Trading212 Review > Minimum Deposit, App, Fees & More

In this Trading212 review, we will be delving into all the things you need to know before you consider putting this broker on your list.

We will start by checking the trust level of the broker, before moving on into the product review of Trading 212 and really digging in to the details to see whether this is an online broker to keep on your shortlist, or cross straight off!

Is Trading 212 Safe And Trusted?

Trading212 was founded by Avus Capital based in Bulgaria in 2005, before incorporating in the UK in 2016. Its’ financial operations or divisions remain in both the United Kingdom and in Bulgaria, with Cyprus now also present.

Over the past 17+ years, Trading 212 has surpassed many expectations with a user base exceeding 15 million. This has driven Trading212 to become one of the most popular trading apps worldwide, with an often oversubscribed list. This number of users would not continue to use the broker unless they were happy, so this is a good sign for whether Trading 212 is safe or not.

It is great to have clarity on the team, as you can see below as this an additional layer of transparency you cannot always find with others. This is all a good start, but we do still need to review Trading 212 regulations.

Regulation and licensing

Trading212 conforms and complies with EU regulations across multiple offices and regulators. Holding Tier1 regulation with the FCA in the UK with Trading 212 Ltd, and supported by regulation for online trading services in Bulgaria (under the same formal name); traders can use Trading212 with confidence.

Having since acquired CySEC regulation in 2021 under the name Trading 212 Markets Ltd, the broker can fully passport across the EU.

With this strong regulatory foundation across European regions, Trading212 seem primed for further growth and strength in the years ahead; that is, providing users remain happy.

Trading212 Trading Platforms

The Trading 212 trading platform supports CFD leverage trading in conjunction with stocks, ISAs, cryptocurrency and ETFS, amongst others and the desktop version is a proprietary trading platform. Trading 212 offers trading on over 10,000 instruments across forex, stocks, indices, and commodities. They also offer a few different account types, each with their own set of features and minimum deposit requirements.

The success of Trading212 can in part be attributed to the easy access mobile trading application, but the web version is also very easy to use. There is a wide availability of a range of stocks and ETF investing; from fractional shares to whole units. You are also able to trade stocks, forex pairs, indices, ETFs, and cryptocurrency as CFDs on the ‘other’ platform.

There are two main ways of trading with Trading212 – either trading CFDs, or investing and these two platforms are called CFD or Invest. Most features across the two different platform types are easily accessible and feature a clean, simplified structure that includes solid charting and integrated news headlines.

Trading 212 indicators preloaded into the trading platform

You will find a full range of technical indicators preloaded into the platform right off the shelf so it is a pretty plug and play experience once you sign up.

There are a variety of different trading indicators available on the Trading 212 platform that can help you identify trading opportunities, monitor market trends, and make more informed trading decisions. Whether you’re looking to implement a simple moving average or use complex technical indicators like Bollinger bands, Trading 212 has the tools and resources you need.

Feature rich trading Experience

Within the Trading 212 platform, you can create or monitor portfolios; as well as see share prices and financial data like market cap, price-to-profit ratio and revenue. There is also a convenient economic calendar allows you to follow any news events affecting the stock market.

You can see in the image below the desktop Trading 212 CFD platform, with some rather nice features on the lower right hand of the instrument panel.

The low and high of the day with a simple line for visual representation, along with the current sentiment and trading direction of the Trading 212 community are very user friendly and simple to understand.

Whilst you can usually find this information on competitor trading platforms, it is not as easy to find, or visualise at what Trading 212 have accomplished here.

Charting Better Than It Looks On first Glance

The charting itself is not overly sophisticated at first glance but when you dig under the hood a little bit, there is a lot more to customize so you are set up how you prefer. The contrast of the white background over extended hours of technical trading can be quite the eye strain inducer, which is why we were very pleased to find the dark mode (even if not entirely east to find). If you were also looking around within the charting panel of options for this, you will not find it there.

To enable dark mode on Trading 212, simply go to the settings area in the top right (next to where it says your account type), go into settings, find the themes tab, then select dark mode, and voila… you have dark mode charting.

The Trading 212 platform is set to 1 click trading off the bat, and this can be customised also within the same settings area as above for 1 click position closing. The settings area is actually worth making your first stop, as the trading preferences area has some very good customisation options that you will want to set up.

The ability to alter from hedging to aggregation we found particularly advantageous seeing as it is not available on all other platforms, and you will also want to ensure your rollover settings are in line with expectations whilst you are there.

Trading 212 offers you trading platforms with over 10,000+ tradeable instruments and you are also able to operate your account in multiple currencies. If you don’t have the time to set up investments periodically as much as you would like, there is a rather neat feature on Trading 212 called ‘pies’.

Trading 212 Pies

Trading 212 pies are effectively a group or basket of stocks and ETFs, that you have personally selected and grouped into a portfolio, or a pie in this case. The reason it is is a pie, is that it is 1 whole portfolio, with different slices (or proportions) or stocks and ETFs encase within.

You can fit up to 50 different stocks into each pie, and divide up the proportion of the pie amongst each stock as you wish, the only obligation is that the percentage adds up to 100, to complete the pie.

Once the pie is created, you can then choose to either manually add funds to that pie as and when you choose, or set up the autoinvest feature which will periodically add funds to this pie, or group of assets.

Let’s assume you create a pie with 10 different stocks, 5 of which you would like to have 12% each of the pie, with the remaining 5 each having an 8% weighting. If you set up autoinvest to allocate €200 to this particular pie each month, it will automatically split that €200 and buy the allocated proportion of the 10 shares you identified at the given price and time.

This avoids you having to make the arduous calculations yourself each time, and also works to keep your portfolio in balance. Setting this up once, and allowing it to accumulate with little hassle, is exactly what Trading 212 mean by making investing easier.

All the more impressive for a no fee stock broker to go to additional lengths and provide a trading platform that delivers above and beyond expectations.

Trading 212 Spreads or Commissions

Trading212 review their spread and commissions rather regularly it seems as they combine a relatively tight spread with low volatility. Spreads on major forex pairs can be from 2 pips, which is competitive, but not low compared to some of the more pure forex brokers out there.

Some competitors do offer lower spreads for various instruments, but it is not in the CFDs arena where Trading 212 really shine on fee structure, but on the Invest account.

Trading 212 provides 100% commission-free trading for a number of instruments, largely in line with the standard for most leading online brokers these days as they all fight to compete. It should be said that Trading 212 were one of the very first in Europe to go commission free, and were a leader in this model, and as such have built a strong user base who have remained loyal.

Trading 212 fees

Trading 212’s biggest distinctive feature is the zero-commission trade on stocks and ETFs. It is also a positive to see that there is no inactivity fee charged by Trading 212, as this can be a rather disappointing feature found hidden with many brokers. The company does now charge 0.15% when trading in a currency different from the accounts held as a currency conversion fee.

Deposit Fees With Trading 212

No fees apply when buying shares and holding ISAs as Trading212 makes money by comparing their purchase and sale rates to other asset classes, and with spreads. Trading 212 have also been clear in announcing that they do not accept payment for order flow.

On deposits and withdrawals, there are no charges for a bank transfer, but there are charges of 0.7% on deposits made on bank cards and other payment methods once you reach a total deposit amount above €2,000. These other methods are fee free also up to that €2,000 limit, but once you breach that, all additional deposits will be charged 0.7%.

Trading 212 Deposits & Withdrawals Review

We have covered the fees for deposits and withdrawals in the section above, but the important topic for Trading 212 withdrawals is how long do they take? The standard processing time for Trading 212 withdrawals is up to 3 days, with a further 3 days allowed for receipt if you are using bank transfers.

This is slightly longer than we have experienced with other broker reviews, but still within the scope of what is reasonable. Other methods are still up to 3 days for processing, but the receipt of funds into your chosen method may well be significantly faster.

Payment Methods

You are able to deposit and withdraw with Trading 212 via a variety of methods. These include bank transfer, credit/debit cards, as well as the below alternative payment options.

Supported Currencies

Trading 212 allows you to operate your accounts with a variety of base currencies depending on where in the world you live. Usually only two or three base currencies are available in a particular country, usually the local currency plus Euro. The full list of base currencies offered are as follows:

Trading 212 Minimum deposit

Trading 212 minimum deposited is just €1 for the Invest account, and €10 for the CFD account which is as low deposit as you will anywhere. This is a positive in that it enables trading to be accessible for all.

Whilst the Trading212 minimum deposit on CFD account is unlikely to give you much flexibility to trade, the invest account can be properly operated with as little as the €1 minimum deposit Trading 212 have set. The key difference between the two is the use of leverage, and how that impacts your capital requirements for margin.

It should be noted that if you are depositing via bank transfer, then the Trading 212 minimum deposit stays at €10, regardless of the account you are using, so Invest account users have to use that new minimum.

Trading 212 Minimum Withdrawals

The minimum withdrawal with Trading 212 Invest account is €1, regardless of the chosen withdrawal method. This is exactly in line with deposits, and a good point for inclusivity.

The Trading 212 CFD account minimum withdrawal is €10, which again is the same as the minimum deposit level.

Trading 212 App Review

Along with their intuitive desktop platform, Trading 212 also offers top-rated mobile apps for trading on the go. Their mobile trading app is currently listed on the Apple app store as the number 1 downloaded investing app, going to show exactly how far Trading 212 have come in terms of user demand.

The Trading 212 app is fully-featured and easy to use, allowing you to trade from anywhere at any time. Whether you’re commuting, waiting in line, or relaxing at home, you can keep your finger on the pulse of the markets with the Trading 212 app and not miss much apart from the depth of charting.

How To Open A Trade on Trading 212 App

Opening your first trade on Trading 212 is very easy, thanks in large part to the fact that it actually provides you a walkthrough on the app itself. If you would like to see what looks like, we have put the first 3 steps of how to open a trade on trading 212 app below for you in order, so you can see just how easy it is before you download and test for yourself.

Once your position is open, you will want to review it, and put in place stop loss and take profit levels as part of prudent CFD trading risk management. You can see below the steps you would need to take in order to fulfil those goals. You have the option of setting a firm stop loss, or a trailing stop loss depending on your preferences.

Monitoring your portfolio on Trading 212 app is as easy as desktop

Once you have your trade all set up, and the stop losses and take profit orders set, it is time to review your portfolio and see a breakdown of your trading account. With Trading212 this is all very intuitive and easy to interpret.

Trading 212 App Review Summary

The mobile trading offering from Trading 212 is as good as any, but you will likely want to combine this with some other form of charting if you are a technical trader. We have yet to find a charting platform that delivers the full depth of experience you need to trade on mobile alone, but the Trading 212 app comes close enough to make certain aspects viable.

For opening and closing positions, monitoring your portfolio and positions, investing in general, and keeping on top of the macro news and economic calendars, Trading 212 app does all you need, and a few extra things that add some gloss to the experience like the trading sentiment tracker.

A very user friendly offering, that delivers on almost all possible avenues so it is no surprise to see Trading 212 app still on top of the Apple store download list for investing apps.

Drawbacks

The leverage on pro clients’ account is low and some competitions offer tighter spreads. More seasoned investors may prefer a more common MetaTrader 4 platform over a customized trading system.

As MetaTrader 4 is currently not integrated, frequent traders could be annoyed with the focus on mobile devices and may prefer using terminals. It is usually easier with multiple screen screens to analyze complex data and charts.

Trading 212 Demo account Review

Trading 212 provides users with the ability to switch between demo account and real accounts with an easy button on the top right. The setup process is simple and only takes around 30 seconds to complete the demo registration.

There is no demo account for the Invest account, but for the CFD account, the process is as easy as it gets across any of the major competitors to Trading 212.

The demo account starts with €5,000 of practice credits to begin testing the functionality, and the trading strategies you may wish to set up with Trading 212.

As the process is so quick and easy, it is a good idea to give it a go even before you make a final decision over whether this will be your long term broker, as there are quite the number of variables inside a trading platform that you will want to make sure are set up right for you; or customizable in the way you need.

How do I open a Trading 212 account?

Trading 212 accounts and trading platforms are accessible both on the website and through smartphones. Start by selecting Invest or CFD account options and enter your Country of residence.

One area of frustration among a large number of prospective Trading 212 clients is not the process itself, just the fact that there is a waitlist in place for many Countries outside of the EU, including the UK and others. Once you express an interest by leaving your email address, you will be contacted in due course, but how long that takes will var from user to user.

We have seen accounts of the Trading 212 waitlist taking from a few days up to as long as 3 months, but there are always going to be certain exaggerations, so you will have to take these with a pinch of salt.

If you are able to open an account with Trading 212 instantly (ie, without joining a waitlist) you will be able to move on to the next step and be set up in less than 30 seconds with a demo account just by providing your email and a password.

Trading 212 Customer Support

Trading212 has an extremely responsive customer care team that averages under 1 minute to respond. Customer support is accessible throughout the world in 16 different languages and there are support centers in various locations around the world.

It is always nice to see customer support available as often as possible, and this is something that Trading 212 review themselves as they have offer 24/7 support around the clock. It is often overlooked when considering a broker amidst the propensity to compare fees and instruments, but being able to reach your broker when you need to is absolutely vital.

If you are lucky, it may well only be 1 occasion where you need customer support, but on that occasion, you will want them to react as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Bonuses

Trading212 currently has no bonus offers. It has previously offered a £50 welcome bonus on all deposits but European regulation has banned bonuses for trading due to fears that they could lead to people trading outside of their means.

Trading 212 Canada

Despite the fact that the broker offers Canadian Dollars as a base currency to operate accounts in, at this point there is no way to use Trading 212 Canada as a resident. Things may change if new regulations ae sought from the Trading 212, but for now you will have to make do with the best brokers currently serving Canadian residents.

Trading 212 user reviews

Overall, Trading 212 has received positive reviews from users with currently more than 74% on Trustpilot offering up excellent reviews. They praise the broker for their low fees, easy-to-use platforms, and helpful customer support. Some users have also pointed out that their minimum deposit is one of the lowest in the industry, which makes it a great option for beginners looking to get started trading.

One the flip side, the negative user comments seem to largely relate to the practice of share lending, which is a practice used by brokers as a way of earning interest on shares whilst they site there. On one hand, this allows Trading 212 to keep the platform commission free for shares, but on the other, it can have connotations for voting rights and whether you receive shareholder notifications.

This is something to weigh up and determine whether it is a topic that is important to you or not.

Trading 212 vs eToro

Depending on where in the world you are based, there are going to be some swings in terms of where each of these 2 online trading juggernauts win out against one another. There is also an argument to be had that Trading 212 vs eToro doesnt need to happen, as they can be complementary apps that both serve a purpose in your overall trading journey.

Trading 212 performs very well across multiple variables particularly when it comes to investing, and the trading app. The fact that Trading 212 offers an ISA account for UK investors is something that gives them the clear edge on eToro in this category as it is not something that they offer at all.

eToro are the clear winner on the CFD trading side due to the wider array of instruments offered, including cryptocurrencies. There are also far more regulatory agencies that govern eToro than Trading212. That means that users from a significantly wider range of countries are able to use eToro with appropriate regulation, than the same with TRading 212.

Coming back to the topic of whether these can be complementary trading platforms and apps and it seems that this is definitely something that needs more consideration. If you are trading stocks and ETFs in an automated fashion and like to control the breakown yourself, use Trading 212 for that, if you want to copy trade and follow others in an automated manner, then eToro fit the bill.

Crypto is eToro, ETFs and ISAs is Trading 212. Social trading at eToro, pies, autotrading, and real stocks with Trading 212.

Whilst we would like to have everything in one trading platform in an ideal world, there is definitely room for both of these to fulfill a need and that is what we would do.