
I recently opened an account with Keytrade and find their service good overall but some of their charting facilities are very poor, and trades cost slightly more than some other brokers, especially for UK and US trades.
I am currently attempting to open a Hoodless Brennan account, but am concerned about losses incurred in transferring funds to and from a sterling account - I know for example that barclays charge me £20 every time i want to do an international transfer. Also they are in the process of changeing their chargeing structure to one that would be slightly less favourable for an in-frequent trader.
I have had no exposure to US based accounts, many people seem to prefer these mainly based on the low trading costs - does this outweigh the cost of foreigh exchange transactions to fund purchases?
For example how easy is it to find the fees associated with a particular fund or EFT through the broker web site.
I have had a TDWaterhouse account for some (though I seldom use it) and have found it unwieldy and slow to use - in fact I have found it almost impossible to do meaningful funds research through it.
I recently opened an account with Keytrade and find their service good overall but some of their charting facilities are very poor, and trades cost slightly more than some other brokers, especially for UK and US trades.
I am currently attempting to open a Hoodless Brennan account, but am concerned about losses incurred in transferring funds to and from a sterling account - I know for example that barclays charge me £20 every time i want to do an international transfer. Also they are in the process of changeing their chargeing structure to one that would be slightly less favourable for an in-frequent trader.
I have had no exposure to US based accounts, many people seem to prefer these mainly based on the low trading costs - does this outweigh the cost of foreigh exchange transactions to fund purchases?
