Trading 212 vs Lloyds Bank 2023

Trading 212 offers low-cost trading without lots of bells and whistles. Though tools, research and investments are limited, its user-friendliness and pricing may be an attractive option for the beginner trader.

Lloyds Bank can deliver value to the passive fund trader who places a few fund trades each year and requires little research. Outside of this customer mold, Lloyds quickly becomes expensive and can’t provide the same trading tools or research as top UK brokers.

Alongside the cost per trade, most UK online brokers also charge a monthly, quarterly, or annual management fee, which varies based on the account type and balance. Based on our thorough review, Trading 212 offers better pricing than Lloyds Bank for share dealing.

Assuming a £30,000 portfolio size, here are the total annual costs for share dealing with both brokers, given different monthly activity scenarios.

5 trades per year - Trading 212 would cost £0 per year, while Lloyds Bank would cost £47.5 per year.

12 trades per year - Trading 212 would cost £0 per year, while Lloyds Bank would cost £172 per year.

36 trades per year - Trading 212 would cost £0 per year, while Lloyds Bank would cost £436 per year.

120 trades per year - Trading 212 would cost £0 per year, while Lloyds Bank would cost £1000 per year.

3 fund trades per year - Trading 212 would cost £1.0 per year, while Lloyds Bank would cost £0.0 per year.

Trading 212 requires a minimum deposit of £1.0, while Lloyds Bank requires a minimum deposit of £0.0. From our testing we found for accounts between £0 - £250,000 Trading 212 charges annual custody fees of £0 (Other Fees Apply), while Lloyds Bank charges annual custody fees of £40 (flat).

Trading 212 offers investors access to ISA, Share Trading, CFD Trading and ETFs, while Lloyds Bank offers investors access to ISA, SIPP, Share Trading, Funds, ETFs, Bonds - Corporate, Bonds - Government (Gilts), Investment Trusts and Advisor Services. Neither have Spread Betting and Crypto Trading. Investing encompasses a wide variety of asset classes, so finding a broker that offers every investment type you are interested in is important.

Self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs) and individual savings accounts (ISAs) are tax-advantaged savings accounts that are an important tool for many individual investors. You can read more about how these accounts operate at Gov.UK: Click here for SIPP information and here for ISA information. Our analysis finds that Trading 212 offers traders access to ISA accounts, while Lloyds Bank offers traders access to SIPP and ISA accounts.

In our analysis of top brokers for share dealing in the U.K., we research whether each broker offers the ability to trade cash cryptocurrency, such as bitcoin and ethereum, which is still a somewhat rare offering amongst major U.K. brokers. Our review finds that neither Trading 212 and Lloyds Bank offer crypto investing.

Our testing concluded that Trading 212 is better for research than Lloyds Bank. Trading 212 offers more research options, including research reports, articles, and analyst ratings.

To compare the trading platforms of both Trading 212 and Lloyds Bank, we tested each broker's website, trading platform, trading tools and stock trading app. All features compared, our analysis finds that Trading 212 offers a better share dealing platform and Trading 212 offers a better stock app for mobile trading.

Educational offerings are of particular importance to those who are newer to investing, and we examine the availability of several different types of educational materials in our analysis. Our research finds that Trading 212 offers traders access to Education (Share Trading), while Lloyds Bank offers access to Client Webinars, Client Webinars (Archived), Education (Share Trading), Education (Funds) and Education (Retirement).