Revolut – the mobile banking app that now boasts millions of customers, has just announced that it has launched a commission-free service that will allow customers to buy stocks at the click of a button. In the near future, the platform also plans to add ETFs and other popular investment products.
At the time of writing, the share dealing service will initially be reserved for those on a Revolut Metal account, although the company aims to roll this out to Free and Premium accounts in the coming months.
Industry insiders note that Revolut is now in direct competition with fellow counterpart Robinhood – who also offers zero-commission trading on stocks.
How will it work?
Those with a Revolut Metal account will initially have access to over 300 US companies trading on both the NSYE and NASDAQ. The mobile banking app notes that prices will be in real-time, during standard market hours. The platform also notes that users will be given up to 100 commission-free trades per month, after which a nominal fee of £1 per trade will be applied.
It is important to note that all trades facilitated via the Revolut app will be accustomed to an annual custody fee, which amounts to 0.01 percent. As such, a £10,000 portfolio of stocks would cost a mere £1 per year to maintain. However, while the share dealing service is still in Beta Mode, the aforementioned fees will not apply.
One of the overarching benefits of the Revolut stock broker offering is that users can instantly buy and sell shares using funds held in their respective accounts. Ordinarily, users would be required to deposit and withdraw funds in to and from a share dealing account, which can take days. Instead, users will simply need to choose the stocks that they want to buy, and the funds will be instantly taken from their current account.
Interestingly, the inter-connectivity between a an everyday current account and that of share dealing is something that has long been overlooked by traditional financial institutions. While it is true that the vast majority of banks provide their customers with a gateway to the stock markets, not only is this often a cumbersome process, but the fees are typically astronomical – at least in comparison to online alternatives.
The Fundamentals
While the Revolut share dealing service is still being rolled out, there are a number of key points that users need to be made aware of. First and foremost, each limit order will be capped at $1,000 per order. Fort those unaware, a limit order allows you to execute a trade when a share hits a certain price.
For example, if the price of British American Tobacco stocks were $37, but you only wanted to buy them when the price hit $30, you could set a limit order to execute this on your behalf. However, you can still place multiple limit orders of $1,000, albeit, not on a single order.
There is, however, one slight catch that users need to be made aware of. While the commission will not be charged per-say, it is important to remember that a spread will still be in force. This is the difference between the ‘Bid Price’ and the ‘Ask Price’. While it remains to be seen what the size of the Revolut share dealing spread will be, this is something that newbie traders must be aware of.
