AD: Stake Review: Investment App to make buying US Stocks Easy

Stake Review: Investment App to make buying US Stocks Easy

DISCLAIMER – This review has been sponsored by STAKE, however all opinions and thoughts my own.

My passion is helping others learn and build the habit of investing in their money lives, and with the rise of UK based Investments apps recently – Stake is one option you might not have heard of YET but should definitely consider.

With a huge range of US funds and stocks including the most popular ones, Stake hopes to solve all your US stock buying problems with ease by giving you unlimited commission free investing with a huge range of the most popular US funds and stocks.

They are fully FCA regulated like most of the UK Investment apps options, allowing you to be protected up to £85,000 value of investments, but just how do they rate against some of the more commonly used FEE FREE Investment platforms such as Trading212 and Freetrade?

Considering signing up?

Remember to sign up with Stake and you can receive a free stock when you click on my link here, which could be GoPro, Dropbox or Nike.  Be sure to then use the referral code MAMAFURFUR to get your free stock.

Stake Review: Overview points

• Investing in US stocks only
• Invest from as little as £50
• Completely commission free investing
• App only interface at the moment
• Lots of investment information contained within the app to make your selection process easily.

What is Stake?

Stake is an investment app platform originally from Australia now heading over here to the UK, bringing their passion for US stocks to the UK investment market.

Right now, you can trade in over 3,500 different US stocks and ETFs, which compared to competitors such as Freetrade which is offering closer to 1,700 funds.

This makes it a great choice if you find the other UK investment platforms limited compared to the US ETFs you wish to invest in, but find that you can’t as not available on your current platform.

For me, I found using the app quick and easy to order and invest in some of my favourite US individual companies’ stocks in the technology and manufacturing sector.

What are the fees for investing with Stake?

Fees only apply with the Stake app when you are funding your account with a deposit or making a withdrawal.

There is a 0.5% fee on the GBP to USD spot rate which is very competitive compared to other investment platforms such as Trading212.

This is also only charged on funding and withdrawals though, not on every trade like some other brokers in the UK such as Hargreaves Lansdown and could save you a considerable amount of money if you plan on investing regularly throughout the month.

Once you’ve funded your account and converted to USD you have completely unlimited commission-free trading.

What is a Limit, Market and Buy Stop order within Stake app?

• A limit order is an order to buy or sell a stock at a specific price or better and will only be fulfilled if it matches.
• A market order is a buy or sell order to be executed immediately at the current market prices.
• A buy stop order instructs a broker to purchase a stock when it hits a certain price that is higher than the current spot price. Once the price hits that certain price, it becomes a market order and is completed.

What do you get with the different account levels in Stake?

Although Stake is completely free to use for their basic account, you could consider paying for the additional level user services if you are happy with a subscription.

Essentially there are Starter, Unlimited, and Black level subscriptions to choose from and during this time of globally uncertainty they are currently FREE on all levels.

• Starter

The Starter subscription is designed for those new to investing and for beginners and those who have never invested before. You are restricted to marker orders only but as well as allowing fractional orders, you will be commission free.

• Unlimited

The Unlimited account starts from $9 a month currently, and ideal for those who require more functions with their investments.  This includes Advanced orders (Limit and Stop orders) and priority access to new stocks as soon as they become available.

• Black

The Black account is the highest priority subscription that you can have and costs $19 a month.  On top of the perks of the Unlimited package, you will also have options to run day trades on unsettled funds, so this is ideal for the advanced investor and traders.

You will also see additional insight and data than the other levels of users.

How does Stake compare to Trading212 and Freetrade?

The biggest area of fin tech to come out in recent years to encourage everyday investors to start buying in funds and stocks has been where they can offer you the benefit of ZERO FEE investing as much as possible.

The main competitors against Stake in this area would be considered Freetrade and Trading212.

Currently Trading212 and Freetrade offer fund and stock investing information, but not to the same level and detail as Stake with extensively more information for the average investor to consider before buying a fund or stock.

The Stake app layout is also easy to use, clear and concise and within a matter of minutes of opening an account you can quickly use the search function to find a whole host of stocks to purchase.

It also has a section within the app called “Wall St” which presents to the user a clear overview of some of the major markets to consider and their current daily values, making it a great way to dive into what you might consider buying that day based on current and past history.

The app also allows you to have a Watch list of the companies you potentially are thinking of purchasing soon, again allowing you to track companies or funds without necessarily making that purchase with your money.

Finally, there is a great section in the app that even gives you free investing knowledge such as how to understand Day trading, and learn more about how to invest using the app.

Trading212 and Freetrade have similar clean easy to use apps, however, are missing that higher level detail and studying of the markets that Stake provides the user with ease and with great speed.

Stake is simple to use, easy to make an investment and overall gives you the power of great information before you are making an investment to give you the confidence that you really have all the information at your fingertips on your phone.

Similarly, to Trading212, you can also purchase fractional shares in companies and funds which makes it ideal if you cannot afford the full share price at that day but still wish to purchase that company in your portfolio.

One major difference to Trading212 and Freetrade is you are only charged a currency conversion fee when you deposit funds, not on every trade. There is also a $2 bank processing fee on withdrawal with Stake which is small compared to other similar platforms.

The only drawback to Stake app would be the minimum deposit of £50 and compared to Trading212 and Freetrade that offer initial deposits from £1 this does mean you need to be confident with investing before you start.

Trading212 and Freetrade also provide you with different Investing account options such as Investment ISAs (Individual Savings accounts) allowing you to invest tax free on any profits and growth, but certainly this doesn’t stop Stake from being a great competition app against them.

Where can you sign up to Stake?

Another great benefit of signing up with Stake is that you can receive a free stock when you click on my link here, which could be GoPro, Dropbox or Nike.  Be sure to then use the referral code MAMAFURFUR to get your free stock.

Overall, I found the Stake app extremely easy to use and full of useful detail stock information that allowed me to make a well-informed choice as I built up my investing portfolio with them.

If you are looking for a platform that allows you to grow as an investor with it, then Stake could be the app you are looking for!

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