Trading 212 Review 2020

Trading 212 is an online broker that offers forex and securities trading to everyday people. The company was started back in 2004 and its headquarters are in London. Trading 212 is under the regulation of the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), a well as by the Bulgarian Financial Supervision Commission.

One of its main focuses as a broker is on having a low cost model for traders. You have access to forex and CFD trading, as well as being able to buy and sell real stocks and ETFs. The platform is easy to use and it is targeted at beginners traders and experienced ones alike. This Trading 212 broker review looks at all of the important aspects of the offering.

Trading 212 prides itself on being a low cost broker. There is no commission charged if you are trading stocks or ETDs and the fees for CFD trading are also pretty low. The fees that Trading 212 charges are all built into the spread. For some forex pairs, the fees are a bit high but overall you are getting a good deal in this regard. You also have leverage available, varying depending on what type of financial instrument you are looking to trade.

For example, you can get 20:1 leverage for stock index CFDs, 5:1 for stock CFDs and 30:1 leverage if you are trading major currency pairs. There are also no fees charged Trading 212 for opening an account, for conducting transactions or if your account is inactive for a certain period of time.

Trading 212 enjoys the fact that it is more competitive in terms of fees and commissions than its competitors, having a quick comparison chart with its major rivals front and centre on the website. 

Trading 212 has developed its own proprietary trading platform that is very simple and easy to use, making it ideal for beginner traders in particular. There are a lot of customization options as part of this web trading platform also, which is ideal for those traders who are a bit more experienced and like to tailor the platform to their own specific needs.

There is somewhat of a limited selection of different order types to choose from, varying depending on what type of account you are using. You have the ability to engage different notifications and alerts through pop ups on the trading platform or through SMS or email. There are simple reports available on the offering and the different trading tools and features are very strong.

The Trading 212 mobile offering is available for both iOS and Android devices. Just like the desktop trading platform, the mobile offering is very well-laid out and easy to use. You can quickly and easily search for what you are looking for and the likes of notifications and price alerts are easily activated.

One of the downsides is that there is no two-step authentication in place for logging into your mobile account. You have access to the same order types on mobile as you would with the desktop offering. You can quickly download this mobile app from the respective app store for the device that you are using.

There are three different Trading 212 account types you can choose from. The availability of these accounts can differ depending on where you are residing. There is a CFD account that is tailored towards the trading of 3,000+ CFD financial instruments. There is also the Invest account where you are able to trade real stocks and ETFs.

Finally, the ISA account is only available in the UK and it is dedicated to the trading of real stocks and ETFs. You will not be charged for opening one of these accounts. For the CFD trading accounts, there is a £1 minimum deposit, with the minimum deposit being set at £10 for ISA and Invest accounts.

All transactions completed through Trading 212 are free of charge. For making deposits, you can use the likes of Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Skrill and a bank wire transfer. For most of these options (except for the bank transfer), the funds will be deposited into your account pretty much immediately.

Withdrawals will often take a bit long depending on what method you are using. Generally, the e-wallet withdrawal options will be the fastest, with card and bank withdrawals taking a bit longer. Generally, transaction times are pretty good at Trading 212 and there is a decent selection of base currencies to use.

There is plenty of customer support for you at Trading 212. There are a dozen different languages on offer and there is an extensive help centre that will hold the answer for most questions that you may have. Otherwise, you are able to directly contact the customer support team. You can use the website form to send an email or directly send an email to the provided address.

You can also write the Trading 212 team a letter or contact them on one of their social media accounts. Finally, you have the ability to ring the support team. These lines are open on a 24/7 basis, which is ideal and you will quickly get quality responses.

Trading 212 has been headquartered in London since 2013 and it is under the regulation of the FCA as a result. As it was originally founded in 2004 in Bulgaria, it is also under the regulation of the financial authorities there.

The protection you have with Trading 212 depends on what country you are residing in. For example, if you are living in the UK, your account will be protected up to £85,000. There is also negative account balance protection offered by Trading 212, meaning that you can only lose as much as in your account and you cannot go into the negative balance territory.

In terms of the security of the platform, Trading 212 uses the latest encryption technology to keep your data safe and sound. One issue for some people may be the lack of two-factor authentication for account logins.