DEGIRO Review 2020

DEGIRO has low trading and non-trading fees. In most asset classes, it is the best on the market. There are some ETFs that you can trade once a month for free, which is a great deal for buy-and-hold investors.

How we ranked fees

We ranked DEGIRO's fee levels as low, average or high based on how they compare to those of all reviewed brokers.

To get things rolling, let's go over some lingo related to broker fees. What you need to keep an eye on are trading fees, and non-trading fees.

• Trading fees occur when you trade. These can be commissions, spreads, financing rates and conversion fees.
• Non-trading fees include charges not directly related to trading, like withdrawal fees or inactivity fees.

In the sections below, you will find the most relevant fees of DEGIRO for each asset class. For example, in the case of stock investing the most important fees are commissions.

We also compared DEGIRO's fees with those of two similar brokers we selected, TradeStation Global and eToro. This selection is based on objective factors such as products offered, client profile, fee structure, etc. See a more detailed rundown of DEGIRO alternatives.

To have a clear overview of DEGIRO, let's start with the trading fees.

DEGIRO trading fees

DEGIRO's trading fees are one of the lowest for all asset classes.

We analyzed the fees of DEGIRO UK. However, the fees vary a bit from country to country.

Stock fees and ETF fees

DEGIRO offers one of the lowest stock and ETF commissions on the market.

There is also a list of ETFs which can be traded for free once a month, i.e. either one buy or sell transaction. It is also free to carry out additional ETF transactions within the same month, for the same product, but only if they are the same kind of transactions (i.e. buy or sell) as the first one and the trade is at least $/€1,000.

At DEGIRO, the stock, ETF and warrant fees are the same.

The trading fee is usually calculated as a flat fee plus a percentage of the traded volume, except for the US and Canada, where you are charged based on the number of shares traded. The flat fee for Asian and smaller European markets is higher.

If you prefer stock trading on margin or short sale, you should check DEGIRO financing rates.

A financing rate, or margin rate, is charged when you trade on margin or short a stock. This basically means that you borrow money or stocks from your broker to trade. For this borrowed money/stock you have to pay an interest. This is the financing rate. It can be a significant proportion of your trading costs.

DEGIRO financing rates are low. The financing rates vary based on the base currency of your margin account.

Fund fees

DEGIRO has generally low fund fees. 

Similarly to stocks, DEGIRO charges a flat and a volume-based fee for funds. The flat fees are high for some non-listed funds.

Any entrance or exit fees the fund provider might charge are passed on to the client by DEGIRO.

Custody fees are charged monthly (DEGIRO calls them a service fee), on the value of the investment fund portfolio on the last day of the month. It works out to be 0.2% for a year, with the exception of FundShare Cash Funds / Morgan Stanley Liquidity Funds, where no such charge is levied.

Bond fees

DEGIRO has generally low bond fees.

Check out the volume-based pricing in the following table:

Options fees

DEGIRO's options fees are low. Its competitors charge a higher trading fee for this asset class, however, at DEGIRO, a connectivity fee of € 5.00 per calendar month will be charged for using the US stock index options markets. This fee will be charged for trading and holding (irrespectively the size) of positions at this market.

Unlike some brokers, DEGIRO has a charge for Exercise / Assignment / Cash settlement of options, although it is only €1 per contract.

DEGIRO options fees are volume-based, i.e. the fee you pay depends on the number of contracts you buy. Exchange costs are not included in the commission (for example exchange costs are 3.50 SEK / contract on the OMX Sweden for indices)

Futures fees

DEGIRO's futures fees are low as well. Compared to TradeStation Global, they are lower on the US and the German markets.

However, at DEGIRO, a connectivity fee of € 5.00 per calendar month will be charged for using the US Futures markets (CME, CBOT, CBOE, COMEX, NYMEX). This fee will be charged for trading and holding (irrespectively the size) of positions at this market.

Unlike some brokers, DEGIRO has a charge for Exercise / Assignment / Cash settlement of futures, although it is only €1 per contract.

Similarly to the options, the futures fees are calculated based on the number of contracts. Exchange costs are not included in the commission for the US and Nordic markets (for example exchange costs are 3.50 SEK / contract on the OMX Sweden for indices)

Crypto fees

At DEGIRO you can buy cryptos only through ETNs (exchange-traded notes). At the time of our DEGIRO review, you can trade with Bitcoin and Ethereum ETNs on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. DEGIRO's trading cost here is 0.05% + €4, with a maximum of €60. If you want to understand what is a crypto ETN check out our crypto blogpost.

Non-trading fees

DEGIRO has low non-trading fees. There is no account fee, inactivity fee, withdrawal fee, deposit fee, or custody fee (with the exception of the service fee for mutual funds levied monthly).

On the downside, however, there is an unusual fee category, called an "Exchange Connectivity Fee." This is charged for trading outside of your home market.

You will pay a maximum of €2.50 per calendar year for each exchange with the exception of your home market. So for example, as a UK investor, you wouldn't pay for using the London Stock Exchange. However, an investor from Portugal would pay €2.50 each year if they used the London Stock Exchange, another €2.50 for using the Swedish Stock Exchange, etc. These charges will be applied if you carry out a transaction or hold a position during the calendar year. 

However, the connectivity fee for US options is €5 per exchange per calendar month, so this would be €60 per year if you were to use it In each month.

If your account currency differs from the currency of the asset you want to buy, a currency conversion fee is charged. At DEGIRO you can do this either automatically or manually, but the fees for the two options are different. The default setting is automatic, but you can change to manual for each currency.

• For automatic currency conversion, DEGIRO charges 0.1% of the transaction value (above the current spot rate). If you set up your account this way, DEGIRO will just do the conversion automatically if you buy or sell. So for example, if you have a GBP account and you sell a stock denominated in EUR, you'll not end up with a EUR balance, because it will be automatically converted back to your base currency (GBP in this case).
• For manual currency conversion, DEGIRO charges €10 + 0.02% of the amount. You should avoid this option for exchanging lower amounts because of the fixed fee. If the account is set up up this way, this means you might end up with other currencies on your account than your base currency (say you sell Apple shares and you end up with USD on your balance, even though your base currency is EUR).

DEGIRO no longer uses a waiting list for new users and also no minimum deposit is required. Since then, the account creation process is fast and fully digital.

Can you open an account?

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Update for new accounts

As of July 13, DEGIRO has removed the waiting list that lengthened the account creation process due to the surge of new applications. In regard to this, we have test opened a UK account, which was validated in 1 business day.

What is the minimum deposit at DEGIRO?

There is no minimum deposit. This is great if you want to invest smaller amounts. 

Account types

DEGIRO offers the following account types:

• Custody
• Basic
• Active
• Trader
• Day Trader

You can access more products and features as you go down the list, i.e. Custody offers the least and Day Trader the most services. Trading fees are the same for each profile, however, there are some minor exceptions for the Custody account.

For a summary of profiles, take a look at this table: 

Some of the profiles may not be available in some countries. You can read more about DEGIRO profiles here.

At the time of our review, DEGIRO does not provide tax-free account options like DEGIRO ISA or others available in some European countries. Two exceptions are Sweden, where ISK accounts is available and the Netherlands, where a pension account can be opened.

How to open your account

Account opening is fully digital. After the waiting list was removed, we have tested the process again, and it took us 1 business day to open a new account.

For the initial registration you need:

• a copy of your passport or ID card
• the bank account number from which you will fund the investment account.

After the initial registration you will have three additional tasks before your account is activated and you can trade:

1. Complete an appropriateness test. 
2. Agree to the conditions for real-time prices.
3. Transfer money to your investment account.

DEGIRO deposits and withdrawals are free of charge via bank transfer. On the other hand, you cannot deposit with credit or debit card.

Account base currencies

At DEGIRO, you can choose from 9 base currencies. The available base currencies are CHF, DKK, GBP, NOK, SEK, EUR, CZK, PLN and HUF.

At DEGIRO, the base currency of your account is always the currency of your home country. This means for example that you will have a GBP account if you register at www.degiro.co.uk as a UK citizen. You cannot have more than one base currency for one account.

However, you can have an additional DEGIRO account in a different currency if you have a bank account in your name in the country of that currency. For example, if you are a UK citizen, you can have an account in Swedish krona if you have a bank account in Sweden. In this case, you have to apply for a DEGIRO trading account on the local DEGIRO website.

Why does this matter? For two reasons. If you fund your account in the same currency as your bank account or you trade assets in the same currency as your account base currency, you don't have to pay a conversion fee.

Deposit fees and options

You can easily fund your DEGIRO account via bank transfer. On the downside, the convenient and fast option of credit and debit card depositing is not available.

For some accounts, Trustly, iDEAL and/or Sofort might be available as instant deposit options This varies country by country. In the UK only bank deposits are allowed at the moment.

The bank transfer usually takes 2-3 business days, while Trustly takes around 30 minutes. 

DEGIRO charges no deposit fees.

DEGIRO has strict rules on bank transfer deposits. It only allows transfers from bank accounts in your name from the accepted countries.

Deposits viaTransferWise, Revolut, Monese, Currencies Direct, Currency Cloud, or PayPal are not allowed.

DEGIRO differs from most other brokers on how it holds clients’ money. Instead of holding clients’ money in cash, DEGIRO is obliged by the Dutch regulator to put currently uninvested funds deposited by clients into Money Market Funds.

As short-term debt currently has negative interest rates in many European countries (mostly the Eurozone) and these funds have a small management fee too, this means that you may observe a small negative return while your cash is parked in these funds.

DEGIRO compensates the negative returns up to a certain amount, e.g. in the case of EUR:

• Compensation will only be given for the first €2,500 in money market fund holdings and only for the Morgan Stanley EUR Liquidity Fund.

• If you have paid €350 or more in transaction fees during a 60-day period, a limit of €100,000 will apply to you. This will be reviewed on a monthly basis.

DEGIRO withdrawal fees and options

DEGIRO charges no withdrawal fees.

You can withdraw only via bank transfer, Trustly is not an option.

DEGIRO ensures that the withdrawn amount is transferred to your bank account within 3 business days. We tested it and received the amount within one business day.

You can only withdraw money to accounts in your name.

How do you withdraw money from DEGIRO?

• Click on the 'Deposit/Withdraw Funds' button and click on the 'Withdrawal' tab.
• Select your desired DEGIRO and bank accounts for the transaction.
• Enter the amount and a description.
• Click 'Transfer.'

More funding and withdrawal info

DEGIRO's web platform is simple and easy to use. Even beginners can easily navigate it and buy stocks. On the negative side, you cannot set price alerts.

DEGIRO's web platform is available in your local language. For example, if you register from Germany your platform language will be German.

Look and feel

DEGIRO's web trading platform is great for executing trades, but it's not the most advanced we've seen. 

It is well designed and user-friendly but it lacks any customization options.

Login and security

You can choose between a one-step or a two-step login. The two-step option is available through Google Authenticator.

We recommend the latter one as it is more secure.

Search functions

The search functions are good.

When you type in the name of a product, a list of matching products will appear, categorized by asset class. You can also see the stock market and the currency the product is available in. 

You can even filter your search based on the asset class you're interested in (e.g. only options).

Placing orders

You can select from several order types, although not all of them are available for every tradable instrument. The following order types are available:

• Limit
• Market
• Stop loss
• Stop limit

If you are not familiar with the basic order types, read this overview.

You can also use two order terms:

• Day
• Good-till-cancelled (GTC)

Alerts and notifications

You can receive an order confirmations by email, but text message notification is not available. There is also no price alert function.

Portfolio and fee reports

DEGIRO's portfolio and fee reports are well organized. They are transparent, and you can easily see what products you own and the fees you paid for the transactions.

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DEGIRO's mobile app has a basic but good design, and is pretty straightforward to use.

The mobile trading platform is available in the language of your account.

Look and feel

DEGIRO's mobile trading platform has a great and clear design and is intuitive.

Login and security

DEGIRO provides a safe login. You can set up two-step authentication through the web platform. 

However, you can't log in using biometric authentication. Providing this feature would be more convenient.

Search functions

The search functions are good.

When you type in the name of a product, a list of matching products will appear, categorized by asset class. You can also see the stock market and the currency the product is available in. 

You can even filter your search based on the asset class you're interested in (e.g. only options).

Placing orders

Order management is the same as on the web platform.

Alerts and notifications

You can receive order confirmation messages in email, but price alerts are not available.

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DEGIRO does not provide a desktop trading platform.

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At DEGIRO you can access many markets and trade with a lot of different products. CFD and forex are not available.

DEGIRO has a good product portfolio. From stocks to futures, you will find everything, except for forex and CFDs. In terms of stocks, options and futures, DEGIRO is really competitive. The broker's fund and bond selection, however, is average.

Stocks and ETFs

DEGIRO's stock and ETF selection are less than TradeStation Global's but much more than eToro's. 

DEGIRO gives you access to 30 stock exchanges and more than 5,000 ETFs. The selection includes the biggest international markets as well as the smaller stock exchanges in Europe.

Unlike eToro and some other brokers, at DEGIRO you'll be able to trade almost all listed companies, not just a select few. On the other hand, they do not offer access to American Pink Sheets or US Over-the-Counter (OTC) markets at the moment.

Funds

DEGIRO's selection of fund providers is narrow compared to TradeStation Global. You can choose from mutual funds offered by big players like BlackRock or Vanguard.

Bonds

DEGIRO has an OK lineup of corporate and government bonds, but it compares poorly to TradeStation Global, while eToro doesn't provide this.

Options

You can trade on 13 options markets at DEGIRO. This is a competitive selection.

Futures

DEGIRO has a relatively narrow futures market coverage compared to TradeStation Global.

Cryptos

You can invest in Bitcoin and Ethereum through ETN instruments traded on the Swedish stock exchange. If you want to know more about crypto investing, we recommend our crypto blogpost

DEGIRO provides limited research functions. There is a basic news feed and a simple charting tool.

Trading ideas

DEGIRO does not provide trading ideas at the moment.

Fundamental data

Fundamental data is not available.

Charting

The charting tool is rather basic, but enough for an execution-only trading platform. It is easy to use and comes with more than 10 technical indicators.

News feed

You can access a very basic news panel with short news both on the web and the mobile platforms. These are available on the main page of the trading platform and also in the information sheet of products with news related to them.

Usually, news are only available for the major stocks and this feature is much better in TradeStation Global's TWS platform.

Compare research pros and cons

Customer support is average at DEGIRO. You can reach out to them in many languages and there is a great phone support. On the other hand, there is no live chat and 24/7 availability.

Phone and email support are available, but there is no live chat service.

A big advantage is that you can contact the customer service in your own language if you are from one of the 18 countries supported.

DEGIRO'S customer support was OK. The phone support's response time was fast and we got relevant answers. The email support is mediocre, as its average response time was around 2 days.

We missed 24/7 availability. DEGIRO's customer support is only available between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekdays.

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DEGIRO's education services could be better. The broker provides a limited set of tools that are available only through the Dutch and UK websites.

At DEGIRO you can learn in the following ways:

• Platform tutorial videos
• General educational videos

There are videos that cover basic topics like asset classes and order terms. There are also videos about the trading platform, for example on how you can buy stocks via the DEGIRO web platform.

We missed services like a demo account, webinars and educational articles.

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DEGIRO is a licensed investment firm regulated by top-tier financial authorities.

Is DEGIRO regulated?

Yes, it is regulated by the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) and the Dutch Central Bank (DNB). Regulators of other countries where DEGIRO offers its services are also notified by DEGIRO and are aware of its operations. For example, in the UK, Degiro is registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

DEGIRO is based in the Netherlands and was founded in 2008.

Is DEGIRO safe?

To be certain, we highly advise that you check two facts:

• how you are protected if something goes wrong
• what the background of the broker is

How you are protected

When you open an account with DEGIRO you get investor protection for up to €20,000.

Negative balance protection is not available.

DEGIRO differs from most other brokers on how it holds clients’ money. Instead of holding clients’ money in cash, DEGIRO is obliged by the Dutch regulator to put currently uninvested funds deposited by clients into Money Market Funds.

All assets within the Money Market Funds are held separately by an independent legal entity and therefore does not run any risk in the event of bankruptcy of DEGIRO.

With Money Market Funds, you run credit risks just as with a bank. The portfolio is after all invested in bonds (loans). However, Money Market Funds, and in particular qualifying Money Market Funds, adhere to very strict investment policies. Investment is only allowed to be made in bonds with very high credit ratings and a short duration. The credit risk is therefore very limited. The deposit guarantee scheme does not apply to Money Market Funds. 

DEGIRO compensates the negative return of the MMFs up to a certain amount, click here for more details.

Background

DEGIRO was established in 2008. The longer track record a broker has, the more proof we have that it has successfully survived previous financial crises (2008-2009, 2011, 2020).

Most of the products you can trade with DEGIRO, like stocks and ETFs, are exchange-traded. Therefore you do not run a counterparty risk with DEGIRO. This is good news, as it means that if DEGIRO defaults your assets will still be safe.

Find your safe broker

DEGIRO is a good choice if you want a simple platform and don’t want to spend too much on fees.

Transaction costs are generally very low. It has also one of the best trading platforms for Europeans. Also, the account opening process is fast since the waiting list was removed.

On the other hand, education and research tools are limited. We should also mention that there is no forex trading, and mostly you can only deposit and withdraw by bank transfer.

All in all, DEGIRO is a great online broker. There is no minimum deposit and no inactivity fee, so feel free to go ahead and give it a try.

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