Your comprehensive guide to the best FTSE AIM investing and trading platforms

The FTSE AIM market is not the FTSE 100. While you can find FTSE 100 shares on almost any investing platform in the UK, small cap stock availability is limited to a select group of platforms. 

We have listed what we consider to be the five best FTSE AIM investing platforms below. Please bear in mind that your requirements may change dependent on whether you want to truly invest in FTSE AIM shares, or simply trade their fortunes using spread betting or CFDs.

We may receive compensation for affiliate sign-ups.

IG is arguably by far the best investing platform for most AIM investors. The interface is exceptionally intuitive and designed to be suitable for beginners - but gives you access to advanced trading tools as you progress your knowledge.

 
With 18,000 global instruments to trade, the company offers access to more equities than any other UK-based competitor. And key for small cap investors - it offers important trading tools such as guaranteed stop losses to help manage your risk.

 
If IG does not offer trading on the share, then it’s probably unavailable to the typical retail investor. Everything from the AQSE minnows to the FTSE 100 titans is available. 

 
Further to this, IG offers some of the best blue chip analysis and educational content available anywhere in the investing world.

 
The platform charges £8 per trade per month for most equities, but this drops to just £3 per trade when you trade 3+ times per month. Given the importance of accurate pricing, this can end up being cheaper than using a ‘free’ platform. 

 
ISAs and SIPPs are both available, as is extremely competitive pricing on leveraged trading.

 Hargreaves Lansdown is another popular choice for AIM investors. The platform offers significant AIM coverage and anecdotally is perhaps the best for market liquidity. In other words, if you're looking to 'buy the dip,' it will usually have shares available to buy - a common complaint among long-term investors.

 
Like IG, Hargreaves also boasts some excellent educational content and a fairly intuitive platform. The big drawback is the fees. For example, an investor making less that nine trades per month will be charged £11.95 per trade. You pay for that market liquidity.

 
There is a reason why Hargreaves has been losing market share over the years, but it's still one of the most highly respected and used platforms in the UK. Customer service on hand is exceptional.

 
In some ways, you pay for what you get - and many investors hold SIPPs with the provider for the perceived safety of heritage.

Interactive Investor has plenty of attractive features, but perhaps the most interesting is its flat fee charges. For instance, the Stocks and Shares ISA Essential Investor Plan comes in at just £4.99 per month, with trades costing a flat £3.99. 

 
This is extremely good value for larger portfolios or investors conducting many individual trades, and the numbers on more expensive plans scale even better. However, there are some downsides - Interactive lacks some of the advanced charting tools you will find elsewhere, and the fees only start to stack up economically when your portfolio gets to circa £5,000.

 
An excellent choice - especially when the sign-up deals are on.

Freetrade is the superior cousin of Trading212. While T212 may offer most AIM shares, the reality is that both pricing and execution on Trading212 is subpar. This is not the case with Freetrade, where asset availability, pricing and execution are all fairly reasonable. I will caution that paying for trades with the likes of IG or HL will usually result in better pricing and faster speeds - especially for less liquid stocks - so you have to weigh this up against the advantage. 

 
The obvious advantage is that trades are completely free, though ISA accounts will set you back £5.99 per month, which can impact portfolio compounded returns. On the other hand, free trades means there is no cash for analysis or research.

 
But for those looking to start their FTSE AIM journey, free is hard to beat.

Spreadex is well known for offering one of the widest selections of AIM stock spread betting choices in the industry, and at competitive prices. 

 
You can use Spreadex to trade AIM stocks with a market cap as low as £5m with margin rates starting from 20%. However, as with all leveraged trading, you are speculating on an asset and do not own the underlying equity. This is significantly higher risk than share trading, though the rewards are correspondingly larger.