Trading in financial markets requires the right choice of a broker, as security of traders’ funds, their profit and opportunities depend on it. Before you start working with a company, it is important to comprehensively assess it. Traders Union analysts have already done it for you. The experts prepared a review of the Best IRA Brokers in the UK for 2024. Five companies that enjoy huge popularity in the UK were selected and compared between each other.
1
eOption - Best in the UK for 2024
As an eOption client, you can trade options, stocks, listed bonds, fixed income assets, and ETFs. At the same time, the broker is focused on traders who use option strategies. The commission for derivative financial instruments trading is 10 cents per contract and that is lower than its competitors, plus $1.99 per trade. There is no minimum value for US residents to open a cash account. A deposit for international accounts is required from $25,000, and $2,000 for margin accounts. The new account shall be replenished within 60 days from the date of opening, otherwise, the broker may close it.
2
Interactive Brokers - Best in the UK for 2024
Interactive Brokers is militantly developing, offering services to investors regardless of their trading experience. For this purpose, the broker doesn’t ask for a fixed minimum deposit but has margin requirements for accounts of various structures to make trading financially safe. The size of the leverage and Margin call and Stop out levels depends directly on the asset that the client is trading.
3
Charles Schwab - Best in the UK for 2024
Charles Schwab offers its traders and investors a superb StreetSmart trading platform. Trading is possible through the company's web terminal, in the mobile application, and using the desktop version. Opening an account is available from $1 with no additional service fees. No brokerage fee is charged for US stocks (except for high volume, difficult to execute contracts).
4
Robinhood - Best in the UK for 2024
Robinhood allows US users to trade stock market assets without commissions. Investors are offered three types of accounts, which can later be changed, but a Robinhood Instant account is automatically opened upon registration. The company does not provide detailed information on trading conditions.
5
TradeStation - Best in the UK for 2024
TradeStation offers clients 14 types of accounts, including three types of brokerage trading accounts (individual and corporate) with a minimum deposit of $500. The company also provides an opportunity to trade cryptocurrencies with low commissions. Margin trading is available for deposits from $2,000.
TU Expert Review for the best IRA Brokers in the UK
Financial expert and analyst at Traders Union
Anton joined Traders Union as a financial expert and analyst in 2013. He performs comprehensive internal testing of brokers as a trader. Essentially, Anton “test drives” brokers: he checks the operation of the website and user account, the speed and effectiveness of customer support team, stability of the software, deposit and withdrawal processing times, legal documents of companies and also all additional services (VPS, affiliate programs, contests, bonuses, educational programs, etc.). Based on the results of his “inspections”, he prepares expert conclusions about the operation of brokerage companies in the Forex, stock and binary option markets and also of the cryptocurrency exchanges.
His opinion as for the best IRA Brokers in the UK is posted below.
eOption - TU Expert Review
The eOption broker is a US-regulated stockbroker; therefore its terms are more suitable for American traders. A $1 minimum is all that’s required to get started. Customers from other countries are deprived of such an advantage because many have a minimum deposit amount of $25,000. The terms of most margin accounts are standard. Like other US stockbrokers, eoption.com requires a deposit of $2,000+ to trade on margin. However, there are still differences in the terms of companies that are very similar. We are talking about reduced commissions for trading options, and eOption offers the lowest or next to the lowest commissions among its competitors. In our opinion, the main disadvantage of eOption is the lack of investment programs from which to choose. The broker offers only one investment option, the Auto Trading service. You can also participate in an affiliate program to make passive income. However, professional traders may feel the lack of sufficient investment opportunities.
Interactive Brokers - TU Expert Review
During its cooperation with Traders Union the Interactive Brokers investment company proved itself as a reliable partner, which faithfully fulfills its obligations to us. The broker provides clients with a wide range of services, allowing them to engage in both active trading and investments. At the same time, the broker charges a fee for an inactive account, and that's not convenient for passive investors. Despite the lack of a minimum deposit, Interactive Brokers is focused on working with professional market participants. The US and Canadian investors are the main target audiences of the company. Interactive Brokers customer support will help you resolve claims made to the company. You can find all the information about trading conditions and the specifics of various trading instruments on the broker's website. Before opening an account with this broker, we strongly recommend you to read about all trading conditions in detail, as well as reviews of other clients about cooperation with Interactive Brokers.
Charles Schwab - TU Expert Review
Analysis of Charles Schwab broker’s conditions and its website showed that the company is equally focused on active online trading and investment. You can start on the stock market with a zero deposit, besides, it has its training program, so the broker is a real catch for newbies. The support service is available around the clock. The Charles Schwab broker offers a slightly different approach to margin trading. Instead of leverage, the size of which is calculated concerning the deposit, a margin lending system is applied. Hence, the client takes out a loan to buy securities and upon completion of the related transactions pays the broker interest at a rate of 8%. For instance, a client buys shares for $5,000, which allows him to buy the same amount on a loan. After the sale of these securities, he is obliged to repay Charles Schwab a loan of $5,000 + 8% ($400). A trader's net profit is the funds remaining after the sale of assets minus payment of brokerage fees and taxes.
Robinhood - TU Expert Review
Robinhood (Robinhood Markets) has been providing investment services for about ten years and has been a Traders Union partner for more than a year. It fulfills all its obligations to its clients (the traders), which speaks admirably of its reliability. Robinhood provides three types of accounts for customers, which can be changed at your discretion after registration. Only US residents can work with Robinhood. At the same time, the broker is concerned about users' financial security and, upon registration, asks for information about their investment and trading experience. The main complaints against the broker come from foreign clients who are unable to withdraw their earned funds. The Robinhood Markets website provides investors with basic information about the company and the principles of investing to make money. The trading conditions are not indicated in full. It is also worth noting that the broker's focus is on clients from the United States. English is the only interface language.
TradeStation - TU Expert Review
Throughout its activities, TradeStation strives to allow traders of any experience to unleash their trading and investment potential. To this end, the company provides a suite of powerful trading technologies, quality brokerage services, and comprehensive training. Clients can quickly and efficiently place orders, monitor positions, balances, and orders on accounts, and generate hot observation lists. The TradeStation broker ensures fast and reliable fulfillment of clients' orders using a combination of advanced order routing technology, regular and thorough speed checks, better execution quality, and better prices. The company streams both historical and real-time market data and provides access to the latest news. TradeStation offers Simulated Trading, which is a simulated trading account for real-time strategy testing without financial risk. It has access to one of the largest market history databases in the industry for stocks, options, and futures. Clients can use a simple programming language EasyLanguage to create individual indicators and trading strategies on live and demo accounts.
Summary
Many brokers operate in the UK, but not all of them are reliable or offer attractive trading conditions. TU experts selected 5 companies and rated them based on collected data. By reviewing them, you will learn about the Best IRA Brokers in the UK 2024 and will be able to evaluate the pros and cons of its closest competitors.
Overall score of the best IRA Brokers in the UK
| eOption | Interactive Brokers | Charles Schwab | Robinhood | TradeStation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Overall score |
9.3 |
9.1 |
8.6 |
8.2 |
8 |
|
Execution of orders |
9 |
8.8 |
8.3 |
7.9 |
7.7 |
|
Investment instruments |
9.6 |
9.4 |
8.9 |
8.5 |
8.3 |
|
Withdrawal speed |
9.4 |
9.2 |
8.7 |
8.3 |
8.1 |
|
Customer Support work |
9.2 |
9 |
8.5 |
8.1 |
7.9 |
|
Variety of instruments |
8.9 |
8.7 |
8.2 |
7.8 |
7.6 |
|
Trading platform |
9.7 |
9.5 |
9 |
8.6 |
8.4 |
|
|
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|
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FAQ
What is a demo account and why is it important?
On a demo account, you trade by using virtual funds. It is important to choose a broker offering a demo account both for beginners, who are only learning, and for experienced traders, who can use this account type to test new strategies or EAs risk-free.
What are the risks of trading in the financial markets?
Any trading in the financial markets carries risks of losing your money due to asset volatility. Therefore, it is important to develop the rules of risk management in your strategy and strictly follow them.
Can you earn passive income in the financial markets?
Yes, the best brokers of the UK offer passive income options. These could include copy trading, PAMM accounts, managed portfolios, etc.
What commissions and fees should I take into consideration when I am choosing a broker?
The commissions and fees in the financial markets are divided into trading and non-tradings ones. Trading fees are the fees that are charged directly during trading (spread, commission per lot, etc.), while non-trading fees are the ones charged outside the trading process (for example, account fee, inactivity fee, deposit and withdrawal fee).
Best IRA Brokers by Countries
Team that worked on the article
Mikhail Vnuchkov joined Traders Union as an author in 2020. He began his professional career as a journalist-observer at a small online financial publication, where he covered global economic events and discussed their impact on the segment of financial investment, including investor income. With five years of experience in finance, Mikhail joined Traders Union team, where he is in charge of forming the pool of latest news for traders, who trade stocks, cryptocurrencies, Forex instruments and fixed income.
Olga Shendetskaya has been a part of the Traders Union team as an author, editor and proofreader since 2017. Since 2020, Shendetskaya has been the assistant chief editor of the website of Traders Union, an international association of traders. She has over 10 years of experience of working with economic and financial texts. In the period of 2017-2020, Olga has worked as a journalist and editor of laftNews news agency, economic and financial news sections. At the moment, Olga is a part of the team of top industry experts involved in creation of educational articles in finance and investment, overseeing their writing and publication on the Traders Union website.