DEGIRO Review

DEGIRO offers cheap stock trading on a modest trading platform, charging only £1.75 + 0.014% per trade, with a maximum charge of £5. Fees for trading funds, however, are more costly. DEGIRO does not offer ISA or SIPP accounts and lags competitors in fundamental research and education.

• Minimum Deposit: $0.00
• ISA: No
• SIPP: No

DEGIRO pros & cons

Pros:

• Low fees for share trading.
• Offers commission-free trading on U.S. shares.
• Options and futures trading from EUR 0.75 per contract ($0.75 for U.S. options/futures).
• 208 European ETFs where first trade can be commission-free, subject to terms.

Cons:

• The trading platform and mobile app are average at best.
• Lacklustre fundamental research beyond basic company information.
• SIPP and ISA accounts are not available.

Overall summary

Commissions & fees

DEGIRO's fees for trading individual stocks in the U.K., Europe, and the United States are significantly lower than most offerings from other major U.K. online brokers, which helped it stand out in our review of best trading platforms in the U.K. The fee structure makes DEGIRO an attractive option for frequent traders or investors seeking a "no-frills" broker.

Stock pricing: The fee for trading individual shares in the U.K. is £1.75 + 0.014% per trade, with a maximum charge of £5. For U.S. markets, share trading is commission-free, while for European markets, the charges range from €2.00 + 0.118% up to €10.00 + .0168%. There is also an annual charge of €2.50 per calendar year per exchange traded on (outside of the LSE).

Fund pricing: Fees for trading funds range from €7.50 plus 0.10% for exchange-listed investment funds up to €75.00 plus 0.10% for non-exchange-listed investment funds. There is also an annual charge for holding unit trusts/funds (a custodial fee of 0.2% per annum).

Market data: By default, customers receive free delayed market data for available exchanges. To access real-time streaming market data, customers must subscribe to each exchange individually, by paying €2.50 to €10.00 per month (£4.50 for the U.K.).

Bottom line: Traders focused on stocks will appreciate DEGIRO’s industry-leading fees. Traders with a mixed approach of stocks and funds may find more to their liking at FinecoBank, which offers competitive commissions for stocks and better commissions for funds. For a no-frills, basic but user-friendly option with super low fees, investors may also want to look at the low/zero commissions offered by Capital.com, Trading 212 and Freetrade.

Scenario pricing: When calculating annual share dealing costs, trading frequency and account balance are the two most important factors to consider. Assuming a £30,000 portfolio in a traditional, taxable share dealing account, here are four scenarios of how much DEGIRO would cost based on trade frequency (assuming each trade is £5,000):

• 5 deals per year (£5,000 trade value) = £12.25 (£2.45 x 5)
• 12 deals per year (£5,000 trade value) = £29.40 (£2.45 x 12)
• 36 deals per year (£5,000 trade value) = £88.2 (£2.45 x 36)
• 120 deals per year (£5,000 trade value) = £294 (£2.45 x 120)
• 3 fund deals per year (£5,000 trade value) = £67.50 (€7.50 plus 0.10%) + (.20% service fee) x 3

DEGIRO pricing summary:

Mobile trading apps

DEGIRO's mobile app, like the desktop platform, is extremely basic in terms of research offered. However, on the plus side, the app is very user-friendly and straightforward to navigate. (See our 2021 picks for Best Mobile Trading Apps.)

The ability to create watchlists (described as "Favourites" on the DEGIRO platform) and trade directly from the mobile app is useful. The “Favourites” automatically synchronise between the website and the mobile app, which is not the case on some competitors’ apps.

In the charting package, pulling up an interactive chart takes you out of the app into a third-party website, which is far from convenient, whilst the charting tools are rather cumbersome in this format.

On the plus side, the DEGIRO app has face and touch ID for easy login, a nice feature.

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Other platforms & tools

DEGIRO has a minimalistic platform, trailing top competitors such as Saxo Markets and Interactive Brokers.

Charting: DEGIRO has improved its charting over the past couple of years, with pop-out interactive charts allowing traders to utilize 13 different indicators, nine drawing tools, and multiple chart types and views. Traders can even save chart templates. While it is a bit annoying to have to open a new web tab to access these features, it is still an improvement.

Overall though, the charting package offered by DEGIRO is average at best and this is an area in which the offering could easily be improved — particularly as the low fees are likely to attract investors who trade frequently and are more likely to demand an above-average charting platform (and mobile app).

DEGIRO trading tools:

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Research

Over recent years DEGIRO has significantly expanded its research offering. For most stocks, DEGIRO offers financial reports (balance sheet, income statement, cash flow) and information about upcoming dividends and earnings, as well as company overviews, key ratios, and even analyst ratings. DEGIRO also offers news coverage, with both articles and videos. Although DEGIRO's overall research experience has improved, the research available for individual shares does not compare to brokers such as Hargreaves Lansdown and Interactive Brokers.

DEGIRO research:

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Offering of investments

DEGIRO offers its clients access to a broad range of investments, including stocks, funds, bonds and gilts, ETFs, options, and futures. DEGIRO currently provides access to 30 international exchanges, providing either Direct to Market access or Smart Order Routing (SOR) through Morgan Stanley. All 30 exchanges lie within Europe, North America, Asia, and Oceania.

Currently, DEGIRO only offers a general trading account. Unfortunately, U.K. clients cannot open an Investment Savings Account (ISA) or join a personal pension saving scheme (SIPP). The cheapest U.K. brokers that offer ISA/SIPP accounts are Freetrade, for both ISAs and SIPPs; and Trading 212 and Capital.com for ISAs only.

DEGIRO offering of investments:

Education

While DEGIRO's educational offering is limited, the content it does provide is of high quality. Built internally by the company, DEGIRO offers 10 educational videos through its Investor's Academy, which covers shares trading and the broader investment journey. A couple additional videos depict things like how to buy a stock or bond, and there are articles on technical and fundamental analysis, options strategies, compound interest, and dollar cost averaging.

Despite being a low-fee, no-frills broker, the area of education is one where we feel DEGIRO could expand on what is currently a good quality offering. We watch with interest.

DEGIRO education:

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Final thoughts

If you are an investor looking for a low-cost way to trade stocks, DEGIRO is a solid choice, particularly for U.S. shares, which are commission-free. The trading platform is basic, but it is efficient and straightforward to use.

However, the low/zero commissions offered by Capital.com, Trading 212 and Freetrade are a challenge to DEGIRO’s low-fee, no-frills approach; and if you are a longer-term investor and require strong fundamental research, are looking for cheap funds trading, or want an ISA or SIPP account type, DEGIRO does not deliver.

About DEGIRO

Established in the Netherlands in 2013 by five previous Binck Bank employees, DEGIRO offers a low-cost alternative to the current range of brokerage platforms. Low trading fees and charges, alongside an advanced trading platform, have seen DEGIRO grow significantly (it is currently active in 18 countries) and it now cites more than 1 million customers.