Random Capital Review 2023

How we ranked fees

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

First, let's go over some basic terms 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 Random Capital for each asset class. For example, in the case of stock investing the most important fees are commissions.

We also compared Random Capital's fees with those of two brokers we selected: Interactive Brokers, a leading global brokerage that is available in Hungary, and KBC Equitas, another local broker firm. This selection is based on objective factors such as products offered, client profile, fee structure, etc. See a more detailed rundown of Random Capital alternatives.

To have a clear overview of Random Capital, let's start with its trading fees.

Random Capital trading fees

Random Capital trading fees are low.

Hungarian stock and ETF fees

The normal commission at Random is 0.2%, with a minimum of HUF 199, however, if your trade is considered a daytrade (both the buy and the sell leg are on the same day), then the commission is only 0.1%, with a minimum of HUF 199.

For comparison: The normal commission at KBC for basic accounts is 0.35%, while Interactive Brokers charges a 0.1% fee, with a minimum of HUF 199.

International stock and ETF fees

Random Capital has generally low stock and ETF commissions, although not as low as Interactive Brokers. The table below shows normal commissions for US and German stocks.

Commissions are halved if you close your positions on the same day they were initiated, which is a nice discount for active daytraders.

You can also trade several exchange-traded notes (ETNs) and products (ETPs) in the crypto space. The commissions are the same as for regular equities.

Bond fees

At Random Capital you can invest only in Hungarian Government Bonds (MAP+, PMAP, DKJ). Buying is free of charge, with the exception of Discount Treasury Bonds (DKJ in Hungarian).

Futures fees

You can only trade BUX future contracts at Random Capital. The BUX index is the official index of blue-chip shares listed on the Budapest Stock Exchange.

The commission charged is HUF 75/contract, which is markedly lower than what KBC Equitas, a Hungarian competitor broker, offers (HUF 210-300 depending on account type).

Non-trading fees

Random Capital has low non-trading fees.

No inactivity fee is charged by Random Capital. It's also great that no account fee is charged at Random Capital, while KBC charges account fees.

There is a charge for withdrawals however: 0.1% of the withdrawn amount, with a minimum of HUF 500 or €/$15. The maximum fee is HUF 20,000 or €/$80. In the table below, we calculated the costs for HUF withdrawals.

Can you open an account?

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Online account opening is not available for corporate accounts or for Hungarian residents who don't have Hungarian government IDs (e.g. a foreign student in Hungary).

What is the minimum deposit at Random Capital?

The required Random Capital minimum deposit is $0.

Account types

Random Capital offers both individual and corporate accounts, however, corporate accounts can be opened only in person.

Hungarian individuals can also open tax-advantaged accounts (NYESZ and TBSZ). The annual fee of a NYESZ account is HUF 2,000, as prescibed by Hungarian law.

How to open your account

Random Capital has a fully digital account opening process for Hungarians and for individual accounts. The online registration however is relatively lengthy, it took about 30-60 minutes for us. After that, account verification took another more than 3 days.

At Random Capital you have to provide information on an eye-popping 11 separate pages; these are the documents you need to review:

• Identification form
• Beneficial-owner declarations
• FATCA statement
• Declaration for tax residence under the CRS
• Key public statement
• Statement on the management of a client account, a securities account and the use of other related services
• Risk Disclosure Statement
• Privacy Policy

Account opening is a very lengthy process at Random Capital. This is demonstrated by the fact that we detailed the process in 12 separate steps below - a record in BrokerChooser's experience. At most brokers, it is covered in 4-6 steps.

The steps of Random Capital account opening:

1. Go to the Random Capital website.
2. Click the orange 'Számlanyitás' tab in the top navigation bar.
3. Click the blue 'Szeretnék számlát nyitni' button, which will bring you to the first page of the account opening process. Here you can read the above mentioned documents.
4. Select the account type.
5. Provide personal information.
6. Provide your contact information.
7. Provide your bank account number.
8. Add a phone password, account username and account password.
9. You get a customer number.
10. Fill in the financial compliance test.
11. You receive an email with a link where you can upload the following documents that require your customer number:
    • Official certificate certifying home address
    • Identity card or driving license or passport
    • Tax card
    • Bank account agreement or a bank account statement in your own name that you want to use for making or withdrawing payments
12. Proceed through the required steps and present the required identification documents: 
    • Proof of identity: national ID / passport / driver's license
    • Proof of residency: address card
    • Tax card
    • Bank contract or bank account statement

Account base currencies

At Random Capital, you can choose from 3 base currencies: HUF, USD and EUR.

This selection is adequate since you can only trade products that are denominated in these currencies. A major shortcoming though is that you can only convert currencies from and to HUF. So for example, you cannot convert EUR directly to USD.

Remember that 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 don'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. Random Capital accepts deposits from digital banks.

Compare digital banks

Deposit fees and options

Random Capital charges no deposit fees.

A bank transfer can take several business days, however, HUF deposits from Hungarian banks are processed within hours. There is no credit/debit card or electronic wallets payment option offered, however.

You can only deposit money from accounts that are in your name.

Random Capital withdrawal fees and options

There is a withdrawal fee of 0.1% of the withdrawn amount, with a minimum charge of HUF 500 or €/$15. The maximum charge is HUF 20,000 or €/$80. 

In the table below, we calculated the costs for HUF withdrawals.

How long does it take to withdraw money from Random Capital? We tested the bank transfer withdrawal and it took 1 business day.

You can only withdraw money to accounts in your name.

How do you withdraw money from Random Capital?

• Open the Netboon platform.
• Go to 'Személyes' and 'Utalások'.
• Fill in the form.
• Click on 'TOVÁBB A JÓVÁHAGYÁSRA'.

Random Capital provides its own self-developed web trading platform called Netboon. It is available only in Hungarian.

Look and feel

The Random Capital web trading platform is not user-friendly, but it's OK for investors who don't place trades too often. The platform is not customizable, but it's quite intuitive so it's easy to use. The design is a bit outdated.

Login and security

Random Capital provides a two-step login which gives you more security.

Search functions

The products are categorized but the design is poor. You need to select the exchange venue (e.g. USA, Europe, USA-Pink) and select the instrument from a dropdown menu. You can use your keyboard keys to move the list, but this kind of search function is very outdated compared to other platforms we have tested.

Placing orders

Netboon has an adequate variety of order types.

You can use the following order types: Limit, Market, Stop-Limit, Stop Market.

To get a better understanding of these terms, read our overview of order types.

There are also order time limits you can use: Day, Good 'til Canceled (GTC), Day 'Til Canceled (DTC), Immediate-or-cancel (IOC).

There is a handy confirmation screen showing the expected commission, and you can also choose to receive text or email notifications of successful trades, which is a great plus.

Alerts and notifications

You can't set price alerts and notifications.

Portfolio and fee reports

Random Capital has clear portfolio and fee reports.

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Random Capital has its own mobile app. It is also available in English.

Look and feel

Random Capital's mobile trading platform is not user-friendly and a pain to use.

Login and security

Random Capital doesn't provide a two-step login for its mobile platform.

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

Search functions

The mobile trading app has an OK search function. What is puzzling is that to initiate a sell trade of an existing position, we first had to search for the instrument and put it into the favorites list. Normally apps automatically add the instruments you already own to your lists.

Placing orders

When testing on Android, we weren't able to enter in a decimal point and had to use Google's voice assistant to enter in a price that has a decimal in it – it's like whoever created this software never placed any trades in real life.

You can use the following order types: Market, Limit, Market-to-Limit, Stop Limit, Stop Market.

There are also order time limits you can use: Day, Good 'til canceled (GTC), Good 'til time (GTT), Immediate-or-cancel (IOC).

Alerts and notifications

You cannot set alerts and notifications on the Random Capital mobile platform.

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Random Capital provides its own self-developed desktop trading platform called Randi. It is available in English and Hungarian.

Look and feel

The Random Capital desktop trading platform is not user-friendly, but it is customizable.

Login and security

Random Capital provides a two-step login for its desktop platform, which is safer than a simple login.

Search functions

The search functions are good.

Placing orders

The Random Capital desktop platform has a good variety of order types.

You can use the following:

• Limit, Market
• Market-To-Limit
• Stop-Limit
• Stop Market
• Take Profit/Stop Loss

There are also order time limits you can use:

• Day
• Good 'til Canceled (GTC)
• Day 'Til Canceled (DTC)
• Immediate-or-cancel (IOC)
• Fill-or-Kill (FOK)
• Book-or-cancel (BOK)

Alerts and notifications

You can set alerts and notifications on the desktop trading platform.

Portfolio and fee reports

Random Capital has clear portfolio and fee reports.

Visit broker

This selection falls behind competing brokers. Both Interactive Brokers and KBC Equitas offer more stock markets to trade on.

Stocks and ETFs

At Random Capital, you can trade only on the following stock markets:

• US: NYSE, NASDAQ, OTC (not all tickers are listed)
• Europe: Xetra, Euronext Paris, Budapest (BET)

For advanced users, Random Capital also has some leveraged products to trade Hungarian-listed companies: using the tLong and tShort services, you can go long or short for as long as 30 days, using up to 5x leverage.

Bonds

At Random Capital you can invest only in Hungarian government bonds (MAP, 1MAP, PMAP, MAP+, DKJ), which is similar to what KBC Equitas offers.

Futures

Random Capital offers only one futures contract - on the BUX (Budapest Stock Exchange). This is similar to KBC Equitas's offer.

Trading ideas

Random Capital does not provide trading ideas, however, it regularly publishes technical analyses on selected stocks, most notably on Hungarian blue chips.

Fundamental data

Random Capital does not offer fundamental data on assets.

Charting

Random Capital has good charting tools. You can use 78 technical indicators.

Compare research pros and cons

You can contact Random Capital via:

• phone
• email

Random Capital has great email support. It is fast and we always received relevant responses.

The answers we received from phone support however were not always totally clear.

There is no live chat.

We missed 24/7 availability, as the broker provides customer support only on weekdays.

Visit broker

At Random Capital you can learn in the following ways:

• Demo account
• Platform tutorial videos
• Webinars
• Quality educational articles

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Is Random Capital regulated?

Yes, it is regulated by the National Bank of Hungary (MNB).

Is Random Capital safe?

To be certain if a brokerage is safe, 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

Random Capital does not provide negative balance protection. If the balance on your account goes into negative, you will not be protected. Ultimately, we don't think this would be a concern as Random Capital is not a CFD/forex broker.

Background

Random Capital is based in Hungary and was founded in 2008. The longer track record a broker has, the more proof we have that it has successfully survived previous financial crises.

It has a banking background, as its parent company Erste Bank is listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange. These are all great signs for Random Capital's safety.

Find your safe broker

We recommend Random Capital for Hungarian investors and traders looking for low fees.

Below you can find links to all aspects of Random Capital in this comprehensive collection.

Lower fees, lower costs?

We detailed this in our Random Capital fees article.

What about the minimum deposit?

Our ultimate guide to the Random Capital minimum deposit is updated regularly.

How to start your Random Capital account?

Look no further than our evaluation of the Random Capital account opening.

How's their trading app?

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

Is the quality of customer service satisfactory?

All you need to know about the Random Capital customer service.

Legit or scam?

Is Random Capital 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 Random Capital is really free.

Is this broker good for beginners?

We checked it in Is Random Capital good for beginners.

Should you buy your silver bullets on Random Capital?

Research for silver bugs in the Silver buy on Random Capital guide

I want to trade options, are they available at Random Capital?

We explored the topic in Can you trade options on Random Capital?

What is the minimum account balance at Random Capital?

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

Looking for commission and fees data for Random Capital?

We collected them in Random Capital commission and fees.

How do you withdraw money from Random Capital?

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