Degiro review – A trading platform with +50 exchanges

More than 450.000 investors on the platform
Low brokerage fees
Proven track record and high safety

My personal Degiro review 2020

This Degiro review is updated regularly to make sure it’s current. This is not sponsored in any way.

They offer discounted brokerage services in a variety of countries across Europe.

Let’s see what the Degiro platform is and whether it is something you should consider

What is Degiro?

Degiro is a well established European online broker with more than +50 exchanges available.

Degiro has partnered with different stock exchanges and exchanges for derivative instruments.

The platform is best known for its low brokerage fees which is one of their main advantages over other online brokers.

Since its establishment, the platform has won a few dozens of awards for various aspects of their business activities and products and services offered.

For instance, they have won the Best Low-cost Stockbroker in 2018 and 2017, Best online broker couple of years in a row, the Best Discount Broker in 2019, broker of the year awards, and many more.

Degiro history

Degiro was initially established in 2008 in the Netherlands and it launched its online brokerage services in 2013 for the Dutch market.

Nevertheless, Degiro is characterized by swift expansion and since 2013, the online trading platform is available used by retail investors in 18 countries.

In 2014 Degiro widened its reach by entering the market in 9 different countries and 8 more countries in 2015.

They state that Degiro became the largest online broker in the Netherlands in 2016 based on the number of processed transitions per year. Also, the trading platform entered the Swiss market in 2016.

They had more than 450,000 customers in 2019.

As an online discount broker, Degiro is subject to regulations by relevant financial authorities from the Netherlands and the UK such as the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) and the Dutch Central Bank (DNB).

The Degiro platform

Degiro has developed its trading platform and you can access the WebTrader from anywhere in the world as long as you have a stable internet connection.

All you need to execute your investments is to have your username and password. Moreover, we can access our accounts on the WebTrader through our browser or through the app they have developed for Android or iOS. Therefore, you can also execute trades on your mobile device.

The investor’s academy offered by Degiro in their knowledge section is something that goes in favor of the platform as it shows that the platform aims to help clients become successful traders. The WebTrader also offers tools such as technical indicators, charts, and so on, which can be used by the clients during their analysis.

However, there is no demo account available which I consider a minor drawback because I always want to have the chance to get familiar with the trading platform before I start trading with real money.

Investment assets available

First thing first, going through the stock exchanges listed on the UK website I noticed that you could trade shares from +50 exchanges.

The majority, or 22, of the exchanges, are from Europe but there also 4 exchanges from North America and 4 exchanges from Asia and Oceania.

Something that attracted my attention was the number of instruments offered on the Degiro trading platform. We can invest or trade a variety of instruments such as ownership assets, debt instruments or derivative instruments. Accordingly, Degiro offers the following instruments through its platform:

Shares;
Investment funds;
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs);
Futures;
Leveraged products;
Bonds;
Options;
Warrants;

Although they don’t offer the forex market or cryptocurrencies like some other online broker, they do have an acceptable number of instruments.

Nevertheless, not having the two markets can be considered a drawback because FX and crypto markets are quite popular among traders nowadays.

The sign-up process

I recommend that you go through the FAQ section and get yourself better acquainted with the way this platform functions because there are some aspects involved in the process of managing your account that should be understood.

To join Degiro you should select the local website listed for your country. The platform is available in a total of 18 countries.

You can register online even if you are not resigning in some of the 18 countries as long as you have a bank account from the accepted countries which are the EU countries (except for Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, and Romania.), Norway and Switzerland.

Moreover, aside from retail investors, corporate investors can also open an account with the platform.

Here we are interested in the process for retail investors. So, the signup process for a free account is as follows:

Hit the open an account button
Fill in the necessary data (user name, password, and email);
Wait for a confirmation mail;
Make a preliminary transfer through your bank (Degiro confirms your identity using derived bank information). This transfer can be as low as £0.01 and serves the purpose to confirm your identity. In addition, you should pay attention to deposit funds in the same currency as your Degiro account. Unfortunately, Degiro doesn’t accept money transfers from TransferWise or similar third-party apps.
A confirmation email will be sent once the funds are available on your account (they say up to 3 business days);
You have access to the WebTrader.

Furthermore, you can decide to open your account in some of the five different profiles available, which are Custody, Basic, Active, Trader, and Day Trader.

The difference between the profiles is in the level of security, costs, and trading instruments and services available.

The good thing though is that we can have more than one personal page with the needed profile in accordance with your trading activities.

Degiro platform fees

The fees are one of the most important advantages of Degiro that attracts a higher number of investors and traders.

Even though the fees can differ from one country to another the difference in the fees is not drastic.
There are no fees charged for registering an account with Degiro and clients don’t pay an inactivity fee.

In addition, you won’t be paying maintenance, general service, or custody fee either when you trade with this platform. Moreover, you will be subject to Giro Exchange Connectivity Fee only when you use some of the exchanges and the charge is only €2.5 per exchange per year.

See the full list of fees

The comparison between Degiro fees and other brokers’ fees available on the website shows that you can save up to 100% on your trading fees, depending on the type of instrument and stock exchange where you invest with Degiro.

I must say that an opportunity to make substantial savings on your trading fees is especially important if you trade on a regular basis and execute multiple transactions per day or per month.

Platform safety

The safety of our funds is of the utmost importance when we decide where to invest. I think you are in very good hands when you use this platform.

Well, first things first, it can be said that relevant financial authorities ensure the proper conduct of business activities and provide assurance that the platform is compliant with the regulations.

Degiro platform is regulated and controlled by the:

Netherland Central Bank
Dutch Supervisory
FCA in the UK

Moreover, additional safety for your funds is imposed by the fact that Degiro needs to maintain your funds on segregated accounts and Degiro invests the money received from clients into Money Market Funds.

Degiro clients are additionally protected by the Dutch Investor Protection Scheme. The scheme offers protection of up to €20,000 for individual investors.

In case something happens with this online broker, your investments are safe because a separate custodian entity keeps them. Accordingly, the investments made by the clients are separated from Degiro assets. The former means that if for some unbelievable reason, Degiro bankrupts, your investments will not be subject to paying off Degiro’s creditors.

Let’s not forget that Degiro also pays attention to its technical safety by setting up a Two-factor Authentication which augments platform security.