Trading 212 Review 2021

Trading 212 has commission-free stocks and ETFs, and there are also no fees for deposit, withdrawal or inactivity. However, fees for forex trading are high.

How we ranked fees

We ranked Trading 212'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 Trading 212 for each asset class. For example, in the case of forex and stock index trading the most important fees are spreads, commissions and financing rates.

We also compared Trading 212's fees with those of two similar brokers we selected, eToro and XTB. This selection is based on objective factors such as products offered, client profile, fee structure, etc. See a more detailed rundown of Trading 212 alternatives.

To have a clear overview of Trading 212, let's start with the trading fees.

Trading 212 trading fees

Trading 212 trading fees are average. We also liked how transparently Trading 212 displays its fees. For example, it publishes daily swap rates, which can be easily accessed through the website or the trading platform.

We know it's hard to compare trading fees for CFD brokers. So how did we approach the problem of making their fees clear and comparable? We compare brokers by calculating all the fees of a typical trade for selected products.

We have chosen popular instruments within each asset class:

• Stock index CFDs: SPX and EUSTX50
• Stock CFDs: Apple and Vodafone
• Forex: EURUSD, GBPUSD, AUDUSD, EURCHF and EURGBP

A typical trade means buying a leveraged position, holding it for one week and then selling. For the volume, we chose a $2,000 position for the stock index and stock CFDs and $20,000 for the forex transactions. The leverage we used was:

• 20:1 for stock index CFDs
• 5:1 for stock CFDs
• 30:1 for forex

These catch-all benchmark fees include spreads, commissions, and financing costs for all brokers. Let's see the verdict for Trading 212 fees.

Stock and ETF fees

Trading 212 is one of those CFD-focused brokers that also offers real stock and ETF trading, charging zero commission. You can trade real stocks and ETFs if you open a Trading 212 Invest account.

CFD fees

Trading 212 has generally high CFD trading fees.

Forex fees

Trading 212 forex fees are high.

Non-trading fees

Trading 212 has low non-trading fees. It doesn't charge any account, inactivity, or withdrawal fees.

Depositing to the CFD accounts and depositing by bank transfer to the Invest accounts are also free of charge. However, there is a 0.7% deposit fee if you deposit more than €2,000 in total to your Invest account using Credit/Debit cards or electronic wallets.

In addition, there is no currency conversion fee for real stocks and ETFs, but there is a 0.5% currency conversion fee for CFD and forex trading. Currency conversion occurs when you trade an asset denominated in a currency other than your account base currency.

The account opening process is straightforward, user-friendly and quick. Our account was verified within one business day.

Can you open an account?

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Accounts with Trading 212 can be opened globally. There are some notable exceptions though, e.g. US or Canadian customers can't open an account.

What is the minimum deposit with Trading 212?

The required Trading 212 minimum deposit is $1 for CFD accounts and $10 for Invest or ISA accounts. This is great for customers who prefer trading or investing small amounts only.

Account Types

Trading 212 offers three account types, which differ based on the assets you can trade and the countries where they're available:

Unfortunately, corporate accounts are not available.

How to open your account

The account opening process is easy and fully digital. New accounts are usually verified within one business day. However, during one of our tests, we had problems uploading the necessary documents, and the account opening took 3 business days.

To open an account at Trading 212, just follow these steps:

1. Provide your country of residence and enter personal details such as your email address or date of birth.
2. Add tax information, including the country where you pay taxes and your tax ID.
3. Select the account type and the account base currency.
4. Answer questions about your financial situation, employment status and trading experience.
5. Accept the terms and conditions, then activate your account by verifying your identity and residency.

To activate your trading account, you will need to identify yourself by sending Trading 212 the following:

• Proof of identity - a national ID, passport or driver's license
• Proof of address - a bank statement or a utility bill issued in the last three months

During one of our tests, we encountered a problem uploading our proof of address. Trading 212's system rejected it three times as it couldn't recognize the address. We had to contact customer support to solve the problem. Once we contacted them, they were able to solve the problem within a few hours.

Trading 212 deposits and withdrawals are free, fast, and can be done in several way. On the negative side, there are only a few account base currencies available in each country.

Account base currencies

Trading 212 supports the following account base currencies: GBP, EUR, USD, RON, PLN, CHF, NOK, SEK, CZK. However, of these, only 2 or 3 account base currencies are available in each country, usually the local currency plus USD. For example, only GBP, EUR and USD are available in the UK.

When taking this into account, Trading 212's base currency selection is similar to XTB's or eToro's. 

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 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. They 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.

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Deposit fees and options

Trading 212 charges no deposit fees when you deposit to your CFD accounts or use a bank transfer deposit to your Invest account.

However, there is a 0.7% deposit fee if you deposit more than €2,000 in total to your Invest account using Credit/Debit cards or electronic wallets.

Besides bank transfer, you can use credit/debit cards, and the following electronic wallets:

• Google Pay
• PayPal
• Skrill
• Apple Pay
• Dotpay
• Giropay
• Carte Bleue
• Direct eBanking
• iDEAL

Of these electronic wallets, not all are available in every country. It's not always transparent which one is available where.

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.

Trading 212 withdrawal fees and options

Trading 212 charges no withdrawal fees. You can use the same options to withdraw funds as to deposit.

How long does it take to withdraw money from Trading 212? We tested the debit card withdrawal and it took 1 business day.

You can only withdraw money to accounts that are in your name.

How do you withdraw money from Trading 212?

• Log in to your account
• Click 'Manage funds'
• Enter your password
• Select the withdrawal amount
• Confirm the withdrawal request

Compare to other brokers

Trading 212 has a user-friendly and customizable web trading platform. It also provides a two-step login.

Trading 212 has its own in-house developed web trading platform. It is available in quite a few languages:

Look and feel

The Trading 212 web trading platform is well-designed and user-friendly. You will find it very easy to use, even if have relatively little trading experience.

The platform has great customizability; you can easily change the position and size of the tabs. 

Login and security

Trading 212 provides two-step authentication. You can only set it up through Trading 212's mobile app.

Search functions

Trading 212's search functions work well. You can easily search by typing the name of the product or by browsing pre-defined categories such as stocks or indexes.

Placing orders

CFD and Invest accounts offer different order types and order time limits:

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

If you click to 'buy' or 'sell' an asset, you will be shown a trade ticket. This is very useful as it shows the important details of your order, like margin, swap rates, or stamp duty in the case of UK real stocks.

Alerts and notifications

You can set price alerts and notifications, e.g. about executed orders, important news or margin calls. These alerts show up as pop-up messages on the web platform. It would be better if you could also arrange to receive notifications through email or SMS.

Portfolio and fee reports

Trading 212 has clear portfolio and fee reports. You can access them if you click on your username and then select 'Report'. You can check your profit/loss, interest (swap points) charged or earned, or your cash balance, among other information.

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Trading 212's mobile trading platform is user-friendly and well-designed, with great search, alert, and order functions.

The Trading 212 mobile platform is available for both Android and iOS. We tested it on Android. It's available in the same languages as the web trading platform.

Look and feel

The Trading 212 mobile trading platform is user-friendly and well-designed. Overall, we had a great experience when using the mobile app.

Login and security

Trading 212 provides two-step authentication, which is great. You can also use biometric authentication solutions, such as Touch ID.

Search functions

Just like the at the web trading platform, search functions on the Trading 212 mobile platform work well. You'll find any asset very quickly and easily.

Placing orders

You can use the same order types and time limits as on the web trading platform.  

Alerts and notifications

Price alerts and notifications are available, in the form of push notifications. However, price alerts sent via SMS or e-mail are absent from notification options.

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76% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Trading 212 does not offer a desktop trading platform.

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76% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Trading 212 focuses mainly on CFDs, forex and cryptos. You can also trade real stocks and ETFs, but popular asset classes like bonds, mutual funds, options and futures are missing.

Although Trading 212 offers real stocks and ETFs, it is considered primarily a CFD and forex broker. To learn more about CFDs, read our CFD trading tips.

Disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 76% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Trading 212 has an extensive forex, commodity CFD and crypto selection. Its stock CFD and stock index CFD selections are average, while the number of ETF CFDs available is low.

FCA bans the sale of crypto-derivatives to UK retail consumers from 6 January 2021.

Unfortunately, leverage levels cannot be set manually in the trading platforms. 

Changing the leverage manually can help you lower the risk of your trades. Always be careful with forex and CFD trading, as the preset leverage levels may be too high.

Stocks and ETFs

You can also invest in real stocks and ETFs. Trading 212's stock and ETF portfolio may seem a bit limited compared with other brokers, but you still have more than 3,000 instruments to choose from.

AutoInvest

You can use Trading 212's AutoInvest feature, which will help you to:

• Easily create a diversified portfolio, which makes the rebalancing automatically.
• To set regular contributions, deposits

After you set up your portfolio, the deposits will be automatically invested into this portfolio.

Trading 212 offers great charting tools, but trails behind the competition when it comes to its news feeds or fundamental data and analyses.

You can find research tools both on the web and on the mobile trading platforms. The research tools are available in the same languages as the trading platforms themselves.

Trading ideas

Trading 212 provides only basic daily technical updates. We suggest you do your homework and do your own analysis or complement Trading 212's TA tips with other sources.

Fundamental data

One of the weaknesses of Trading 212 is that the company does not provide fundamental analyses or fundamental data related to its tradable products.

For example, if you're interested in the P/E ratio of Apple or want to look up historical US employment rates, you will need to find alternative sources.

Charting

Charting is one of the strengths of Trading 212's trading platforms. Almost all the necessary technical analysis studies are available, with more than 60 technical indicators at your disposal to help your trading decisions.

News feed

Trading 212's news feed is limited. You can only find some basic news, statistics or technical analysis related to various instruments. Trading 212 doesn't have its own market analyst team.

On the other hand, we liked the economic calendar. It's helpful to see the most important events in one place, and it's also great that you can filter events by impact or currency pairs.

Compare research pros and cons

Trading 212 offers adequate customer support. We received fast, straightforward and relevant information to our questions, from helpful staff. We missed live chat, however.

You can contact Trading 212 only via email. Email support works well. When we contacted Trading 212 via email, they sent us prompt, relevant and straightforward answers. 

We missed the live chat and phone support options.

Customer service is available 24/7.

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Trading 212 offers text and video tutorials on how to use the trading platforms and about the basics of trading, a great feature for beginners. The only thing we missed was webinars.

At Trading 212 you can explore the options below if you want to develop your trading skills:

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

The education materials on Trading 212's website are worth checking out. They explain in an easy-to-understand way and in great detail how to use the trading platforms.

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Trading 212 is regulated by the top-tier FCA and provides negative balance protection. However, it is not listed on any stock exchange and doesn't have a banking background.

Trading 212 was originally established in Sofia, Bulgaria in 2004, and opened its London, UK office in 2013, which is now considered as its headquarters.

Is Trading 212 regulated?

Yes, Trading 212 is legit, it is regulated by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Bulgaria's Financial Supervision Commission (FSC). 

Is Trading 212 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

Depending on with which legal entity you open your trading account with, different compensation schemes apply: 

An important point to highlight is that Trading 212 offers negative account balance protection.

Background

Trading 212 was established in 2004. The longer track record a broker has, the more proof we have that it has successfully survived previous financial crises.

Being regulated by the top-tier FCA and being in operation for a long time are all great signs for Trading 212's safety.

Find your safe broker

Trading 212 works as a CFD and forex broker regulated by multiple financial supervisory authorities.

On the plus side, Trading 212 offers commission-free stocks and ETFs, while CFD fees and non-trading fees are low as well. The account opening process is seamless and the trading platforms are user-friendly.

However, Trading 212 has a limited product portfolio, lacking popular asset classes such as bonds or options. We missed phone and live chat support, and found forex fees relatively high.

So is Trading 212 good? Trading 212 is a good choice for those interested in investing in equities or trading leveraged forex and CFD products, with the use of a great trading platform. As it offers a demo account, don't hesitate to give it a try.

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How does Trading 212 make money?

Trading 212 makes money through various fees, and the trading services they provide on their website. Although Trading 212 does not make its financial statements public, the main source of revenue for Trading 212 is likely to be:

• Spreads on CFD trades: spreads are the gap between the price you and the broker buys/sells at.
• Overnight fee: the cost of financing of your CFD positions between days.
• Other non-trading fees: fees not directly related to trading.
• Payment for order flow on stock trades: execution partners could pay for Trading 212 to direct their clients' orders to their venues.