BAT PLC is a multi-category consumer goods company based in the United Kingdom, offering tobacco and nicotine products. Alongside its traditional tobacco business, the Company invests in building a portfolio of tobacco and nicotine products, including vapour products, tobacco heating products (THPs), and modern oral products.

Top trading apps

How to buy British American Tobacco shares

Our view: The next generation of online trading platform means you can get setup & buy British American Tobacco shares in as little as 5 minutes!

  1. Select a share platform - See our top platform picks
  2. Open your share account - To do this, you will need your bank details and national insurance number
  3. Fund your account - You will need to fund your a/c with a debit or credit card or bank transfer
  4. Search for the share using the British American Tobacco stock code - Type in the BATS stock code into the search box
  5. Check out the latest info and price for the selected share - Some platforms offer free research and analysis
  6. Buy the share - Nice and easy!
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Trading news for British American Tobacco

Is now a good time to buy BAT shares?

How to select a share trading app/platform?

Trading platform services offered vary widely, and so do the costs.

5 things to think about:

1. How do you want to trade?

There are different ways to trade shares online:

a. Short-term trading – Spread betting & CFDs

Are you looking to take advantage of short-term opportunities in the market?

With derivatives trading you can use products such as CFDs and spread bets to speculate on a share price increasing or decreasing without having to take direct ownership of the shares themselves.

CFDs (Contracts For Difference) and spread betting are leveraged products, which means you can gain full exposure to company shares while only putting down a small deposit. While this magnifies possible profits, it does the same for losses.

CFDs & spread bets are popular among short-term traders as profits and losses are realised immediately – making it faster to open and close trades. However, this doesn’t mean you can’t use them for longer-term positions. You’d need to consider the costs of maintaining a position – such as overnight funding – and the bet duration, as spread bets have fixed terms.

They enable you to buy and sell shares online without owning the underlying asset. This has tax benefits and means you can trade both rising and falling markets (Tax laws are subject to change).

b. Long-term trading – Investing in shares

Are you looking to take a longer-term position in shares?

Share dealing services enables you to invest in company shares with a view to selling them for a profit at a later date. When you buy shares you become a part owner of that Company and gain shareholder rights including any income that is paid as dividends.

Different share-dealing services have different charging structures. Some platforms offer commission-free share dealing, but most operate on a fixed fee per trade, usually reducing this fee if you carry out more than a certain number of monthly trades.

Profits you make on share trading capital gains and dividends may be subject to tax at your rate. Taxation can be mitigated if you trade within an ISA or Self Invested Personal Pension account.

2. Do you want to do a lot of trading?

Active investors will want to look for a platform that offers the lowest fees for volume trades.

If you are going to trade stock regularly, most trading platforms will offer lower trading prices based on volume.

3. How easy to use is this trading platform: what kind of tools and customer service does it offer?

How easy is the platform to buy and sell shares for new traders/investors?

Platform functionality is becoming the key battleground in persuading traders which platform to go for.

Mobile app features are also vital in offering traders alerts and buy/sell signals whilst on the move.

These are often the criteria that count most highly with users, so research and read the reviews.

Many investors are prepared to pay more fees for a platform that offers handy apps and services.

4. Types of trading accounts for long-term trading?

Some trading platforms offer general share trading accounts, ISA accounts, and Self Invested Personal Pension Accounts, which offer tax-free trading benefits (no tax on dividends or capital gains tax on realised profit).

Trader accounts that offer ISA and SIPP includes Interactive InvestorAJ Bell, and Hargreaves Lansdown.

5. Do you want to trade just in shares, funds, or shares & funds?

If you are also interested in investing or trading in funds, this may determine who you go with.

If you are interested in ETFs, Investment Trusts, Open Ended Investment Companies (OEICs) or Unit Trusts, you will need to check with the platform provider. E.g. Some platforms only offer a limited number of collectives, such as OEICs.

The charging structure for funds held on the platform will vary. Over time the impact of such charges can be significant. Check the platform charging structure carefully.

About British American Tobacco

British American Tobacco p.l.c. engages in the provision of tobacco and nicotine products to consumers worldwide. It also offers vapour, heated, and modern oral nicotine products; combustible cigarettes; and traditional oral products, such as snus and moist snuff. The company offers its products under the Vuse, glo, Velo, Grizzly, Kodiak, Dunhill, Kent, Lucky Strike, Pall Mall, Rothmans, Camel, Natural American Spirit, Newport, Vogue, Viceroy, Kool, Peter Stuyvesant, Craven A, State Express 555 and Shuang Xi brands. It also distributes its products to retail outlets. British American Tobacco p.l.c. was founded in 1902 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.

IMPORTANT: No news, feature article or comment should be seen as a personal investment recommendation. Before deciding to invest, you should ensure that you are familiar with the risks associated with a particular plan. If you are unsure of the suitability of a particular product, both in respect of its objectives and risk profile, you should seek independent financial advice. The value of shares, ETFs and ETCs, bought through a share dealing account, stocks and shares ISA, or a SIPP can fall and rise, which could mean getting back less than you originally put in. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Between 67%-81% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you understand how spread bets and CFDs work and whether you can afford to risk losing your money. Professional clients can lose more than they deposit. All trading involves risk. Tax treatment of ISAs depends on your circumstances and is based on current law, which may be subject to change in the future. ISA transfer charges may apply; please check with your provider.