In the present times, many brokerage firms are promising to offer the best services though only a few live up to the expectations. Therefore, the customers need to decide for themselves and choose the one that provides the best trading facilities with integrity in its approach.

DEGIRO, a European brokerage firm, is best known for its cheapest brokerage service and comprehensive in-house trading and investing platform. As a result, it has emerged as one of the leading brokerage companies in Europe. This DEGIRO review article will give you a complete insight into its various offered services and help decide whether it commensurates with your requirements.

DEGIRO launched its brokerage services on September 23rd,2013, in the Netherlands to provide retail customers access to worldwide security exchanges. Furthermore, the company joined hands with flatex in 2020, as the latter acquired a 100% stake in it but still retaining the DEGIRO brand.

The listing of flatexDEGIRO in SDAX during the end of 2020 made it one of the largest 160 listed companies in Germany. In early 2021, DEGIRO BV merged with flatexDEGIRO Bank AG. The DEGIRO UK platform launched on June 11th,2015, aimed to provide services to people of the United Kingdom. At present, it provides its services in 18 European countries.

It has got its registration under the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority). Besides that, it is also under the supervision of BaFin and DNB ( De Nederlandsche Bank).

Let’s see some of its pros and cons.

Pros

• It charges the cheapest commission fees for ETFs, shares, bonds, and gilts.
• It is regulated and supervised by multiple regulatory authorities.
• Its web platform and mobile app are synchronized.

Cons

• The asset prices are 15-min delayed, and it charges an annual fee for live prices.
• It does not offer investment in CFDs, forex, and cryptocurrencies.
• DEGIRO demo facility is not available.

DEGIRO holds its clients’ assets with a separate legal entity (SPV), thus protecting them against its insolvency. It falls under the German Investor Compensation Scheme, which compensates the clients against their losses from non-return assets up to 90%, subject to a maximum of EUR 20,000.

Further, the German Deposit Guarantee Scheme also guarantees up to EUR 100,000 in case of money deposited with flatexDEGIRO Bank AG on a DEGIRO Cash Account. It invests the clients’ money in a Money Market Fund immediately after receiving it based on the standing order.

In addition, the firm is under the supervision of the DNB in the Netherlands, and flatexDEGIRO Bank AG comes under the regulatory control of the German financial regulator Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFin).

DEGIRO provides the web platform as well as it has got its DEGIRO App for mobile trading. The trading platform is user-friendly and is available in the local language. It has got various features such as:-

Login and Security 

DEGIRO provides both one-step and two-step login through Google Authenticator. In addition, the Face ID and Touch ID login are possible both on web and mobile platforms.

Promising Search Functions 

The search function displays the matching products with their asset classes and the currency.

Order Placement  

The various order types available for placing orders are limit, market, stop loss, and stop limit. DEGIRO also provides the order terms such as Day and Good-till-cancelled (GTC).

Notifications and Alerts

DEGIRO provides order confirmations via email. However, it does not offer a price alert function.

Portfolio and Transaction Reports 

The DEGIRO web platform provides portfolio and fees reports to see the products owned and transaction charges paid.

Web and Mobile Platform 

It provides both web and mobile platforms that you can use for trading from anywhere. The DEGIRO mobile app is user-friendly and easy to navigate.

Charting Tools  

DEGIRO allows 20 different technical indicators and nine tools for drawing, which help the traders analyze the asset prices.

Degiro fees and commission are considerably lower than its competitors. In addition, it charges only a small non-trading fee.

Stocks -  It charges £1.75 per trade for trading UK stocks and €3.90 for EU stocks. Trading US and Canadian stocks is free (but it does include external costs for holding a position in an American Depository Receipt which is currently €1), while for stocks from Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore you have to pay a €5.00 fee.

Bonds - The charge for trading in bonds in Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal is €2.00. The fee for OTC bonds is €35.00.

Investment Funds -  The fee for Euronext Fund services and Non-exchange Listed Investment Funds is €3.90. Apart from it, an annual service fee of 0.20% is charged monthly on the portfolio value of the last day of the month. Trading Morgan Stanley Liquidity Funds is free.

Options -  A fee of €0.75 per contract is charged for trading options worldwide, except the US, where the fee is $0.75 per contract.

Futures - It charges a fee of €0.75 per contract for trading in futures. The only exceptions are US Futures, which are charged at $0.75 per contract.

Foreign Currency-  The fee for manual trade in all foreign currencies is €10.00 + 0.25%, whereas the fee via Auto FX trader is 0.25%.

DEGIRO provides its customers access to 50 exchanges of 30 different countries. The various market products that can be traded on its platform are:-

• Stocks - The platform provides stock trading in different European exchanges where market orders are routed via “Morgan Stanley Smart Order Router” or “Direct to Market.” Order types such as Day Order, GTC Order, limit order, market order, stop loss, and stop-limit order are available for trading shares. However, the trailing stop order is available only for Xetra and Frankfurt exchanges. Penny stocks in DEGIRO can be also be traded provided it offers the exchange in which they are listed. In addition, in DEGIRO, dividends received on invested stocks are automatically reflected in your cash holdings.
• ETFs -  Apart from providing trading in ETFs in European exchanges, it also facilitates its trading in Hong Kong Stock Exchange and Singapore Exchange. All the order types available for stock trading are also available for trading in ETFs.
• Bonds -  It provides trading in bonds via the “Direct to Market” route in European exchanges through all the different order types.
• Options - DEGIRO provides trading options in worldwide exchanges such as Eurex, CME, MEFF, etc. All the order types except stop loss and stop limit can be used to place option orders.
• Futures - DEGIRO offers futures trading via the “Direct to Market” route in exchanges like IDEM, NASDAQ OMX Nordic-Helsinki, Eurex, etc. Similar to options, order types such as stop loss and stop limit is not available for futures trading.
• Leveraged Products - It provides trading in leveraged products via the “Direct-to-Market” route in exchanges such as Euronext Access Paris, Xetra, and Börse Frankfurt. Such products can only be traded through the day, limit, and market order types.

The other asset classes such as CFDs, forex, and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are not available for investing in DEGIRO. At most, only ETFs investing in such assets can be traded in it.

DEGIRO provides various account types such as Custody, Basic, Trader, Active, and Day Trader accounts that vary on features and services provided. For example, derivatives such as options and futures, short trading, and leverage trading are unavailable for Custody and Basic accounts.

To open an account in DEGIRO involves the following steps:

• Click “Open an account” on its website.
• Add email address and choose username and password.
• Provide personal information after verifying the email account.
• Add the bank account and verify the information for its correctness.
• Upload your identity proof, such as passport or ID card.

Finally, after your application is reviewed, you can transfer an amount as low as €/£0.01 to activate your DEGIRO account.

You can deposit funds via bank transfer and, in some cases, through e-wallets like Trustly and Sofort. Further, withdrawal can be made directly to the linked bank account. DEGIRO does not charge for deposits and withdrawals.

DEGIRO provides trading in different assets or market products. For example, suppose you want to trade in stocks, then you should follow the below steps.

• Login to your account and search for the stock in the search box on the home screen.
• The overview page reveals the stock graph, technical indicators, volume, and pricing data.
• Then, click on the “Buy” button, which opens the order window.
• Fill in the order type, price, number, and order term and place the order.
• The order confirmation screen opens and then click on “confirm the order,” which will send the order to the exchange.
• The pending order will appear in outstanding orders, and executed orders will be reflected on the latest transactions. In addition, the stocks purchased will appear in the portfolio tab.

The customer support team at Degiro can be reached in plenty of languages, which is amazing, and you are able to get relevant answers through the phone. However, even though email and phone support are available, there isn’t a live chat option. 

DEGIRO offers the cheapest service by providing facilities to trade across different exchanges in various market products. Its platform is user-friendly and straightforward to trade. But, CFDs, forex, and cryptocurrencies are not available in DEGIRO. You can check how the DEGIRO trading broker works in comparison to other brokerage trading firms.

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