Trading 212 Review

Key Takeaways

• Trading212, founded in 2006, is headquartered in the UK.
• Trading212 is regulated in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) (No. 609146).
• The broker is also authorized and regulated by the Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) (No. RG-03-0237) in Bulgaria.
• The company has a physical office in the UK, but services clients from as far afield as Chile, China, Italy, and Spain, to mention a few.
• Trading212 is compelled to offer protection under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) up to £85,000. 
• The company also works through the Investors Compensation Fund (ICF) to offer up to €20,000 in compensation to its European clients.
• Trading212 offers extensive market access with over 3,500 trading Instruments.
• The company claims to have 1.5 million clients and handles £3 billion in client assets.
• The broker provides access to markets in such asset classes as FOREX, indices, commodities, and stocks.
• Trading212 offers commission-free trading across its account types, which are complemented by average-level spreads.
• The broker does not charge withdrawal or deposit fees.
• The broker provides clients with access to its proprietary Web-enabled trading platform that also comes in a wildly popular mobile app version.
• Trading212 has an adequate research and education section that could be improved.
• Trading212 provides 24/5 multilingual customer service to its clientele.

Overall Summary

Trading212 is a UK-headquartered broker that was founded in 2006. The company makes claims on its Website to have 1.5 million clients and £3 billion in client assets. The company offers zero-commission stock trading in its primary markets of the UK and Europe.

Other assets the broker offers include equities, commodities, stocks, indices, and a wide range of FOREX pairs. At the time of writing, the broker did not offer access to cryptocurrency trading. The number of global stock and Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) on offer with this broker is thought to be over 10,000. 

The company provides traders with access to a proprietary Web-trading interface that comes with a user-friendly mobile app. These tools are much liked by beginners and intermediate traders, even though the broker is not known to offer much in the way of services aimed at professionals.

The company likens itself to a fintech company by promoting its app as an easy-to-use tool of the future that is available free of charge. Despite having a good platform and a wide selection of assets, the broker suffers from a lack of truly advanced trading tools that will place it in the same class as the best emerging brokers.

Trading212 has a physical office in the UK, even though it offers its services in countries as diverse as Argentina, Chile, Mexico, China, Russia, Italy, Poland, Spain, and Germany.

For Whom Is Trading212 Good?

Is Trading212 Safe?

Trading212 falls short of being called a broker on a strong safety footing. As a UK-headquartered company, the broker is regulated by possibly the pre-eminent tier-one regulator in the world – the FCA (Register number 609146). However, the good news ends there. Yes, the broker is authorized and regulated by the FSC (Register number RG-03-0237) in Bulgaria, but this regulator is not considered a top regulator.

Therefore, if you were to use this broker from another country, off the European mainland, you would not be protected in any way. In more positive news, Trading212 provides negative balance protection, even though this is mandatory as per FCA rules. It also ensures that trader funds are kept in separate bank accounts.

Under the auspices of the FCA, Trading212 is compelled to offer protection under the FSCS up to £85,000. It also works through the ICF to offer up to €20,000 in investor protection to its European clients.

Offering of Investments

That said, the extent of this broker’s market access is good compared to other brokerages of a similar size and profile. The broker does its best to offer high-volume traders and institutional partners competitive liquidity, low trading costs, and fast execution. Of course, it does not always manage to achieve these goals, as its spreads can be better.

Additionally, it should be noted that Trading212 does not offer access to cryptocurrency trading, even on a CFD basis. In today’s marketplace, this puts many traders at a disadvantage. However, of the assets the traders does offer, you can take your choice from the following:

Stocks: Traders get access to as many as 1,536 stocks like Tesla and Gamestop.

Indices: Featuring access to a total of 36 indices, you can trade in indices like the S&P 500, Dow Jones, and FTSE 100.

Commodities: You can trade CFDs on 29 commodities, ranging from precious metals to livestock.

FOREX: With a staggering 180 FOREX pairs, you can trade 24/5 from a Web- or mobile-enabled device.

Account Types

The following types of accounts are available at Trading212:

Trading 212 CFD: With this account, you are allowed to trade in CFDs, giving you access to a large portion of the broker’s market access. This popular account type is well-liked by international clients who value its ease-of-use and extensive feature list.

Trading 212 Invest: Here you can trade in stocks and ETFs. You can invest in equities in many products on some of the world’s best-known indices.

Trading 212 ISA: Only available to UK clients, this account allows you to invest on a tax-free basis up to a designated amount. 

The minimum deposit required to open an account with this broker is €1 or £1 on the CFD account, and €10 or £10 on the Invest or ISA account. All trades are free of commission, and the rest of the ancillary fees are the same across account types.

Trading212 has set up a professional trading account, for which you will have to prove that you have completed an average of at least 10 trades in each of the last four quarters of the past year. You will also need to prove that you have an investment portfolio made up of cash and financial instruments up to a minimum of €500,000. The benefits of this account are not immediately clear, as this information is shared with traders when they pass the test.

New traders can also open a demo account to practice their trading skills in a risk-free environment. You can test your strategies to see which ones work in the real world. The demo account can be used for up to 30 days, which is restrictive for new traders as you cannot put a timescale on gaining the type of experience required to finesse your trading strategies.

One excellent feature of the Trading212 account types is that you can seamlessly switch between “live” and “practice” accounts during the demo period. This eliminates the need to create two separate accounts. This ability to switch at any time is invaluable as you can run simulations under near real-time conditions as you test what works for you.

Account Opening

Opening an account with Trading212 is easy. Simply visit the company’s official Website, click on register now, or sign up. Thereafter, you will need to fill in your personal details. To verify your account, you need to fulfill the standard Know Your Customer (KYC) process by delivering the necessary documents. Once you have made your first deposit, you can start trading.

Bonuses and Promotions

Bonuses and promotions are discouraged by the FCA. At the time of writing, the broker did not have any active bonuses. However, in the past, it has been known to offer a £50 welcome bonus for making a deposit. 

Deposits and Withdrawals

• Bank transfer.
• Credit/debit cards. 
• Skrill.
• PayPal.
• Dotpay.
• Giropay.
• Carte Bleue.
• Direct eBanking.
• Apple Pay.
• Google Pay.
• iDEAL.

Customer Service

Commissions and Fees

Trading212 offers commission-free FOREX, shares, and ETF trading. As there is no commission, you must pay spreads when trading CFDs and FOREX, which can be fixed or floating and start from one pip. While the broker claims its spreads are competitive, in our view, they are on the high side.

To compound this, the broker does not reveal its average spread, which would help to classify its pricing for popular FOREX pairs, such as the EUR/USD. By not showing its average spread, the broker could be accused of omitting key market information that disadvantages its clients. Many of Trading212’s peers have no hesitation sharing this information, possibly because they can stand by their spreads.

Note, there is a currency conversion fee of 0.15% if your trade is not in the same currency as your account currency. There are no fees for deposit, withdrawal, or inactivity.  If you work through a Trading 212 CFD account, then you can expect to pay an overnight fee. This is due each day at the closing time of the market and can be confirmed on the trading platform interface, which carries the most accurate and up-to-date charges calculated on prevailing interest rates. 

Leverage

Leverage is determined by the regulator in each jurisdiction. European traders with Trading212 will be subject to strictly controlled leverage levels up to 30:1 for major currencies. Traders should be aware to use this leverage with discretion, as they can suffer dramatic losses if they do not practice caution.

Platforms and Tools

Trading212 provides its clients access to a proprietary Web-based trading platform on which traders can carry out multi-asset trading. The interface is well-designed and simple, even boasting its own Google Chrome plugin. The broker has spent time and effort getting its platform up to an excellent standard and it rightly ranks it as one of its strongest features. Once on this platform, you can trade on either of the main account types – Invest and CFD.  

The broker’s platform comes with a strong charting program and integrated news headlines. In our review, we found it a big benefit that the Website will cache your login details so you can be automatically logged in when you go to the platform from your Web browser.

With regard to charting, you can select from among five different types, giving you a window to 45 indicators, in addition to 19 drawing tools. One of the best features is that you can create and save personalized chart templates for future use. One drawback is that you will have to consult the economic calendar manually to plan for major data releases as these are not natively built into the interface, unlike other platforms. You can line up trades in many ways and perform a range of operations on the same trading pair simultaneously.

While older platforms like MT4 might be more feature-rich and enjoy a greater degree of recognizability, there is a case to be made that a modern and minimalist design that takes care of the most important elements a trader could need is a welcome change. If you can get over your attachment to MT4 and MT5, you will start to enjoy the Trading212 platform.

Mobile Trading

Research and Development

Education

Final Thoughts

Conclusion

Trading212 in Brief

Review Methodology

The team at Arincen collected more than 120 pieces of data covering in excess of 100 licensed FOREX companies. Data collection was done in three ways:

1. Companies’ Websites.

2. Other Websites that have ranked FOREX companies.

3. A survey questionnaire (referred to here as Survey “1”) we had sent to the companies invited to participate in the exercise. 

We have identified 12 criteria for our assessment, each containing several aspects and carrying its own relative weight. These include licensing, deposits and withdrawals, number of assets etc.  
Afterward we validated the data by:

1. Registering with FOREX companies as a secret shopper and/or as Arincen.

2. Survey number “2,” in which we asked these companies’ customers for important feedback and past experience. 

The next step saw us evaluate and rank each company, relying on the hard work of 15 Arincen employees. We were very careful in ensuring the most accurate assessment possible, including taking into account different languages, as well as the various mobile-app operating systems, e.g., Apple, Samsung etc.

To add credibility to our research project, we sent a final and third survey (referred to here as Survey “3”) to enable participating FOREX companies evaluate our own research and whether it accurately reflects the realities on the ground. We were fortunate enough to receive a mark of 9.9 out of 10! We have kept to a minimum the margin of error, which stood at a measly 1%. To learn more on how we came up with the evaluation, please click here.