DEGIRO Broker Review

DEGIRO Broker Review Overview

DEGIRO is a German-Dutch online discount broker. It was established in 2008 by former employees of another brokerage company in the Netherlands. DEGIRO merged with flatexDEGIRO Bank AG in early 2021, creating the biggest online execution-only broker in Europe with its own banking license.

DEGIRO is regulated by top-tier financial authorities such as the BaFin in Germany.

One of 160 largest listed companies in Germany Since 21 December 2020, flatexDEGIRO AG is listed on the SDAX! This makes flatexDEGIRO one of the 160 largest listed companies in Germany.

DEGIRO Broker trading platform Review

In 2013, DEGIRO launched its online brokerage services in the Netherlands. Since then, DEGIRO has expanded across 18 European countries enabling retail investors to benefit from a highly competitive commission structure. As a result, DEGIRO has quickly become one of the largest brokers in Europe.

In 2020, we joined forces with flatex because we complement each other well and the combined organization offers DEGIRO an increased capacity for sustainable growth and development.

DeGiro B.V. merged with flatexDEGIRO Bank AG in early 2021, creating the biggest online execution-only broker in Europe with its own banking license.

The web platform is available in your local language. For example, if you register from Germany, your platform language will be German.

Look and feel – DEGIRO Broker Review

DEGIRO’s web trading platform is great for executing trades, but it’s not the most advanced we’ve seen. 

It is well designed and user-friendly, but it lacks any customization options.

DEGIRO New Trading Platform

DEGIRO login and security

You can choose between a one-step or a two-step login. The two-step option is available through Google Authenticator.

We recommend a two-step login as it is more secure.

Search functions

The web platform’s search functions are good.

When you type in the name of a product, a list of matching products will appear, categorized by asset class. You can also see the stock market and the currency in the product is available. 

You can even filter your search based on the asset class you’re interested in (e.g. only options).

Place orders on DEGIRO

You can choose from several order types, although not all of them are available for every tradable instrument. The following order types are available:

• Limit
• Market
• Stop loss
• Stop limit
• Trailing Stop on a few exchanges, e.g. on German exchanges

If you are not familiar with the basic order types, read this overview.

You can also use two order terms:

• Day
• Good-till-cancelled (GTC)

Alerts and notifications

You can receive order confirmations by email, but text message notification is not available. There is also no price alert function with DEGIRO.

Portfolio and fee reports

DEGIRO’s portfolio and fee reports are well organized. They are transparent, and you can easily see what products you own and the fees you paid for the transactions.

DEGIRO Account types

On this DEGIRO Broker Review, you need to know what you have to send the documents. Opening an account with DEGIRO is completely online and paperless. For the purpose of this review, we have followed all necessary registration steps.

To open an account, follow these steps:

• Register a free account online from the website.
• Upload your ID card or passport.
• Deposit funds to the account through the manual money transfer (minimum amount required £ 0.01).

Accepted bank accounts to open a DEGIRO account

DEGIRO accepts bank accounts registered in any one of the countries in which it provides its services

Once you have deposited your first funds, DEGIRO will allocate those into your account usually within 48 hours. Once the allocation has gone through, you will be able to log in to your account and have access to the platform.

During registration (and only at this point) you can decide whether to open a BASIC or CUSTODY account. The difference lies in allowing or not allowing securities lending to third parties for short-selling transactions.

The CUSTODY account does not allow the lending of your securities held in your portfolio. However, in return, you will be unable to use Debit Money (financial leverage), Debt Securities (open short positions) or trade derivative instruments.

Additionally, the processing of coupons and dividends, which are free with the BASIC account, will have costs.

If you open a BASIC account, in order to use Debit Money, Debt Securities and to trade derivatives, it will be necessary to upgrade for free on the platform from BASIC to an ACTIVE or TRADER profile.

With the ACTIVE profile, DEGIRO finances the purchase of products up to a maximum of 50% of the amount invested by you.

With the TRADER profile, which is recommended for the most advanced traders, DEGIRO finances the purchase of products up to a maximum of 70% of the amount invested by you.

Regarding the margin required for trading futures, both ACTIVE and TRADER accounts require a margin equal to 15% of the contract value. This is a high margin and not in line with other brokers’ standards, which require lower margins.

For intraday operations, you can further upgrade your profile from TRADER to DAY TRADER. The margin required for intraday transactions on futures becomes 5%, while the intraday equity margin is up to three times higher than that granted with the TRADER profile.

DEGIRO minimum deposit

DEGIRO does not require a minimum deposit for opening an account. Thus, you can transfer a minimum of £0.01 and open an account to test the platform before allocating a larger amount.

DEGIRO demo account

Does DEGIRO offer a demo account? DEGIRO does not provide a demo account. However, as mentioned above, minimum deposits for opening an account and accessing the platform are not required.
Within a few minutes and with a deposit starting from £0.01 you can access the platform and review the various services offered.

DEGIRO how to change the language

At the moment it is not possible to switch the platform language. However, DEGIRO has announced that this option will be available in the near future.

Degiro Fees:

Stocks, ETFs, ETPs, Bonds, Investment Funds

Stocks, Rights, ETNs, ETCs, Warrants, & ADRs

 EXCHANGE FEE

• United Kingdom £ 1.75
• United States , Canada € 0.00
• Germany – Tradegate Germany – XETRA, Germany – Frankfurt (Stocks), Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Ireland, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Turkey, Poland € 3.90
• Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore € 5.00

Trackers (ETFs)

TYPE FEE

• Worldwide (except Tradegate exchange) € 2.00
• Tradegate € 3.90
• Free ETF Selection Free

Bonds

EXCHANGE FEE

• Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal €2.00
• OTC Bonds €35.00

Investment funds

 TYPE FEE, SERVICE FEE

• Morgan Stanley Liquidity Funds Free Free
• Euronext Fund Services €3.90 0.20%
• Non-Exchange Listed Investment Funds (STP)€3.90 0.20%

Leveraged products

 EXCHANGE FEE

• Germany – Zertifikate-Börse Frankfurt € 2.00
• Euronext Access Paris € 2.00

Options

Common options

 EXCHANGE FEE

• Eurex (Germany) € 0.75 per contract
• MEFF (Spain) € 0.75 per contract
• Euronext LIFFE (The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Portugal) € 0.75 per contract Other
• Countries € 0.75 per contract

OMX Nordics

 Options EXCHANGE FEE

• OMX Denmark , Finland, Sweden, Norway  (Equities)1 € 0.75 per contract
• OMX Sweden (Indices) 1 € 0.75 per contract

US options

EXCHANGE FEE EXCHANGE COSTS

CME1 , CBOE1 , CBOT1 , COMEX1 , NYMEX1 USD 0.75 per contract Exchange Cost For CBOE/CME (Non-Clearing Member)

A connectivity fee of € 5.00 per calendar month will be charged for using these markets. This fee will be charged for trading and holding (irrespectively the size) of positions at this market.

Exercise / Assignment of options

 TYPE FEE

Exercise / Assignment / Cash settlement of options € 1.00 per contract Page

Futures 

Common futures

EXCHANGE FEE UNDERLYING

NYSE LIFFE:

• Amsterdam € 0.75 per contract AEX Index
• Brussel € 0.75 per contract BEL 20 Index
• Lisbon € 0.75 per contract PSI 20 Index
• Paris € 0.75 per contract CAC 40 Index

• Eurex Indices € 0.75 per contract EUROSTOXX 50, DAX Index
• Eurex € 0.75 per contract Other Sectors and Indices
• IDEM € 0.75 per contract All futures
• MEFF € 0.75 per contract All futures
• OMX Sweden (Indices) 1 € 0.75 per contract OMSX30

US futures

 EXCHANGE FEE EXCHANGE COSTS

CME1 , CBOE1 , CBOT1 , COMEX1 , NYMEX1 USD 0.75 per contract Exchange Cost For CBOE/CME (Non-Clearing Member)

Exercise / Assignment of futures

 TYPE FEE

Exercise / Assignment / Cash settlement of futures € 1.00 per contract

Overview of costs of third parties

If an order is placed via an exchange or any other trading platform. The total price is calculated from the DEGIRO transaction fee plus the costs of third parties (clearing and settlement costs, brokerage fee, contract note fee, regulatory fee and the execution fee). DEGIRO does not charge the grants and fees of third-parties directly, but via a fixed fee of € 0.50. The fixed fee covers all costs charged by the exchanges or trading platforms DEGIRO for the execution of your order. UK Shares are subject to a flat fee of GBP 0.50. The fixed fee of €0.50 does not apply to Tradegate.

Currencies, short selling & borrowing money

 Foreign currency

 TYPE FEE

All foreign currencies via a manual trade € 10.00 + 0.25%

All foreign currencies via Auto FX trader 0.25%

included in buy/sell transactions.

Short stock

TYPE FEE

A 1.00%

B 1.50%

C 2.00%

D Not available

Other categories 1.00%

Debit rates

CURRENCY FEE

Unallocated debit rate (all currencies) 4.00%

Allocated debit rate (EUR), (USD),(GBP) 3.00%

DEGIRO Broker Review Summary

It’s hard to ignore that DEGIRO’s trading platform is far from perfect. At times, it feels like an unfinished product. More importantly, the DEGIROplatform goes down without warning or acknowledgement. They treat downtime and other issues with alarming indifference, and this is unacceptable for a financial service.

Would I still recommend DEGIRO? Only if transaction fees are your only concern. DEGIRO saved me a lot of transaction fees, but I have very little trust in their product after all the issues I have experienced.