DEGIRO Slovakia: alternatives for 2026

Founded in 2008 in the Netherlands, DEGIRO started expanding to other European countries in 2014. Since then, it has grown steadily and, as part of the German group flatexDEGIRO, now serves more than 3 million customers across Europe.

Is DEGIRO available in Slovakia?

Yes, but not directly. Slovakia is one of DEGIRO’s accepted countries of residence, so Slovak residents can open and use an account. What DEGIRO doesn’t have is a dedicated Slovak website or local support, since Slovakia is not one of its core markets (such as Germany, France, Spain or the Netherlands).

In practice, this means you sign up through one of DEGIRO’s existing country versions rather than a “DEGIRO Slovakia” page. You register through the DEGIRO app, and you need to be 18 or over, have a valid ID, hold a euro bank account in the SEPA zone and be a tax resident in an accepted country (Slovakia qualifies). It works, it’s just less straightforward than in DEGIRO’s core markets, which is why many Slovak investors prefer brokers with a stronger local presence.

A few practical points are worth knowing before you decide:

• Regulation: DEGIRO’s services are provided by flatexDEGIRO Bank SE, a German bank supervised by BaFin (the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority). It serves Slovak residents through the EU passport under MiFID II (the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive), with Národná banka Slovenska (NBS) as host regulator.
• Euro funding: DEGIRO requires a euro bank account in the SEPA zone. Since Slovakia uses the euro, you can fund your account straight from your Slovak bank without any currency conversion.
• Costs: according to DEGIRO’s fee page, US stocks cost €1 plus a €1 handling fee per order, most European stocks and ETFs €2 plus €1, and the Core Selection ETFs only the €1 handling fee. Deposits and withdrawals are free, and there is no inactivity fee.
• Taxes: DEGIRO doesn’t withhold Slovak tax, so you declare taxable income yourself. Slovakia exempts gains on listed stocks and ETFs held for more than one year, according to the Slovak Financial Administration, which makes long-term investing through any of these brokers tax-efficient.

Because the setup is less direct and customer support is not tailored to Slovak clients, it’s worth comparing DEGIRO with brokers that actively serve Slovakia before you decide. Here are the main online brokers available to Slovak investors.

DEGIRO accepts Slovak residents, but if you’d rather use a broker that is a better fit for Slovakia, or simply want to compare your options, there are good alternatives. Growing competition has also pushed several brokers to cut or eliminate commissions on stocks and ETFs.

All these alternatives are authorised by recognised regulators, such as the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), the Central Bank of Ireland or Poland’s KNF, and passport their services into Slovakia under MiFID II.

Based on criteria such as costs, product range, demo account, education and safety, here are our top picks:

Founded in 2007 and listed on Nasdaq since May 2025 (ticker: ETOR), eToro is a well-known fintech and a leader in social trading (following and copying other investors), with around 40 million registered users and 4.28 million funded accounts. It offers commission-free ETF investing in Slovakia (stocks cost $1 per trade on most exchanges and $2 on the Australian, Hong Kong, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Tokyo exchanges, and other fees apply). You can also invest in crypto and trade CFDs on commodities, forex and indices through a platform that is intuitive and simple to use, which makes it a good choice for beginners. Depending on your country, eToro sometimes runs a welcome offer for new users, so check the current terms.

Opening an account and depositing is easy, and you can try the platform with a $100,000 virtual demo account. Slovak clients can hold a EUR account, so euro deposits and withdrawals are free, although a currency conversion fee applies when you buy assets priced in dollars. There is no inactivity fee. On the downside, spreads can be high for some products.

Slovak clients are served by eToro (Europe) Ltd, regulated by CySEC, with client assets covered by the Cyprus Investor Compensation Fund up to €20,000.

Want to know more about eToro? Check our eToro review.

Founded in 1978 and listed on NASDAQ (ticker: IBKR, an S&P 500 constituent since August 2025), Interactive Brokers is a global online broker with more than 5.5 million client accounts that has come through major financial crises, showing resilience and rigorous risk management. Slovak clients are served by Interactive Brokers Ireland, regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.

Interactive Brokers offers an advanced platform with a very wide range of products (stocks, options, mutual funds, ETFs, futures, bonds and currencies) on 170 markets in 40 countries, solid order execution (IB SmartRouting) and a full set of technical and fundamental tools.

Beginners and intermediate investors have educational tools to explore, but the learning curve is steep. That’s why we mainly recommend it to more experienced investors. Customer service gives clear answers, so there’s little need to go back and forth.

On the downside, Interactive Brokers’ fee structure is complex, and the registration process is lengthy (although fully online). However, its low currency conversion fee (0.002%, minimum $2), tight spreads and stock lending programme can still make it cheaper than most brokers. There is no minimum deposit, and you can use EUR as your base currency.

If you’re a beginner, IBKR GlobalTrader is a simpler mobile app to trade stocks, options and ETFs, ideal for beginner investors, with automatic currency conversion and fractional shares from $1.

Want to know more about Interactive Brokers? Check our Interactive Brokers review.

Freedom24 is operated by Freedom Finance Europe Ltd, licensed by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) since 2015 and passported across the EEA under MiFID II, including Slovakia. It is part of the NASDAQ-listed Freedom Holding Corp. (ticker: FRHC).

You can invest in more than 1 million instruments on 15 exchanges in Europe, Asia and the US, including 40,000+ stocks, 3,600+ ETFs, 145,000+ bonds and US stock options, with access to venues such as NASDAQ, NYSE, LSE and Deutsche Börse.

With no minimum deposit, Freedom24 has two pricing plans:

• Smart in EUR: €0.02 per share + €2 per order on US and European stocks and ETFs, and $0.65 per US option contract. It suits investors with lower trading volumes.
• All Inclusive in EUR: 0.5% of the trade value + €0.012 per share + €1.20 per order, and $3 per US option contract + €10 per order. It includes a personal manager.

It also offers ETF Investment plans, with €0 commission when you invest through its Recurring Investment function (other fees apply, as set out in the Freedom24 Fee Schedule).

The company offers a web platform and a mobile app. Both are easy to use, well designed and intuitive, even for beginners. We particularly like the “InvestIdeas” tab, where Freedom24 analysts share research on specific stocks.

On the downside, it charges €7 per withdrawal, does not offer fractional shares and does not offer cryptocurrencies. There is no Slovak-language version of the platform either, so that is worth checking before you open an account. Client assets are covered by the Cyprus Investor Compensation Fund up to €20,000.

Want to know more about Freedom24? Check our Freedom24 review.

Founded in 2002 and listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, XTB is a major European broker with more than 2.9 million clients, supervised by Poland’s KNF and other regulators. It is the only broker in this list with a branch in Slovakia, XTB S.A., organizačná zložka in Bratislava, with a Slovak-language website and support. It offers 0% commission on stocks and ETFs up to €100,000 of monthly volume (0.2% above that, minimum €10), fractional shares, ETF investment plans and interest on uninvested cash in eligible countries. In 2026 it also launched buy-only vanilla options on 110 US stocks and ETFs, available in Slovakia.

XTB also offers CFDs on forex, indices, commodities and cryptocurrencies, with low costs on forex but relatively high costs on crypto CFDs. XTB charges an inactivity fee of €10 a month after 365 days without trading if you haven’t made a deposit in the last 90 days. On the other hand, opening an account and transferring money is quick and easy, and there is a demo account.

Want to know more about XTB? Check our XTB review.

Compared with eToro, Interactive Brokers, Freedom24 and XTB, DEGIRO offers a combination of benefits that are rarely presented in such a simple way:

• Trading platform: DEGIRO’s interface is as clean as it gets, minimalist and very practical at the same time. You can easily find any security by its name, ticker or ISIN.
• Manual currency conversion: you can keep foreign currencies in your account and convert manually. For example, if you sell Amazon shares, you can keep the US dollars and use them to buy other US shares later, instead of paying a conversion fee twice.
• Low-cost ETFs: the Core Selection list includes popular ETFs from major providers with no commission, just a €1 handling fee per order.
• Low US stock fees: US stocks cost €1 plus a €1 handling fee per order, with no inactivity, deposit or withdrawal fees.
• Notifications: DEGIRO doesn’t send “noisy” notifications such as “X stock is up 8%”, which can push you into short-term decisions. Its alerts focus on useful information, such as market holidays and regulatory updates.
• Banking licence: DEGIRO services are provided by flatexDEGIRO Bank SE, so cash in a DEGIRO Cash Account is covered by the German deposit guarantee scheme up to €100,000, a level of cover that brokers without a banking licence cannot offer.

When DEGIRO entered the European market, it was a big change for investors. However, its competitors have caught up quickly. These are some of DEGIRO’s drawbacks compared with the alternatives above:

• Connectivity fee: DEGIRO charges 0.25% of your account value per exchange you trade on, capped at €2.50 a year per exchange. If you hold shares on the NYSE, NASDAQ and Xetra, for example, you can pay up to €7.50 a year just to keep those positions.
• Trading costs: outside the Core Selection ETFs (€1 per order) and US stocks (€2 in total), most European stock and ETF orders cost €3 in total, while XTB offers commission-free stocks and ETFs up to €100,000 a month and eToro offers commission-free ETFs.
• Currency conversion: automatic conversion costs 0.25%, more than at Interactive Brokers (0.002%), although it is lower than eToro’s.
• No fractional shares: you can only buy whole shares, while eToro, XTB and Interactive Brokers let you invest in fractions.
• No local setup: there is no Slovak website, no local entity and no support in Slovak, so the whole experience is in one of DEGIRO’s supported languages. Among the alternatives, only XTB has a Slovak branch.

In terms of investor protection, DEGIRO is part of flatexDEGIRO Bank SE, supervised by BaFin: cash is covered by the German deposit guarantee scheme up to €100,000, and securities by the German investor compensation scheme, which covers 90% of your claim up to €20,000. The alternatives have similar schemes, depending on the entity: up to €20,000 under the Cyprus fund for eToro and Freedom24, 90% up to €20,000 under the Irish scheme for Interactive Brokers, and up to €22,000 under the Polish scheme for XTB. These schemes only apply if the broker fails and client assets are missing, since your securities are held separately from the broker’s own assets.

Which platform should you choose?

Whether you choose DEGIRO, eToro, Interactive Brokers, Freedom24, XTB or another broker, take the time to compare them before opening an account.

Compare costs, products and education resources before you decide. This will help you avoid having to maintain several accounts to access everything you need. Keep in mind that none of these brokers files your Slovak tax return for you, so you declare taxable dividends and capital gains yourself. Gains on listed stocks and ETFs held for more than one year are exempt from Slovak income tax.

The best broker for you depends on your profile, preferences and goals. Explore the websites above and decide for yourself.

The above is for information only and should not be construed as investment advice. Always do your own research to find the services best suited to your risk, return and goals.

If you need further guidance or have questions, feel free to reach out to us.