How do I place a deal?

You can place a deal in two ways - online or over the phone:

• To place a deal online, just log into your account and choose 'Buy and sell'. Here, you'll be able to choose investments to manage.
• To deal by phone, please call our team on 0345 54 32 600.

For security reasons, you can't place a deal by sending us a secure message, email, fax or letter.

Every investment also has its own dedicated page, that can be found through our search and screener tools. Within each investment's page, there's also the option to buy, sell, or make a regular investment (if available).

You can't buy or sell UK shares outside of the London Stock Exchange hours of 8am to 4.30pm. If you want to deal in international markets, keep in mind that you'll need to place the deal when that market is open.

How quickly will my deal be processed?

For shares, investment trusts and exchange traded funds (ETFs), your deal will be processed immediately. However, it could take one to two working days for the deal to settle after a trade.

When you buy and sell funds, the trade is processed each business day at certain times. You can find out exact details on each fund's research page. If you buy a fund after that day's dealing cut-off, your deal won't be executed until the next dealing valuation point (usually the next working day). This means it can take one to four working days for the deal to settle and the fund you've bought to appear in your portfolio.

The dealing cut-off time displayed on research pages only presents a soft figure – usually around 30 to 45 minutes before the fund's actual cut-off time. This is to guarantee that any orders made after the cut-off time are placed on a best endeavours basis, otherwise the platform may not have time to process them.

For example, if you place an order at 11.05am and the cut-off time displayed is 10.45am, your deal may still be processed for that day. If you want to place a deal for the next day, it's best to wait at least 45 minutes after the dealing cut-off time. This is to make sure it isn't processed on the same day.

How do I pay for my deals?

When you buy and sell an investment, we’ll take a dealing charge from the available cash in the account you use to place the order. You can check how much the dealing charge is before you make the deal by clicking 'Review order'.

To place the order successfully, you need to have enough cash in your account to cover the costs of the order and the dealing charge. Otherwise, you won't be able to place the order. You can pay money into your account through debit card, bank transfer or direct debit payments.

How do I deal if I can't find the investment I want to deal in?

If you can't find the investment you wish to deal in within our research pages or by using the search function, please call our Dealing Services team on 0345 54 32 600. We may be able to help you place your deal online or carry it out for you over the phone (telephone dealing charge applies).