Charles Schwab Europe

* A well reputed transaction house with a 'big company' backing * I've found the online access quick, if a little basic - none of the more complex graphing or analysis type features. * If what you want is a transaction-only account with good internet access offering quick trades, and a simple 'bank account' statement of your holdings and transactions this is a good service. * Trading is on the more expensive side, but £12 for < £1000, £15 for £1000 - £2000 is still competitive. * On the up side there are minimal account charges, just a small quarterly charge, £5 I think. So your only costs ... more

CS-E are, as far as online stockbrokers go, relatively expensive. Deals cost around £15 and there are quarterly charges for holding a portfolio, however, you get 30 days free trading which is very useful if you are looking to sell off stocks that you already own at no charge. Despite Charles Schwab's lack of competetiveness in terms of charges, however, they are one of the more professional outfits around and I must admit that the two or three encounters I had with their customer service department were very well handled and gave an understanding and competent impression of the company ... more

I am new to share dealing. Having a PC on the web I decided to use an online stockbroker mainly because of the cheaper fees. The web site is easy to use and simple. There is an alternative telephone service also if the web site is down. Also every transaction is backed up by a paper record sent to your address. So if all the computer records are lost then you can prove what shares you hold by the paper record. Another nice incentive is that the first 30 days on line trading is comission free so you can play around with different shares without getting hit on commission fees. This is ... more

Schwab's service is very fast, especially real-time filling. However, there seems to be a problem with the TouchTone trader feature, for me at least, I last time I had an account with Schwab they never sent me the TouchTone trader features. The MarketMaster account is good, I have not however tried the Frequent Traders Club. The US$ accounts seems to be a much improved feature from the last time I had an account with Schwab. I like this broker, very fast filling. The Telephone dealing however is much more expensive compared to the Internet and TouchTone Trader. I would prefer to use the ... more

I am a member of Charles Schwab Europe's Internet Dealing Line. I chose Schwab because I believe you get what you pay for and Schwab is a highly regarded broker. Trading fees are higher than average, £15 to £75 a trade with their basic service (Market Master) or a flat £19.50 per trade if you subscribe (£60 per year) to their Frequent Traders Club. The service is FAST and friendly and their support service is excellent. The downside is that the execution service does nothing more than execute. You can only place a limit for that day's trading and they do not take stop-loss instructions. They ... more