DEGIRO Slovakia: alternatives for 2026

In 2014, DEGIRO expanded its online trading platform across several European countries outside the Netherlands, its country of origin. Since then, it has been growing steadily, reaching over 3 million clients in 15 countries in Europe.

Is DEGIRO available in Slovakia?

Yes, but not directly. Slovakia is one of DEGIRO’s accepted residency countries, so Slovak residents can open and use an account. What DEGIRO does not have is a dedicated Slovak website or a local entity, and Slovakia is not one of its focus markets. Those are the countries with localised sites, such as Germany, France, Spain and the Netherlands.

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

Because the setup is less direct and customer support is not tailored to the Slovak market, it is worth comparing DEGIRO against brokers that actively serve Slovak clients before you decide.

Want to know the available online brokers in Slovakia? We’ve got you covered!

DEGIRO does accept Slovak residents, but if you would rather use a broker that is a better fit for the Slovak market, or simply want to weigh your options first, you are in luck. Growing competition has pushed many top online brokers to eliminate commissions on most stock and ETF trades.

All these alternatives to DEGIRO are regulated (or registered) by top-tier regulators such as the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) and Cyprus’ Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).

Based on specific criteria such as Demo Account, Free Trading, Education Materials, Security, among others, here are our top picks:

Founded in 2006, eToro is a well-known worldwide fintech startup and the leader in the social trading field (follow other people’s trades), with over 30 million users worldwide, and it offers commission-free ETF trading in Slovakia (commissions on stocks start at $1 per trade). You can also invest in other products such as CFDs, ETFs, stocks, commodities, Forex, and cryptocurrencies through their platform, which is intuitive and simple to use, making it a good choice for beginners or someone looking for a DIY (“do it yourself”) platform.

Opening an account and depositing is easy, and you can even try it out with a Demo Account (virtual money). On the downside, spreads can be high for some products. The only currency accepted is the USD, which means that you’ll be charged currency conversion fees upon deposit and withdrawal if you deposit in another currency.

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

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 150 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. That´s why we mainly endorse it to more advanced traders. Besides, the customer service gives crystal clear answers to your doubts, so there is no need to go back and forth.

On the downside, Interactive Brokers’ fee structure is quite complex, the registration process is lengthy but fully online, and the broker doesn’t offer commission-free trading. However, when considering FX fees, narrower spreads, and the stock loan program, Interactive Brokers’ clients still get significant savings compared to most brokers.

Interactive Brokers also launched IBKR GlobalTrader, a modern mobile trading app to trade Stocks, Options and ETFs, ideal for beginner investors. Some of the features of IBKR GlobalTrader include automatic currency conversions, fractional shares, demo account, and more.

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

3. Freedom24

Established in 2008, with 370,000+ worldwide clients and a rating of 4.7 out of 5 on Trustpilot, Freedom24 continues to show its mark. You can invest in stocks, ETFs, bonds, futures, and US options at the lowest price in Europe, and it gives you access to several international markets such as NASDAQ, NYSE, CME, HKEX, LSE, Deutsche Börse, and KASE. The platform also offers fixed-income savings plans that let you earn high interest on uninvested cash (up to 3.6% in EUR and up to 5.8% in USD).

Freedom24 offers four service plans with different costs: Smart, Fix, or Super in EUR and an all-inclusive plan in USD. Freedom24 has a free Promo plan for new users where you can trade with a 0% brokerage fee for the first 30 days. After the first month, the Smart tariff is applied automatically, and you can choose one of the optional tariff plans, with the brokerage fees starting from €1.2 per order and €0.008 per stock/ETF.

The company offers a web-based trading platform and a mobile app. Both platforms are easy to use, well-designed, and intuitive, even for beginners. What we liked the most about the trading platform is the “InvestIdeas” tab, which allows you to look at research conducted by Freedom24 analysts, talking about particular stocks and giving ideas about attractive investment opportunities.

In 2023, Freedom24 was named the gold “Service Champion” by the influential German newspaper Die Welt and awarded by major technology media CHIP.de. The market cap of this NASDAQ-listed company (ticker: FRHC) is more than $4.8 billion.

On the downside, it charges €7 per withdrawal and presents an above-average currency conversion fee (however, allowing to deposit funds directly in EUR/USD/GBP without conversion).

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

Disclaimer: Investments in securities and other financial instruments always involve the risk of loss of your capital. The forecast or past performance is no guarantee of future results. It is essential to do your own analysis before making any investment. If needed, you should carefully seek independent investment advice from a certified professional.

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

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. On the other hand, opening an account and transferring money is a quick and hassle-free process (demo account available).

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

When comparing with eToro, Interactive Brokers and XTB, DEGIRO sets aside a combination of benefits you do not find in other platforms or, at least, are not displayed in the same simplified manner. As a result, you would find the following distinctive positive characteristics:

• Trading platform: DEGIRO interface is as clean as you can get. It offers the right mixture of being minimalistic and extremely useful at the same time. You can easily find any security through the search engine by entering each product’s name, ticker symbol, or ISIN code.
• Manual conversion: It lets you perform a manual foreign currency conversion from the base currency of your account (EUR, GBP,..) into nine other currencies (including USD, CHF, EUR). For example, if you sell Amazon shares, you will end up with USD on your balance, even though your base currency is in another currency. In other brokers, the USD from the sale of Amazon shares would be automatically converted to your base currency. So, when buying again USD denominated shares, you would need to translate to USD (double currency fee).
• Notifications: In DEGIRO, you do not get “unnecessary” notifications. Every alert is filled with helpful information such as the national holidays (when the stock market is closed), relevant regulatory updates and other material information. Whereas in other online brokers, you may notice notifications that can lead you to take short-term decisions like “X stock is rising 8%”. So, you need to make a greater effort to stick to your long-term goals.

When DEGIRO entered the European market, it was a significant shift to the investment community. However, the “first market player effect” is not relevant anymore because the main competitors have adapted at the speed of light. Here are some cons you would find in DEGIRO and not in eToro, Interactive Brokers or XTB:

• Connectivity fee: DEGIRO charges €2.50 (max 0.25% of your account value) per year per exchange, meaning that if you are invested in NYSE, NASDAQ and Frankfurt, you will be charged a minimum of €7.50 per year just to have your positions open.
• Trading and external costs: DEGIRO offers its products with an associated external fee. Besides, you will have to pay €1.00 per transaction for the US, CA, and your home country stocks. Also, €3.90 per transaction is applied in EU stocks and a flat handling fee of €1.00 (external cost) in every transaction (including in the ETFs core selection list). In order not to be unfair, DEGIRO usually presents tighter spreads, but since it is hard to quantify it (depending on several factors), we opted to study the “guaranteed” costs.
• Investment protection: As stated earlier, in DEGIRO, you are protected by up to 90% of your investment securities (with a maximum of EUR 20,000). In practice, if the company went bankrupt, you would get €18,000 if you had €20,000 invested in financial instruments. Nonetheless, in the other platforms mentioned, the minimum protection would be the complete €20,000, as guaranteed by the Cyprus Investor Compensation Fund (ICF).

Which platform should you choose?

Whether you decide to invest in stocks through eToro, Interactive Brokers, XTB or any other trading platform, you should take the time to compare platforms before you decide which trading platform you would like to use.

Be sure to compare education resources, pricing information and the products offered before pressing the trigger and open an account. This process will help ensure that you do not need to maintain multiple accounts to access all the tools you need.

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 construed as investment advice and should be considered information only. Investors should do their own research and due diligence about the services and opportunities best suited for their risk, returns, and impact strategy.

If you need further guidance or have questions, feel free to reach out to us. Hope we helped, happy investments!