How to sell investments on Barclays Smart Investor

Have investments on the Barclays Smart Investor platform? If you want to reap the returns or simply want to rebalance your portfolio, you’ll need to know how to sell your investments.

Read on for our essential guide to selling investments on Barclays Smart Investor in the UK, including a step-by-step look at the process of selling shares or funds.

We’ll also cover trading fees (including cash withdrawal fees), tax implications and how to receive the funds from any sold investments.

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When investing, your capital is at risk. The value of your investments can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you put in. Tax treatment depends on your individual circumstances and may be subject to future change. The content of this article is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended to be, nor does it constitute, any form of personal advice.

Investments in a currency other than GBP are exposed to currency exchange risk. Currency exchange rates are constantly changing, which may affect the value of the investment in GBP terms. You could lose money in GBP even if the stock price rises in the currency of origin. Stocks listed on overseas exchanges may be subject to additional dealing and exchange rate charges, and may have other tax implications, and may not provide the same, or any, regulatory protection as in the UK.

Understanding Barclays Smart Investor

If you’re new to the service, Barclays Smart Investor is an online investment platform from popular high street bank Barclays. It aims to make investing simpler and more straightforward for new investors, as well as more experienced users.

Barclays Smart Investor offers access to over 8,000 different investments, including UK shares, funds, Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), bonds and investment trusts.¹

You can start using the platform by opening one of two accounts - a Barclays Investment ISA (also known as a Stocks and Shares ISA) or a Barclays Investment Account. Everything is managed online, or using the Barclays mobile app.

📚 Barclays Investment ISA review

What is Barclays Smart Investor and how does it manage investments?

Before you start buying and selling investments with Barclays Smart Investor, it’s useful to know a little more about what the platform is and how it works.

The first thing to know is that it offers a choice of Ready-made Investment funds. You’ll choose an account type, then choose from five funds - each with different reward and risk levels. You’ll choose according to your attitude to risk and your goals for investment.

You can start investing from as little as £50, making one-off or occasional deposits, or setting up a Direct Debit.¹

Once you’ve chosen a fund, an investment expert with Barclays will manage it for you. This does come with fees, but they’re relatively low and the pricing structure is easy to understand. We’ll look at that in more detail shortly.

If you need help, Barclays Smart Investor has a UK-based call centre available.

Reasons to sell investments

There are a few different reasons you may want to sell your investments, such as:

• You’ve reached a long-term investment goal or a major life change (i.e. retirement)
• Profit-taking - your shares reach the ideal price and it’s time to sell up to achieve the desired returns
• It’s time to cut your losses - if your investments have deteriorated in value due to poor performance over a long period, it might be time to sell up and invest elsewhere
• Balancing out your portfolio - you can use the funds from the sale of one investment to fund others, to diversify your portfolio and reduce risk.
• Account closure - you might decide to move to a different investment platform, and it’s not possible to transfer your investments across.

📚 How to sell shares

How to sell on Barclays Smart Investor: Step-by-step guide

Now, let’s take a look at how you’ll actually sell investments on the Barclays Smart Investor platform, walking through it step-by-step. The good news is that it’s pretty simple, and you can do everything online.

Step 1: Log in to your account

The first step is to log in, which you can do either online here or via the Barclays mobile app. This will either ask for your unique passcode, or biometrics (such as face ID or your fingerprint).

Step 2: Navigate to holdings

Once you’ve logged in, select the account you wish to trade in - you’ll be able to see all of your current holdings.

Step 3: Select the specific asset

To sell an investment, click on the name of the specific asset (shares or fund) you wish to trade, or the ‘sell’ button next to it.

Step 4: Choose order type

You’ll be shown the current market price for the specific asset you’re selling. You’ll need to choose the order type:²

• Standard order - this is a sale made immediately, during market opening hours. You’ll be shown the best price available from the market and you have 15 seconds to accept it.
• ‘At best’ order - this is an order placed when the stock market is closed, where you give an instruction to sell at the best price available as soon as possible.
• Limit order - you’ll set a minimum or maximum price you’re comfortable selling at, and the asset will be sold as soon as its price falls within those limits (within 30 days).

Next, you’ll select either the number of shares you’d like to sell or the total value of shares you want to sell.

Step 5: Execute the sale

Check all of the details carefully, and make sure you understand any implications (for example, tax) of selling investments. Once you’re happy, confirm and execute the sale.

Receiving your money from Barclays Smart Investor

Once you’ve completed the online steps to sell investments, the next thing you’ll want to know is how you’ll receive your money. The funds will typically be sent to your nominated bank account, so you’ll need to add the details and get this set up before buying or selling any investments.

How long will it take?

Barclays doesn’t say exactly how long it takes for funds from sold investments to be sent to your nominated bank account. However, it shouldn’t take longer than 5 working days for the money to arrive.³

Barclays Smart Investor fees and charges

As well as knowing how exactly to sell investments on Barclays Smart Investor, you’ll also need to know how much it costs.

Here are the platform’s main fees and charges, including costs for selling investments, withdrawing funds and foreign exchange costs:⁴

Moving cash to your account

As you can see in the table above, there’s a £6 fee for selling shares online with Barclays Smart Investor (no fees for selling funds).

There’s no fee to move cash to your Barclays investor account though, or to send it to your nominated bank account. This means you can withdraw from the platform whenever you want.

Just bear in mind though that if you have an investment ISA, you may lose the tax-free benefits if you withdraw money.

Can you receive your money into your Wise account?

Yes, it’s easy to receive money from Barclays Smart Investor into your Wise account - and there are some very good reasons to do so.

With Wise, you can get local account details so you can receive multiple currencies. All you need to do is enter these account details when setting up your nominated account on Barclays Smart Investor.

This is particularly useful if you’re investing in international assets, as it means that you can receive money directly in that currency without the platform or your bank carrying out a currency conversion and charging you a foreign exchange fee. You can use Wise to convert the currency instead, it uses the mid-market exchange rate (with no hidden mark-ups like some banks) and low, transparent fees*.

With Barclays Smart Investor, you may not be able to avoid the FX fee as it is charged when you sell the investment, rather than when you withdraw the money from your account.

But you can still add Wise GBP account details and use this as your nominated account for withdrawals. The funds will then be ready to convert into other currencies (for low fees* and great FX rates), which could be handy if you plan to make other international investments.

Other important factors to consider

There are a few other factors to consider when selling investments, such as tax implications and platform restrictions.

Tax implications

If you sell investments and make a profit, you may have to pay UK Capital Gains Tax (CGT). Everyone gets an annual CGT allowance of £3,000 per tax year, so any profits above this may be subject to CGT.⁵

It should also be noted that CGT doesn’t affect investments and money held in ISAs, as these are protected by a tax-free wrapper. It’s worth thinking about this before withdrawing money from a cash or stocks and shares ISA.

📚 UK tax on transfer of shares overseas

Dealing with restrictions

Some investment platforms have restrictions which may affect how and when you can sell investments.

The good news is that there aren’t many with Barclays Smart Investor, except in relation to lodgements - where you ‘lodge’ share certificates with your online account, and you’ll need to wait until the process is complete before you can sell any investments.

Save money when selling investments with Wise

After reading this, you should have a better idea of how to sell investments on Barclays Smart Investor. The good news is that it’s easy and relatively low-cost, although you may have to wait a few days to receive your money. Importantly, make sure you check your balance after any settlement or sale.

You may also want to consider using Wise as your nominated account with Barclays Smart Investor. If you trade international shares - or are interested in doing so in the future - then having a multi-currency account could be extremely useful indeed.

Wise gives you full control of currency conversions, so you don’t get stung by high FX fees and can save money whenever you trade.

Looking for an alternative way to help grow your income? Check out Wise Interest.

Simply open a Wise account online and switch on Interest to help earn returns - while still having easy access to your money.

Investments can fluctuate, and your capital is at risk. Interest is offered by Wise Assets UK Ltd, a subsidiary of Wise Payments Ltd. Wise Assets UK Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority with registration number 839689. When facilitating access to Wise investment products, Wise Payments Ltd acts as an Introducer Appointed Representative of Wise Assets UK Ltd. Please be aware that we do not offer investment advice, and you may be liable for taxes on any earnings. If you're uncertain, we urge you to seek professional advice. To find out more about the Funds, visit our website.

What’s more, you can use your Wise account to manage your money in 40+ currencies and send worldwide transfers with low fees* and at the mid-market exchange rate with no mark-ups.

➡️ Learn more about the Wise account

Additional FAQs on selling shares with Barclays Smart Investor

How do I sell my Barclays shares?

If you hold shares in Barclays PLC directly, you can sell them through a stockbroker or online trading platform.

If you have Barclays shares as part of a general investment holding (such as a fund, ISA or managed portfolio), you’d need to sell the whole fund - you wouldn’t be able to sell those shares individually.

How long does it take for money to clear in Barclays Smart Investor?

Barclays doesn’t say exactly how long it takes for money from sold investments to be sent to your nominated bank account. However, it shouldn’t take longer than 5 working days for the money to arrive.³

Can I sell shares over the phone with Barclays?

You can sell shares over the phone with Barclays, but there’s an expensive fee of £25 per trade if you do so. It’s much cheaper (£6 per trade) to do it online.

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Sources used:

1. Barclays - number of investments
2. Barclays - order types
3. Barclays Investments - max of 5 working days to receive funds
4. Barclays - Barclays Smart Investor fees
5. Fidelity - Capital Gains Tax allowance

Sources last checked on date: 09-Feb-2026