Menu Log on How to use InvestDirect Your step-by-step guide to buying and selling shares online HSBC UK Investing money Manage your investments How to use InvestDirect Temporary changes to our sharedealing service Due to the impact coronavirus is having on our call centres, we’ve temporarily reduced our opening hours. Lines are now open from 07:30 to 17:00 Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays. We’re also withdrawing some of our more labour-intensive services until our call centres staff levels return to normal. We’re sorry for this disruption to your service and any inconvenience it causes. Here’s a list of the affected services, and what this means for you: Fixed price quotes. If you’re shown a ‘fixed price quote’ when placing a buy or sell order, please check your order status after submitting. If there is volatility in the market, the fixed price quote may be rejected, in which case you’ll need to place a new order. Raise and invest. You’re currently unable to specify a £ or $ amount that you’d like to trade. Instead, you have to select the number of shares you want to purchase or sell. 28-day limit orders. We’re temporarily suspending the ability to place extended limit orders over the phone. You can still place limit orders online, where you can instruct us to buy or sell at a fixed price or better within one business day. InvestDirect is our online sharedealing service. You can view your account balances, access market data, and buy and sell shares. When you use our online sharedealing service you’ll be making your own decisions without advice. If you need advice, visit our advice options page to see what services we offer. Remember that the value of investments, and any income they generate, can fall as well as rise. So you could get back less than you invest. You can access your money at any time, although investing should be regarded as a longer-term strategy of at least 5 years. Jump to: How to access your account How to fund your account How to buy shares with InvestDirect How to buy shares with InvestDirect Plus How to sell shares How to open a new InvestDirect ISA How to fund your InvestDirect ISA from your investment account (‘Bed and ISA’) How to reactivate an InvestDirect ISA How to transfer in ISAs you hold elsewhere Any questions? How to access your account Before you can start buying or selling shares, you’ll need to log on to your sharedealing account and view your portfolio page. Log on to online banking as normal. Find your InvestDirect or InvestDirect Plus account in your list of accounts. Select your account to open it in a separate window. Select ‘My Portfolio’ to access your full sharedealing account. If you receive an error message or a blank page when trying to access your account, it could be a browser issue. Clear your cookies, empty your cache, and delete your browsing history then try again. If you still can’t access your account, please contact us contact us anchors to the phone number . How to fund your account If you hold an InvestDirect account, it’s linked to your nominated HSBC UK bank account. This means when you buy or sell shares the money will automatically debit or credit your bank account on settlement date. If you hold an InvestDirect Plus account, it will include a separate cash account that you will need to fund using your HSBC UK bank account before you can make a trade. Log on to your InvestDirect Plus Portfolio then click on ‘cash account’ to locate the sort code and account number for your InvestDirect Plus cash account. Using online banking, select My Accounts > Move Money to set up your cash account as a new payee. Move money from current account to your InvestDirect Plus cash account. Payments will usually credit the same day. How to buy shares with InvestDirect If you selected to trade in UK equities only when you opened your account, you’ll have an InvestDirect account. Select ‘Buy’ on the red toolbar. Select the ‘Trade from account’ dropdown box near the top of the page and select your nominated HSBC current account. Enter the name or the code of the shares you want to buy and select ‘Get price’. Enter the number of shares you want to buy in the quantity box. If you’re buying shares within a stocks and shares ISA, you’ll need to enter a limit price. This limits the price you’re willing to pay so you don’t oversubscribe to your ISA. You’ll need to enter this in pence (for example ‘£1.00’ would be written as ‘100’). Select ‘Preview order’ to check whether you’re happy with the price. This price is only available for 15 seconds. You can accept it by choosing ‘Place order’. If you change your mind, select ‘Cancel’ or ‘Amend’ to return to the previous screen. You can view your order confirmation in ‘Messages’. This is on the left-hand side menu on your portfolio page. You should receive a confirmation within 24 hours. How to buy shares with InvestDirect Plus If you selected to trade in UK and US equities when you opened your account, you’ll have an InvestDirect Plus account. First, transfer money to pay for the shares into the relevant cash account by following the steps listed above in ‘How to fund your account’. Select ‘Buy’ on the red toolbar to buy UK shares. If you want to buy US shares, select ‘US Shares’ on the left-hand side menu. Select the ‘Trade from account’ dropdown box near the top of the page then select the relevant currency’s cash account. Enter the name or the code of the shares you want to buy and select ‘Get price’. Enter the number of shares you want to buy in the quantity box. If you’re buying shares within a stocks and shares ISA, you’ll need to enter a limit price. This limits the price you’re willing to pay to make sure you don’t oversubscribe to your ISA. You’ll need to enter this in pence / cents / euros (for example ‘£1.00’ would be written as ‘100’). Select ‘Preview order’ to check whether you’re happy with the price. This price is only available for 15 seconds. You can accept it by selecting ‘Place order’. If you change your mind, select ‘Cancel’ or ‘Amend’ to return to the previous screen. You can view your order confirmation in ‘Messages’ on the left-hand side menu on your portfolio page. You should receive the confirmation within 24 hours. How to sell shares Once you’ve bought shares, you’re in control of which shares you want to sell and when. Select the ‘Sell’ button on the red toolbar. Select the ‘Select investment account’ dropdown box near the top of the page then the account you want to trade from. Select the blue ‘Sell’ button beside the shares you want to sell. Enter the number of shares you want to sell in the quantity box, or choose the ‘Sell all’ button. If you want to set a limit on the price you’re willing to sell your shares for, enter a limit price. You’ll need to enter this in pence / cents (for example ‘£1.00’ would be written as ‘100’). Select ‘Preview order’ to view your order details and check whether you’re happy with the price. This price is only available for 15 seconds. You can accept this by selecting ‘Place order’. If you change your mind, select ‘Cancel’ or ‘Amend’ to return to the previous screen. You can view your order confirmation in ‘Messages’ on the left-hand side menu on your portfolio page. The confirmation should arrive within 24 hours. When’s the right time to sell? We’ve got tools to help you make better-informed selling decisions. You can: set up email trade alerts on your portfolio page sign up for our weekly e-newsletter to stay up to date with what’s happening in the market Good to know If you place an order outside of our normal market hours, you’ll be shown an indicative price. The actual execution price won’t be received until the order is placed to market. Because there’s a risk of higher price volatility for orders placed when the markets are closed, you may want to consider entering a limit price. This sets a limit on the price you’re willing to pay or the price you’re willing to sell your shares. If you don’t enter a limit price, your order will be executed at the price available at the time it’s placed with the market. How to open a new InvestDirect ISA Here’s how to open a stocks and shares ISA, which is a tax-efficient way to save for the future because income and growth on your investments are exempt from UK income tax and capital gains tax. Remember, the value of any tax benefits described depends on your individual circumstances, and tax rules may change in the future. Log on to your InvestDirect Portfolio. Under ‘Products & Services’, select ‘ISA’ then select ‘Apply for ISA’. Read the important information and agree to the terms. Select ‘Submit application’ and your stocks and shares ISA should be opened within 5 business days. It may take a little longer to process your instruction at the start or end of a tax year. How to fund your InvestDirect ISA from your investment account (‘Bed and ISA’) Here’s how you can move shares from your investment account to an ISA. 1. Select the ‘Sell’ button on the red toolbar and the account you want to trade from. 2. Select the blue ‘Sell’ button beside the shares you want to sell. 3. Enter the number of shares you want to sell in the quantity box, or choose the ‘Sell all’ button. 4. After 2 working days, the money from the trade will be in your HSBC current account. a) For InvestDirect: select ‘S&S ISA Uninvested Cash’ under ‘My Portfolio’ to view the account number and sort code then make an online payment from your current account to your ‘S&S ISA Uninvested Cash’ account. b) For InvestDirect Plus: select ‘Between my accounts’ under ‘Move money’ in the left-hand menu to transfer funds from your cash account to your ‘S&S ISA Uninvested Cash’ account 5. Follow the steps above to buy shares in your stocks and shares ISA. How to reactivate an InvestDirect ISA Each tax year, you need to apply for a new stocks and shares ISA. Log on to your InvestDirect Portfolio. Under ‘Products & Services’, select ‘ISA’ then select ‘Apply for ISA’. Read the important information and agree to the terms. Select ‘Submit application’ and your stocks and shares ISA should be opened within 24 hours. It may take a little longer to process your instruction at the start or end of a tax year. How to transfer in ISAs you hold elsewhere If you hold uninvested cash or shares with another ISA manager, you can complete an ISA transfer form to move them to InvestDirect Log on to your InvestDirect Portfolio. Under ‘Products & Services’, select ‘Share Transfer’ then select ‘Transfer ISA – from another ISA manager. Select ‘Print form’ to print a copy of the form to complete and return to us. If you don’t have a printer, select ‘Email us’ and we’ll send you a copy. Once we’ve received your completed form, your cash and / or shares should be transferred within 30 days of the date your current provider accepts our instruction. Any questions? If you’d like more information, take a look at the key features or the terms for the relevant account: Key Features of HSBC InvestDirect & HSBC InvestDirect Plus (PDF, 149KB) Key Features of HSBC InvestDirect & HSBC InvestDirect Plus (PDF, 149KB) Download HSBC InvestDirect Terms & Conditions (PDF, 249KB) HSBC InvestDirect Terms & Conditions (PDF, 249KB) Download HSBC InvestDirect Plus Terms & Conditions (PDF, 272KB) HSBC InvestDirect Plus Terms & Conditions (PDF, 272KB) Download Rates and Fees for HSBC InvestDirect & HSBC InvestDirect Plus (PDF, 101KB) Rates and Fees for HSBC InvestDirect & HSBC InvestDirect Plus (PDF, 101KB) Download Notice of Variation to Key Features and Terms & Conditions of HSBC InvestDirect (PDF, 175KB) Notice of Variation to Key Features and Terms & Conditions of HSBC InvestDirect (PDF, 175KB) Download Notice of Variation to Key Features and Terms & Conditions of HSBC InvestDirect Plus (PDF, 168KB) Notice of Variation to Key Features and Terms & Conditions of HSBC InvestDirect Plus (PDF, 168KB) Download Key Features of HSBC InvestDirect & HSBC InvestDirect Plus – effective on and from 26th November 2021 (PDF, 218KB) Key Features of HSBC InvestDirect & HSBC InvestDirect Plus – effective on and from 26th November 2021 (PDF, 218KB) Download HSBC InvestDirect Terms & Conditions – effective on and from 26th November 2021 (PDF, 429KB) HSBC InvestDirect Terms & Conditions – effective on and from 26th November 2021 (PDF, 429KB) Download HSBC InvestDirect Plus Terms & Conditions – effective on and from 26th November 2021 (PDF, 323KB) HSBC InvestDirect Plus Terms & Conditions – effective on and from 26th November 2021 (PDF, 323KB) Download Rates and Fees for HSBC InvestDirect & HSBC InvestDirect Plus – effective on and from 26th November 2021 (PDF, 138KB) Rates and Fees for HSBC InvestDirect & HSBC InvestDirect Plus – effective on and from 26th November 2021 (PDF, 138KB) Download Key Features of HSBC InvestDirect & HSBC InvestDirect Plus Stocks & Shares ISA (PDF, 118KB) Key Features of HSBC InvestDirect & HSBC InvestDirect Plus Stocks & Shares ISA (PDF, 118KB) Download HSBC InvestDirect Stocks & Shares ISA Terms & Conditions (PDF, 152KB) HSBC InvestDirect Stocks & Shares ISA Terms & Conditions (PDF, 152KB) Download Notice of Variation to Key Features and Terms & Conditions of HSBC InvestDirect Stocks & Shares ISA (PDF, 128KB) Notice of Variation to Key Features and Terms & Conditions of HSBC InvestDirect Stocks & Shares ISA (PDF, 128KB) Download Key Features of HSBC InvestDirect & HSBC InvestDirect Plus Stocks & Shares ISA – effective on and from 26th November 2021 (PDF, 163KB) Key Features of HSBC InvestDirect & HSBC InvestDirect Plus Stocks & Shares ISA – effective on and from 26th November 2021 (PDF, 163KB) Download HSBC InvestDirect Stocks & Shares ISA Terms & Conditions – effective on and from 26th November 2021 (PDF, 231KB) HSBC InvestDirect Stocks & Shares ISA Terms & Conditions – effective on and from 26th November 2021 (PDF, 231KB) Download If you need help, you can log on to send us a secure message via your online Message Centre, which you can find on your online banking homepage. Alternatively, you can call us - although please be aware that call volumes are very high right now so it may take longer than usual to answer your call. The helpline number is 03456 080 848 and lines are open from 07:30 to 17:00 Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays. To invest with us, you need to have an HSBC current account. Eligibility criteria and charges apply. Back to top Back to top of the page Customer support It's easy to answer your query online. Visit our Help page to find out how. Follow HSBC UK on Facebook This link will open in a new window Follow HSBC UK on Twitter This link will open in a new window Follow HSBC UK on YouTube This link will open in a new window HSBC Group HSBC Group This link will open in a new window | © Copyright HSBC Group 2002-2021. All rights reserved This website is designed for use in the United Kingdom. Cookies on this website At HSBC we use cookies to help ensure that our website and services are able to function properly. These cookies are necessary and so are set automatically. We would also like to use some cookies to: make your visit more personal improve our website based on how you use it support our marketing These cookies are optional and you can choose which types you'd like to accept. To do this, select 'Manage cookie settings'. If you'd like to accept all optional cookies, select 'Accept all cookies'. To learn more about how we use cookies, visit our Cookie notice. Manage cookie settings Accept all cookies