Revolut Review 2019

Revolut is a fast-growing fintech startup founded in 2015. Revolut is known mainly for its banking and payment services. In 2019, the company launched its commission-free stock trading which is provided by Revolut Trading Ltd. It is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Revolut is considered safe because it is regulated by a top-tier regulator and has a banking background.

Recommended for beginners and investors focusing on the US market.

Revolut pros and cons

Revolut offers free stock trading without inactivity. The account opening is seamless, fully digital, and really fast. The mobile trading platform is well-designed and user-friendly.

Revolut's product portfolio lacks a lot of asset classes, like mutual funds, options, bonds, etc. The research and educational tools are very basic or missing. The customer service can be hardly reached and you can get answers only to your basic questions.

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Revolut review
Fees 5 stars

Revolut offers free stock trading. It charges no inactivity or withdrawal fee. On the negative side, there is 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 relating to broker fees. What you need to keep an eye on are trading fees, financing rates, and non-trading fees.

• Trading fees occur when you trade. These can be commissions or spreads.
• Financing rates or overnight rates are charged when you hold your leveraged positions for more than a day. A leveraged position means that you borrow money from the broker to trade.
• Non-trading fees include things like withdrawal fees or inactivity fees.

We also compared Revolut's fees with those of two similar brokers we selected, Freetrade and DEGIRO. This selection is based on factors like products offered, client profile, fee structure, etc.

Let's start with the trading fees.

Trading fees

Revolut trading fees are zero for stocks and low for cryptos. 

Stock fees

Revolut offers free stock trading. You can make up to 100 free stock trades per month. 

Revolut's fee structure is better than DEGIRO and a bit better as with Freetrade where the free orders are not placed instantly.

Crypto fees

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

Financing rates

Revolut doesn't offer margin or leveraged trading, i.e. you can't trade with money borrowed from the broker. Therefore, financing rates are not applicable for Revolut.

Non-trading fees

Revolut has low non-trading fees. It charges no inactivity or withdrawal fee.

At the time of the review, Revolut was available only for Metal customers which had a $14.99 monthly fee. There is also a 0.01% annual custody fee.

Revolut review
Account opening 5 stars

Revolut has an easy, fast, and fully digital account opening. It doesn't have a minimum account balance.

Can you open an account?

At the time of the review, Revolut's free stock trading was available only in EU countries plus in Norway, Iceland, Gibraltar, and Liechtenstein.

There are plans to expand free stock trading in more countries, like in the US, Canada or Australia.

What is the minimum deposit at Revolut?

The required Revolut minimum deposit is $0.

Account types

Revolut has three account types: Basic, Premium, and Metal. Among them, only the clients with Metal account can use the commission-free stock trading service.

When you start trading, you can choose only a general investment account. The corporate, joint, IRA, ISA account types are not yet accepted.

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 and upgrade to the Metal package
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 review
Deposit and withdrawal 4 stars

Revolut offers free deposit and withdrawal. Besides bank transfer, the credit/debit cards, Google Pay, and Apple Pay deposit options are available. On the negative side, you can use only USD-based accounts for trading.

Account base currencies

When you use your Revolut account, you can have many currencies. However, for trading, you can use only a USD-based account.  This is mainly due to the fact that you can trade only 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? Two things. First, if you fund your Revolut account in the same currency as your bank account, you won't be charged a currency conversion fee by your bank. Second, if you trade assets in the same currency as the base currency of your Revolut trading account (i.e. USD), then you will not have to pay Revolut 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, Google Pay, or Apple Pay.

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

Withdrawal fees and options

Revolut charges no withdrawal fees. Similarly to the competitors, you can use only bank transfer for the withdrawal.

How long does it take to withdraw money from Revolut? 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 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

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Revolut review
Web trading platform

Revolut doesn't offer web or desktop trading platforms, only a mobile-based trading platform. Offering a web-based application is very common today as it is convenient to use and accessible from all devices. We missed the web platform very much.

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Revolut review
Mobile trading platform 4 stars

Revolut offers a great mobile trading platform. It is very user-friendly and well-designed. The search function works well too. However, there are only one order type and the price alerts are missing.

Revolut offers an in-house developed mobile trading platform. As the mobile devices and the UX became more popular in the last few years, Revolut does a great job offering a mobile trading platform with superb UX. 

Look and feel

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

Login and security

You can log into Revolut's platform by typing a four digits password or using the TouchID.

Search functions

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

You 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 great feature.

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Revolut review
Desktop trading platform

Revolut does not offer a desktop trading platform.

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Revolut review
Markets and products 1 stars

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

Revolut has a great crypto offer. The stock offer is similar to Freetrade but lags behind DEGIRO. 

Stock and ETF

At the time of the review, you could trade only ~300 stocks from the NYSE and NASDAQ stock exchanges. Freetrade has a similar offer with the difference that LSE is also supported. DEGIRO has a much wider product offer.

It's great that you can buy fractional shares. It means that you don't have to buy a whole share, you can buy only a smaller fraction of that. 

Crypto

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

Revolut review
Research 1 stars

The research tools are very basic and limited at Revolut. There are no analyst recommendations, fundamental data, and more sophisticated charting tools. There are only a basic chart and a few important information, like the price increase in the past week. As a great plus, the market data is live.

Trading ideas

Revolut does not provide trading ideas.

Fundamental data

Revolut does not offer fundamental data.

Charting

Revolut has poor charting tools. There are no technical indicators and other charting tools, like a trendline editor.

News feed

Freetrade doesn't offer news.

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Revolut review
Customer service 1 stars

Revolut's customer can be improved. On the phone, there are only some pre-recorded answers. We couldn't contact the live chat customer support. As a plus, there is a great chatbot and the FAQ can be helpful as well.

You can contact Revolut via:

• chatbot
• live chat
• telephone

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 couldn't test the live chat. When we tried to chat Revolut, we got a message that waiting time could be longer because. However, after 5 minutes of waiting nobody answered.

On the telephone, you'll get pre-recorded answers. It's great if you have some basic question, but not suitable if you have more specific questions.

We missed the email support.

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Revolut review
Education 0 stars

No education material nor a demo account is available at Revolut.

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Revolut review
Safety

Revolut is regulated by the top-tier FCA. There is also a high, £85,000 investor protection amount. On the negative side, Revolut is not listed on any stock exchange and does not disclose its financial information.

Is Revolut regulated? Yes, it is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Is Revolut safe? To be certain, it is best to check two things: how you are protected if something goes wrong and what the background of the broker is.

How you are protected

This is important for you because the investor protection amount and the regulator differ from entity to entity. With Revolut this is not an issue though as all customers are covered by Revolut Trading Limited and the UK investor protection scheme, called FSCS.

The FSCS investor protection scheme protects against the loss of cash and securities in case the broker goes bust. The limit of FSCS protection is £85,000. This amount is substantially higher than the amount most investor protection schemes provide.

Background

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

Revolut has a Lithuanian banking license, and as such, it is subject to tougher regulation than brokers.

Being regulated by a top-tier regulator, offering a high amount of investor protection, and having a banking license are all great signs for Revolut's safety.

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Revolut review
Bottom line

Revolut's fees are great. Stocks are free, and there is no inactivity fee. 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 missing. The customer service can be improved. 

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

Revolut main features and highlights

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