In a first for a sharedealing platform, Selftrade has created a consumer forum, under its 'My Selftrade' area, where users can join the investor community and engage in forums, debating the latest news, trends and investment themes. Each stock and share has its own forum discussion and forum members can create new debates on topics of their choice.

Consumers can sign up for free to become a community member in order to participate in forum discussions and there is no requirement to be a Selftrade customer in order to take part in a forum.

Community members can create and share watchlists and model investment portfolios and they can choose to follow updates, articles and posts from other members in the community. Members can also customise dashboard pages so that they show only the information that they are interested in; whether that be the most traded stocks and shares or the results of the most recent poll.

A platform for self-directed investors to share views
With RDR just around the corner and investors looking increasingly for peer-to-peer recommendations and views, there is also a dedicated Q&A section, allowing members to ask and answer questions, operating on a credits system. New joiners are allocated 30 points and they can earn further points when they answer other members' questions, whilst asking questions 'costs' two points. Based on the points system, Selftrade has created a 'top contributor' members board, highlighting the most active members for other users to follow.

Community members can publish their own articles or blogs under the 'personal journalism' section of the Selftrade site, giving them a platform to exchange views in more depth and detail, creating a hub of 'investor knowledge'.

Under the improved news and analysis area of the Selftrade website, investors will be able to access feeds from a variety of news organisations, research papers and analyses regarding investment related topics and themes.

The new Selftrarade investor community follows a model successfully employed by Selftrade's parent Boursorama in France, which offers a community forum and comprehensive news site, with over 12,000 members using it each month, alongside its trading proposition.

Mark Pearson, Chief Marketing Officer at Selftrade, comments: "We have listened to investor feedback and our new website and community forum have been developed with investors' interests and needs at the centre. We know that guidance and peer to peer recommendations are important to investors. They will become increasingly more so in a post RDR world, where investors will look to scrutinise their advice needs, and the associated costs, and consider if and how they may shift towards self-directed investing.

"We believe offering a platform for investors to engage, exchange information and views, while at the same time providing them with analysis and research, will be of great use."