DEGIRO Review 2023
DEGIRO is an online stock broker based in the Netherlands. Founded in 2013, the company has been providing trading services across multiple financial markets. Best known for its stocks and ETF listings, the broker is a top choice for stock traders looking for a cheap pricing structure. However, the company lags behind rivals in both research and educational offerings. This piece reviews the broker in detail.
BANNER: SINCE ITS FOUNDATION IN 2013, DEGIRO HAS SPREAD IN OVER 18+ EUROPEON COUNTRIES, AMASSING MORE THAN 10K USERS. SIGN UP WITH DEGIRO TO START A PROFITABLE TRADING JOURNEY.
Regulation and Security
DEGIRO is a multi-regulated brokerage firm. The company holds regulations from top-tier regulators in various jurisdictions, including;
- United Kingdom: Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
- Germany: Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin)
- Netherlands: De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB)
The brokerage is a member firm of the German Investor Compensation Scheme. In the case of liquidation, customers can seek compensation for damages up to 20,000 EUR. Further, DEGIRO Cash Account deposits at flatexDEGIRO Bank AG are also ensured under the German Deposit Guarantee Scheme up to an additional 100,000 EUR. However, the compensation payments are only made to traders in the German jurisdiction; thus, you must confirm your nation’s status before signing up.
Additionally, the organization employs advanced measures like SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) protocols and two-factor authentication to safeguard its customers’ financial data.
Negative Balance Protection
Unfortunately, DEGIRO doesn’t offer negative balance protection. That means clients could lose more money than they have invested with the company.
Funds Segregation
Funds from customers are held in a separate account from the company’s operating capital. The broker uses a separate legal entity (SPV) for its client’s funds.
Is DEGIRO Available Worldwide?
The company accepts clients from major parts of the world, such as Europe and the UK. However, it primarily extends its services to 18+ European countries, including the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, France, Republic, Spain, Austria, Czech, Greece, Hungary, Portugal, Poland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.
Supported Platforms
The broker provides a web-based interface and a mobile app for trading on the move. A key drawback for investors is that the company neither supports the popular MT4 trading platform nor does it offer the industry’s renowned third-party trading platforms MT5 and cTrader. However, it strives to provide clients with a similar trading experience through its proprietary platform.
Online Trading: The brokers offer a user-friendly trading interface for those who prefer browser-based trading. The web terminal has all the tools and indicators required for a meaningful trading experience. The market tab search bar allows clients to find desired tradable assets, while clients can use the favourite tab to access their prefered financial instruments. The company supports several order types, including market execution, limit, stop limit, and stop loss, besides allowing several order conditions, such as “Day” and “Good-til-cancelled” (GTC).
The charting feature may require updating, but at least it’s pretty customizable. The broker provides access to more than 20 technical indicators and 9+ drawing tools to aid clients in performing asset price analysis. Due to technical constraints, the company only sends confirmations through email. However, both price and volume alert notifications are not available. Overall, the web terminal offers a rich trading experience to both newbies and veterans.
Mobile Trading: The company also offers a mobile trading app so that investors may manage their accounts from their smartphones whenever and wherever they choose. While the DEGIRO mobile app has some useful features, it does not provide the same robust search tools accessible via the web terminal. The smartphone app is intuitive and easy to use. All the options are at your fingertips, quite literally.
Faster logins are possible using touch or facial recognition in the mobile trading app. Clients can use the synchronized watchlist functionality to keep tabs on their preferred stocks and place trades conveniently. That’s interesting because not all rivals’ mobile apps sync up with their websites automatically. However, the charting suite’s inability to view interactive charts without first leaving the current window and navigating to a separate website is a significant downside of the mobile platform.
Account Types
When trading with DEGIRO, investors can choose between four types of accounts: Basic, Active, Trader, and Day Trader.
Basic: This is the default account which offers custody functions besides product and warrant trading. Despite being loaded with all the basic features and services, it doesn’t support leveraged trading.
Active: Unlike the Basic account, Active account holders can use leverage to increase their market exposure. The ability to short and purchase on up to 50% margin are two of its extra features. However, all other perks this account offers stay the same as the Basic account, including the pricing element.
Trader: Users with the Trader account can spend 100% of their available margin for purchases. The processing of dividends and coupons is also available at no additional cost to traders with this account type. There is no change to the trading fees either.
Day Trader: With this account, clients can trade derivatives and make purchases using as much as 100% of their available margin, with additional margins accessible during trading hours.
The company neither supports demo trading nor offers an Islamic account to shariah practising traders. This can be daunting, especially for Muslim traders who do not want to receive or pay interest charges on their positions.
Note: DEGIRO also offers tax-free investment choices in several European nations. Please be informed that the account types may also vary from country to country. Therefore, you must visit the site designated for your country to learn more about available account types.
Signing Up
DEGIRO’s account opening process is straightforward but time-consuming. While the online registration form is accessible from the desktop, you need to download the mobile trading app for the KYC procedure. Let us list down the hoops you need to jump through to join DEGIRO.
1) Visit the broker’s official website and click the open an account button to access the registration page.
2) Enter an email address and choose a password.
3) Open your email inbox and click the link received from the broker to continue.
4) Provide your details and submit the supporting documents to verify your identity.
5) Fill in your tax information.
6) Read the terms and conditions and sign the clientele agreement form.
Once your account is verified, you can fund it to start initiating trades.
Note: You can use a copy of your National ID Card, Passport, or Driving license for ID verification. The company also requires a copy of your utility bill or bank statement to verify your address.
Trading Dashboard
You’ll be greeted by a clean, straightforward layout when you log in to your trading account. Information regarding your orders and pricing may be seen below the left-hand pane, which displays your current balance with a transparent representation of your portfolio and cash holdings. The activity tab lets you view your recent trades and financial transactions, while available tradable assets are featured under the product tab. You can also use the market’s tab search feature to find your desired financial instrument. The avatar icon is available for profile configuration. You may use it to set or modify your account credentials and trading preferences.
Deposit and Withdrawals
For deposits and withdrawals, DEGIRO does not offer as many choices as available with its competitors. The sole accepted account funding method is a wire transfer. Since the company doesn’t support third-party payments, the bank account should also be in your name only.
The company hasn’t stipulated any thresholds for maximum or minimum deposits. You can deposit as small as 0.01 GBP to get started. Notably, you fund your account using the account’s base currency only. For instance, clients in the United Kingdom who open GBP accounts must fund their accounts with GBP.
Concerning withdrawals, clients may request any amount without incurring withdrawal charges. Notably, the corporation does not approve of any requests for immediate transfers. Bank transfers may take 2 – 3 working days to appear in your account. If you want things to go through quickly, you can set up a direct debit or standing order with your bank.
Instruments
Unlike most brokers, DEGIRO does not deal in currency pairings despite its extensive selection of instruments. Clients can trade stocks, bonds, options, futures, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). With DEGIRO’s direct market access or Morgan Stanley’s Smart Order Routing (SOR), traders can connect to 30 different exchanges worldwide. Most of the exchanges are within North America, Europe, and Asia.
Commissions and Fees
DEGIRO’s pricing varies from country to country. The broker has minimal trading fees throughout the board. Margin accounts have low financing rates that shift based on accounts’ base currency. Withdrawals and deposits are free on DEGIRO. However, checking with your card issuer is critical to see if any fees will be applied. DEGIRO does not charge its users an inactivity or administration fee. But there is a 0.25% currency conversion fee applicable on funds transferred in currencies other base currency of your account.
The company primarily makes money through commissions. In the UK, each trade will cost you £1.75 plus 0.014%, up to a maximum of £5. In contrast to the United States, where stock trades incur no costs, their European counterparts may be subject to commissions of between €2.00+ 0.118% and €10.00 + .0168%. Outside the London Stock Exchange, a yearly subscription fee of €2.50 is applicable for each exchange traded on the platform.
On the other hand, trading equities from Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and other countries in the Asia-Pacific area costs customers an additional €5.00, whereas it costs €2 to make a deal in Irish securities.
However, except for the Tradegate exchange, investors can trade ETFs anywhere in the world for just €2.00. The fee for trading ETFs on the listed exchange is €3.90, but it may vary based on certain conditions. Click here to find more details regarding Degiro’s pricing.
Spreads
The company hasn’t listed any details concerning spreads on its official website.
Leverage
Using readily available types of borrowed currency, or “leverage,” improves one’s purchasing power. Most brokers offer different leverage levels to help clients enhance their market exposure. However, employing increased leverage can be detrimental, especially if you are new to trading. It can wipe off your account within no time under volatile market conditions.
Analysis and Education
DEGIRO has a small selection of educational materials. However, the quality of available resources is pretty good. Around 10+ videos are available in the Investor’s Academy, covering a wide range of investing-related topics, from share trading to the entire investment process. Blog posts featuring market insights and ideas are also a part of the broker’s educational library.
Besides how-to-manuals, clients can access a handful of written content featuring fundamental and technical analysis and a discussion of alternative trading strategies. In a nutshell, we think the company’s training programme could use some tweaks. For instance, learning courses with assessment modules and a glossary can be a superb addition.
Customer Service
DEGIRO offers multilingual customer support. The broker is available via phone and email, but we still crave personal interaction. The company also has an FAQ page where customers can look up answers to their questions and find their resolutions independently. Clients can also reach the company over Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube.
Reputation amongst Traders
DEGIRO is rated as an average broker on Trustpilot. Clients seem to have mixed opinions about the company. While some clients appraise the broker for its vast range of stock listings and cheap pricing structure, others criticize it for missing major markets like currencies and commodities under its list of offerings. After 3.3K+ reviews, the broker’s score stands around 3.8 out of 5 stars.
Awards
DEGIRO has won several awards for its quality services over the years;
- Best Discount Broker 2022 Award by Broker Chooser (UK)
- Best Online Broker 2022 Award by QualeBroker (Italy)
- Best Broker for ETFs and Investment Funds 2022 Award by QualeBroker (Italy)
- Best Broker for Stocks 2021 Award by Rankia (Italy)
- Best broker for stock trading 2021 by Broker Chooser (UK)
- First Place Daytrader Broker 2020 by Broker-Wahl.de (Germany)
Can beginners trade with DEGIRO?
Since DEGIRO lists relatively complex financial instruments to trade, such as bonds, stocks, futures, and ETFs, it might not be suitable for those new to the industry. While the company lacks to offer rich educational resources, it doesn’t provide a demo account either. The broker’s apparent edge over its competitors is its cheap pricing structure and the low deposit requirement that may provoke beginners to come on board.
Summing Up
The brokerage does not offer a practice account, and the sign-up process is more time-consuming than its competitors. Moreover, the absence of major financial markets like forex and commodities and limited payment methods could instigate traders to seek an alternative option. On the other hand, with DEGIRO, you may gain access to numerous markets and a wide variety of products at competitive prices across several different exchanges. The company maintains a price point that is consistent with the market norm. While the broker operates under a rigorous regulatory framework, compensation for lost assets and deposit protection can entice risk-averse traders.
