Transfer your General
Investment Account

Transfer your everyday investing account to Freetrade and invest in over 6,000 stocks commission-free. 
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At Freetrade we call it your General Investment Account (GIA) but with other providers it might be known as a trading account, share dealing account or fund and share account. 

Transfer to Freetrade

When you invest, your capital is at risk.
Other charges may apply. See our full pricing table.

Commission-free trading platform Best British Bank Award 2021

Why transfer your investment account
to Freetrade

Investment choice

Choose from thousands of UK, US and European shares,
ETFs and more.

One home for your investments

Transfer your general investment account and keep investments under one roof.

Commission-free investing

We don’t charge commission when you buy or sell shares.
Other charges may apply.

Daily insights
and analysis

Brought to you by our team of investment experts.

Fractional shares

Own a piece of the most expensive US shares, from £2.
‍

Fast Service

Customer support from real humans, always available to help.

Whatever your reason for transferring, make sure it's the right decision for you.
Check whether you'll be better off by moving and if you'll have to pay to leave your current provider. 

How to transfer to Freetrade

Transferring to Freetrade is easy and free.
Follow the steps below to transfer your investment account from a different broker to Freetrade.

Step 1


If you don't have a Freetrade account, open a GIA on the Freetrade app. Download from the App Store or Play Store.

Step 2


Request the transfer by completing the online form.

Step 3


Our team will arrange the transfer and update you when it’s complete.

Step 4


Monitor and choose investments through your Freetrade app.

Transfer investments

You can transfer your investment account from another provider as stocks (known as an in- specie transfer), so long as we have the stocks in our universe. 

Any investments that you hold in your existing ISA that we can’t transfer in specie can either be sold and transferred as cash or left with your current provider.

With cash transfers, you are not invested so will miss out on market movements during your transfer.

Transfer cash

You can also transfer your investment account to Freetrade by selling your investments first and then transferring the cash. 

With cash transfers, you are not invested so you will miss out on market ups and downs during the transfer.

Request transfer

How we compare to other brokers

See how share dealing with Freetrade measures up against other providers.

Disclaimer: Comparisons to other share dealing account providers are based on published costs on their websites as of 5 July 2022, for a portfolio size of £5,000 and trades on shares and ETFs.

Comparison Disclosure ⓘ

Hargreaves Lansdown:
Share dealing account is free of charge for shares. Fee per trade reduces depending on the number of trades in the previous month. Starting at £11.95 per trade then declining to £8.95 per trade for 10-19 trades, and £5.95 for 20 or more trades. FX fees is 1.0% for the first £5,000 trade, this then reduces to 0.75% after the first trade of £5,000, 0.5% for the next £10,000 and to 0.25% for over £20,000 value of trades.

Interactive Investor:
The ii share dealing account costs £9.99 per month. One free trade per month, then £7.99 per trade. FX fee reduces on a tiered scale. For trades under £25,000 the FX fee is 1.5%,   £25,000 - £49,999 is 1.25%, £50,000 - £99,999.99 is 1%, £100,000 - £599,999 is 0.5%, and £600,000 - £999,999.99 is 0.25%

AJ Bell:
Share dealing account charges of 0.25% of the value of the shares in your account, max £3.50 per month. Each trade of shares and ETFs is £9.95 (or £4.95 if there were 10 or more online share deals in the previous month). FX fee reduces on a tiered scale, based on transaction value: for the first £10,000 is 0.75%, £10,001 - £20,000 is 0.50%, and 0.25% for over £20,000.

Investment fees calculator

What can I invest in?

US and UK stocks

Invest in thousands of NYSE, NASDAQ and London Stock Exchange-listed companies across many sectors such as tech, energy, consumer staples or healthcare.

Explore US & UK stocks

ETFs

Choose from a wide range of exchange-traded funds covering index funds, stock and bond ETFs from providers like Vanguard, iShares and Invesco, as well as HSBC and Xtrackers.

Explore ETFs

REIT stocks

Diversify your investments with REITs, which allow you to add residential or commercial real estate assets to your portfolio without the hassle of buying and managing the properties yourself.

Explore REIT stocks

Investment Trusts

Choose from over 150 investment trusts to diversify your portfolio across a wide range of sectors, geographical areas and markets worldwide.
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Explore Investment trusts
See which are the most traded shares by the total value of buy orders over the past week on the Freetrade app.

Transferring to another provider

If you decide to leave Freetrade, there is no fee to transfer away and close your Freetrade GIA. You can transfer out as cash or stock. At the moment, to transfer any non-uk securities away from Freetrade you will have to sell them first and transfer the amount as cash. 

Your new provider may not be able to accept transfers of all securities you hold with Freetrade.

We will always reach out to you and we’ll never sell any stocks on your behalf. Your future broker can send an electronic transfer request to us at: transfer@freetrade.io.

FAQs

What is a General Investment Account?

A General Investment Account or GIA, is your everyday investing account. It’s not your tax-efficient account like an ISA or a SIPP, which means there’s no allowance, you can invest as much as you like. Each investment provider has a slightly different name for their GIA, you might see it called a dealing account, trading account or even a fund and share account. 

What can I transfer?

As a general rule, you can transfer stocks so long as they are within the Freetrade stock universe and the platform you are transferring from uses the same transfer system as we do. 

At Freetrade we transfer stocks via the UK market (or more specifically using a system called CREST). If your stocks are on the Freetrade platform and can be transferred this way, you should be good to go.

This isn’t usually a problem but it tends to affect non-uk investments more. We can’t accept transfers in of stocks listed on European exchanges. These positions will have to be sold and transferred as cash.

Whenever stocks can’t be transferred you’ll always be the first to know and our team will be in touch to discuss your options. These positions will likely need to be sold and transferred as cash or left with your current provider. 

If you have any doubts about whether a stock can be transferred, please get in touch with our team. 

How long will the transfer take?

Cash transfers can take from 2 - 4 weeks to complete. Stock transfers take a little longer, usually around 4 - 6 weeks. There’s no need to contact us during this process, we’ll let you know as soon as it’s complete. 

Can I transfer my existing stocks or do I have to sell them first?

As mentioned above, you can transfer stocks so long as they are within the Freetrade stock universe and the platform you are transferring from uses the same transfer system as we do.

This isn’t usually a problem but it tends to affect non-uk investments more. We can’t accept transfers in of stocks listed on European exchanges. These positions will have to be sold and transferred as cash.

Whenever stocks can’t be transferred you’ll always be the first to know and our team will be in touch to discuss your options. These positions will likely need to be sold and transferred as cash or left with your current provider. 

If you have any doubts about whether a stock can be transferred, please get in touch with our team. 

Is there a transfer fee?

It’s free to transfer to Freetrade. 

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Investment accounts

General investment accountStocks and shares ISATransfer ISASIPP pensionFees and charges comparison

What to invest in

Fractional sharesUK, US and European stocksETFsInvestment trustsREIT stocksUpcoming IPOs

Guides to help you start

How to invest in stocksHow to buy sharesWhat is a stocks and shares ISAISA allowance explainedPension tax reliefWhat is a SIPP pension

Freetrade does not provide investment advice and individual investors should make their own decisions or seek independent advice. The value of investments can go up as well as down and you may receive back less than your original investment. Freetrade is a trading name of Freetrade Limited, which is a member firm of the London Stock Exchange and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered in England and Wales (no. 09797821).

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