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Stake is an Australian-born digital brokerage platform that has recently moved into the UK market. It allows you to invest in over 4,500 US stocks and ETFs, commission-free.
Stake believes that opportunity shouldn’t be determined by where you live. Its core mission is to provide the broadest and most direct access to the US stock market for those who live outside of the US.
It uses advanced technology to deliver a sophisticated and seamless service, offering a straightforward user experience for investing basics, along with some of its more sophisticated features. These include analyst ratings and the option to trade on unsettled funds as part of the Stake Black subscription package.
At present, Stake is an app-only service for UK residents.
To get started with Stake, you simply choose your preferred brokerage pack (Stake, or Stake Black) and begin investing.
When you download the app and complete a short onboarding form, you can start transferring funds from your bank account through Stake’s secure Open Banking integration.
When making a deposit, your money will be converted into US dollars, and all of your trading will be handled in US dollars. This means you won’t have to pay FX fees on any of your trades, but you will pay to convert it.
Once you’ve added your funds, you can start investing.
Funding your account for the first time on Stake will get you free Stock of Nike, GoPro or Dropbox, but you’ll need to add your funds within 24 hours of it opening. Please note that there is a minimum fund amount of US$50 to get started.
Please note: as with all investments, your capital is at risk.
With Stake, you can trade the US market with zero brokerage fees. This includes market orders, limit orders, stop-loss orders and fractional shares.
FX fees are only limited to deposits and withdrawals at 0.5% (US$2 minimum), which means you also pay zero FX fees for every trade you make.
When investing with Stake, you’ll have the option to choose from three different order types:
Limit Orders
Limit Orders consist of limit buys and limit sells.
Limit buys are great for those looking to take advantage of dips in the market. They are used to purchase shares when the price of a stock falls to a specific level, and will only fill at the prices you’ve specified, or lower.
Limit sells allow you to make a profit by selling your shares when the stock rises above a certain level.
Market Orders
Market Orders consist of market buys and market sells.
Market Orders are considered the most straightforward order type and will complete at the best available price on the market. They can be placed on Stake at any time but will only complete when the market is open.
For example, if you wanted to invest in US$1,000 worth of stock in a company, you’ll receive as many shares as that US$1,000 can buy at any price the stock is trading at. It’s important to note that you’ll receive a fraction of stock for any prices that are not equally divisible.
Similarly, when placing a market sell for your shares, they will sell at the best available price.
Stop Orders
Stop orders consist of stop buys and stop sells.
A stop buy gives you the opportunity to buy a stock just as its price increases and gains momentum. A stop buy will place a market buy once a stock price passes your specified limit.
Similarly, a stop sell will trigger a market sell when a stock falls below a specified price.
With Steak, you’ll have access to a ‘Wall Street’ tab displaying live and real-time data sourced from the US exchanges. Live data can be accessed by all Stake registered customers when the market is open.
View consolidated market data via the NBBO feed, which displays the best bid and offer across all US exchanges. This will allow you complete visibility of the market before making orders.
Visit Stake to learn more.
With Stake, you can buy and sell securities in fractional amounts using market and stop orders. When buying fractional shares, you can set the dollar amount that you’d like to purchase, whereas selling involves setting the number of shares you’d like to sell.
Fractional shares adhere to the NBBO rules of the US market, so you’ll get the best price in the market at the time.
Get complete visibility of trades, dividends, and more with Stake’s activity ticker. Monitor the recent trade and cash movements in your account, review each transaction in detail and get access to your trade confirmations.
With Stake, you can also download a series of reports for a full review of your investment activity. These include all financial transactions in your brokerage account, all orders, open positions and resting order, and monthly account statements for an overall view of your monthly investment activity.
It’s free to download the app and use Stake for its core features. Stake charges a 0.5% (US$2 minimum) FX fee on deposits and withdrawals. No FX fees are charged on trades.
There are two accounts to choose from:
Stake (free)
Stake Black (US$9/month)
US trading fees: There may be a small number of US trading and administrative fees to pay when investing with Stake. You can read more about this on Stake’s website.
Currency exchange fee: Although you are not charged foreign exchange fees on your trades, you’ll incur a 0.5% foreign exchange fee when converting your money from USD to GBP.
Funding fees: If you want to deposit money at a faster rate, you’ll pay a 0.5% express funding fee.
With Stake, you can withdraw your available funds at any time, with a minimum withdrawal amount of US$10. You’ll need to provide your bank details before making your first withdrawal, and allow up to four business days for the withdrawal to arrive in your bank account. Withdrawals can only be transferred from Stake to your local bank account, which must be in your name.
Stake's free service offers beginners a good starting place to navigate the stock market through investing essentials such as Limit, Market and Stop Orders, along with the option to buy fractional shares. For the more advanced investor, Stake's premium service, 'Stake Black', allows for a range of additional features, including pricing targets, analyst ratings and access to pro-level data. You'll have the freedom to choose your preferred Stake package based on your own investing experience.
Stake’s basic service is free to use and offers access to all assets on the platform, along with unlimited commission-free trades, advanced order types and fractional trading. Users can choose to upgrade to Stake Black for more sophisticated trading features such as analyst ratings and price targets, at a cost of US$9 per month. It’s important to note that Stake has a minimum investment amount of US$50 for either of these accounts, and a 0.5% FX fee on deposits and withdrawals.
Yes, Stake is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Have a look at their permissions on the FCA Register.
Stake UK offers its customers Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) protection, which means that your assets are protected up to £85,000 per person. This means you can get your money back if Stake were to go bust.
Keep in mind that the FSCS does not cover losses arising from the performance of any of your investments.
Stake’s partnership with members of the US-led Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) also offers up to US$500,000 protection, US$250k of which are for investments, and a further US$250k for cash.
Yes, Stakes offers a free stock to both new and existing customers who successfully refer new customers. New customers must fund their account (£50 min funding value) within 24hrs of opening the account to receive a free stock worth up to US$150 in value.
Visit Stake’s website here.
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