Alpaca Trading vs Trading 212 compared

Updated: Aug 2023
Updated: Sep 2023
Alpaca Trading
Trading 212
4.7
4.7
68% of retail CFD accounts lose money
Alpaca Trading
Trading 212
You can open an account in United States
You can change your country under 'Regional settings' near the bottom of this page
You can't open an account in United States
You can change your country under 'Regional settings' near the bottom of this page
Key differences
We took 8 criteria of our comparison (fee, account opening, customer service, markets&product, research, trading platform, deposit&withdrawal) and listed the angles with the greatest difference here below.
  • Deposit and withdrawal score
    1.8
    /5
  • Research score
    5.0
    /5
  • Markets and products score
    2.6
    /5
  • Deposit and withdrawal score
    4.8
    /5
  • Research score
    3.5
    /5
  • Markets and products score
    4.1
    /5
Recommended for
  • BeginnersYES
  • EquityYES
  • ForexNO
  • CFDNO
  • BeginnersYES
  • EquityYES
  • ForexNO
  • CFDYES
Best alternatives for Alpaca Trading
Best alternatives for Trading 212

Basic data of broker

Overall score
4.7

Recommended for Traders interested in algorithmic stock trading

Overall score
4.7

Recommended for Equity investors and CFD traders looking for easy-to-use trading platforms

Country of origin
Broker's country of establishment

USA

Country of origin
Broker's country of establishment

Bulgaria

Fees

Fees score
4.9
Fees score
4.1
Fees summary
BrokerChooser's qualitative summary on the broker's prices

Free stock and ETF trading, low non-trading fees

Fees summary
BrokerChooser's qualitative summary on the broker's prices

Commission-free real stocks and ETFs, high CFD fees

Stock and ETF fees

Forex fees

Fund fees

Bond fees

Options fees

Futures fees

Crypto fees

CFD fees

Non-trading fees

Deposit and withdrawal

Deposit and withdrawal score
1.8
Deposit and withdrawal score
4.8
Number of base currencies
How many account currencies you can choose from

1

Number of base currencies
How many account currencies you can choose from

12

Deposit type

Withdrawal type

Account opening

Account opening score
4.8
Account opening score
4.5
Account opening fully online
Account opening fully online
Minimum deposit
The minimum amount you have to deposit for using the account
$0 for retail account, $30,000 for business accounts
*

$0

*
Minimum deposit
The minimum amount you have to deposit for using the account
The minimum deposit for the Invest account is 1 euro, while the CFD account requires a 10 euro deposit.
*

$1

*
Time to open account
BrokerChooser estimation on time needed to access account after all documents are provided by customer

1 day

Time to open account
BrokerChooser estimation on time needed to access account after all documents are provided by customer

1 day

Required documents
Documents required for opening an account

Social security number, other proof of residence

Required documents
Documents required for opening an account

Proof of identity: passport / national ID / driver's licence Proof of residency: bank statement / utility bill / mortgage statement / credit card statement

Trading platform

Web platform score
3.7
Web platform score
4.4
Mobile platform score
4.2
Mobile platform score
4.9
Desktop platform score
-
Desktop platform score
-

Markets and products

Markets and products score
2.6
Markets and products score
4.1
Stocks
Stocks are available
only US stock exchanges
*
*
Stocks
Stocks are available
Fractional shares
Fractional shares are available
$1 is the minimum
*
*
Fractional shares
Fractional shares are available
£1 is the minimum
*
*
ETFs
ETFs are available
only US
*
*
ETFs
ETFs are available
Forex
Forex is available
Forex
Forex is available
Provided as a Forex CFD
*
*
Funds
Funds are available
Funds
Funds are available
Bonds
Bonds are available
Bonds
Bonds are available
Options
Options are available
Options
Options are available
Futures
Futures are available
Futures
Futures are available
Crypto
Crypto is available in any form (e.g. as a CFD or ETF)
Crypto
Crypto is available in any form (e.g. as a CFD or ETF)
CFD
*
*
CFDs
Any CFD is available, e.g. stock CFD or commodity CFD
CFDs
Any CFD is available, e.g. stock CFD or commodity CFD
CFD disclaimer

Disclaimer: 68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Research, education

Research score
5.0
Research score
3.5
Charting quality

Great

Charting quality

Great

Education score
5.0
Education score
4.0
Demo account
Demo account

Customer service

Customer service score
3.7
Customer service score
5.0
Phone
You can reach the broker by phone
Phone
You can reach the broker by phone
Live chat
Live chat is available
Live chat
Live chat is available
Email
Email support is available
Email
Email support is available
24/7 availability
At least one customer support channel, i.e. live chat, phone or email, is available even on the weekend
24/7 availability
At least one customer support channel, i.e. live chat, phone or email, is available even on the weekend

Security

Investor protection amount
The protection amount depends on the country where you opened your account. In the US, forex trading and commodity-related contract (e.g. futures or options) are generally not covered.

$500k (securities up to $500k, cash up to $250k)

Investor protection amount
The protection amount depends on the country where you opened your account. In the US, forex trading and commodity-related contract (e.g. futures or options) are generally not covered.

£85k to UK clients, €20k to others

Investor protection
Amount of the investor protection provided by the broker

$500k (securities up to $500k, cash up to $250k)

Investor protection
Amount of the investor protection provided by the broker

£85k to UK clients, €20k to others

Banking background
Whether the broker has a banking background
Banking background
Whether the broker has a banking background
Listed on stock exchange
The broker is listed on a stock exchange
Listed on stock exchange
The broker is listed on a stock exchange
Foundation date

2015

Foundation date

2004

Country of regulation
Which countries' regulators oversee the broker

USA

Country of regulation
Which countries' regulators oversee the broker

UK, Bulgaria, Cyprus

Alpaca TradingAlpaca Trading

For detailed information and hands-on experience, read our review of this broker.

Trading 212Trading 212

For detailed information and hands-on experience, read our review of this broker.

Everything you find on BrokerChooser is based on reliable data and unbiased information. We combine our 10+ years finance experience with readers feedback. Read more about our methodology.

Alpaca Trading's service is on par with Trading 212's and a comparison of their fees shows that Alpaca Trading's fees are slightly lower than Trading 212's.

Account opening takes about the same effort at Alpaca Trading compared to Trading 212, deposit and withdrawal processes are considerably more complicated at Alpaca Trading, while customer service quality is lower than Trading 212's.

Our experts rated the trading platform of Alpaca Trading as somewhat worse than the platform of Trading 212, found that clients have access to less markets and products with Alpaca Trading, while Trading 212 provides less useful research and education.

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