This is a letter Shares mag has had from a reader. Can anyone give me some feedback on what you think would be the best trading platform for him?

thanks,

Shares ed

My portfolio was, until recently, held with American Express Sharepeople. I had used their for over 5 years and found it to be very good. I particularly like the fact that I could quickly view my entire portfolio and see by how much the value of each of my stocks had changed during that day and also the total change in the value of my portfolio. These facilities allowed me to spend only a few minutes per day examining my portfolio, yet still feel confident that I could see any trends taking place. I addition, I found the 'virtual portfolio' facility particularly useful, the ability to immediately trade with proceeds from a previous sale, and the wide range of stocks and market available to trade.

My portfolio was recently transferred to TD Waterhouse when Sharepeople discontinued their business. I find the TD Waterhouse website to be poor in comparison and does not offer the features highlighted above. Additionally, it does not offer the powerful charting facilities and range of stocks and market offered by Sharepeople. I am not even able to view graphing for some of my stocks.

Having discussed the matter with TD Waterhouse, they could not offer much to address my concerns and I have decided to transfer my holdings to an alternative dealing service.

I would be grateful if you could suggest an online service which most closely matches that previously offered by Sharepeople. The majority of my trades are in FTSE250/350 and AIM stocks.