DEGIRO Review

With this DEGIRO Review we tried to find out if Degiro is really one of the best Forex Brokers. We conducted an in-depth review to find out the answer and bring it to you!

DEGIRO is a Dutch online broker headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It was established in 2008 by a group of five former employees of Binck Bank to service the professional stock trading market. In September 2013, the company expended its offering to retail investors in the Netherlands.

In 2014 and 2015 DEGIRO then further expanded to offer its trading platform across more European countries.

Their Mission Statement says that “DEGIRO wants to provide added value by developing affordable, custom-made financial services for investors worldwide.” Their Vision is “By combining technology and financial knowledge, DEGIRO creates high-quality and cost-effective financial services for everyone.” 

Our Rating: 8.2

Reliability 90%
Offers 80%
Customer Service 70%
Spread 80%
Speed of Execution 80%
Uptime 90%
degiro review

Trading Conditions

Max Leverage:30:1
Platform:
Min Deposit:€ 0.01
Spread:From €4.00 plus 0.04 percent
Cuts out Dealing Desk:Partial

Methods of deposit and offers

Deposit / Withdraw:
Welcome offer:n/a
Rebates Engine Forex:Coming soon!

SECURITY AT DEGIRO

In Summary

  • FCA regulated
  • High-level web security
  • Safety of funds
  • No dealing-desk intervention

DEGIRO is supervised by the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) and the De Nederlandsche Bank (The Dutch Central Bank) (DNB).

DEGIRO is further registered and authorised with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Potential investors should first be aware that DEGIRO is not a bank, but an investment company under Dutch law. As a consequence, this has an impact above all on deposit protection, which is not 100,000 euros as with banks, but only 20,000 euros per customer.

Since DEGIRO is not a bank but an investment firm, it immediately exchanges the money that clients transfer to one of the Money Market Funds. The Money Market Funds are investment funds that aim, with as little risk as possible, to achieve a yield that is slightly below the regular market rate in the currency concerned. Customers can currently choose between funds from Morgan Stanley Investment Management and Fund Share. The aim of the funds is to achieve a return that corresponds to the market interest rate with the lowest possible risk.

All assets within the Money Market Funds are held separately by an independent legal entity and therefore do not run any risk in the event of bankruptcy of DEGIRO.

DEGIRO is registered and authorised with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Spreads Comparison

DEGIRO 70%
PEPPERSTONE 100%
THINK MARKETS 80%
IC MARKETS 100%
XM 100%
ALPARI 90%

CHARGES AND MARGINS AT DEGIRO

In Summary

  • CFD costs: €4.00 plus 0.04% / order
  • Up to 30:1 leverage
  • Options & futures trading  from €0.75 per contract

The actual DEGIRO fees highly depend on which underlying assets traders want to trade.

Overall, DEGIRO offers low fees on all available financial instruments. Customers with DEGIRO accounts can trade shares, ETFs, options, futures, bonds, warrants and CFDs which are all subject to low-cost trading fees that are highly competitive.

There are no account opening, account keeping or any other hidden fees.

DEGIRO accounts do not require a minimum balance and there is also no minimum deposit amount applicable.

Below are a few cost examples out of DEGIRO’s fee schedule:

Our test report reveals that DEGIRO is particularly convincing with its customer-friendly terms that go hand in hand with its user-friendly trading platform and fast account opening.

Costs for CFD trading are at a competitive level:

At present only underlying securities from the two stock exchanges Euronext Derivates Paris and London Stock Exchange are tradable. DEGIRO CFD fees are €4.00 plus 0.04 percent (maximum €60) per order. As is the case with almost all brokerage firms there are possibly rolling costs as well as overnight fees or SWAP rates. Overall, DEGIRO CFD trading is at a competitive level, but due to the limited selection of underlying assets only interesting for certain traders.

Options and futures trading is already available for a very low order fee of just €0.75 per contract.

For certificates and shares trading, customers pay a basic fee of €2.00 and a percentage order fee of 0.10 percent (certificates) or 0.008 percent (shares).

Here’s a quick example of DEGIRO’s fee schedule for some of their portfolio products:

Degiro Different accounts types review

TECHNOLOGY

In Summary

  • Solid trade execution
  • Proprietary trading platform
  • Web- and mobile trading
  • Great features

DEGIRO offers their own proprietary trading platform which is easy-to-use, user-friendly and available as a web platform (browser based HTML platform) as well as a mobile app for both Android and iOS devices. The DEGIRO platform offers comprehensive tools, real-time streaming of prices, market news, and an extensive range of order capabilities (such as stop-loss, limit order, stop limit or take profit for example).

Other popular trading platforms such as MetaTrader 4 (MT4), MetaTrader 5 (MT5), cTrader or social trading platforms like myfxbook or ZuluTrade cannot be connected to with a DEGIRO account.

Mobile trading is simple and straight forward and all features of the web trading platform are also available on the mobile app.

Orders can either be placed by the number of stocks / the underlying asset or by the value of the order. This way, DEGIRO customers immediately know the amount of stocks they can buy or sell. This is a great feature that any active trader will find very handy to have.

Execution of Speed Comparison

DEGIRO 90%
PEPPERSTONE 100%
THINK MARKETS 90%
IC MARKETS 100%
XM 90%
ALPARI 80%

CUSTOMER SERVICE AND CLIENTS SUPPORT

In Summary

  • 24/5 customer support
  • Large European clients’ base
  • Trading & Custody account options
  • Limited funding options

DEGIRO customers can contact their customer support and trading desk Monday through to Friday from 7 AM – 9 PM CET via telephone or email. The company has received multiple and various awards in different countries for their excellent service and offering.

Our independent broker review revealed that the DEGIRO account opening procedure is very quick and straight forward. Clients can select to open either a Basic, Trader (also special Day Trader profile available) or Active account as well as a Custody account.

An Active profile provides all the services of a Basic profile with the addition of the Debit Money, Debit Securities and Derivatives services. Under this profile, use of Debit Money is limited to 50% of a client’s available margin. A Trader profile provides all the services of a Basic profile with the addition of the Debit Money, Debit Securities and Derivatives services. Under this profile, clients have full use of 100% of their available margin.

Custody profile, on the other hand, is different from a Basic profile in that the securities are held separately from the lending pool of DEGIRO clients’ securities and are thus unable to be loaned to third parties. Debit Money, Debit Securities, and Derivative trading is not available with a Custody profile and clients cannot change to an Active, Trader, or Day Trader account. A Custody Profile has different conditions and fees (custody fees).

DEGIRO provides its trading services to institutional and retail clients from Europe. The countries they now offer services to are the Netherlands, Italy, France, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Czech republic, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Greece, Hungary, Denmark, Sweden, United Kingdom, Norway, Finland and Ireland.

American customers, as well as clients from Australia, Canada and Asia are currently not able to utilise DEGIRO’s financial services.

One negative aspect of DEGIRO is there very limited available funding options. They currently only accept bank transfers and Trustly instant deposits (via bank account). There are no minimum deposit requirements.

Another problem is that there is no demo account available with the online brokerage. Since both novices as well as expert traders profit from demo accounts, it is not quite conceivable why DEGIRO has no such option available.

FOREX AND OTHER TRADING OPTIONS AT DEGIRO

In Summary

  • Thousands of tradable instruments
  • Global shares, ETFs, options
  • CFDs, futures, bonds, etc.
  • Low-cost on many instruments

DEGIRO offers a large selection of financial instruments to their audience. Available products include shares, ETFs, options, futures, bonds, warrants and CFDs. 

With DEGIRO traders have access to more than 50 global stock exchanges, across 30 different countries. Clients can trade on various stock markets, utilise investment funds, leveraged products, ETFs, bonds, futures and much more.

Degiro customers can trade on the Eurex derivatives exchange as well as on the Euronext Derivatives and Mercado Español de Futuros Financieros (MEFF) exchanges.

CFD trading at DEGIRO is possible on underlying securities from Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Belgium and France. Special trading software for CFDs is not offered. CFDs are traded on the Webtrader instead.

Forex trading is also possible with DEGIRO. All European currencies and US dollars can be held as currency accounts.

Four order types are available:

– Day Order

– Good Till Cancelled

– Limit Order

– Market Order

Further, over 940 corporate and 56 government bonds from around the world are available for trading. Precious metals, agricultural commodities and warrants, as well as vanilla options from more than 10 markets can be traded on the DEGIRO platform.

Overall, Degiro made a very tidy impression on us. Investors get a comprehensive overview of their portfolio, current indices, open orders, executed transactions and future dividend payments as soon as they log in. It is also possible to create a favourites list for individual values or ETFs, for example.

Which brings us to a small issue with Degiro’s offering: If you want to save on an ETF automatically, Degiro is not the right broker for you, at least for the time being. The firm does not yet have such an offer in their programme. We have looked into this further and checked with the company directly. The answer was that the introduction of ETF savings plans at a later date seems conceivable.

Moreover, no off-exchange trading is currently possible. The opening of the account itself, including the identification process, went quickly and smoothly. It was necessary to deposit from a reference account with another bank, with which we verified our identity by transferring funds to our brokerage account at Degiro. For security reasons, withdrawals are only possible via this account.

SPECIAL FEATURES OF DEGIRO

In Summary

  • Large selection of products
  • Discount broker
  • Up to 30:1 leverage on margin trading options

Massive selection of tradable assets.

Low fees and no hidden charges.

User-friendly, proprietary trading platform.

Fast and reliable order execution.

Safety of funds.

No minimum deposit required.

Professional and reliable customer service.

Trader and custodian account options.

Orders can either be placed by the number of stocks / the underlying asset or by the value of the order. This way, DEGIRO customers immediately know the amount of stocks they can buy or sell. This is a great feature that any active trader will find very handy to have.

Max Leverage Comparison

DEGIRO 30:1
PEPPERSTONE 500:1
THINK MARKETS 400:1
IC MARKETS 500:1
XM 500:1
ALPARI 1000:1

OUR CONCLUSION

DEGIRO is one of Europe’s leading online brokerage firms with a great range of products. Thousands of financial instruments, including shares, ETFs, options, bonds, futures, warrants and CFDs, can be utilised. Fees are low and there are no hidden charges. The only negative aspect is the limited availability of funding and withdrawal options.

 

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT DEGIRO

where is DEGIRO located?

DEGIRO is a brokerage company, based in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

who owns DEGIRO?

The investment company was founded in 2008 by a group of five former employees of Binck Bank to service the professional market. In 2013, DEGIRO started offering its brokerage services to retail clients.

how to fund a trading account?

DEGIRO clients have the following funding options available:

  • Trustly (via bank wire transfer)
  • Bank transfer

is DEGIRO regulated?

DEGIRO is supervised by the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) and the De Nederlandsche Bank (The Dutch Central Bank) (DNB).

DEGIRO is further registered and authorised with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

what timezone do they operate in?

Their customer support and trading desk Monday through to Friday from 7 AM – 9 PM CET via telephone or email.

DEGIRO withdrawal methods?

Only one withdrawal option is currently available:

  • Bank transfer

is there a withdrawal limit?

There are no minimum or maximum withdrawal limits.

does DEGIRO accept clients from Canada?

No, they do not accept applications from residents of Canada.

do they offer a Forex VPS service?

Currently, there’s no exclusive VPS service available.

is DEGIRO a True ECN broker?

No, DEGIRO uses a market maker broker model instead.

is DEGIRO FCA regulated?

Yes, they are FCA regulated.

is DEGIRO affected by ESMA regulation?

Yes, ESMA regulation is applicable.

brokers like DEGIRO?

flatex is a regulated broker from Germany. The trading offer of the online broker flatex includes trading in shares, foreign exchange (Forex), CFDs, funds, ETFs, ETCs, certificates, bonds and warrants at low-cost prices. Read our review here.

 

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