Yes, you can purchase and sell fractions of whole shares, also known as fractional shares. To accomplish this, you can modify the quantity of your order based on your personal preference.
What are fractional shares? (Key info)
- Fractional shares are split up into portions of a whole share to represent ownership in a company. Their value goes up and down based on the whole share price. By trading fractional shares, investors can open positions with more expensive instruments without having to pay the total cost of a full share.
💡 Example
If you wish to buy shares in Company A, the price for one share is 200 USD. However, you can place an order for a fractional share of 0.1, which will cost only 20 USD. Also, if the stock goes up 10%, the value of your shares will also increase by 10%.
- When you own fractional shares, Trading 212 will always hold the relevant whole share for you and any other owners, divided according to each person's share.
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Any government or regulatory fees that apply to whole shares, like Stamp Duty, also apply to fractional shares in the same way.
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We guarantee the best execution for you by executing all fractional share orders internally and matching the price for whole shares on the reference exchange. No spread is applied.
Which instruments offer fractional trading?
Most instruments available on the Invest accounts and ISAs can be traded fractionally.
Fractional Market, Limit, Stop and Stop Limit orders are all supported.
You can check all available order types 👉 here.
How to place an order for a fractional share?
You can place a fractional order by choosing the value you want to purchase or by manually typing in the fraction of the share you want to place an order for. You can also use the fixed amounts shown on the screen to avoid typing manually. When selling, the percentage pills - 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% - fill in fractional quantities based on the shares available to sell.
When placing a Limit, Stop or Stop-Limit order for fractional shares, you will only be able to set it by number of shares.
📄 Note
When placing a fractional order, the number of decimals you can enter depends on the instrument price and your position. If you exceed the allowed precision, we will let you know on the screen. You can always sell your full position.
How many decimal places can I enter?
The allowed precision for a quantity order depends on the instrument price:
| Instrument price | Maximum decimal places |
|---|---|
| Below 0.1 | 0 |
| 0.1 to below 1 | 1 |
| 1 to below 10 | 2 |
| 10 to below 100 | 3 |
| 100 to below 1,000 | 4 |
| 1,000 to below 10,000 | 5 |
| 10,000 to below 100,000 | 6 |
| 100,000 or more | 7 |
Do fractional shares qualify for corporate actions?
Yes.
When you own fractional shares, you are entitled to:
- Dividends: You are entitled to receive dividends just as you would with whole shares. The payout is proportional to the fraction of the share you own rounded to the nearest penny. For example, if you own 0.5 Tesla shares and the company pays $10 per share, you will receive $5.
- Voting: You can exercise your voting rights proportionally based on the fraction of the share you own through Proxy Voting on behalf of all fractional share owners.
- Stock split: Your fractions will be treated as any other type of shares. Just as with whole shares, fractional shares are adjusted proportionally. For example, in a 2-for-1 stock split, every share you own is doubled. If you own 0.5 shares before the split, you will own 1 share after the split.
What are the pros and cons of fractional shares?
Pros
- You can make the most out of your investment allocation. No need to save up the full amount to buy a high-priced share.
- Diversification for the same amount of money across stocks and industries.
Cons
- You can't transfer fractions to other brokers.
💡 Example
You have 100.5 Tesla shares. You can transfer 100 shares and will need to sell the 0.5 shares.
Are there any fees for trading fractional shares?
No. There are no extra fees for trading fractional shares. The only cost involved is a 0.15% foreign exchange fee, where applicable, which is the same as what you'd pay when dealing with whole shares.
Disclosure
We will comply with “best execution” on all fractional orders in compliance with regulatory requirements. Execution will be based on a price no worse than the prevailing bid/offer on the reference exchange at the time of your order for all full and fractional orders.
Check the relevant disclosure notice based on your entity:
If you want to learn more about fractional shares, check out “The ultimate guide to fractional shares”.