Are FXCM the same as Sharewatch?

vicwatson

Are these the same, trying to set up an account but all the correspondance is from FXCM.

Just wondering.

Thanks

martyoo

FXCM bought them last year afaik.

Adotsy

FYI - I set up an account with FXCM through Sharewatch over a year ago now. I find their service quite good and haven't had any problems with them so far.

However, be careful when transferring funds in to foreign currency. I was charged over 2% to transfer cash from Euro to USD account - the fee was hidden in the exchange rate. I just trade in Euro denominated stocks with them now.

By keeping trades at €5,000 or above you minimize the impact of transaction fees to 0.6% (0.3% to buy and 0.3% to sell). Anything lower than €5,000 and the €15 minimum fee comes into play and eats into your returns.

vicwatson

Adotsy wrote: »

FYI - I set up an account with FXCM through Sharewatch over a year ago now. I find their service quite good and haven't had any problems with them so far.

However, be careful when transferring funds in to foreign currency. I was charged over 2% to transfer cash from Euro to USD account - the fee was hidden in the exchange rate. I just trade in Euro denominated stocks with them now.

By keeping trades at €5,000 or above you minimize the impact of transaction fees to 0.6% (0.3% to buy and 0.3% to sell). Anything lower than €5,000 and the €15 minimum fee comes into play and eats into your returns.

Just want to use them for a once off trade, lowest price in the industry right?

Adotsy

Probably the lowest price you'll get for a once off trade.

Just to point out that there's an inactivity charge of ~€15 if you don't make a trade in a quarter. I still find them cheaper than the other stockbrokers.

Can I ask what trade you're thinking of making?

AntiRip

Adotsy wrote: »

Probably the lowest price you'll get for a once off trade.

Just to point out that there's an inactivity charge of ~€15 if you don't make a trade in a quarter. I still find them cheaper than the other stockbrokers.

Can I ask what trade you're thinking of making?

Are you sure about this? I'm sure I asked them this question before and they told me once I have over £50 in account you don't be charged any fees. I haven't been charged anyway

Adotsy

When did they say that? The charge started from 1 June.

The following is listed as a charge on the Sharewatch website:

Inactivity fee is £12.50 charged quarterly*
*Inactivity commencement period 1/6/2012
http://www.sharewatch.com/trading-fees.php

I would understand "inactivity" to mean "not trading". I could be wrong though.

A lot of brokers have this charge now, especially if the don't charge an annual fee.

AntiRip

Adotsy wrote: »

When did they say that? The charge started from 1 June.

The following is listed as a charge on the Sharewatch website:

Inactivity fee is £12.50 charged quarterly*
*Inactivity commencement period 1/6/2012
http://www.sharewatch.com/trading-fees.php

I would understand "inactivity" to mean "not trading". I could be wrong though.

A lot of brokers have this charge now, especially if the don't charge an annual fee.

You're probably right, I haven't checked since before the summer and did receive an email during the summer about changes but didn't read. Thanks

ravima

Sharewatch were originally through DIRECTSHAREDEAL in Glasgow. We then were moved to ODL and then to FXCM. Guess what, now we're being moved again, unless we want a £25 pm account holding fee. We're now being given the option of going to SAXO.

Bondie

ravima wrote: »

Sharewatch were originally through DIRECTSHAREDEAL in Glasgow. We then were moved to ODL and then to FXCM. Guess what, now we're being moved again, unless we want a £25 pm account holding fee. We're now being given the option of going to SAXO.

I have a fxcm account I opened in January , i got email from them about the monthly fee. I bought about 10 grand worth of shares I would like to keep back in January. I would like these transferred to my name and close the account ? I have no intention of selling the shares any time soon. How would I go about this ? Thanks , I'm a novice at shares etc

Lord TSC

In the same boat.

I have a little amount in two shares, and always viewed them as a long term investment. Would like to keep my investment but not with FXCM since I won't be trading 3 times a month like they said. How would I go about keeping my investments but pulling out of my relationship with FXCM?

AntiRip

I'm also in the same boat!

Holding onto 15000 shares for about a year and no way going to pay the £25 a month. Not much notice either, the 1st of November. Really really worried what to do here.

Any advice in where to move my shares to?

Lord TSC

Thats the main thing for me really; where do I go? I've got no clue about other brokers, and used the Sharewatch site cause it seemed to be the easiest to use

rs500ff

Me too.
I'm a buy and hold investor so where do I go now?

ravima

You've nothing to lose by asking them to transfer the shares into certificated form and post the certs to you. If you do request this option, I'd request the certs to be sent by reg post and offer to pay the postage cost. You could always threaten to report them to financial regulator, but I can't give any advice on this. Simplest option seems to be to transfer to SAXO. SAXO fees are lower and they have no annual fee.

andodenis.

I keep my shares with FXCM.
It was Sharewatch, then ODL & now FXCM.
I am not a very active trader, a couple of times a year at most.
There will now be a 25 Euro charge per month. I don't want to pay it.
What is the cheapest (& also reliable) online stockbroker to use?
I've had emails recommending SAXO. Has anybody had any dealings with SAXO?
Would you recommend them?
Are there other cheaper places that you can recommend?
On their FAQS I didn't see the Dublin stock exchange listed. Can I still deal in Irish shares if I move to SAXO?
Thank you in advance for any replies, advice, recommendations or warnings.

Gautama

I'm in the process of switching to Saxo, but got an email similar to this:
http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?t=141602&page=8#142

terencemc

can anyone give me advice on what option they choose? I was working shift in november/december hence I just archived this mail and only discovered today about this saucy fee...

mrshopkeeper

terencemc wrote: »

can anyone give me advice on what option they choose? I was working shift in november/december hence I just archived this mail and only discovered today about this saucy fee...

I went with TD Direct - it hasn't turned out to be my brightest decision. You can view a description of the problems being experienced by TD customers on another thread.

Lord TSC

I just got the paper shares sent out to me in the end. Have them safe in my room.

No clue what I'd do to cash them out, but given how much my shares have devalued, I'm in no rush to figure it out anyway...

terencemc

did anyone go with saxo? despite the info on the askaboutmoney thread, they don't currently charge an inactivity fee

Lord TSC

If I remember right, I tried to sign up with them since FXCM pointed in their direction, and they basically told me to bugger off cause I wasn't investing a whole lot of money...