Revolut Review 2020

Besides trading stocks for free with Revolut, you don't have to pay any inactivity or withdrawal fee. There is only a 0.01% annual custody fee.

We ranked Revolut'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.

Below you will find the most relevant fees of Revolut for each asset class. For example, in the case of stock investing commissions are the most important fees.

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

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

Revolut trading fees

Trading fees are low both for stocks and for cryptos.

You can choose from three different accounts at Revolut, each of them charges different fees for stocks:

• the Standard account is free and it includes 3 free stock trades per month,
• the Premium account costs $9.99 and includes 8 free stock trades per month, 
• the Metal account costs $14.99 per month and you can make an unlimited number of free stock trades.

Once you passed your monthly free trade limit each trade costs £1.

Crypto fees

Revolut provides cryptos from Bitstamp crypto exchange and charges a 1.5% markup on the cryptocurrencies bid or ask price.

Non-trading fees

Revolut has low non-trading fees, it charges no inactivity or withdrawal fee. However, it charges a custody fee of 0.01% annually.

Revolut has an easy, fast, and fully digital account opening and there's no minimum account balance.

Can you open an account?

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Stock trading is not available in all of the countries where Revolut's basic service is available. Use our handy tool below to find out whether stock trading is available.

What is the minimum deposit at Revolut?

There is no required minimum deposit. You can move even just a couple of dollars to your trading account from your Revolut account to get started with buying shares.

Account types

Revolut has three account types: Standard, Premium, and Metal. All three account types offer commission-free trading, the difference between them lies mainly in the amount of monthly free trades they offer:

• Standard account has 3 free trades per month
• Premium accounts offer 8 per month
• with a Metal account there's no cap on the amount of free trades.

When you start trading your trading account is a general investment account. Other account types which are usual with traditional brokerages like corporate, joint, IRA, ISA are not available.

How to open your account

Revolut account opening is user-friendly and fast. Our account was verified within one business day.

The 5 steps of Revolut account opening:

1. You need to register for the Revolut account 
2. Go to the "Dashboard" and click on Trading
3. Add some personal information, like your nationality and tax ID number
4. Answer a few questions about your employment status, annual income, and investment objectives
5. Accept user and market data agreements

Revolut offers several deposit options and both deposits and withdrawals are free even with wire transfers. On the negative side, you can only use USD-based accounts for trading.

Account base currencies

You can have many currencies when using Revolut but you can only trade from a USD-based account, as you can only trade on the US stock market.

It takes only a few seconds to create a USD-account, but you need to exchange the amount you wish to trade into USD before you place an order. It would be a bit better if you didn't have to exchange the money and Revolut made the currency conversion automatically.

Revolut's only-USD trading account offer is similar to Freetrade's but lags behind DEGIRO's offer.

Why does this matter? For two reasons. First, if you fund your account in the same currency as your bank account, you are not charged a currency conversion fee. Second, if you trade assets in the same currency as your Revolut account base currency (i.e. USD), you don't have to pay a conversion fee.

Otherwise, Revolut's currency conversion is among the bests, you can read more about it in our digital bank review.

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Deposit fees and options

Revolut charges no deposit fees. Besides bank transfer, you can send money by using credit/debit cards, Apple Pay, or Google Pay

A bank transfer can take several business days, while topping up your Revolut account with a credit/debit card is instant. You can only deposit money to your trading account from your Revolut account.

Revolut withdrawal fees and options

Revolut charges no withdrawal fees. You can move money from your Revolut trading account to your Revolut account instantly and for free. From there though, similarly to the competitors, you can only use bank transfer to withdraw money to your standard bank accounts.

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

How do you withdraw money from Revolut? You can withdraw money from Revolut by following these steps:

• Go to the "Payments"
• Select Bank Transfer
• Add your bank account
• Choose the currency and the amount you wish to withdraw
• Initiate the withdrawal

Compare to other brokers

Revolut doesn't offer a trading platform on the web, it's available only on mobile. Offering a web-based application is very common today as it is convenient to use and accessible from all devices. This is a drawback.

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Revolut offers a great mobile trading platform, as it is very user-friendly and you can log in using a Touch/Face ID. The search function also works well. On the other hand, there is no two-step login.

Revolut offers a mobile trading platform they built on their own. With the advance of mobile-first services and an increased attention to user experience in the last few years, Revolut does a great job offering a mobile trading platform with a superb interface catered mostly for everyday people. It's available in 24 languages.

Look and feel

Revolut mobile trading platform is user-friendly and well-designed. You'll get familiar with the platform within a few minutes.

Login and security

You can log into Revolut's platform by typing a four-digit password or using the TouchID on compatible devices.

Search functions

The search functions are good,  it is easy to use by typing an asset's name or ticker.

One thing we missed is the categorization. It would better if you could filter companies based on their industry, capitalization, price level, etc.

Placing orders

You can only use a market order. No limit, stop-loss or other order types are accepted.

You also can't use order time limits, like Good' till canceled.

Alerts and notifications

You can't set alerts and notifications on the Revolut mobile platform. It would be a useful feature.

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Revolut does not offer a desktop trading platform.

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Revolut has a limited product portfolio as you can only trade with certain US stocks and cryptos. It lacks other popular asset classes, like mutual funds, bonds, options, etc.

Stocks and ETFs

You can trade with only ~300 stocks which are listed on the NYSE or NASDAQ stock exchanges. Freetrade has a similar offer with the difference that you can reach the London Stock Exchange as well. Robinhood's offering is much wider.

Cryptos

Revolut offers Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, and Litecoin cryptos. It's better than DEGIRO's offer where you can only trade with Bitcoin and Ethereum ETNs on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. Freetrade doesn't offer cryptos.

Revolut offers live market data which is great, but every other research tool is basic and limited.

Trading ideas

Revolut doesn't provide trading ideas.

Fundamental data

Revolut doesn't offer fundamental data.

Charting

Revolut has poor charting tools. There are no technical indicators and we also miss other charting tools, like a trendline editor. You can only use a basic chart and get a few important information, like the price increase during the past week.

News feed

Revolut doesn't offer any news.

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Revolut has a great chatbot and the FAQ is also useful containing a lot of relevant information. On the other hand, when using the phone support, there are only some pre-recorded answers and the chat support was not only slow but we also didn't get satisfactory answers to our questions.

You can contact Revolut via:

• chatbot
• live chat
• phone

The chatbot is great but it can answer only the basic questions. For example, it gave clear answers about what stocks are available or what order types are offered.

We also tested the live chat which was slow and we didn't get any clear and useful answers to our questions. 

Revolut phone support was fast, but you'll get pre-recorded answers. It's great if you have some basic questions, but not suitable if you have more specific questions. 

We missed the email support. 

All in all, there is certainly room for improvement regarding Revolut's customer service.

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There isn't any education material or demo account available at Revolut.

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Revolut is regulated by the top-tier US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). It has a banking license, but it is not listed on any stock exchange and does not disclose its financial information.

Is Revolut regulated?

Yes, it is regulated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).

Is Revolut safe?

To be certain, we highly advise to check two facts:

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

How you are protected

Revolut transmits the orders to DriveWealth LLC, a company that provides the trading platform and services for Revolut Trading. Sometimes Revolut refers to them as "Third Party Broker". 

This company falls under federal regulation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). DriveWealth is the custodian of the trading customers' assets, and trading clients are protected up to $500,000 ($250,000 cash) under the Securities Investment Protection Corporation's (SIPC) insurance.

Background

Revolut is a young company established in 2015. The longer track record a broker has, the more proof we have that it has successfully survived previous financial crises.

Revolut has a banking license (in Lithuania), which makes it subject to tougher regulations than brokers.

Being regulated by a top-tier regulator and having a banking license are all great signs for Revolut’s safety.

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Revolut's fees are great. With all three types of accounts, you can trade US stocks for free. The account opening is easy, fully digital, and fast. You can use an awesome and user-friendly mobile trading platform.

Revolut has some drawbacks though. The product portfolio covers only stocks from the US market. There are only a few research, while educational tools are totally missing. The customer service could be improved. 

If you want to trade with US stocks for free and prefer an easy-to-use mobile platform, Revolut is a great choice.

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