The use of investment apps in the UK is widespread, and many investors use them to conduct their trading activities. Your platform is also an essential part of your trading repertoire and plays a significant role in your success. However, like most traders, you use a professional trading station in your home or office; what happens when you decide to leave your trading desk or the UK and want to bring your trading platform with you?
Trading at your desk for prolonged periods can get monotonous and tiring, and changing the scenery can be good, even for a day or two. A small portable trading station will enable you to travel and work without limiting your productivity.
On the other hand, leaving the country and intending to trade while abroad is another can of worms altogether. Your broker must allow your account to operate from abroad, and your destination needs to be part of the UK’s pre-approved places you can trade from. This piece will explore the technicalities of bringing your trading platform everywhere and how you can do it without setting off bells.
Use a Portable Trading Station
If you’re a trader who operates from home or even an official place, it can be easy to forget that trading nowadays is online, and one can do it from anywhere. Your professional trading stations can deceive you into thinking you can only trade from your desk and limit your movement. However, you don’t need three monitors, your fancy magic mouse, or even an easy chair to trade.
Many high-quality mobile apps allow you to step out of your office and still trade and monitor your positions. However, your smartphone’s app is only suitable for a quick hour or two to grab a coffee or catch your kid’s game without completely being locked out of your work. We would not recommend using it as your daily driver if you’re a professional trader.
For more substantial workloads and extended periods away from your desk, we recommend getting a powerful laptop with an excellent screen and battery life. This will allow you to trade from anywhere and still have the functionality you’re used to in the office and comforts such as a big bright screen and multiple windows. A laptop is also not too inconvenient as you can chuck it in most backpacks and take it with you, unlike your desktop.
Look for a Brokerage That’s Expat-friendly
Even though you can still use your trading platform abroad, not all Uk brokers will allow you. As such, it’s best to find a broker with a soft stand for trading outside the country if you know you will travel a lot. They will help you navigate different trading laws in other countries and make your move back much easier if you’re away from the UK for more than 180 days. However, expat-friendly brokers have declined in recent years, and the spreads on the available ones can be overly prohibiting.
Maintain Your UK Address
Because leaving the Uk for more than 180 days limits some of your tax privileges, you might end up paying income taxes from your trading activity in your host and home country. Furthermore, some UK brokers will suspend your account if you’re no longer in the country. However, if you maintain your residence, your broker can still send you mail which will protect your and your tax privileges.
Keep Your Movement From Your Broker
We do not recommend ever lying to your broker, but it’s more prudent to withhold information in some cases. The UK is now independent of the EU and has its own customs laws. This has made moving to neighbouring EU countries much more challenging, which will take time to get used to. Some online platforms require you to inform them when making such moves, but in this case, what they don’t know won’t hurt them.
Use a VPN
When you travel abroad, your IP address can alert your broker you’re not in the UK. To avoid any unpleasantries or your account being suspended for the period you’re away, it’s prudent to use a virtual private network. A VPN masks your location by replacing your IP with one from the country you want to appear as from. This way, your broker will not realise you’re away, and you can keep trading.
