Is BGL BNP Paribas free?

BGL BNP Paribas does charge a commission for real stock trading on US markets, so in this sense it is not a free-to-trade broker. However, it might still be a reasonable choice for some of you, as there are many other aspects other than commissions that are important when you choose a broker. If you wish to stick with BGL BNP Paribas though, then you will find the fees they charge below. Alternatively, you could check our article detailing the best zero commission brokers and how their apps scored in our test.

We should note that the payment-for-order-flow model, which is used by some zero-commission brokers to generate income (rather than relying on commissions), could potentially create a conflict of interest between you and your broker. This could result in trade execution (like routing your orders to specific market makers) that might be unfavorable for you under certain market conditions, especially when using market orders (as opposed to limit orders, which seem to be less affected).

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BGL BNP Paribas's fees are considered high. This is because of high fees across multiple fee types. It's important to be aware of this and to decide whether other advantages of BGL BNP Paribas can still make it a good choice for you. Such features may include its research tools, education section or the general user experience you get on its trading platforms.

Here's a high-level overview of BGL BNP Paribas's fees

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Online brokerages in general charge much lower brokerage fees than traditional brokerages do - this is largely because online brokerages' businesses can be much better scaled: from a purely technical standpoint, it doesn't make that much of a difference for them if they have 100 or 5,000 clients.

This is not to say, however, that they don't charge any fees at all. They make money by charging you various rates for various actions or events. Usually you need to keep an eye on the following three types of fees:

• Trading fees - these are brokerage fees that you pay when you actually carry out a trade, like buying an Apple share or an ETF. What you pay is either a commission, a spread or a financing rate. Some brokers apply all of these.
  • A commission is either fixed or based on the traded volume.
  • A spread is the difference between the buy price and the sell price.
  • A financing rate or overnight rate is charged when you hold your leveraged positions for more than one day.
• Non-trading fees. These are usually related to some operations you carry out in your account, such as depositing money, withdrawing money, or not trading for an extended period.

We compare BGL BNP Paribas fees with its closest competitors, flatex and LYNX.

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We consider BGL BNP Paribas's trading fees high, as they exceed those of most competitors.

Let's break down trading fees according to the different asset classes available at BGL BNP Paribas.

Trading fees

BGL BNP Paribas's trading fees are high.

Stock fees and ETF fees

BGL BNP Paribas has high stock trading fees.

Bond fees

BGL BNP Paribas has high bond fees.

CFD fees

BGL BNP Paribas has CFD trading fees.

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When it comes to non-trading fees, BGL BNP Paribas is a rather expensive broker. This means that it tends to charge you a lot for non-trading-related activities.

Non-trading fees include various brokerage fees and charges at BGL BNP Paribas that are not related to buying or selling assets. This can be a withdrawal fee, deposit fee, inactivity fee or account fee.

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Usually, brokers don't charge anything for deposits, and BGL BNP Paribas is no different.

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Unfortunately, BGL BNP Paribas does charge a withdrawal fee of $1 for bank transfers. This means that you need to pay this amount when you transfer money from your brokerage account back to your bank account. Sometimes this is a flat fee, but a percentage charge may be applied in some cases. It's up to you to decide whether you can tolerate this, keeping in mind that flat fees can hurt more if you withdraw small amounts only.

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BGL BNP Paribas does apply an inactivity fee and it is €117 per half month after 18 months of inactivity. Keep this in mind to avoid getting charged after a longer idle period. The fact that BGL BNP Paribas charges an inactivity fee makes it less ideal for you if you are a buy-and-hold investor.

The inactivity fee charged by BGL BNP Paribas is low.

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