MAKING TRADES

Once you’ve logged into your CAF Investment Account, the ‘Trading’ screens let you search for a stock.

Share prices are taken from the relevant Stock Exchange on which they are listed. For on screen valuations they are shown on a 15-minute delay basis. When you place a trade you will be given a quote price and 15 seconds to accept.

Fund prices are calculated daily by the Fund Manager in most circumstances, but some may have different pricing periods (e.g. weekly/monthly).

Order types set out the conditions under which you're prepared to buy or sell a holding. One example is a limit (sell), which is an order to sell only if the price falls to your specified level. They're useful when you can't constantly monitor prices.

There are no restrictions for the majority of investments, other than you need to have enough cleared funds to cover the trade and any charges (UK stock-market  trades – minimum £5; International stock-market trades – minimum £7 and Fund trades are free). See interest rates and charges schedule.

There's no minimum cash balance, but you should hold a small reserve for unexpected events such as corporate actions, or to cover your quarterly fees.

There's no maximum balance.

This is the date you need to be holding the stock on in order to be entitled to the next dividend payment.

This is the date the company pays the dividend to the qualifying shareholders.

When you trade it typically takes two to four days to finalise the trade, depending on what you’re trading in. Some funds may have longer settlement periods, as they don’t trade on a daily basis eg some property funds, which only trade monthly. For a sale you can’t withdraw the money until the settlement date.

No. You will not be able to access complex investments through the CAF Investment Account at this time.