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DEGIRO

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Updated on Jan 3, 2025
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Hello, fellow investor! We will review DEGIRO to help you determine whether it is the right investment platform for you.

We recommend DEGIRO if you are an investor looking for a low-cost European brokerage.

It offers low-cost ETF trading (external fees apply), wide availability of investment products and is a good choice for creating a long-term portfolio of securities.

DEGIRO is a good fit for most investor types. Their competitive commission structure and broad portfolio of investment options make it a great choice for both beginners and more experienced investors. This helped them become one of the largest brokers in Europe, reaching more than 2.8 million clients and being awarded as the best broker in several categories by some external entities and in our annual broker awards.

On the downside, it charges a €/£1 handling fee in most transactions (except for stocks on the Tradegate exchange, options, and futures [excl. OMX Nordics]), offers little research, no demo account, and you won’t find Forex, CFDs, and direct investment in cryptocurrencies.

That’s DEGIRO’s review in a nutshell. If you want a more detailed DEGIRO review, keep on reading.

Overview

Launched in 2013, DEGIRO is a discount broker based in the Netherlands, allowing retail clients to benefit from the same low rates and opportunities that were once only available to professional investors. The company offers many investment options: stocks, ETFs, investment funds, futures, leveraged products (not the same as CDFs. More info here), bonds, options, and warrants.

The company operates under the motto “Financial Power to You”. The main competitive advantage explaining its tremendous growth is its low commission structure. Apart from the commissions charged, DEGIRO generates additional revenue by allowing you to leverage your portfolio (interest rate on the loan amount) and lending your shares to other investors for short-selling activities, for instance, but with rigorous risk management procedures. Lending shares allows DEGIRO to reduce costs significantly and implies an additional small (yet existent) risk for investors.

DEGIRO offers a user-friendly interface that will certainly fit beginner and intermediate investors. Still, if you give high importance to fundamental and technical tools, it might not be the ideal choice for advanced investors (Interactive Brokers will better suit that role).

Opening an account is pretty intuitive. As soon as you land on the DEGIRO homepage, you just need to select “Open an account” and follow the intuitive steps.

Highlights

🗺️ Supported Countries 15 European Countries
💰 US Stock Fees €/£1 (+€/£1 external fee)
💰 ETF Fees ETF Core List: €/£0 (+€/£1 flat handling fee); Other ETFs: €/£2 (+€/£1 flat handling fee)
💰 European Stock Fees €/£3.90 (+€/£1 external fee)
💰 Currency Conversion fee 0.25%
💰 Connectivity fee €/£2.50 annually, per exchange
💰 Inactivity fee €/£0
💰 Withdrawal fee €/£0
💵 Minimum Deposit €/£0.01
📍 Products offered Stocks, funds, ETFs, futures, leveraged products, bonds, and warrants
🎮 Demo Account No
📜 Regulated by AFM & DNB

Pros and cons

Pros

  • ETF Core Selection list (external fees apply)
  • User-friendly web and mobile app
  • Wide range of investment options
  • Education material: Investor’s Academy and Investing with DEGIRO
  • Low overall commission structure
  • No account opening, inactivity, or withdrawal fee

Cons

  • 0.25% currency conversion fee (charged if you deposit or invest in a different currency than your base currency)
  • €/£1 flat handling fee (charged in most transactions)
  • €/£2.50 of connectivity fee (paid annually), per exchange where you’re invested
  • Does not offer Forex, CFDs, and Cryptos
  • No ISA account (for UK residents)
  • Low-quality customer support
  • No interest paid on cash balances

Account types

DEGIRO offers four account types: Basic, Active, Trade, and Day Trader. When you first register, you will be automatically assigned a Basic Account. Later on, you may upgrade to Active, Trader, or Day Trader after answering some questionnaires to ensure you have the proper knowledge of the new risk level (DEGIRO must do this because of legal procedures).

In the Basic Account, you can access the shallow fee structure and trade in almost all the financial instruments. What will be missing? Well, you are not allowed to trade options, futures, short selling, or use margin lending.

However, if you upgrade to Active, Trader, or Day Trader, you will have full access to the restricted assets in the Basic Account. The only difference between Active and Trader Accounts will be the level of margin lending: up to 50% and 100% of your portfolio value, respectively. In the Day Trader account, you can trade more actively during market hours (separate limits and conditions apply to the Day Trader profile between 8:00 and 21:30 CET – More info here). The Day Trader account does not appear in the following image since it can only be activated upon request.

Account types

Trading platform

DEGIRO offers a trading platform for both mobile and web. Below, we’ll review DEGIRO’s web trading platform.

DEGIRO’s trading platform sets it apart from its competitors due to the ease with which you can get what you are looking for. As soon as you log in, this is what you will see (yeah, my account balance is blurred for privacy reasons):

DEGIRO's web platform

In the top left corner, you can search for any asset. As you type, it will automatically filter until it appears what you came looking for. So, to find any product you have in mind, just stick to the search bar.

Apart from that, it gives you a quick overview of what is happening in the market, including the leading stock indices, top news, agenda (economic calendar, earnings, dividends,…), latest news and videos. You need to scroll down to check it:

Web dashboard

Also, on the top right corner, the “help”, “deposit/withdraw,” and “place order” buttons are available as shortcuts for those needs.

In the tab “Favourites,” you are allowed to see the stocks or ETFs that you have selected to be included in this list by clicking on the “star” you find in each asset:

Favourites

In “Portfolio,” you can clearly see your holdings (I have just one ETF – please do not consider it as financial advice):

Portfolio

In the “inbox” is where you can get not only all communications from DEGIRO but also the status of open orders, past transactions, account statement details, Portfolio Depreciation and Documents:

Inbox

Finally, the “Products” section is useful if you want to explore the whole range of financial instruments available within the platform:

Products

Products & markets

DEGIRO offers Stocks, ETFs, Bonds, Leveraged Products, Funds, Options, Futures, and Warrants.

You cannot trade these assets through fractional shares since DEGIRO does not allow fractional shares.

Products Available?
Stocks
ETFs ✔​
Bonds ✔​
Funds ✔​
Options ✔​
Futures
Forex
Cryptocurrencies ✔​ (through ETPs)
Commodities ✔ (through ETCs)
CFDs ✘​

Stocks

You can trade stocks from over 50 global exchanges in 30 countries, including NASDAQ, NYSE, London, Frankfurt and Amsterdam.

Shares

ETFs

You have thousands of ETFs at your disposal, which can be chosen according to the type (ETF, ETN, ETC, Crypto Tracker), Stock Markets, Issuer, Region, Benchmark, Asset Allocation and Total Expense Ratio (TER):

ETFs

Bonds

You have government and corporate bonds to choose from in the secondary market from several countries:

Bonds

Funds

In the Investment Funds space, you can filter by Commission Type and Issuer:

Funds

Options

Here, the list of options available is relatively wide. CBOE, CME, Eurex and NYMEX are included. Apart from that, you can filter by Underlying, Strike price, Month and Year:

Options

Futures

In this asset class, the offering is pretty limited. You will not find a lot of alternatives, so we would not recommend it for futures trading. If you are keen on that, please consider other futures trading platforms.

Futures

Cryptocurrencies and Commodities

For these two asset classes, you need to go to the search bar – there is no category within Products. if you search for “Bitcoin”, a lot of trackers will appear (mimic the price movement of Bitcoin):

Bitcoin

Please that according to the 9M 2024 report, the launch of real crypto offerings is expected to happen in Germany by the end of 2024,
with further markets to follow in 2025.

The same can be done by searching for “gold”. The first result is an ETN replicating the price of gold:

Gold

Interest on uninvested cash

Unlike other brokers, DEGIRO does not pay interest on uninvested cash.

Whether you hold EUR, GBP, or any other currency in your account, you won’t earn any interest on your parked funds.

Fees snapshot

Fee Type Classification
US stocks and local stocksThis cost may vary depending on the country you reside. €/£1 (+€/£1 external fee) per trade
European Stocks €/£3.90 (+€/£1 external fee) per trade
Core Selection ETFs €/£0 (+€/£1 external fee) per trade
Global ETFs €/£2 (+€/£1 external fee) per trade
Options and Futures €0.75 per contract
Currency Conversion 0.25%
Deposit, Withdrawal, Inactivity and Custody €0
Connectivity fee per exchange €2.50 per year (stocks, ETFs); €5 for US options per month

ETF fees

DEGIRO offers no execution fees for ETFs in a “Core Selection List” (+200 ETFs). Still, there is a “catch.” When placing an order, you will notice a €/£1 fee, a cost that does not go to DEGIRO’s pockets. In other words, DEGIRO charges you nothing, but it passes you external costs related to clearing and settlement expenses, brokerage fees, regulatory fees, and execution fees. That’s why you see the €/£1 per trade. On ETFs outside the “Core Selection List”, it charges a €/£2 commission per trade plus the €/£1 handling fee.

Stock fees

Commissions on US, CA, and in your home market stocks are €/£1 fee per trade plus a handling fee of €/£1 fee, so a minimum of €/£2 per trade. For European stocks, the fees are high: €/£3.90 per trade plus the €/£1 handling fee. If you want to buy stocks in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore, the transaction fee increases to €/£5.00 per trade plus the €/£1 handling fee.

Additional fees

Additional fees you may pay will depend on the type of asset class (stocks, ETFs,…) and the securities exchange (NYSE, NASDAQ, LSE,…). In general, their trading fees are medium-to-low. Besides, there are no account opening, inactivity, or withdrawal fees.

You will have to pay an annual exchange connectivity fee of 0.25% of your portfolio (with a maximum charge of €2.50) per year per foreign exchange (the exchange connectivity fee is charged when you buy an asset that isn’t listed in your home country).

Also, there is a 0.25% fee on currency conversion (Example: If you have EUR and want to buy/sell an asset in USD, you will pay this fee). However, since you have the option to hold a US dollar account, you may only incur currency costs (e.g. 0.25%) when buying an asset for the first time in a currency other than the EUR and when transferring money outside your account, which forces you to convert again to EUR because you can only deposit/withdrawal in EUR.

In other words, you deposit in EUR, buy an asset in USD (pay the 0.25% fee), then sell the asset and keep the USD amount for as long as you wish. If you want to buy another asset in USD, no currency fee applies since you are using USD. But If you want to withdraw money from your account (or just get some EUR), you will need to convert the USD back to EUR (pay the 0.25% fee again).

Users tend to trade more often US-denominated stocks, which is subject, as mentioned in the previous paragraph, to the FX fee of 0.25% (Included in every transaction in a foreign currency), which makes it not so “cheap” to buy assets denominated in USD, for instance.

Trade Type Home Market Stocks EU Stocks US and CA Stocks ETFs from the Core Selection List Other ETFs
Commissions €/£1.00 €/£3.90 €/£1.00 €/£0.00Every month, the first transaction made on an ETF listed, it’s free of DEGIRO execution fees regardless of amount or direction (External costs apply). If you want to buy again in the same month, you will be charged the €/£1 flat fee unless the order is above 1000 EUR/USD. If you want to sell during the same month, a fee will apply independently of the amount. €/£2.00
Flat Handling Fee (External Cost) €/£1.00 €/£1.00 €/£1.00 €/£1.00 €/£1.00
FX Fee (0.25%) – €1,000 Trade €/£2.50 EUR: €0.00
Other currencies: €2.50
EUR: €0.00
Other currencies: €2.50
TOTAL Costs €/£2.00This varies between countries. For example, if you are a Portuguese resident, it will refer to Euronext Lisbon stocks. €/£4.90 €/£4.50 €/£1.00, €/£3.50 €/£3.00 or €/£5.50

Every time you place a trade, a confirmation window will appear, where you will see the total estimated costs (95% of the time, that is what you will be charged) before placing an order, so don’t worry about buying something without knowing the associated costs. However, fees vary from country to country, so please check your country’s fees here.

As you just witnessed, you still pay commissions and fees despite being competitive. If you are an active trader, please take a look at our Reviews of eToro, Trading 212 and Interactive Brokers.

Safety and regulation

FlatexDEGIRO Bank Dutch Branch, trading under the name DEGIRO, is the Dutch branch of flatexDEGIRO Bank AG. As a German-regulated bank, flatexDEGIRO Bank AG is regulated by the German financial regulator, the Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFin). On the other hand, the FlatexDEGIRO Bank Dutch Branch (DEGIRO) is subject to integrity oversight by the DNB and oversight by the AFM (Dutch Authority for the Financial Market).

Entity Regulated By
FlatexDEGIRO Bank Dutch Branch (DEGIRO) DNB & AFM
flatexDEGIRO Bank AG BaFin

DEGIRO clients’ assets are segregated into separate entities and thus protected against the insolvency of DEGIRO. 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 EUR 20,000). Furthermore, any money deposited on a DEGIRO Cash Account with flatexDEGIRO Bank AG will be guaranteed up to €100,000 under the German Deposit Guarantee Scheme. Information about the German Investor Protection Scheme and the German Deposit Guarantee Scheme can be found in English on the BaFin website in “Deposit protection and investor compensation.”

Asset Type Protection (per person)
Investments assets (stocks, ETFs,…) Up to 90% (with a maximum of €20,000)
Cash (uninvested money) Up to €100,000

DEGIRO is also registered with the financial authorities in the countries where it operates, such as the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) in Spain and the Portuguese Securities Market Commission (CMVM) in Portugal.

To better understand the German Investor Compensation Scheme, let’s give you an example: Imagine you have €30,000 invested. If DEGIRO goes bankrupt and only has €10,000 of your €30,000 safeguarded assets (very unlikely but good for the illustration purpose), you would receive €18,000 as compensation (90% of €20,000 – “non-returned assets”). Yeah, you would lose €2,000.

Why do we say it is “very unlikely”? First of all, DEGIRO doesn’t hold your assets: they are located in a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), also called a Special Purpose Entity (SPE), which is a custodian entity holding them separately from DEGIRO’s balance sheet, so that, in case the company doesn’t perform well, your assets won’t be affected.

Secondly, if DEGIRO did not have your assets safeguarded, that would probably be classified as fraud, which can occur in any Broker, so that’s a risk you will always have. Your assets are your assets. Period. The only issue you would face could be the transfer of your securities to another broker, which can take weeks, months, or even years.

Besides, if DEGIRO decides to get loans for its business activities and cannot repay them, its creditors will not claim your assets.

Do you want to read a deeper analysis? Check out our dedicated article on investment protection (for EU investors)! If it is unclear, please let us know in the comments below!

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Investing involves risk of loss.

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Franklin Silva
Co-Founder & Fintech Analyst

Franklin has three years of experience in Wealth Management as a Fund Research Analyst, has passed the CFA level II, and is the host of the "Edge Over Hedge" YouTube channel.