Buying and selling investments

• With our Investor service plan, you can make one free trade per month. We add a £3.99 trade credit your account on the same day your monthly fee is charged. Each free trading credit is available for 31 days before it expires.
• Additional trades usually cost £3.99 each for UK or US shares, ETFs, funds and investment trusts.
• Other international shares cost £9.99 per trade.
• Dividend reinvestment costs £0.99.
• Regular investing, through monthly payments, is free.

If you expect to make lots of trades each month, you could save money by upgrading your service plan.

There are additional charges for trades of US or UK shares worth over £100,000 or other international shares worth over £25,000. Click here for a full list of charges.

• Buying or selling US shares usually costs £3.99 per trade.
• Trades of other international shares usually cost £9.99.
• If you upgrade to our Super Investor service plan, you can trade international shares for £5.99.
• Buying or selling US shares with a trade value over £100,000 costs 0.04% of the trade value.
• Buying or selling other international shares with a trade value over £25,000 costs 0.10% of the trade value.

Before you can buy international shares, you need to sign and return the following forms: 

• Exchange Agreements – this ensures you can get live prices for international markets.
• W-8BEN – this enables you to trade US shares. 

You will also need to complete an Appropriateness Assessment Form in order to trade US shares or other complex instruments. 

How to complete the online Exchange Agreements form

• Select Trading > Trade Now from the menu. 
• Click on the International investment type, and then the sign the exchange agreements link. 
• Open the Amalgamated Exchange Agreements form. 
• Complete the form carefully. 
• Scroll down to read the disclaimers. Click I agree to confirm. 
  

How to complete a W-8BEN form to trade US shares

To invest in US shares within a trading account or ISA, you must complete a W-8BEN form. 

You do not need to do this to trade US shares within a SIPP account. 

You can access a W-8BEN form through your online account. 

• Select Account > Useful Forms from the menu. 
• If you scroll down, you can view a guide to completing the W-8BEN before clicking Go To W-8BEN Online. 
• Click New Form. 
• Complete the form chooser by choosing the options which apply to you. This process may take up to 10 minutes to complete. 
• When you reach the Declarations stage, click Generate PDF to open your W8-BEN form in a new window. Please review the document and check the details are correct.
• If you are happy the information in it is correct, close the new window containing the W8-BEN form. 
• Click Submit to confirm. 

Once you have completed your W-8BEN form, you will be able to trade US shares. 

It will remain valid for three years before you need to renew. 

How to complete the Appropriateness Assessment Form

Appropriateness tests are required when purchasing complex instruments – including US shares. 

It helps us to determine whether you have the appropriate experience and knowledge to understand the risks involved while trading.

The Appropriateness Assessment Form contains 10 yes or no questions. You can access it through your account. 

• Select Account > Personal details & preferences from the menu. 
• Scroll down to the Account Information section. Click on Appropriateness Assessment Form. 
• Read each question carefully and select yes, no or don’t know.
• When you have finished, click Submit. 
• A message will then appear to notify if you have passed the assessment. 

Your order list provides a list of your settled and pending orders. 

To view your order list, select Trading > Order list from your account menu. 

Your orders will be broken down into separate sections for their market/territory. For example: UK Orders, US Orders, European Orders. 

Order list columns

The order list columns provide information about your orders. For example, the date the order was placed, a description of the order, the order type and the expiry date. 

Each order has a reference code. Click on the reference code for more order details. 

At either end, there are columns showing the order Options and Status. 

Order Status

Your order status will show as one of the following:

• Executed – the trade has been successfully placed with the market. Please note that these trades cannot be cancelled. 
• Pending – an order which is awaiting execution. For example, a trade placed outside of market hours. Pending orders can be cancelled. Please note that fund orders will show as pending until a price confirmation is received - these orders cannot be cancelled past the cut-off point following your trade.
• Failed – an order that could not be executed. For example, a fill or kill order that could not be dealt at the limit price.
• Cancel Pending – an order awaiting cancellation. The order may have been in the process of being executed when you requested cancellation. It is not confirmed as cancelled until the status changes to Cancelled.
• Cancelled - a pending order has been successfully cancelled.

Order Options

If you can cancel or place a closing deal with your order it will be shown here. 

• Click on Cancel to cancel the trade. Options to cancel and confirm will appear.
• Click on Close to place a closing deal. You will be directed to the Place an Order page with details of the order to close pre-filled on the trading page. 

By closing a trade, you are placing an order for the opposite instruction of your original trade. Close a buy order by selling the shares. Close a selling order by buying them back.

Detail Level

Select Performance from the dropdown menu to rearrange the orders shown according to their performance. Select Limit to view your limit orders. 

Download and Print

• Click Download to download the order list as an Excel file.
• Click Print to print the selected Order List.

• Trades of UK shares usually take the next two working days to settle.
• Trades of funds, investment trusts and ETFs usually take four working days to settle.
• To view your trades which have not yet been settled, select Trading > Order List from your account menu. 

You can cancel pending trades which have not yet been executed. 

For example: trades which have been made outside of market hours or limit orders which are yet to be executed. 

• To see your trades which have not yet been executed, select Trading > Order List from your account menu. 
• Orders which can be cancelled will have the word Cancel in the Options column. 
• Click on Options to arrange your trades by whether you can cancel them. 
• Click Cancel for the trade that you wish to cancel. 
• You will then be shown a detailed summary of the order. 
• Click on Cancel Trade to confirm.  

After you have requested cancellation, the order’s status will change to Cancel Pending. 

The order may have been in the process of being executed when you requested cancellation. It is not confirmed as cancelled until the status changes to Cancelled.

If your trade is cancelled successfully, you will not be charged any trading fees for the order. 

• Select Cash & Transfers > Convert Currency from your account menu
• Choose the currencies you would like to convert from and to
• Enter either the amount you wish to exchange or receive
• Then click Preview Order before you can Confirm

Foreign Exchange costs

We charge a percentage of the total value of your transaction.

For currency conversion of up to £24,999 we charge 1.5%.

This means converting £1,000 into another currency costs £15.

The margin rate of converting currency worth over £25,000 is detailed below. 

The FX rate for currency conversion is based on the bid/offer exchange rate to which we apply a spread of up to +/- 1.50% at the time of execution. If multiple trades (“fills”) are required to execute your trade the FX rate is calculated on the value of each fill and you may end up paying a higher FX charge than for a single transaction of the same total value.

Find specific shares

• Use the quote bar at the bottom of the screen on your online account. 
• Type the company’s name, symbol or SEDOL into the search bar. 
• If you click on the name of the company, a quick price will appear on the right of the quote bar. Click on buy or sell to go to the trade now page. 

Find specific funds

• Select UK Funds from the Market menu on the quote bar the bottom of the screen. 
• Then start typing the name of the fund. Click on the fund you want, and the price will appear to the right as well the option to buy or sell. 

Search for types of investment

You can search for investments using the research menu. 

• Click Research and then shares, funds, investment trusts, ETFs or IPOs – depending on the type of investment you are searching for. 
• Then search for investments by various categories including geography or industry sector. 
• Click on any investment for in depth details. 

If you are looking for investment ideas, you could start by looking at our experts' investment recommendations.

Using the Research menu on your online account, you can find out more about: 

• Quick-start funds – low-cost funds chosen by our experts to help you get started.
• ii Super 60 – match your investments to your style and interests with our rated list of investments. 
• ii ACE 40 – our selection of sustainable investments.

• Internationally listed ETF’s or funds
• Cryptocurrency
• Commodities
• Options
• Futures 
• Over the Counter shares (OTCs)
• Contract for difference trades
• We do not facilitate spread betting

ADRs

American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) are supported within your trading account. 

Unfortunately, you cannot trade them within an ISA or SIPP account.

Currencies we support

You can trade shares in the following currencies: 

• GBP Sterling
• Euro
• US Dollar
• Australian Dollar
• Canadian Dollar
• Hong Kong Dollar
• Singapore Dollar

If you hold shares in your account in a currency we do not support, please call us to sell. Further purchases of such shares will not be available. 

Please note that additional telephone trading fees apply. 

Dual listings

Where a stock has multiple listings, we may restrict trading to the primary market. 

International Crest (CDI) Stocks

Other UK brokers tend to trade international stocks through the London market and hold these as CDIs. At Interactive Investor, we trade directly on local international markets and hold the local version of the stock for you. 

Where international stocks have been transferred to us, it may be that the stock is still held in CDI form. 

We will be unable to purchase any further holding of the CDI version. Please call us if you wish to sell a CDI holding.

Dirty funds

We are unable to purchase any fund which has a trail commission attached (known as 'dirty funds').

If you happen to hold a ‘dirty fund’ in your account, please call us to sell.

Markets which are only available over the phone 

The following markets are only available via telephone trades:

• UK NEX Exchange
• Stockholm Stock Exchange
• SIX Swiss Exchange
• Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE)

Please call us if you wish to trade on one of these markets. 

Please note that additional telephone trading fees apply if you wish to trade on these markets.

Order types allow you to give instructions for how you want your trade to be settled. 

For example, you can set instructions to buy or sell shares when the price rises or falls to a certain level.

To choose your order type when placing a trade, click on the On/Off More trade options icon. 

Then select:

Market

Buy or sell at the best current price. 

If the market is closed, buy or sell at the best price when the market opens.

Limit

Buy or sell shares when they reach a certain price.

• Enter your chosen price next to Limit Price. 
• Enter the duration of how long to keep your limit order in place. 

When buying, your shares will be purchased automatically when the share price drops to your limit price. When selling, your shares will be sold automatically when the share price reaches your price limit. 

Fill or kill

Place an order to buy or sell at a certain price. If the price is available, the order will be executed (‘filled’). If your price cannot be met, your order will be cancelled (‘killed’).

• Enter your chosen price next to Limit Price. 

Unlike limit orders, you cannot set a time limit for fill or kill orders. If the market is open, fill or kill orders are reviewed immediately. If the market is closed, the trade will be ‘filled’ or ‘killed’ in the next market session – depending on the available price. 

Fill or kill orders are only available on the UK exchange. 

Stop loss

Sell shares when the price drops to a certain price. 

• Enter your chosen price next to Limit Price.
• Enter the duration of how long to keep your stop loss order in place. 

Your shares will sell automatically if the limit price is reached. 

Please be aware that the price may be considerably lower than the stop loss limit if the shares drop in price dramatically. This is because once your stop loss price is triggered the order becomes a 'market' order. 

Important information

1. We do not offer a guaranteed price function which means that the price you request for a limit or stop loss order may not be the price you receive. When the share price reaches your target price, your order is triggered and will be actioned in 'fair and due turn'. This means that the share is dealt as soon as possible at the best price that can be obtained after the trigger price is hit. In addition, market volatility can substantially influence the price we achieve for your order.
2. It is not always possible to execute an order type at your specified price. This can depend on the variables of the instruction. For example, if a share price is particularly volatile, we may be unable to complete your instruction.
3. If you want to set up an Order Type, you need to have sufficient funds to cover the cost of any purchases before you set up the order type. If you have insufficient funds, your order type may be cancelled.
4. Order Types can only be placed on eligible UK quoted equities, so overseas stocks and funds are not eligible.