Best trading platforms in Europe in 2024 (reviewed)

Founded in 1978 and publicly listed in NASDAQ (ticker: IBKR), Interactive Brokers is a global online broker that surpassed major financial crises, showing resilience and a rigorous risk management process.

Interactive Brokers offers an advanced investment platform that includes a wide range of products (stocks, options, mutual funds, ETFs, futures, bonds, and currencies) from +135 markets, solid trade execution (IB SmartRouting), and a set of technical and fundamental tools to help you in your investment decisions.

Beginners and intermediate investors have educational tools to explore, but the learning curve will be steep. Besides, customer service gives crystal clear answers to your doubts, so there is no need to go back and forth.

IBKR is a great option for retail investors interested in trading international stocks, ETFs, bonds, futures, options, and even penny stocks. It is ideal for beginners or professionals looking for a large number of instruments and a secure broker. Nearly all Europeans can open an account at IBKR.

On the downside, if you are new to investing, the platform might be a bit complicated with too many buttons and features. You can read our IBKR review and check IBKR’s website for more information.

Another exceptional trading platform in Europe is eToro, an international online broker with over 30 million users who trade stocks, forex, commodities, cryptocurrencies, CFDs, and ETFs. It is known for its social trading feature where you can copy the trades of other experienced traders. There are thousands of verified traders on eToro, and you can pick the best trader based on past Return on Investment (ROI), risk profile, or other factors.

The eToro platform gives users access to over 3,000 different financial instruments, including stocks and ETFs. Additionally, users can invest in ready-made investment portfolios (Smart Portfolios), a group of several assets or traders combined together based on a theme or strategy.

The web platform has an easy-to-use and intuitive interface that is beginner-friendly while offering advanced features for experienced traders. Among those features is one-click trading, which lets traders open a new position while using pre-determined parameters with just a click.

Additionally, it offers a stop loss feature that lets you keep a position open as long as the market price moves in the right direction. Another feature is the eToro Research Tab, powered by TipRanks, which helps you enhance your knowledge to make better-informed investment decisions.

Although the platform is attractive for beginners, it is not the ideal platform for day traders or experienced investors, as spreads are high for some products. Additionally, withdrawing money is somewhat expensive compared to other brokers ($5 per withdrawal request). For a full assessment, read our comprehensive eToro review and explore eToro’s website.

Founded in 2002, XTB is a major player in the brokerage industry with extensive worldwide experience, regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – plus other relevant regulatory bodies – and listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

You can invest through xStation 5 and xStation Mobile in different investment products, such as stocks, ETFs, and CFDs on stocks, Forex, indices, commodities, and cryptocurrencies (this product offering may vary slightly from country to country). It offers 0% commission on stocks and ETFs, but only in some European countries*. International investors only get a 0% commission on stock and ETF CFDs.

Opening an account and transferring money is a quick and hassle-free process. For beginners, it presents a demo account where you can trade as if it were real money to help you feel the investment platform firsthand, and you get access to educational tools. For intermediate and advanced investors, you will find plenty of technical and fundamental tools to help you better assess your investment decisions.

On the downside, you will face an inactivity fee of €10/month after one year of non-trading, and if you have not deposited in the last 90 days, it charges high commissions on CFDs of cryptocurrencies but low costs for Forex. XTB is not available in the United States and Australia.

Want to know more about XTB? Check our XTB Review and visit XTB’s website.

Founded in 2008, Plus500 is an online broker offering various financial products, including real shares (on Plus500 Invest) and CFDs on Forex, Cryptocurrencies, Stocks, Commodities, ETFs, Options, and Indices. It is available in over 50 countries and is listed on the London Stock Exchange (ticker: PLUS).

There are two distinct account types:

• Plus500 CFD: It only focuses on CFD products;
• Plus500 Invest: Where you can trade stocks (real shares);

The web platform you will use is the WebTrader, Plus500’s proprietary platform, offering a stable trading experience and reliable access from multiple devices, including a mobile app. All platforms are accessible and responsive, and you can start testing the features by opening a demo account.

Their customer support is helpful and readily assessed through a chat that is always shown on the trading platform. Their spreads are low, offering accounts in sixteen currencies, including USD, EUR, and GBP. Still, they charge a 0.70% currency conversion fee and a $10 monthly fee following three months with no activity. On Plus500 Invest, they only charge a small commission per trade (US market: $0.006/share).

Finally, it is regulated by several financial regulators like the FCA and CySEC, meaning that Plus500 is appropriately supervised and that there is an investor protection scheme under the entity you open an account. For instance, If you open an account as a European investor through Plus500CY Ltd, you are protected up to €20,000 (in the UK, the protection is up to £85,000). Additionally, Plus500 provides negative balance protection for CFD trading on a per-account basis.

Want to know more about Plus500? Check our Plus500 Review.

Founded in 2006 and with over 2.5 million funded accounts, Trading 212 is a fintech based in London that aims to democratize the entire investment process through a simple mobile application by allowing anyone to invest in more than 10,000 stocks and ETFs plus CFDs on Stocks, ETFs, Indices, Forex, and Commodities. It offers a free share worth up to €100!

In Trading 212, you will find commission-free stocks and ETFs trading, fractional shares, and an automatic investment system. On the downside, it shows some limitations regarding the products available, such as the lack of bonds and options.

Opening an account is extremely quick and easy. Within the app, you will notice two distinct sub-platforms: Trading 212 Invest, where you can trade a range of assets free of charge, and Trading 212 CFD, where you may trade leveraged financial products (CFDs). On Trading 212 CFD, the currency conversion fee (FX fee) is higher (0.50%) than on Trading 212 Invest (0.15%).

The minimum deposit and withdrawal amounts are both €/£10. There are no deposit fees if you use bank transfer (other options include cards and Google/Apple Pay). For withdrawals, there is no fee, regardless of the method used.

In terms of safety, every Trading 212 is regulated by the following regulators: the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), and the Financial Supervision Commission (FSC).

To know more about the platform, check our Trading 212 review.

Lightyear is a European investment app that operates via the entity Lightyear Europe AS, authorized and regulated by the Estonian Financial Supervision Authority (EFSA – license number 4.1-1/31), with clients’ assets covered up to €20,000.

There are no Lightyear execution fees to trade ETFs. For stocks, commissions do not go over €/$/£1 per order, and there is a flat 0.35% fee for currency conversion (this fee can be minimized by their multi-currency account in EUR, GBP & USD). Lightyear offers one of the highest interest in uninvested cash: EUR: 3.73%; USD: 5.32%; GBP: 5.12% (as of August 2024).

The investment platform is suitable for beginners and intermediate investors who can safely invest in fractional shares. With an easy-to-use app and more than 3,500 stocks available from the US, UK, European, and Asian markets, Lightyear is an excellent way to get exposure to the stock market.

There are, however, some downsides to Lightyear’s investing app: they do not currently have a Stocks and Shares ISA account available for UK investors, which can be a bit of a dealbreaker for many investors, the product offering is limited (there are no options, commodities, and Forex) and there is no demo account.

To know more about the platform, check out our Lightyear review.

Founded in 2015, Trade Republic is a discount broker based in Berlin, Germany. It focuses on five types of financial assets: stocks, ETFs, bonds, cryptocurrencies, and derivatives. Stocks and ETFs can be traded daily from 7:30 to 23:00 CET, crypto 24/7, and derivatives from 8:00 to 22:00 CET.

It uses the motto “Do more with your money” to express its commitment to its customers by selling itself as a “no order fee” platform. Nonetheless, a €1 external fee is applied in every single trade (Except saving plans), meaning that in practice, you will charge at least €2 (€1 for buying and another €1 for selling). It is still competitive but not commission-free.

Trade Republic was the first European broker to increase the interest rate paid in euros after many years of zero-to-low interest rates due to the European Central Bank (ECB) policies. The money not invested in your account (up to €50,000) will earn 3.75% per year (paid monthly).

Besides, it is the first broker in Europe to allow investment in corporate and government bonds for as little as €1 through fractional trading.

To know more about the platform, please check our Trade Republic review!