Trading 212 allows clients to trade ETFs, stocks, forex, and CFD. It was founded in 2004 with a head office in London. The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bulgarian Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) regulate the broker.
Pros and Cons
Trading ETFs and stock is free with Trading 212. Currently, there is a waiting list to open an account, on which we’ll provide more details later. Otherwise, it’s fast and easy to open one. The mobile and web trading platforms are intuitive and well-designed.
As a minus, there is no possibility to trade bonds or options and there is a limited product portfolio. Neither live chat nor phone support is available, and forex fees are relatively high.
Minimum deposit
The minimum deposit is just $10 for ISA or Invest accounts and $1 for CFD accounts. Clients who want to start small will appreciate this.
Trading 212 Account Types
The broker offers three account types differing depending on the countries, in which assets are available and which assets can be traded. CFD and Invest accounts are available worldwide. ISA accounts, which let you trade ETFs and real stocks, are only available in the UK. No corporate accounts are available.
When your name comes up on the waiting list, enter your country of residence, your date of birth, and your email address to open an account. The broker will ask for tax information, predictably, including tax ID and which country you’re a taxpayer in. then, you must choose the account type and the account base currency. The broker will ask for proof of address and proof of identity.
Low Fees
Trading 212’s fees are relatively low when we compared them to those other brokers charge. Before we get into the details, we need to differentiate between trading and non-trading fees. The former are charged upon making a trade and include financing rates, spreads, commissions, and conversion fees. The latter include charges like inactivity fees, withdrawal fees, and others not directly related to trading. The most important fees are financing rates, commissions, and spreads in the case of stock index and forex trading.
Trading Fees
Trading 212’s trading fees are transparently presented. For instance, daily swap rates are published. These are easy to access through the trading platform or website. To evaluate the fees, we compared them to those charged by other brokers and calculated the fees for selected products of a typical trade. We analyzed popular instruments within each class of assets, such as stock CFDs, stock index CFDs, and forex. Of these, we studied Apple and Vodafone for the first, SPX and EUSTX50 for the second, and fees on forex exchange of AUDUSD, EURCHF, EURUSD, GBPUSD, and EURGBP.
What is a typical trade? Usually, it involves holding a leveraged position for one week and then selling. In terms of volume, we used leverage of 5:1 for stock CFDs, 20:1 for stock index CFDs, and 30:1 for forex to establish benchmark fees and commissions, spreads, and financing costs.
ETF Fees and Stock Fees
Trading 212 is focused on CFD as a broker and offers ETF and real stock trading as well. They do not charge commission. You must open an Invest account to trade real stocks and ETFs.
Non-trading fees
The broker’s non-trading fees are very good as well. In fact, no account, withdrawal, or inactivity fees are charged. It’s also free to make a deposit by bank transfer to the CFD accounts and to the Invest accounts. If you deposit more than 2,000 euros to Invest by debit card, credit card, or e-wallet, you will incur a 0.7% deposit fee.
No conversion fee is charged for ETFs and real stocks. On forex trading and CFD trading, there is a 0.5% currency conversion fee. You will incur currency conversion charges when you trade an asset that’s in a currency different from your account base on.
Deposit and Withdrawal in Trading 212
The broker does not charge a deposit fee. Withdrawals are quick, free, and can be done in one of many ways, including by credit or debit card. As a downside, there are only limited options for base currencies to open an account in. Trading 212 supports all the major currencies, such as British pounds, euros, US dollars, and Swiss francs. A number of European currencies is available too: RON, PLN, NOK, SEK, and CZK. However, there is a catch: in each country, just several account base currencies are available. Typically, you can open an account in US dollars or the local currency. Euros and pounds are available in the UK.
You won’t pay a conversion fee if the currency you trade assets in is the same as your base one or you fund your trading account in the same currency as that of your bank account. The smartest option is going to a digital bank and opening a multi-currency account there. This helps save on currency conversion fees.
Trading 212 have low-cost or free international bank transfers and great exchange rates for bank accounts denominated in multiple currencies.
Deposit Options and Fees on Trading212
The broker does not charge any deposit fees when you make a deposit to an Invest account via bank transfer or one to a CFD account. Deposit options include the following e-wallets:
- PayPal
- Google Pay
- Skrill
- Dotpay
- Apple Pay
- Giropay
- Direct eBanking
- Carte Bleue
- iDEAL
Not all of these options are available in every country. It takes some research to figure out where they are available.
Duration of Withdrawal
It takes about a business day to withdraw money from Trading 212. To do so, go to ‘Manage funds’ in your account and enter your password. Choose the sum you want to withdraw and confirm the transaction. It’s quick and painless.
Web Trading Platform
Trading 212’s state of the art web trading platform is available in English, German, Spanish, Dutch, French, Russian, Chinese, Arabian, Italian, Polish, and Romanian. It is easy to customize. Tab size and position are simple to change.
Security and Search
You can set up two-step authentication only through Trading 212’s mobile app. The broker’s search functions work satisfactorily.
