DEGIRO Review

Choosing a broker is an important step when you start investing. There are many different options available, so picking the right one can be hard. Let’s take a closer look at DEGIRO, a European stock broker that serves traders from 17 countries. DEGIRO is owned by a publicly listed German bank and brokerage firm. We’ll talk about the pros and cons, fees structure, account types, regulations, and more. By the end, you’ll have a clearer vision of whether DEGIRO is the right broker for you to invest your savings or if you’d prefer another broker.

🏢 Headquarters	Netherlands
📅 Year founded	2008
🗺️ Regulation	BaFin, AFM, DNB
💻 Trading platform:	DEGIRO’s proprietary platform (mobile app and web terminal)
💰 Account currency:	State currency of the client’s residence country
📊 Accounts:	Custodian, Basic, Active, For a trader, For a day trader
💵 Withdrawal:	Bank transfer using the Sofort and Trustly services
🚀 Minimum deposit:	From 1 unit of the base account currency
⚖️ Leverage:	1:300
☪️ Islamic account (swap free)	No
🎮 Demo Account	No
💱 Spread:	No
🔧 Instruments:	Shares, ETFs, Currencies, Leveraged products, Bonds, Options, Futures
📋 Orders execution:	No
☎ Customer Support:	24*7
📚 Education	Yes

What is DEGIRO?

DEGIRO is a company started by former BinckBank workers in 2008. They made it for people who want to invest in stocks online. At first, they mainly worked with professional investors. But in 2013, they started a simple online platform for everyone. Since then, they’ve become really successful. Now, they help more than 2.5 million customers, making them one of the biggest brokers in Europe.

They started helping regular people invest in 2013, and now they’re in 18 European countries. DEGIRO lets traders use more than fifty exchanges in thirty countries. This helps investors spread their money around the world. They’re always improving their service based on what their customers say, so users have the best experience possible.

DEGIRO is now part of the German flatex bank. They have thousands of ETFs and stocks to pick from. DEGIRO is one of the cheapest brokers around. You can use DEGIRO from 16 different countries.

Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Lowest fees in the market.	Can’t trade forex.
Lots of ETFs to choose from, good for long-term investors.	Limited tools for research.
You don’t need to deposit a minimum amount to open an account.	Can’t deposit using credit or debit cards.
Simple trading platforms, good for beginners.

Fees & Commissions

DEGIRO charges a fee of 10.00 EUR for each position you transfer to or from DEGIRO. They also charge interest of 4.90% per year, which is calculated monthly.

Account Types

DEGIRO offers four types of accounts: Basic, Active, Trader, and Day Trader. When you sign up, you’ll automatically get a Basic Account. Later, you can upgrade to Active, Trader, or Day Trader by answering some questions to make sure you understand the new level of risk (DEGIRO does this because of legal rules).

In the Basic Account, you can access a simple fee structure and trade most financial things. But, there are some things you can’t do. You can’t trade options, futures, do short selling, or borrow money to trade.

However, if you upgrade to Active, Trader, or Day Trader, you can trade everything available in the Basic Account. 

The only difference between Active and Trader Accounts is how much money you can borrow: up to 50% and 100% of what your account holds, respectively. With the Day Trader account, you can trade more often during market hours (there are special limits and rules for Day Traders between 8:00 and 21:30 CET – More info here). The Day Trader account isn’t shown in the image because you have to ask for it to activate it.

Trading Platforms

DEGIRO has an online platform for all kinds of investors – from beginners to pros. It started as a broker for big clients in 2008. Then, in September 2013, it opened up its service for regular people in many European countries. They keep making their platform better using feedback from users. They offer lots of ETFs, which are good for long-term investors who want to spread their investments across more than 50 exchanges in over 30 countries.

Regulation & Security

DEGIRO is a licensed investment firm. Big authorities control it, and it has strong banking experience. DNB in the Netherlands makes sure they’re honest, and AFM in the Netherlands checks they’re behaving well. They follow rules in many places. It makes sure your information and money are safe. They have systems to protect your data and keep your assets secure. They want to make sure trading with them is safe for you.

Is DEGIRO regulated?

Yes, it is. The company that runs DEGIRO is called flatexDEGIRO Bank Dutch Branch, which is part of flatexDEGIRO Bank AG. DEGIRO B.V. and flatexDEGIRO Bank AG joined together in early 2021 to become Europe’s biggest online broker that can do trades without advice and has its own banking permit.

flatexDEGIRO Bank AG is a German bank, so mainly, it’s watched over by the German financial watchdog, the Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFin). Other countries’ regulators where DEGIRO is active also know about DEGIRO’s work. In the Netherlands, the Dutch Central Bank (DNB) keeps an eye on DEGIRO’s integrity. In the UK, DEGIRO is authorized and supervised by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Deposits and Withdrawals

The safe Degiro back office handles all money moves for confirmed clients. Degiro offers only bank wires and SOFORT as ways to deposit and take out money, which I’m not happy about. But, it goes with the rule of needing to open a bank account when signing up. There are no fees for transactions inside Degiro, except if you deposit money in a different currency than your account, there’s a 0.25% charge for currency conversion.

However, you should think about possible extra fees from other banks. SOFORT deposits are done within 30 minutes, but withdrawing money can take two to four business days, as Degiro mentions.

Customer Support

Degiro has customer support available 24/7 through email. You can also call them Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Swiss time. They have a Swiss Service Desk, which includes a trading desk. However, there isn’t a direct phone line to the finance department, where most problems come up. They have a FAQ section that answers lots of questions, and they explain their products and services well.

Conclusion

In conclusion, DEGIRO is a great option for investors at any experience level who want to build a long-term portfolio of global ETFs and stocks. We found the trading platforms easy to use, and we liked that we could buy popular ETFs at almost no cost once every month – which is great if you just want to invest your monthly savings. However, DEGIRO isn’t very useful for short-term traders because its platforms don’t have fancy charts, and fees for trading derivatives are high.