Best brokers for beginners in Costa Rica in 2021

To find the best online brokers for beginners in Costa Rica in 2021, we went ahead and did the research for you. We conducted interviews with newbies who had no trading experience. We tested 98 brokers of which 5 made it to the top. And now, without further ado...

The best online brokers for beginners in Costa Rica in 2021 are:

1. Passfolio - the best broker for beginners in Costa Rica in 2021. Free US stock and ETF trading. Great mobile platform. Fast and fully digital account opening.
2. Saxo Bank is the runner-up. Great trading platform. Outstanding research. Broad product portfolio.
3. eToro placed third. Free stock and ETF trading. Seamless account opening. Social trading.
4. Questrade is number four. Low stock and ETF fees. Solid research tools. Superb customer service.
5. Firstrade. Just made it to the list in fifth place. Free stock, ETF, fund and options trading. Solid research tools. Quality educational tools.

What makes a great broker for beginners? Two things above all: an excellent mobile trading platform and low fees (learn more about brokerage fees here). The service should fit your needs and make everything easy. It should offer great educational tools, like a demo account, and provide webinars or courses. It must be easy to open an account and deposit funds.

All that is easy to list, but hard to figure out. That's why we are testing brokers along more than 300 criteria, using real accounts and real money. So we know what's up.

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 our in-depth comparison tool.

And now, let's see the best online brokers for beginners in Costa Rica in 2021 one by one. Starting with the winner, 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. 

Recommended for beginners and long-term investors focusing on the us stock market

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#1 Passfolio
Mobile trading platform

4.8

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, as well as price alerts.

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#1 Passfolio
Fees

4.3

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.

All commissions are for opening a position, holding for a week, and closing.

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#1 Passfolio
Education

2.5

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.

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#1 Passfolio
Customer service

3.5

Passfolio clients can contact the broker via all three customary channels. The email service is very fast, the live chat is somewhat slower, while phone support is virtually nonexistent.

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#1 Passfolio
Account opening

5.0

On mobile, the account opening at Passfolio is super fast and fully digital, with validation in just 15 minutes. On the other hand, there may be some issues when validating via desktop.

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#1 Passfolio
Deposit and withdrawal

2.8

Passfolio's deposit functions are numerous and most of them come free of charge. On the other hand, withdrawal is not free and the process of depositing funds is complicated.

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#1 Passfolio
Verdict

As an up-and-coming brokerage, the main attractive feature of Passfolio is its highly competitive fee structure. You can essentially trade free of charge with an amount exceeding $5, depositing funds is free and the broker doesn't charge any account fees either. The mobile app is exceptionally user-friendly and the account opening and validation was extremely fast.

On the negative side, the range of products is rather limited and customers have access solely to US markets (NYSE/NASDAQ). Depositing funds in your Passfolio account can prove to be a cumbersome process and all withdrawals carry a price tag. Educational materials are pretty scarce, albeit some of high quality, and videos are only available in Portuguese.

Passfolio is ideal for non-US investors looking for an easy-to-use platform to trade in US securities.

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Saxo Bank, a Danish investment bank founded in 1992, provides online trading and investment services. The company is regulated by several financial authorities globally, including the Danish Financial Services Agency (FSA) and the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Saxo Bank is a global service provider and its subsidiaries are present in the form of separate legal entities in different regions of the world. The services offered by the various entities may differ slightly, especially with respect to fees and product portfolios. In this review, we tested Saxo Bank UK.

Saxo Bank is considered safe because it has a long track record and a banking background, and is regulated by top-tier financial authorities.

Recommended for investors and traders looking for a great trading platform and solid research

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#2 Saxo Bank
Mobile trading platform

5.0

Saxo Bank's user-friendly mobile platform has the same look and very similar functionalities as the web platform.

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#2 Saxo Bank
Fees

3.3

Saxo Bank has average trading and non-trading fees overall. Trading fees vary greatly between different asset classes.

All commissions are for opening a position, holding for a week, and closing.

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#2 Saxo Bank
Education

4.5

If you want to improve your financial knowledge, Saxo Bank has a lot to offer. You can use a demo account, attend webinars or watch educational videos.

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#2 Saxo Bank
Customer service

4.0

Saxo's customer service is available in many languages, with phone and email support that work well despite small issues. Downsides include the lack of live chat and 24/7 availability.

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#2 Saxo Bank
Account opening

2.0

Saxo's account opening is fully digital, user-friendly and available in most countries. On the other hand, the minimum deposit is high in certain countries and account verification can take longer.

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#2 Saxo Bank
Deposit and withdrawal

4.8

Saxo provides multiple deposit and withdrawal options free of charge on a user-friendly interface.

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#2 Saxo Bank
Verdict

Saxo Bank is a great broker, providing a complex and good service.

It offers a user-friendly and well-designed trading platform, backed by great research. The product portfolio covers all asset types and many international markets.

It has some drawbacks though. The fees for bonds, options and futures are high. There is also a high minimum deposit for certain countries. Lastly, there is no live chat or 24/7 customer support.

In general, Saxo Bank is one of the best online brokerage companies out there. By opening an account, you will get a broad, well-developed service constantly adapted to the needs of clients.

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eToro review summary

eToro is a well-known Israeli fintech company and a social trading broker, established in 2007.

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.

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.

Our overall eToro rating

Compare this broker to the best eToro alternative. 

Recommended for traders interested in social trading (i.e. copying other investors’ trades) and zero commission stock trading

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#3 eToro
Mobile trading platform

4.7

eToro's mobile platform is well-designed and intuitive but lacks biometric authentication.

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#3 eToro
Fees

4.3

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.

All commissions are for opening a position, holding for a week, and closing.

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#3 eToro
Education

4.3

eToro has various educational tools available in different formats, but the overall quality is mediocre.

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#3 eToro
Customer service

1.5

eToro customer service is below average: you can reach them mainly via web-based tickets but it may take a long time to get a response. Live chat is only available for Club members.

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#3 eToro
Account opening

5.0

Account opening at eToro is seamless and very fast, and the minimum deposit is relatively low for most countries.

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#3 eToro
Deposit and withdrawal

3.9

Depositing money is easy, with a lot of available options, although there is a $5 withdrawal fee. As only USD accounts are available, you may pay a high conversion fee if you deposit or withdraw in another currency, like EUR or GBP.

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#3 eToro
Verdict

How does eToro work? eToro offers zero-commission stock trading. The account opening is swift and seamless. It has a lot of innovative features, like social trading and copying other (successful) traders. Furthermore, eToro offers many cryptos to trade.

It has some drawbacks, though. There is a $5 withdrawal fee and eToro only allows USD accounts, which means that conversion costs on deposits and withdrawals can be high if your funding currency is not USD. It's difficult to contact customer support and their educational materials could be better.

So is eToro good? Overall, we would recommend eToro for its social trading feature, crypto offering and zero-commission stock trading. If you are a long-term stock investor, a traditional stockbroker might make more sense to you as some of the drawbacks of eToro (like not applying reduced withholding tax on US dividends) might outweigh the benefits of free trading.

Risk disclaimer

eToro is a multi-asset platform that offers both investing in stocks and crypto assets as well as trading CFD assets.

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.

Cryptoassets are volatile instruments that can fluctuate widely in a very short timeframe and therefore are not appropriate for all investors. Other than via CFDs, trading crypto assets is unregulated and therefore is not supervised by any EU regulatory framework.

eToro USA LLC does not offer CFDs and makes no representation and assumes no liability as to the accuracy or completeness of the content of this publication, which has been prepared by our partner utilizing publicly available non-entity specific information about eToro.

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Questrade, founded in 1999, is one of the most popular brokerage firms in Canada. It is regulated by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and is a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF).

Questrade is considered safe because it has a long track record and is regulated by a top-tier regulator.

Recommended for traders and investors focusing on the canadian and us markets

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#4 Questrade
Mobile trading platform

4.8

The Questrade mobile trading platform is great. It is user-friendly and well-designed.

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#4 Questrade
Fees

3.6

Questrade has competitive fees for stocks, ETFs, funds and forex trading. However, margin rates are slightly at the higher end.

All commissions are for opening a position, holding for a week, and closing.

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#4 Questrade
Education

4.0

Questrade offers an adequate amount of educational and tutorial materials for both novice and advanced traders. However, the educational section could be more structured.

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#4 Questrade
Customer service

4.5

Questrade has great customer service, with polite staff that gave detailed answers quickly on all available channels. However, support is unfortunately not available 24/7.

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#4 Questrade
Account opening

3.5

For Canadian citizens, opening an account at Questrade is easy and fully digital. However, there is a high minimum deposit of $1,000.

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#4 Questrade
Deposit and withdrawal

2.7

Deposits and withdrawals are free and user-friendly with electronic transfer for Canadians. However, the process is expensive for non-Canadians and non-Visa debit cards are not available.

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#4 Questrade
Verdict

Questrade is among the fastest-growing online brokerage firms in Canada. Its stock and ETF fees are low, research tools are advanced and customer service is outstanding.

Questrade has some shortcomings as well. Even though the account opening process for Canadians is quick and easy, it's slow and time-consuming if you are not Canadian. You can face high withdrawal fees if you are not a Canadian citizen and there are only USD and CAD as account base currencies.

Since Questrade has advanced research tools and offers great customer service, feel free to give it a try.

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Firstrade is a US discount stockbroker regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). The company was founded in 1985 under the name First Flushing Securities.

Firstrade is considered safe because it has a long track record and is overseen by top-tier regulators.

Recommended for beginners and investors looking for zero-commission trading, focusing on the us market

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#5 Firstrade
Mobile trading platform

3.8

Firstrade's mobile platform is user-friendly with a great search function. On the other hand, two-step login is not available and you can't trade mutual funds or bonds.

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#5 Firstrade
Fees

4.5

Firstrade has low fees. It offers free stock, ETF, funds, and options trading with low non-trading fees. However, margin rates are high.

All commissions are for opening a position, holding for a week, and closing.

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#5 Firstrade
Education

3.5

Are you a beginner or do you believe in lifelong learning? Then Firstrade is clearly a good match for you. They offer great educational articles, a useful glossary, a bunch of platform videos and webinars. However, there is no demo account.

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#5 Firstrade
Customer service

0.3

Firstrade's phone and chat support are slow and do not provide relevant information most of the time.

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#5 Firstrade
Account opening

4.2

Account opening is fully digital and user-friendly, and is open to some international customers as well. On the flip side, the process was slow for us, taking almost 3 business days.

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#5 Firstrade
Deposit and withdrawal

2.0

We liked Firstrade's user-friendly deposit and withdrawal process. There is no deposit fee and transferring money is easy. At the same time, there is still room for improvement: you can use only bank transfers and a high fee is charged for wire transfer withdrawals.

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#5 Firstrade
Verdict

Firstrade is one of the biggest discount US stockbrokers and is regulated by top-tier regulators.

Firstrade offers free stock, ETF, mutual funds and options trading. It doesn't charge inactivity and account fees, and there are lots of quality research and educational tools you can use.

Their services have some drawbacks, though. Firstrade doesn't accept credit/debit cards and electronic wallets for money transfer. The product portfolio covers only the US market. Customer service is only available 24/5 and you can't contact them via live chat. 

As it has low fees and no inactivity fee is charged, feel free to try Firstrade.

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Now you know which are the best brokers for beginners. Curious how we put together this list? Let's go through two points in some more detail: whether these brokers are safe, and how we compiled the list.

Are these brokers safe?

You can be sure none of them is a scam. They are regulated by at least one top-tier authority. Some of them are also listed on an exchange, and some have a banking background.

However, brokerage companies can also go bust. Remember Lehman Brothers? In these cases, it is important to know what happens with your securities and cash. These are usually held in segregated accounts, so even in case of a broker bankruptcy, your money is safe.

If a worst-case scenario happens and, for example, the broker steals your assets, then you have a last resort: the compensation fund of the country where the broker is regulated.

How did BrokerChooser pick the best brokers for beginners?

At BrokerChooser we test online brokers along more than 300 criteria, with a real account and real money. In order not to overwhelm you, here are just the five most important criteria for brokers for beginners:

When you are a beginner the best way to start your journey is by learning.

Below, you can find some very useful learning materials to start with.

If you are considering starting your investment journey by learning, check out our education page, where you can find a lot of great materials. Learn about the pros and cons of investing your money on your own or the difference between trading and investing. You can also take a look at this article on account opening if you want to learn how you can 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 provide even more. A professional trader wrote about how to become a trader. Most beginner traders start with forex trading. If you don't know anything about this topic, start with our forex primer article. CFDs have also become very popular, but they are very risky. Start learning about this product type with this introduction to CFD trading and continue with the pros and cons of CFD trading.

Cryptos are a hot topic, but also super risky. We dug into it and found the safest ways to invest in Bitcoin. Highly recommended if you are considering cryptos.

When you become more experienced and start exploring futures options, you should definitely check out our article on the topic.

You saw the details, now let's zoom out. Here are once again the best brokers for beginners in Costa Rica in 2021:

Passfolio is our winner, the best broker for beginners in Costa Rica in 2021. Free US stock and ETF trading. Great mobile platform. Fast and fully digital account opening.

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 comment section.

Still unsure? Use our broker finder to find the best broker for you or learn more about investing your money.