Is DEGIRO safe?

As one of the leading discount brokers tailor-made for Europeans, DEGIRO consistently remains in the spotlight. Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Amsterdam, DEGIRO is a low-cost brokerage offering several asset classes with low costs (external costs apply), which is excellent for long-term portfolios. The natural question: is DEGIRO safe?

Yes, we consider DEGIRO a reliable broker for the following reasons:

1. Asset segregation: Your assets are untouchable in the event of the company’s default;
2. Investor protection: If asset segregation fails, then the German Investor Compensation Scheme protects individuals by up to €20,000;
3. Top-tier regulators: BaFin supervises the bank behind DEGIRO, with DNB and AFM supervising the Dutch branch;
4. Cash protection: DEGIRO’s method of opening a dedicated cash account automatically introduces cash protection up to €100,000.
5. Transparency and strong track record: DEGIRO has been operating since 2008, is part of a listed company, and has a banking license.

This article highlights and discusses the due diligence we’ve done before we concluded that DEGIRO is a safe platform. The financial figures below come from the flatexDEGIRO interim statement for the second quarter of 2026.

DEGIRO operates as a low-cost, online brokerage platform, primarily serving retail investors across Europe. As a subsidiary of flatexDEGIRO SE, a publicly traded financial services company based in Germany, DEGIRO’s business model focuses on providing accessible and affordable investment services.

With DEGIRO, European investors benefit most from their extraordinary international exposure. The group gives access to around 50 exchanges in Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific, plus over-the-counter trading, through its three brands: DEGIRO, flatex and ViTrade.

The group had 3.66 million customer accounts at the end of June 2026, of which 2.75 million sit in the DEGIRO segment, and held €108.3 billion of client assets in custody.

It was awarded by us as the “Best European Discount Broker” in 2026.

DEGIRO earns its revenue through commissions (earned per transaction) and interest (on clients’ deposits and on margin loans, against the European Central Bank deposit facility rate).

The commission refers to DEGIRO’s charge for providing their service. While the lowest or among the lowest in Europe in terms of costs, a few key details from their fee schedule show:

• ETFs in the Core Selection, traded on Tradegate: €1.00 handling fee per transaction;
• ETFs on other exchanges: €3.00 per transaction (€2.00 commission plus the €1.00 handling fee);
• US stocks: €2.00 per transaction (€1.00 commission plus the €1.00 handling fee);
• European stocks: between €2.00 and €4.90 per transaction, depending on the market;
• Currency conversion with AutoFX: 0.25% of the converted amount;
• Connectivity fee: €2.50 per exchange per calendar year, outside your home exchange and the Core Selection.

These rates come from the fee schedules effective 1 January 2026 and vary slightly between DEGIRO’s country entities, so check the one that applies to you.

The interest component represents just under a third of group revenue: €102.1 million out of €340.1 million in the first half of 2026. Two other lines are growing next to it, and both are new: the securities lending programme launched at the end of 2025, and the “Deposits as a Service” business, whose first client, Hamburg Commercial Bank, went live in March 2026.

DEGIRO’s financials

Essential to answering the question, is DEGIRO safe, lies the latest financials for the company. We want to see a growing enterprise with solid earnings:

Several notes on the last report, the second quarter of 2026:

• Revenue: €166.5 million, marking a 26.0% increase year-over-year (Q2 2025: €132.1 million).
• Gross profit: €144.7 million, up 26.7% compared to Q2 2025 (€114.2 million).
• Commission Income: €107.3 million, a 29.0% increase from Q2 2025 (€83.2 million), driven by higher trading activity and a larger customer base.
• Interest Income: €52.7 million, up 23.3% from Q2 2025 (€42.8 million), as higher customer deposits and a bigger margin loan book more than offset lower interest rates.
• Commission per Transaction: €4.64, a 5.8% increase from Q2 2025 (€4.39).
• Operating profit: €85.1 million, up 57.7% year-over-year, with the margin rising from 47.3% to 58.8% of gross profit.
• Net Income: €61.3 million, a 55.1% increase year-over-year (Q2 2025: €39.5 million).
• Customer Accounts: 3.66 million at the end of June 2026, up 11.1% from June 2025 (3.29 million).
• Transactions Settled: 21.9 million, a 22.3% increase from Q2 2025 (18.0 million).
• Assets Under Custody: €108.3 billion, up 29.7% from June 2025 (€83.5 billion), above the €100 billion mark for the first time.
• Customer Cash Deposits: €6.51 billion at the end of June 2026, 5.1% higher than at the end of 2025 (€6.19 billion).
• Margin loans: €1.61 billion outstanding, 38.5% above the figure of a year earlier.

Over the first half of 2026 the picture is the same: revenue of €340.1 million (+22.2%) and net income of €115.0 million (+41.1%), which is already slightly more than the group earned in the whole of 2024. On the back of that, management raised the full-year guidance to revenue of around €650 million and net income of €200 to €230 million, targets originally set for 2027.

One caveat worth keeping in mind: these are group figures covering DEGIRO, flatex and ViTrade, and the numbers for the second quarter of 2026 are preliminary and unaudited. For a broker you are trusting with your savings, what matters here is the direction: a profitable, growing business has little reason to cut corners with client money.

What if DEGIRO defaults?

An unlikely occurrence, but helpful to contemplate for your added benefit and security. Let’s consider five separate factors.

1. Your assets are segregated

Client assets are maintained separately from DEGIRO and are not treated as recoverable assets to creditors. Your assets remain yours.

Since the company is a licensed investment firm authorized by the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM), but it is the German Investor Compensation Scheme which protects investors in the event that DEGIRO fails to safeguard client assets.

2. Investor protection

With the German Investor Compensation Scheme, individual clients are protected from any losses from non-returned assets up to 90% (with a maximum of EUR 20,000). This applies per individual and not per account. If an individual has opened multiple accounts, the scheme protects all aggregated assets. Further information on the scheme can be found in English here.

A frequent misunderstanding with the scheme is that all assets above the €20,000 threshold are lost. Not at all: the practice of asset segregation ensures that all your assets are secure. The scheme comes into effect only if DEGIRO is discovered to have failed to sufficiently protect client assets, or in the case of fraud.

3. Ample regulation

The flatexDEGIRO Bank Dutch Branch, operating under the name DEGIRO, is the Dutch branch of flatexDEGIRO Bank SE. The latter entity holds a full banking licence and is supervised by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin).

Within the Netherlands, the flatexDEGIRO Bank Dutch Branch is subject to integrity supervision by the Central Bank of the Netherlands (DNB), and further supervision by AFM.

4. Additional cash protection

When you open an account with DEGIRO, you also open a cash account with flatexDEGIRO Bank. All your uninvested money will be held in a segregated bank account with a personal IBAN.

Your money is thus guaranteed by up to €100,000 since the German Deposit Guarantee Scheme also applies. However, this cash account is not used for other banking or personal matters, only to hold money for your DEGIRO account.

5. Securities lending is now part of the picture

At the end of 2025 the group launched a securities lending programme, offered under the DEGIRO brand in the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Switzerland, and it kept growing through the second quarter of 2026.

This is worth understanding before you opt in. When your shares are lent out, they leave your account for the duration of the loan and you hold a claim against the borrower instead, backed by collateral. It is how the broker shares extra income with you, and it is also the one situation where your segregated assets are temporarily not sitting in your name, so read the terms and decide whether the extra yield is worth it for you.

Final thoughts

Even though it was popular before the coronavirus pandemic, retail investing succeeded incredibly as remote working inspired many to take up new passions, and investing is a superb choice.

However, there remains a seemingly limitless plethora of online brokers to choose from. Low fees are a must for traders, but so are asset protection, capital strength, and regulation. So, is DEGIRO safe? Yes, absolutely.

As a final tip, once you begin trading, please ensure you keep records of your holdings, trade confirmations, and account statements every month. This little step will make the job easier for the regulators when filing insurance claims.

Stay safe out there!

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