Did you know that Moneyfarm has its own Do-it-yourself (DIY) trading platform? Launched in 2024, it gives our investors far greater control and say over what they invest in, sitting alongside our award-winning managed portfolios rather than replacing them. In this article, we’ll walk you through what the platform offers, explore how clients are using it to complement their managed investments, share the most-traded instruments on our platform so far this year, explain how your Individual Savings Account (ISA) allowance can be used flexibly across both, and highlight some of the practical reasons why more and more of our clients are choosing to keep all of their investing in one place.
Why did we build it?
Our mission at Moneyfarm is to be a total wealth partner for every client, providing the products and services you need at every stage of your financial life. DIY investing represents a substantial and growing portion of the UK retail investment market, and many of our clients were already using other platforms to satisfy that need alongside their Moneyfarm managed portfolios. Rather than asking you to split your financial life across multiple providers, we built the trading platform to bring everything under one roof, so that Moneyfarm can be the only investment platform you need, whether you prefer expert management, self-direction, or a blend of both.
There’s a real practical benefit to this consolidation too. Keeping all of your investments in one place makes it far easier to understand your overall financial picture, monitor your total exposure, and make informed decisions. When your managed portfolio and your self-directed trades are all visible in the same dashboard, you can see at a glance where your money is, how it’s performing, and whether your overall allocation still reflects your goals.
What can you invest in?
The Moneyfarm DIY platform gives you access to a broad and continually expanding investment universe of 2,833 instruments, all available within either an ISA or a General Investment Account (GIA). These include individual stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, and bonds, covering a wide range of sectors, geographies, and asset classes. Whatever your conviction, whether that’s a sector you believe in, a market you want more exposure to, or a commodity you think is undervalued, there’s likely an instrument available to match it.
For those who prefer funds over individual stock-picking, the ETF and mutual fund range is particularly strong. ETFs in particular have grown enormously in popularity among UK investors in recent years, they offer a low-cost, transparent way to gain exposure to entire markets, indices, or themes, without needing to pick individual companies. Whether you want to track the S&P 500, invest in clean energy, or gain exposure to global healthcare, there’s an ETF on our platform to do it.
A low-cost way to invest on your own terms
One of the most important considerations when choosing a trading platform is cost. Charges that seem small in isolation can compound significantly over time and thus erode returns, so keeping costs low matters. The Moneyfarm trading platform is designed to be competitively priced, with a transparent fee structure so you always know what you’re paying. There are no hidden charges, no platform fees buried in the small print, and no nasty surprises at the end of the year.
This matters particularly for investors who are trading regularly or building positions gradually over time, costs rack up quickly on platforms that charge per trade or layer on excessive administration fees. Our approach is to keep things simple and fair.
For both the ISA and GIA, a single £3.95 transaction fee is levied on each transaction made for when trading single stocks, mutual funds or ETFs. When trading bonds, the transaction fee increases to £5.95. For the ISA, a 0.35% yearly custody fee applies, which is capped at £45 per year; this custody fee does not apply to the GIA. Finally, when trading in currencies other than GBP, a 0.7% FX fee applies. These are the only charges applicable when using the Moneyfarm DIY investment platform.
Blending managed and self-directed investing
The most popular way our clients use the trading platform is to complement their managed portfolio, rather than replace it. The bulk of client wealth at Moneyfarm sits within our managed portfolios, which are well-diversified and designed to manage risk over the longer term, making them a sensible foundation for building wealth. Our Risk Level 6 portfolio, for example, currently holds around 48% in the US, 18% in the UK, 13% in emerging markets, 9% in Europe, and 6% in Japan.
Well-diversified as this is, managed portfolios are deliberately broad by design, they won’t tilt heavily towards a single sector, theme, or commodity, and that’s intentional. It protects against concentrated risk. But it also means that if you hold a strong personal view, that a particular sector is mispriced, that a specific company represents a compelling opportunity, or that commodities deserve more space in your portfolio, the managed portfolio alone won’t fully reflect that conviction. The DIY platform bridges this gap. It gives you a dedicated space to act on your own research and instincts, while keeping the security and discipline of professional management at the core of your wealth.
Think of it as a two-speed approach to investing a well-managed core that works quietly in the background, combined with a more active, personally curated sleeve where you can express your own views and explore opportunities as they arise.
What are Moneyfarm investors buying?
Since the beginning of 2026, commodities (particularly gold and silver) have consistently sat at the top of the most-purchased instruments on our platform. This is no surprise both metals have performed strongly over the past year, and they represent an area where our managed portfolios carry limited exposure. Clients who feel strongly that commodities should form a larger part of their overall allocation are using the DIY platform to build that position themselves, on top of their managed portfolio, getting the best of both approaches.
Beyond commodities, we’ve also seen strong interest in US technology stocks, global infrastructure ETFs, defence and dividend-focused funds among our DIY platform users, reflecting a diverse range of strategies and outlooks. Some clients are using the platform for relatively short-term tactical trades, while others are building long-term positions in themes they believe in, such as artificial intelligence, renewable energy, or emerging market growth. The platform accommodates all of these approaches equally well.
This pattern illustrates the core value of the platform well it doesn’t ask you to choose between professional management and personal conviction. It lets you have both.
Making the most of your ISA allowance
One of the most powerful, and often overlooked, aspects of investing through the DIY platform is how it interacts with your ISA allowance. Every UK adult can contribute up to £20,000 per tax year into an ISA, and any returns generated within that wrapper are completely free from Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax. For active investors making regular trades, this tax shelter can be enormously valuable, without it, every profitable trade could generate a Capital Gains Tax (CGT) liability, eating into your returns over time.
Crucially, the ISA wrapper with Moneyfarm is flexible in how it can be used across your portfolios. You can hold both a managed portfolio and a DIY portfolio within your ISA, splitting your allowance between the two however suits you. This means the tax efficiency you benefit from in your managed portfolio extends equally to your self-directed trades, any gains you make picking stocks or ETFs in your trading account are sheltered in exactly the same way. Furthermore, the flexible ISA allows you to move funds between your different portfolios as you wish. For example, you can start with the bulk of your wealth in a managed fund, and then if you see an opportunity within the DIY portfolio you can move funds out of the managed and into the DIY without it having any impact on your ISA allowance, and vice versa. This flexible approach is often overlooked within the ISA, but provides valuable flexibility if you ever wish to change your investment approach.
It’s also worth being aware that the ISA allowance resets on 5th April each year and cannot be carried forward. Any unused allowance from one tax year is simply lost. So if you’re planning to make use of the DIY portfolio, doing so within your ISA from the outset is almost always the most tax-efficient approach, and with £20,000 of sheltered allowance available each year, there’s meaningful room to build a significant self-directed position alongside your managed portfolio, entirely free of tax on any gains or income generated.
Research, tools, and support
Investing on your own terms doesn’t mean investing entirely alone. The Moneyfarm DIY portfolio is backed by the same team of investment professionals and researchers who manage our portfolios, which means you have access to market insights, commentary, and analysis to help inform your decisions. Whether you’re a seasoned investor who simply wants a better platform, or someone taking their first steps into self-directed investing, our team and resources are there to support you.
We also provide portfolio-level reporting across all of your Moneyfarm accounts combined, so you can always see how your managed and self-directed investments are performing in aggregate, not just in isolation. This kind of holistic view is something that’s difficult to achieve when your investments are spread across multiple providers, and it’s one of the clearest practical advantages of keeping everything in one place.
Getting started
Whether you’re looking to add a tactical position alongside your managed portfolio, increase your exposure to a specific market or asset class, explore thematic investing for the first time, or simply take greater control of a portion of your wealth, the Moneyfarm DIY platform is designed to make it straightforward. You can browse the full investment universe, place trades, and monitor your positions all in one place, alongside your existing Moneyfarm portfolios, with no need to log in anywhere else.
If you’d like to find out more or open a DIY portfolio, log in to your Moneyfarm dashboard or speak to one of our investment consultants, who will be happy to walk you through your options and help you find the right balance for your financial goals.
Please remember that when investing, your capital is at risk. The value of your portfolio with Moneyfarm can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invest. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. The views expressed here should not be taken as a recommendation, advice or forecast. If you are unsure investing is the right choice for you, please seek financial advice.
*As with all investing, financial instruments involve inherent risks, including loss of capital, market fluctuations and liquidity risk. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. It is important to consider your risk tolerance and investment objectives before proceeding.
