ShareDeal Active: For telephone traders and large portfolio holders only

Like X-O, ShareDeal Active is a trading name for Jarvis Investment Management so you'll find similarities between the two platforms. As with X-O, it's a very dated, basic website and platform, that looks like it hasn't been updated in at least a decade, and there's no mobile app. So, if you want a modern platform with a sleek user interface, like eToro or Trading 212, then ShareDeal Active will not be for you.

There's a choice of four account types: a Share Dealing Account, a stocks and shares ISA, Junior ISA, and, until recently, a A self-invested personal pension (SIPP) is a type of private pension that allows you to control the specific investments that make up your pension fundself-invested personal pension (SIPP) but it's now closed to new applicants.

Your options when it comes to what you can invest in are broader than with X-O. With ShareDeal Active, you'll have a choice of: UK-listed shares, gilts, bonds, Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are traded in much the same way as stocks. Instead of an individual stock, however, you own a basket of different assets which track the performance of a particular index or market. exchange-traded funds, investment trusts, unit trusts, shares listed on the IRS (International Retail Service) and CDIs of US stocks. You can also trade on 9 international markets: the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Hong Kong, Germany, Sweden, Spain and Norway.

However, there's a £1,000 minimum investment for trading on international stocks, which is very restrictive, and far higher than most other platforms I've reviewed.

But that's not the biggest issue I have with ShareDeal Active. The biggest issue is the cost. There are all sorts of fees to watch out for, many of which are, quite frankly, eye-wateringly high. Here's an example of what I mean: Trading commission for buying or selling stocks from United States / Canada / Australia starts at £25.00 per trade for amounts up to £2,000. Commission increases to £100.00 per deal on trades £20,000+. If you wish to buy or sell on any of the other exchanges ShareDeal Active allows access to, you'll face charges of between £84.50 and £104.50 - irrespective of the trade size.

Clearly, those prices could work out economical if you're trading huge volumes of a stock line, especially as there's no separate FX fee levied on top of the exchange rate for trading in a non-GBP asset. But for anyone trading more modest amounts, you could end up paying way over the odds with these fixed fees.

There's a withdrawal fee of £15.00 + VAT per request. And if you want to transfer out, it's £10 + VAT per line of stock.

Trades of domestic assets are all £9.50 per deal. That's very high, although ShareDeal Active are happy to service customers by telephone for the same charge. Customers who still want to speak to their broker to place a trade will be hard-pressed to find a cheaper rate than £9.50 (It's £25 at AJ Bell, £49 per trade at interactive investor).

For those wanting to trade online, I'd suggest this is only a platform for those with large portfolios, for whom the fixed pricing (especially the zero annual fees on general trading accounts) could work out beneficial.