Best Trading Platforms UK in 2024: Trading platforms allow investors to buy and sell financial securities like stocks, futures, forex, CFDs and more. With technological advancements, trading has become easily accessible to anyone with a mobile phone or computer. The UK hosts some of the best trading platforms suitable for beginners and seasoned traders alike.
We review the top 5 best trading apps and platforms in the UK for 2024 based on fees, tools, ease of use and customer service.
What Makes the Best Trading Platform in the UK?
Before jumping into the top trading apps, let’s overview the key factors that make up the best platforms:
Low Fees and Commissions
As a beginner, you’ll want to avoid high trading fees eating into your profits. The best UK share dealing platforms charge low or even zero commissions. Look out for hidden fees too in the small print.
Intuitive and Easy to Use
Complex platforms with steep learning curves are unsuitable for most beginners. The best trading apps in the UK have clean, intuitive interfaces across web, Android and iOS. Easy account setup is also vital for new traders.
Educational Tools and Research
The top share dealing apps understand the importance of education for beginners. In-built guides, ebooks, videos and webinars allow you to learn as you trade. Research tools like real-time news feeds, charts and Level 2 data are essential too.
Good Customer Service
Even the best stock trading sites suffer the occasional outage or issue. Check customer service response times and ease of access through live chat, phone and email support. Having a real person to speak to quickly is key.
With the must-have features covered, here are the 5 best trading platforms in the UK reviewed in detail…
1. eToro – Best Trading App for Copy Trading
Our number one choice for beginner traders is eToro, the leading social and copy trading platform founded in 2007. With over 27 million users globally, eToro is trusted for its innovative trading features and reliable brand.
For beginners, eToro’s standout feature is the Popular Investor Program. You can view, follow and automatically copy the trades of successful investors on the platform. So even with zero experience, you can have your capital managed by a pro trader. Over 800K followers are copying expert crypto and stock investors already.
The flat $5 trade fee makes frequent trading affordable. You can start trading stocks, crypto, forex, indices, commodities etc from just $50 too. The choice of assets is massive with 2,500+ available.
CopyTrader aside, eToro scores highly across all areas. The mobile and web trader platforms are intuitive with lots of customization options. Multiple order types like stops and limits are supported too.
For research, eToro provides social community Wall posts, real-time news feeds and advanced charting. Customer service is also available 24/7 through live chat, email and phone support. Overall, eToro is our top pick trading platform UK for beginners in 2023.
2. Plus500 – Best Trading App for CFDs
Plus500 is a top CFD and spread betting platform suitable for beginners through to advanced traders. The Android, iOS and web apps provide an intuitive trading environment packed with useful risk management tools.
Being regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Plus500 provides a safe, legal platform to trade CFDs on 2,500+ global markets. From Apple stocks to gold ETFs and GBP/USD forex, the asset selection is broad.
Unlike most platforms, Plus500 doesn’t charge trading commissions or fees outside of spreads. The spreads themselves are competitive too making overall trading costs very low. Leverage up to 1:300 is available to magnify profits too.
Plus500 additionally scores points for usability and educational content. Setting up an account takes minutes. The layout is clean and navigation intuitive across all platforms. Trading guides, risk management tools and alerts make Plus500 appealing for first time traders.
The customer support options stand out too. Live chat, phone, email, WhatsApp and Twitter support are all available 24/7. So help is always on hand which beginners will appreciate. Overall, Plus500 hits the mark for trading costs, usability and support.
3. IG – Best Trading Platform for Spread Betting
IG Markets challenges Plus500 for the best spread betting app title. As a multi-asset broker founded 1974, IG Markets offers huge product range across 10,000+ global markets.
CFDs, forex, stocks, options, bonds, interest rates, commodities and even cryptocurrencies are tradable through IG spread betting and share dealing accounts. Costs are competitive too with 0% commission across all account types.
For usability, the revamped web trader platforms and mobile apps provide a seamless trading environment. Charting and research tools are advanced too with auto pattern recognition, alerts and Level 2 data availability. IG really excels though with education thanks to IG Academy.
Here beginners can access a vast range of trading courses, webinars and daily news content. So traders can expand their knowledge while actively investing. Dealing options are flexible too from smartphone apps, desktop platforms to phone dealing.
The one drawback is high minimum account balances. Spread betting requires at least £250 to open which is higher than competitors. However, for advanced tools, education and product range, IG Markets ranks among the best UK trading platforms.
4. Freetrade – Best App for Fee-Free Trading
As the name suggests, Freetrade is a commission-free trading app allowing unlimited trades on UK, US and European stocks. There are no monthly subscription fees either making Freetrade uniquely cost-effective.
Over 650,000 users are already signed up to the slick Freetrade mobile apps for Android and iOS. Investing can be done on the go with just a few taps thanks to the clean user interface. Setting up an account takes minutes too with easy online form and ID verification processes.
The range of order types stands out for a mobile app too. Not only can you place basic buy/sell orders, but also stop losses, limit orders and fractional share orders. Dividend reinvestment options are additionally available to boost returns.
Despite the free pricing model, Freetrade provides market news feeds, price alerts, and custodial accounts topliers standards. The lack of short selling, options, OTC and foreign exchange dealing is the main compromise. Still for easy mobile stock trading, Freetrade wins for UK and US markets.
5. Capital.com – Best Trading App for Beginners
Rounding off the top 5 is multi-asset broker Capital.com, an award-winning trading app suitable for total beginners. Unlike rivals, Capital.com invests heavily in proprietary technology to simplify trading.
The intelligent investor tools enable automated technical analysis, sentiment indicators, global calendar event alerts and much more. So behind the clean app interface is advanced AI to assist your trading decisions. No prior experience is required.
With £0 commissions, tight spreads and fractional share trading, costs are low too. Just a small minimum deposit of €20 is needed to start investing in 2,200+ markets. Regulated across 5 tier-1 authorities, Capital.com ensures funds and data are secure.
Unique training resources also make Capital.com ideal for new investors. The free Trading Academy provides 100+ hours of courses, video tutorials and guides tailored to all experience levels. Learning the app itself is simple given the intuitive design.
For seamless, low cost access to global markets wrapped up in an award-winning platform, Capital.com is hard to beat. The innovative tools plus free trader education justify its place among the best trading apps UK 2023 for beginners.
Open a risk-free Capital.com demo account.
So there you have our picks for the top 5 best trading platforms in the UK this year. Between easy to use apps, low fees, copy trading and awesome education resources – beginners have all the ingredients here to gain investing confidence while controlling risk.
Most importantly nearly all platforms offer free demo accounts to practice, so it’s worth trialing a few UK trading apps from our list to discover your favourite. Once ready to put real money on the line, base minimum deposits to open accounts start from around £50 or £100.