How to buy and short Wise shares

How to buy Wise shares: investing or trading

You can buy Wise shares through outright investing in the stock, which gives you direct ownership, or you can trade the company’s shares by speculating on its price movements without having to own the underlying.

Investing in Wise shares

Investing in Wise’s shares means that you become its owner. As a shareholder you’ll have voting rights and be eligible to receive dividends, if the company offers them. We enable you to get direct ownership of Wise shares from zero commission.¹

With us, you can follow these steps if you want to be a Wise shareholder:

1. Create an account or log in
2. Search for ‘Wise’ on our share trading platform
3. Select ‘buy’ in the deal ticket
4. Choose the number of shares you want to buy
5. Open and monitor your investment position

Here’s a comparison between our commission rates and our competitors’:

Buying Wise shares outright means that you need to commit the full investment value upfront. The share price can swing in either direction, so you may get back a lesser amount than your initial outlay – but your maximum potential losses can’t exceed your total investment amount (excluding additional fees).

You can profit if Wise happens to offer dividends or if you sell your shares at an increased share price (compared to the one you bought them at), or both.

Trading Wise stock

Trading Wise stock means that you’re taking a position on the company’s share price, whether it’ll rise or fall, without having direct ownership of the underlying. You’d ‘buy’ (go long) if you think that the share price will rise and you’d ‘sell’ (go short) if your prediction is that it’ll fall.

We enable you to trade Wise shares in these steps:

1. Create an account or log in
2. Search for ‘Wise’ on our trading platform
3. Select ‘buy’ to go long or ‘sell’ to go short in the deal ticket
4. Set your position size and take steps to manage your risk
5. Open and monitor your position

With us, you’ll trade Wise shares using leveraged derivatives such as CFDs, with possible tax benefits.²

Using leverage when trading means that you only need a small deposit, known as margin, to open your positions, while getting full exposure. Leverage increases both your possible profits and losses to the full value of the trade, so it’s important to take steps to manage your risk properly.

Learn more about the impact of leverage on your trading

See our full trading costs and charges

How to short Wise shares

You can short Wise shares via CFD trading with us. Short-selling means that you’re taking a ‘selling’ position (going short) on a company’s shares in an effort to make a profit from a falling share price.

With us, you can short-sell in these steps:

1. Create an account or log in
2. Search for ‘Wise’ on our platform
3. Select ‘sell’ in the deal ticket
4. Choose your position size
5. Open and monitor your position

Naturally, the share price could go either way – therefore, you’d incur a loss if it rises when you’re short-selling. But if your prediction that it’ll fall is correct, you’d make a profit.

As you’d be using CFDs when short-selling, you’d be trading with leverage. So, you’d need to commit an initial deposit to get full exposure to your selected position size of Wise shares. But remember, when trading with leverage, both possible profits and losses are increased to the full value of your trade.

Find out more about short-selling

How to sell or close your Wise position

You can sell your Wise investment or close your trading position if you want to limit potential losses or secure possible profits. Here’s how:

A brief history of Wise

Wise was founded in 2011 by Estonian friends Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus. It has since become one of the most valuable fintech start-ups in Europe. Wise has been profitable since 2017 (as of July 2021).

While it started out offering money transfer services, its growing product range was the driving force behind the decision to change its name from ‘TransferWise’ in February 2021. Wise went public in the London Stock Exchange’s (LSE's) biggest direct listing on 7 June 2021 with a market cap of £8 billion, more than double its 2020 valuation of around £3.6 billion.

What’s the Wise business model?

Wise’s business model is focused on providing financial services. The company transfers over £5 billion per month to more than 10 million international customers. In 2020, this fintech company processed 2% of the world’s retail cross-border payments.

Wise makes its money through cross-currency transfer fees on private and business accounts. The company prides itself in enabling its customers to transfer money across 56 currencies at fares that are significantly lower than those of its competitors.

Wise share price: how to analyse the Wise share price

You can analyse Wise shares in one of two ways – technical or fundamental analysis – but a combination of the two is generally more effective.

• Technical analysis consists of chart patterns, technical indicators and historical price action that is useful in predicting future price movements
• Fundamental analysis takes elements such as a company’s net revenue, profit and loss statements, as well as wider macroeconomic factors into consideration – these can help you determine likely share price movements

Footnotes:

¹ Commission rates differ for UK and US shares. Trade in your share trading account three or more times in the previous month to qualify for our best commission rates. Please note published rates are valid up to £25,000 notional value. See our full list of share trading charges and fees.
² Tax laws are subject to change and depend on individual circumstances. Tax law may differ in a jurisdiction other than the UK.