Charles Schwab introduces no-fee trading in US stocks for UK investors

Amid the growing demand for ‘democratising’ investment, retail investors are spoilt for choice when it comes to the platforms on offer.

With platforms battling it out to offer the lowest price possible, top US broker Charles Schwab now wants a piece of the pie.

Previously, investors were required to make a $25,000 minimum investment to use the platform.

Investors will not pay any fees for any online trades in listed US stocks or treasuries. Those looking to trade corporate and municipal bonds will pay $1 per bond while options trading will cost $0.65 per contract.

‘In the last five years, we’ve seen a really significant growth in UK investors using Schwab’s platform to trade the US… part of that growth has allowed us to reduce the minimum investment from $25,000 down to zero,’ Richard Flynn, UK managing director at Charles Schwab told This Is Money.

‘We have a number of US expat clients who find the service to be of immense value because all of Schwab’s trading and custody takes place in the US and so for them, it’s very attractive that their assets are not held outside of the US, which is useful for tax reporting purposes.’

Unlike other investing platforms based in the UK, Charles Schwab’s platform trades only in US dollars.

‘For people who would have been using UK brokerages to trade US stocks and paying those FX rates, we feel there’s potentially significant advantages to trading US stocks through a US dollar platform,’ said Flynn.

Source of data and images: dailymail