A year after closing its doors to new customers, Trading 212 has announced it’ll finally start onboarding new UK customers once again.
If you’ve been on the Trading 212 waiting list for a while now, you may be just weeks away from opening your account. But how long is the Trading 212 waiting list and is this trading platform worth joining as a new investor?
If you’re looking for Trading 212 alternatives, Freetrade is a popular option and it also has a generous referral scheme. If you open a Freetrade account using this link and follow the instructions, you’ll receive a free share worth up to £200! I’ll also receive a free stock for recommending you.
When will Trading 212 start onboarding new customers?
In a post in the Trading 212 community, a member of the Trading 212 wrote: “Next Monday, 14th of February, we’ll resume the onboarding in Trading 212 UK. We’ll be working through the waitlist due to the high demand – please bear with us.”
Why did Trading 212 close to new customers?
Last year, in a statement posted to Twitter, Trading 212 said: “Due to the unprecedented demand, we have temporarily stopped onboarding new clients. Once we process the existing queue, we will be open for new registrations. We apologise for the caused inconvenience and highly appreciate your understanding”
How long is the Trading 212 waiting list?
It’s unclear exactly how long the Trading 212 waiting list is. But considering the waiting list has existed for a year, the team may have a considerable backlog of new users to work their way through.
With this in mind, it could take a while for the Trading 212 team to work their way through the existing queue and get new users set up on the platform.
If you’re not already on the wait list, it may be worth signing up sooner rather than later to hopefully get the ball rolling. Click this link to get on the Trading 212 waiting list.
Click this link to join the Trading 212 waiting list and get a free share worth up to £100 once your account is open.
Can I still get a Trading 212 free share for creating an account?
Before Trading 212 closed its platform to new users, it offered a generous referral scheme where existing customers could recommend a friend to the trading app and each of them would receive a free share worth up to £100.
Whether you’ve joined the wait list at some point over the last year or you’re signing up to it now, once you’re onboarded you should receive your free share as promised.
In the Trading 212 community forum, a member of staff wrote: “the waitlist is associated with the referral link. As such, your referral will be automatically assigned to your link if he joined the waiting list through it.”
Is Trading 212 a smart way to start investing?
Investing apps like Trading 212 can make it easier for new investors to get started. All you need to do is open an account with the investing app of your choice, deposit some money and pick the stocks or funds that you’d like to buy.
Many investing apps have a lower barrier to entry than more traditional investing accounts – meaning you don’t need as much money to get started. Trading 212 lets you start investing with as little as £1, so it’s easy to pop a bit of money in and see what happens.
Trading 212 was the first investing app I ever tried. Since then I’ve also experimented with Freetrade, Orca and Stake – but none of them compare to Trading 212, in my opinion.
Click this link to join the Trading 212 waiting list and get a free share worth up to £100 once your account is open.
What are the downsides of investing apps like Trading 212?
Although investing apps like Trading 212 can make it easier for new investors to get started, they’ve been widely criticised by more experienced investors for encouraging reckless trading decisions.
In an interview with Forbes, wealth planner Alex Caswell of RHS Financial said: “[Investing apps] have built up cult-like followings among popular social media websites like Reddit. Some of these forums such as r/wallstbets take on a gambling-like theme where these reckless behaviours are born from.”
Personally, I don’t think the investing apps themselves are the problem here. I don’t think it’s a bad thing that they’re easy to use. I think the problem is that because they’re so easy for new users to get to grips with, fraudsters use them to take advantage of newbies.
A scammer might say: “I got rich by investing through Trading 212. Pay me £200 a month and I’ll show you how!”
In reality, it’s extremely hard to get rich off these apps and even harder to achieve overnight success.
In early 2021 we saw the rise of so-called meme stocks, where new investors were encouraged to pour as much money as possible into random stocks without any consideration for their future value. Many new investors lost money this way and there are others holding onto worthless stocks in the hope they’ll eventually increase in value again.
Investing is risky and there’s no guarantee you’ll get back the amount you put in.
Yet social media is flooded with people sharing their success stories and promising to help other people go from rags to riches.
How can I use Trading 212 responsibly as a new investor?
Don’t make the mistake that I did of picking stocks at random and hoping for the best.
In 2020 I poured £1,000 into Bumble and Peloton stocks only for them to plummet in value. My Bumble shares are down 61% and my Peloton shares are down 76% – and they both have been for quite some time. Stock market fluctuation are normal and it’s possible that my stocks will recover in the long run, but there’s no guarantee I’ll get my money back – let along make a profit.
Thankfully, I’ve also poured a large amount of money into index funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs) such as the S&P 500. Index funds are a much safer way to invest in the stock market because rather than picking individual stocks yourself, you’re investing in a collection of companies from across the stock market. This means your portfolio is more diverse and you’re less likely to be affected by individual companies’ success (or lack of).
I learned the hard way that I have no idea what the stock market will do and so from now on, I’ll be using Trading 212 as an affordable way to buy index funds and that’s it!
Click this link to join the Trading 212 waiting list and get a free share worth up to £100 once your account is open.
