Best Online Brokers in Italy in 2024 (compared)

You already know that starting investing is a significant milestone in your financial life, but now you may wonder, “Where should I open my investment account?”. The search for a online broker may be daunting!

Through cost-benefit analysis, we’ve compiled several online brokers as our top picks for the best brokers in Italy. We’ve listed the following factors that investors should always consider: fees, investment platforms, the range of markets and instruments available, regulation and education resources.

These are our suggestions for the best investing apps in Italy:

1. eToro: Best for commission-free investing and social trading
2. Interactive Brokers: Best broker overall
3. XTB: Best for Forex and CFD trading
4. Plus500: Best for demo accounts
5. DEGIRO: Best for low-cost investing
6. Trading 212: Best for commission-free ETFs
7. Scalable Capital: Best for automatic investing (robo-advisor)

Founded in 2002, XTB presents itself as a market player with extensive worldwide experience, regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – and other local regulators like CONSOB – and listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The platform offers 0% commissions on stocks. However, its software is more oriented to CFDs and forex trading with competitive costs.

XTB also offers other financial products, such as commodities and cryptocurrencies. XTB charges high commissions on CFDs of cryptocurrencies but low costs for Forex. Besides, you will face an inactivity fee of €10/month after one year of non-trading and if you have not made any deposit in the last 90 days. Opening an account and transferring money is a quick and hassle-free process (demo account available).

Still any doubts? Go through our XTB Review!

Founded in 2008, Plus500 is an online broker offering a wide range of financial products, including real shares and CFDs on forex, indices, shares, commodities, options, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies. It is available in over 50 countries and is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

There are two distinct account types:

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

You will use 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 financial regulators like the FCA and CySEX, 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. Additionally, Plus500 provides negative balance protection for CFD trading on a per-account basis (regulatory requirement).

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

Founded in 2013, DEGIRO is a low-cost brokerage firm that has become very popular due to its low rates! With almost 2.5 million users, the innovative platform has become widely known for its “do-it-yourself” philosophy in the sense that you have everything at your disposal to start investing on your own. It offers a wide range of financial assets to trade, including stocks, ETFs, bonds, options, futures contracts, warrants, investment funds, and some leveraged products (not quite the same as CFDs. More info here).

For instance, you can trade some ETFs for free (a €1.00 flat handling fee – external costs – still apply) with no minimum amount required. The web trading platform is basic, but it is efficient and straightforward to use. In a matter of minutes, you get used to it. The same applies to its mobile app. On the downside, there is an absence of any significant fundamental research, a €2.50 connectivity fee applies, a €1.00 commission on US stocks and pricing alerts are missing.

Regarding security, DEGIRO is the Dutch branch of flatexDEGIRO Bank AG (a German-regulated bank). In the unlikely event that the segregated assets cannot be returned to clients, DEGIRO falls under the German Investor Compensation Scheme, which compensates any losses from non-returned assets up to 90% (with a maximum of €20,000), so do bear this in mind if you are planning to invest much larger volumes. Furthermore, any money deposited on a DEGIRO Cash Account with flatexDEGIRO Bank AG will be guaranteed up to an amount of €100,000 under the German Deposit Guarantee Scheme.

Still any doubts? Go through our DEGIRO Review!

Founded in 2006, Trading 212 is a fintech based in London that aims to democratize the entire investment process through a simple mobile application. The company aims to do this by allowing anyone to invest in over 10,000 stocks and ETFs, Forex, commodities, CFDs, and cryptocurrencies. Over 15 million people have already downloaded the app.

In Trading 212, you will find commission-free stocks and ETFs trading, fractional shares, and even an automatic investment system (robo-advisor). Opening an account is extremely quick and easy. On the downside, it shows limitations regarding available products, such as the lack of bonds and options. It charges a 0.15% currency conversion fee when buying assets in a currency different from your base account.

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).

If you want to learn more, check our Trading 212 Review.

Founded in 2014, Scalable Capital is a German fintech that offers two services: Brokerage, where you can trade shares, ETFs, funds, crypto and derivatives and invest via a savings plan by yourself and a Wealth Service (robo-advisor), where you get a personalized portfolio managed by Scalable Capital.

On the brokerage side, the range of available products is considerable: 7,000+ shares, 2,000+ ETFs, 2,000+ Funds, 70+ Crypto ETPs and 375,000+ derivatives. It offers three pricing plans: “Free broker” for €0/month; “Prime Broker” for €2.99/month and “Prime Broker Flex” for €4.99. In all of them, you have free trading in a list of “PRIME ETFs”. Commission-free trading in shares is included in the “Prime Broker” plan.

Within the Wealth Service, you will only be presented with different portfolios/strategies using ETFs. First, you need to answer a short questionnaire to access your risk profile, and then an appropriate portfolio will be set for you. Up to €100,000, you are charged an annual management fee of 0.75%. You can pay the minimum annual fee of 0.49% if you deposit over €500,000.

Scalable Capital has regulatory permission from the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) to provide securities services, and it is also supervised by the German Federal Bank (Deutsche Bundesbank). As such, it is a member of the investor compensation scheme, which protects your cash (up to €100,000) and your assets (limited to 90 %, up to a maximum of €20,000 per investor).

Which platform should you choose?

Some factors you should know when choosing an online broker are the fees charged if it is regulated by top-tier institutions such as the FCA in the UK, the range of products it allows you to trade (not all platforms allow you to trade EU stocks), among others.

The best online broker in your specific case will depend on your profile, preference, and objectives. Explore the websites above and decide for yourself!

A reminder that the above should not be seen as investment advice and should be considered information only. Investors should do their own research and diligence about the best-suited services and opportunities for their risk, returns, and impact strategy.

Other FAQs about brokers in Italy