Lightyear Review 2024

Is Lightyear regulated?

Yes, Lightyear Europe is regulated directly by the Estonian Financial Supervision Authority (EFSA).
There is an indirect regulation in the UK. Lightyear Financial Ltd is an appointed representative of RiskSave Technologies Ltd, which is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Lightyear is working on getting a license from FCA.

Is Lightyear safe?

To be certain that a brokerage is safe, we highly advise that you check two facts:

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

How you are protected

Trading US stocks with Lightyear goes through its US partner, Alpaca Trading, therefore your US shares are protected up to $500,000 under the US Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC).
Lightyear's European legal entity handles non-US investments. This entity enjoys €20,000 Estonian investor protection.

It's also important that customer assets (securities and cash) are fully segregated. This means if the broker goes to bankruptcy, you can still access your assets.

Background

Lightyear is based in the UK and was founded in 2020. Lightyear Financial Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales. The longer track record a broker has, the more proof we have that it has successfully survived previous financial crises.

Find your safe broker

Account base currencies

At Lightyear, you can choose from the following 4 base currencies: GBP, EUR, USD, HUF.

This selection falls behind competing brokers. Both Trading 212 and Revolut offer more base currencies.

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

A convenient way to save on currency conversion fees is by opening a multi-currency bank account at a digital bank. These usually offer bank accounts in several currencies with great currency exchange rates, as well as free or cheap international bank transfers. Opening an account only takes a few minutes on your phone.

Deposit fees and options

Lightyear charges no deposit fees.

Payments through cards (debit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay) have a lifetime free allowance of €500/£500, which is not much. After reaching the limit, there is a high 0.5% fee charged.

A bank transfer can take several business days, while payment with a credit/debit card is instant. You can only deposit money from accounts that are in your name.

There are a lot of deposit options at Lightyear, including electronic wallets such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, iDeal.

You can find below a screenshot from Lightyear's website that presents the length and fees of different deposit methods.

Lightyear withdrawal fees and options

Lightyear charges no withdrawal fees. For withdrawals, you can use only bank transfers.

You can only withdraw money to accounts in your name.

How long does it take to withdraw money from Lightyear? We tested the bank transfer withdrawal and it took 2 business days.

How do you withdraw money from Lightyear?

• Log in to the mobile trading platform.
• Click on "Cash balance".
• Select the currency and enter the amount you wish to withdraw.
• Add the bank transfer details (if you haven't added them previously).
• Initiate the withdrawal.

Can you open an account?

Visit broker
Capital at risk

What is the minimum deposit at Lightyear?

The required Lightyear minimum deposit is $0.

Account types

Lightyear provides accounts for individuals. In addition, corporate accounts are available for Estonian private limited companies.

How to open your account

The account opening process takes roughly 15 minutes and it's extremely user-friendly. The verification process is really fast, our account was verified within 1 hour.
Thesteps of opening an account at Lightyear:

1. Download the app on your mobile phone.
2. Provide your phone number, where you'll receive a confirmation code.
3. Give your personal details, like name, date of birth, and email address.
4. Add your address and nationality.
5. Add tax details.
6. Provide some data about your source of wealth.
7. Finish the verification with your national ID and a selfie.

To verify your identity and residency, you may need to upload your national ID. You can upload the following documents:

• Proof of identity: national ID / Passport / Driving license / Residence permits
• Proof of residency: Utility bill (e.g. electricity, water, gas, telephone or internet bill) / Bank/credit card statement / Residence permit if your address is listed on it / Signed rental agreement / Document issued by an acceptable public (government) authority e.g. municipality bill, social insurance statement, or local government registry extract

Lightyear offers an in-house developed mobile trading platform with a nice design.
The mobile trading platform is available in English on both iOS and Android. We tested the platform on Android.

Look and feel

The Lightyear mobile trading platform is user-friendly and well-designed. You'll become familiar with the platform within seconds.

Login and security

Lightyear provides a safer, two-step login for its mobile platform.

The first time you log in, you get an SMS with a verification code.

You can log in using biometric authentication, which is a convenient feature.

Search functions

The search functions are good.

You can search by asset name or asset class. We liked the categorization as well. You can browse assets by type (ETF or stock), popularity, company type, industry or country of origin (e.g. UK, US).

Placing orders

You can use the following order types on the mobile trading platform:

• Market
• Limit
• Stop

We also liked that you can set a recurring order. You can set up orders to repeat daily, weekly, or monthly. This is a great feature if you focus on a dollar-cost investing strategy.
Stop-loss orders and other more advanced order types are not available. Order time limits are not available either.

Alerts and notifications

You can set alerts and notifications on the Lightyear mobile platform.

Visit broker
Capital at risk

Lightyear's web trading platform is in Beta mode still.

Look and feel

The Lightyear web trading platform is user-friendly and well-designed.
On the other hand, the web trading platform is not customizable.

Login and security

Lightyear provides a safer, two-step login.

Currently, in order to log in you have to scan a QR code or confirm in your mobile app that you are the one who wants to log into the web trading platform.

Search functions

The search functions are good.

You can search by asset name and ticker as well. There are also filters for different asset classes (e.g. stock or ETF) and markets (e.g. US or UK stocks).

Placing orders

You can use only Market order.

The limit orders are only available on the mobile trading app.

If you are unfamiliar with some of these terms or want to learn more, read our overview of order types.

Alerts and notifications

You cannot set price alerts and notifications on the Lightyear web trading platform.

This feature is available on the mobile app, but not yet available on the web trading platform.

Portfolio and fee reports

Lightyear has unclear fee reports.

This feature is available on the mobile app, but not yet available on the web trading platform. On the plus side, the portfolio report is clear.

Visit broker
Capital at risk

This selection is average compared to competing brokers.

Stocks and ETFs

Lightyear gives access to US, UK, and EU stocks. Also, ETFs listed on EU exchanges are available. You can also invest in some non-American companies, which have American Depositary Receipts (ADR) that are listed on US exchanges, like Barclays or Alibaba. Lightyear offers US stock trading through Alpaca Trading.
It's also great that you can invest in fractional US shares. This is great if you have smaller amounts to invest or don't want to invest in stocks with a high share price. Fractional shares are only available to US stocks, but not to EU stocks/ETFs.
Lightyear curates the list of stocks available based on the preferences of its community, but bigger names like Amazon, Facebook, Tesla, Google are, of course, all available.

Funds

Lightyear offers Blackrock money market funds to trade.

This selection is great compared to competing brokers. Both Trading 212 and Revolut offer fewer fund providers to choose from.

Interest earned on uninvested cash

As of the time of the last update (January 7, 2024) Lightyear provides you really competitive interest on uninvested cash:

• 4.5% for USD
• 4.5% for GBP
• 3.3% for EUR
• 7.0% for HUF

Lower fees, lower costs?

We detailed this in our Lightyear fees article.

What about the minimum deposit?

Our ultimate guide to the Lightyear minimum deposit is updated regularly.

How to start your Lightyear account?

Look no further than our evaluation of the Lightyear account opening.

How's their trading app?

Here's our expert view after checking the Lightyear trading app.

Is the quality of customer service satisfactory?

All you need to know about the Lightyear customer service.

Legit or scam?

Is Lightyear legit features all the key aspects you need to look at to see if a broker is safe and legit.

Free or premium? Or both?

A glance at actual costs and whether Lightyear is really free.

Is this broker good for beginners?

We checked it in Is Lightyear good for beginners.

Should you buy your silver bullets on Lightyear?

Research for silver bugs in the Silver buy on Lightyear guide

I want to trade options, are they available at Lightyear?

We explored the topic in Can you trade options on Lightyear?

What is the minimum account balance at Lightyear?

Check out the current account balance requirements at Lightyear in our What is the minimum account balance at Lightyear article.

Looking for commission and fees data for Lightyear?

We collected them in Lightyear commission and fees.

How do you withdraw money from Lightyear?

We tested it and collected the options and costs in How to withdraw money on Lightyear.