Freetrade

Is Freetrade safe?

Yes, for UK investors. Freetrade Limited has been regulated by the FCA since 2017, client shares and cash are ring-fenced from the company's own money, and the FSCSDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary covers up to £85,000 if the firm fails. Since 1 April 2025 it has been part of IG Group, a FTSE 100 company with £779.1 million of regulatory capital. We score it 79/100.

What keeps the score from being higher is mainly structural. Freetrade is its own custodian, so your protection rests on its own record-keeping rather than on a large outside custodian. It publishes little about its own finances now that it sits inside IG. And in a notice reported in February 2022, the FCA found its social media promotions broke the rules.

Where Freetrade keeps your shares and cash

Freetrade does not hand your shares to an outside custodian such as Interactive Brokers or BNY Mellon, as Trading 212 does. It acts as custodian itself. Legal title sits with Freetrade Nominees Limited, a group company, and Freetrade accepts responsibility for that nominee's actions as if they were its own. Overseas shares can be held by a sub-custodian abroad: US shares are held at DriveWealth, a US broker, in a single account in Freetrade's name.

Uninvested cash is client money. Freetrade pools it in client bank accounts or qualifying money market funds at outside institutions it chooses. Its terms are frank about what pooling means: if Freetrade failed and the pool was short, all customers would share the shortfall in proportion.

Freetrade reconciles its records daily and PwC audits the arrangements. That is the standard FCA model (the CASS rules) and it works well when records are clean. The weak point of any self-custodySelf-custodyHolding crypto in a wallet where you alone control the private keys, rather than leaving it with an exchange or another company.More in the glossary model is that a failure and a record-keeping error would hit at the same time.

Securities lending is opt-in only. If you opt in, Freetrade lends your shares against government bonds worth more than the shares.

What does the FSCS cover?

If Freetrade failed and some of your investments or cash could not be returned, the FSCSDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary would pay up to £85,000 per person. Freetrade's site also quotes £120,000; that is the FSCS deposit limit, which applies if one of the banks holding Freetrade's client money fails, and it counts any money you already hold at that bank. ISAs and SIPPs get the same cover. Neither limit protects against falls in share prices.

Who owns Freetrade, and how strong is it?

Freetrade was founded in 2015 and raised money from venture investors and repeated crowdfunding rounds. On 1 April 2025 all its shares passed to Market Data Limited, part of IG Group. Crowdfunding shareholders were sold under a drag-along clause in Freetrade's articles. Freetrade had taken on Stake's UK customers in November 2024.

IG reports Freetrade's numbers inside its own. In the first half of 2026 Freetrade brought in £14.2 million of revenue and had about 450,000 active customers. IG Group earned £227.7 million before tax in the same half and held regulatory capital of 237% of its minimum. IG announced a large acquisition of Underdog, a US sports and prediction-markets business, in July 2026, and says it will keep an investment-grade credit rating. Freetrade's own 2025 accounts at Companies House are scanned images; we could not check its standalone capital or profit, which is why confidence is medium.

Has Freetrade been in trouble with the FCA?

We found no fine. The notable case is about marketing. The FCA first raised concerns about Freetrade's promotions in March 2020, and later found that some social media posts lacked capital-at-risk warnings. It singled out a sponsored TikTok post by an influencer that could lead indebted viewers to think investing would clear their debt. The FCA required Freetrade to remove all paid influencer ads across social media within 24 hours.

Service outages have been short. Customers have reported trading problems when a cloud provider or a UK execution partner went down, and the Financial Ombudsman has handled individual complaints about failed orders and transfer charges, mostly not upheld.

How to keep your Freetrade account safe

1. Turn on two-factor authenticationTwo-factor authenticationSigning in with a second proof of identity on top of your password, such as a code from an app, a security key or a passkey.More in the glossary with an authenticator app rather than SMS, which SIM-swap fraud can intercept.
2. Keep the app PIN and biometrics on; they protect your account even if your phone is unlocked.
3. If you came from Stake UK, treat unexpected messages mentioning DriveWealth, Stake or your investments as likely phishing. Freetrade says it will never ask for passwords or codes.
4. Count any cash you hold directly at the banks Freetrade uses against the £120,000 deposit limit.

How we scored it

Regulation (86) is strong: one top-tier regulator for every client. Financial strength (80) and conduct (80) reflect IG's backing and a record without fines. Investor protection (76) loses points because Freetrade is its own custodian and has no cover beyond the FSCSDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary. Account security scores 74. For a larger UK platform with a longer record, see Hargreaves Lansdown.