To find the best online brokers for beginners in Costa Rica in 2022, we went ahead and did the research for you. We conducted interviews with newbies who had no trading experience. We tested 101 brokers, of which 5 made it to the top. And now, without further ado...
The best online brokers for beginners in Costa Rica in 2022 are:
- eToro - the best broker for beginners in Costa Rica in 2022. Free stock and ETF trading. Seamless account opening. Social trading.
- Passfolio is our runner-up. Free US stock and ETF trading. Great mobile platform. Fast and fully digital account opening.
- Alpaca Trading placed third. Great API trading service. Free stock & ETF trading. Fantastic charting tools.
- EasyEquities is at number four. Low trading fees and non-trading fees. Excellent educational materials. Easy and fully digital account opening.
- Swissquote just made it to the list in fifth place. Access to many markets and products. No inactivity fee. Rock-solid background.
| Broker | Info | Fees score | Minimum deposit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | eToro | Global social trading broker | 4.3 stars | $200 |
| #2 | Passfolio | Global zero-commission stockbroker | 4.3 stars | $0 |
| #3 | Alpaca Trading | US API broker | 4.9 stars | $0 |
| #4 | EasyEquities | South African stockbroker | 4.4 stars | $0 |
| #5 | Swissquote | Swiss investment bank | 2.3 stars | $0 |
What makes a great broker for beginners? Two things above all: low fees and an excellent mobile trading platform. The service should fit your needs and make everything easy. It should also offer great educational tools, like a demo account or learning material.
All that is easy to list, but hard to figure out. That's why we are testing brokers based on nearly 500 criteria, using real accounts and real money.
Not sure which broker is best for you? For a tailored recommendation, check out our broker finder tool. You can enter your country and it will narrow down the list of brokers to those that are available where you live. Want more details? Compare brokers with the help of our in-depth comparison tool.
And now, let's see the best online brokers for beginners in Costa Rica in 2022 one by one, starting with the winner, eToro.
#1 Best broker for beginners
eToro
eToro is a well-known Israeli fintech company and a social trading broker, established in 2007.
Check out our eToro review tailored to the needs of beginner investors and traders.
eToro serves UK clients through a unit regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Australians through an Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC)-regulated entity. All other customers are served by a Cypriot unit that is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).
eToro is not listed on any stock exchange, does not disclose its annual report on its website and does not have a bank parent.
Being regulated by the top-tier FCA and ASIC is a good sign for eToro's safety.
HEADS UP: Minimum deposit based on residency and account activation - Be sure to check the minimum deposit required to activate your account. After uploading your documents, a deposit is also needed to be available to trade and it would be based on your residency, ranging from $10-$10,000. More details are available in the eToro review’s Account opening section.
Disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
#1 eToro
Mobile trading platform
eToro's mobile platform is well-designed and intuitive but lacks biometric authentication.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • User-friendly | • No Touch/Face ID login |
| • Two-step (safer) login | |
| • Good search function |
| eToro | Passfolio | Alpaca Trading | EasyEquities | Swissquote | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mobile platform score | 4.7 stars | 4.8 stars | 4.2 stars | 4.1 stars | 4.7 stars |
| Web platform score | 4.4 stars | 3.8 stars | 3.7 stars | 3.3 stars | 4.3 stars |
#1 eToro
Fees
eToro offers free stock and ETF trading, while forex and CFD fees are low. On the negative side, non-trading fees are high, including a $5 withdrawal fee.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • Low trading fees | • Inactivity fee |
| • Free stock and ETF trading | • $5 withdrawal fee |
| • Low forex and CFD fees |
| eToro | Passfolio | Alpaca Trading | EasyEquities | Swissquote | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US stock | $0.0 | $0.0 | $0.0 | $5.0 | $25.0 |
| UK stock | $0.0 | - | - | - | $35.0 |
All commissions are for opening a position, holding for a week, and closing.
| eToro | Passfolio | Alpaca Trading | EasyEquities | Swissquote | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Account fee | No | No | No | No | No |
| Inactivity fee | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Withdrawal fee | $5 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $10 |
#1 eToro
Education
eToro has various educational tools available in different formats, but the overall quality is mediocre.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • Demo account | • Overall quality could be better |
| • Trading platform tutorial | |
| • Educational videos |
#2 Best broker for beginners
Passfolio
Passfolio, a global zero-commission stockbroker, is a young and ambitious brokerage founded in 2018. It is regulated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). In addition to the top-tier regulation, clients also enjoy investor protection under the SIPC policy of Passfolio's clearing firm for up to an additional $30 million (with a cash sub-limit of $900,000 per account), subject to an aggregate limit of $150 million.
Although Passfolio is a global broker, there is a distinct focus on Brazilian customers, as evidenced by the fact that a good portion of the content it offers is available in Portuguese.
Passfolio is considered safe because it is regulated by top-tier authorities and offers extra protection to investors.
#2 Passfolio
Mobile trading platform
Passfolio's mobile platform boasts a clear-cut design and its search functions are also solid. What's missing is a wider selection of order types.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • User-friendly | • Limited order types |
| • Two-step (safer) login | |
| • Good search function |
| eToro | Passfolio | Alpaca Trading | EasyEquities | Swissquote | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mobile platform score | 4.7 stars | 4.8 stars | 4.2 stars | 4.1 stars | 4.7 stars |
| Web platform score | 4.4 stars | 3.8 stars | 3.7 stars | 3.3 stars | 4.3 stars |
#2 Passfolio
Fees
Passfolio has attractive fees, as trading in all assets except for cryptos is free of charge above a trade value of $5. On the other hand, most withdrawal options carry a fee.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • Free stock and ETF trading above $5 | • Withdrawal fee |
| • No account opening and maintenance fees | • High margin rates for stock trading |
| eToro | Passfolio | Alpaca Trading | EasyEquities | Swissquote | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US stock | $0.0 | $0.0 | $0.0 | $5.0 | $25.0 |
| UK stock | $0.0 | - | - | - | $35.0 |
All commissions are for opening a position, holding for a week, and closing.
| eToro | Passfolio | Alpaca Trading | EasyEquities | Swissquote | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Account fee | No | No | No | No | No |
| Inactivity fee | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Withdrawal fee | $5 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $10 |
#2 Passfolio
Education
Passfolio's education services are limited and not varied. There are some high-quality educational articles and a YouTube channel with market updates in Portuguese.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • Quality educational texts | • No demo account |
| • No trading platform tutorial videos |
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#3 Best broker for beginners
Alpaca Trading
Alpaca Trading is a commission-free API stockbroker founded in 2015. Alpaca is based in San Mateo, CA. It is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), both top-tier regulators that bolster Alpaca Trading's safety for investors and traders.
Alpaca provides access to US stock markets, historical data, and fundamental data through their API. Alpaca's founders believe their software allows retail traders to capitalize on the machine learning and automation that historically only institutional investors have been able to use. Coders have the opportunity to build their own algorithms and contribute to the Alpaca developer community. Alpaca founders have expressed interest in eventually opening up pre-made algorithms to non-coders, but for now, their platform also includes capabilities for manual order-entry and research.
#3 Alpaca Trading
Mobile trading platform
The mobile platform is even simpler than the web platform. It is similarly easy to use, but likewise has a poor search function and no price alerts. Logging in can also be complicated.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • User-friendly | • Poor search function |
| • Two-step (safer) login | • No price alerts |
| • Order confirmation | • No Touch/Face ID login |
| eToro | Passfolio | Alpaca Trading | EasyEquities | Swissquote | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mobile platform score | 4.7 stars | 4.8 stars | 4.2 stars | 4.1 stars | 4.7 stars |
| Web platform score | 4.4 stars | 3.8 stars | 3.7 stars | 3.3 stars | 4.3 stars |
#3 Alpaca Trading
Fees
Alpaca Trading offers zero-commission stock and ETF trading and low margin rates. Non-trading fees are also competitive as no fee is charged for inactivity or most withdrawals.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • Commission-free Stock and ETF Trading | None |
| • No inactivity fee | |
| • No withdrawal fee |
| eToro | Passfolio | Alpaca Trading | EasyEquities | Swissquote | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US stock | $0.0 | $0.0 | $0.0 | $5.0 | $25.0 |
| UK stock | $0.0 | - | - | - | $35.0 |
All commissions are for opening a position, holding for a week, and closing.
| eToro | Passfolio | Alpaca Trading | EasyEquities | Swissquote | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Account fee | No | No | No | No | No |
| Inactivity fee | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Withdrawal fee | $5 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $10 |
#3 Alpaca Trading
Education
Alpaca offers videos and step-by-step guides for investing, algorithm trading and use of their API, including detailed manuals and FAQs for beginners.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • Demo account | None |
| • Trading platform tutorial | |
| • Educational videos |
#4 Best broker for beginners
EasyEquities
EasyEquities is a South African stockbroker founded in 2014. EasyEquities is regulated by South Africa's Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). EasyEquities is part of the Purple Group, which is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
EasyEquities is considered safe because it is regulated by the top-tier ASIC and its parent company is listed on an exchange.
#4 EasyEquities
Mobile trading platform
The EasyEquities mobile trading platform is user-friendly, has a good search function and offers price alerts. On the negative side, order types and login options are limited.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • User-friendly | • No two-step (safer) login |
| • Good search function | • Limited order types |
| • Price alerts | • No Touch/Face ID login |
| eToro | Passfolio | Alpaca Trading | EasyEquities | Swissquote | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mobile platform score | 4.7 stars | 4.8 stars | 4.2 stars | 4.1 stars | 4.7 stars |
| Web platform score | 4.4 stars | 3.8 stars | 3.7 stars | 3.3 stars | 4.3 stars |
#4 EasyEquities
Fees
EasyEquities has low South African stock and ETF fees, and there's also no fee for inactivity or withdrawal. However, it charges a fee for credit/debit card deposit.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • Low trading fees | • Deposit fee for credit/debit cards |
| • Low non-trading fees | |
| • Low stock and ETF fees |
| eToro | Passfolio | Alpaca Trading | EasyEquities | Swissquote | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US stock | $0.0 | $0.0 | $0.0 | $5.0 | $25.0 |
| UK stock | $0.0 | - | - | - | $35.0 |
All commissions are for opening a position, holding for a week, and closing.
| eToro | Passfolio | Alpaca Trading | EasyEquities | Swissquote | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Account fee | No | No | No | No | No |
| Inactivity fee | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Withdrawal fee | $5 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $10 |
#4 EasyEquities
Education
EasyEquities has great educational materials. You can use demo accounts, participate in webinars, watch educational videos and read quality texts.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • Demo account | None |
| • Trading platform tutorial | |
| • Educational videos | |
| • Quality educational texts |
#5 Best broker for beginners
Swissquote
Swissquote is a Swiss investment bank established in 1996. It has three main trading entities:
- Swissquote Bank - it provides all asset classes, including stocks and ETFs. This entity is based in Switzerland and has multiple regulations, including the top-tier Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA).
- Swissquote Bank Europe - it provides stocks, ETFs, funds, cryptos, forex, and CFD trading. This entity is based in Luxembourg and is regulated by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF), Luxembourg's regulator.
- Swissquote LTD - it provides CFD and forex trading. The entity is based in the UK and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
The fact that Swissquote Bank Ltd has a banking license, is listed on the Swiss stock exchange, discloses detailed financials regularly, and has a long track record are all great signs with respect to Swissquote's safety.
In this review, we focus mainly on the Swiss entity, sometimes referred to as "Swissquote Bank (CH)" and we will refer to the Luxembourg and UK-based entities as "Swissquote Europe (LUX)" and "Swissquote LTD (UK)", respectively.
#5 Swissquote
Mobile trading platform
Swissquote's eTrading has a user-friendly and well-designed mobile trading platform. The search function is simple, although sometimes the results are organized a bit strangely, similarly to the web platform.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • User-friendly | • No advanced search filters |
| • Good search function | |
| • Price alerts |
| eToro | Passfolio | Alpaca Trading | EasyEquities | Swissquote | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mobile platform score | 4.7 stars | 4.8 stars | 4.2 stars | 4.1 stars | 4.7 stars |
| Web platform score | 4.4 stars | 3.8 stars | 3.7 stars | 3.3 stars | 4.3 stars |
#5 Swissquote
Fees
Swissquote charges no inactivity fee and you can trade an impressive selection of funds for favorable fees. On the other hand, trading fees are generally high, including stock and ETF fees, and withdrawing money comes with a price tag.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • Low fund fees | • High stock and ETF fees |
| • No inactivity fee | • High bond fees |
| eToro | Passfolio | Alpaca Trading | EasyEquities | Swissquote | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US stock | $0.0 | $0.0 | $0.0 | $5.0 | $25.0 |
| UK stock | $0.0 | - | - | - | $35.0 |
All commissions are for opening a position, holding for a week, and closing.
| eToro | Passfolio | Alpaca Trading | EasyEquities | Swissquote | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Account fee | No | No | No | No | No |
| Inactivity fee | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Withdrawal fee | $5 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $10 |
#5 Swissquote
Education
Swissquote provides easy-to-understand and professional educational videos, ebooks, webinars and tutorials.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • Demo account | None |
| • Trading platform tutorial | |
| • Educational videos |
Best brokers for beginners
What makes a great broker for beginners
Now you know which are the best brokers for beginners. Curious how we assembled this list? Let's go through two points in a bit more detail: whether these brokers are reliable, and what criteria we looked at as we compiled the list.
Are these brokers reliable?
You can be sure none of them is a scam. They are all regulated by at least one top-tier authority. Some of them are also listed on an exchange, and some have a banking background.
How did BrokerChooser pick the best brokers for beginners?
Here at BrokerChooser, we test online brokers according to almost 500 criteria, using real accounts and real money. We don't want to overwhelm you, so here are just the three most important criteria we used to identify the best brokers for beginners:
| 1. Fees | The overall cost of a typical trade can be 10-15 times higher at one broker than at another. So it pays to take a close look at fees. |
| 2. Mobile trading platform | A user-friendly and well-equipped trading platform can significantly increase your comfort with trading. |
| 3. Education | Are you unfamiliar with concepts like spread or leverage? Good educational tools can help you understand the basics of trading. |
Best brokers for beginners
Start your learning
If you are a beginner, the best way to launch your investment journey is by learning. Don't know where to start? Check out our education page, where you can find a lot of useful learning materials.
Learn about the pros and cons of investing your money on your own, or about the difference between trading and investing. You can also take a look at this article on account opening if you want to learn how to open a trading account.
For beginner buy-and-hold investors, we recommend reading our how to buy shares and how to buy ETFs articles.
For beginners who want to learn to trade, we can offer even more. A former professional trader explains how to become a trader. Many beginner traders start with forex trading. If you don't know anything about this topic, start with our forex primer article.
Cryptos are a hot topic, but also super risky. We explored the issue and presented the different ways of investing in Bitcoin. Highly recommended if you are considering cryptos.
When you become more experienced and are considering trading futures options, you should definitely check out our article on the topic.
Best brokers for beginners
Bottom line
You saw the details, now let's zoom out. Here are once again the best brokers for beginners in Costa Rica in 2022:
| eToro | Passfolio | Alpaca Trading | EasyEquities | Swissquote | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fees score | 4.3 stars | 4.3 stars | 4.9 stars | 4.4 stars | 2.3 stars |
| Mobile platform score | 4.7 stars | 4.8 stars | 4.2 stars | 4.1 stars | 4.7 stars |
| Education score | 4.3 stars | 2.5 stars | 5.0 stars | 5.0 stars | 5.0 stars |
| Customer service score | 1.5 stars | 3.5 stars | 1.9 stars | 0.5 stars | 4.4 stars |
| Deposit and withdrawal score | 3.9 stars | 2.8 stars | 1.8 stars | 3.6 stars | 4.6 stars |
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eToro is our winner, the best broker for beginners in Costa Rica in 2022. Free stock and ETF trading. Seamless account opening. Social trading.
All the other brokers in the top five are considered great choices as well. Pick any of them and take the next step in your investment journey. Let us know what you think in the comments section.
Still unsure? Use our broker finder to find the best broker for you, or learn more about investing your money.
