DeGiro Review (2026): The Complete EU Investor Guide

Disclosure. This review contains affiliate links to DeGiro. If you open an account through one we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Editorial decisions are independent — see our full affiliate disclosure. Nothing here is financial advice; read our investment disclaimer before acting on anything you read.

DeGiro is the pan-European self-directed broker that made access to 50+ exchanges, options, bonds, and a 1,000+ ETF Core Selection list a mainstream retail product. A Dutch engineer, a German dentist and a French teacher can open the same account, buy a UCITS ETF on Tradegate for a low handling fee, and hold assets supervised by Germany's BaFin. That is genuinely useful — and it is not the full story.

This is the sourced, use-case-first review for 2026. Fees and regulatory detail are pulled from DeGiro's own fees page, Core Selection terms, and Strong & Reliable page on 2026-04-19. The 2018–2020 Dutch regulator history and 2019 DNB enforcement action are addressed honestly, not glossed. Nothing here is financial advice.

For the other side of the coin — Trading 212 — our sibling cluster review Trading 212 Review (2026) is the direct counterpart. For the head-to-head, the parent pillar is Trading 212 vs DeGiro (2026).

TL;DR — who DeGiro is for (and who it isn't)

DeGiro is a strong fit if you are:

• An EU DIY investor who wants broad market access across 50+ exchanges without a platform fee. Apply here.
• A Core Selection monthly-buyer — you DCA into one or two UCITS ETFs (IWDA, VWCE, EIMI) once a month and value the reduced Core Selection handling fee.
• An options trader or bond investor who needs product depth: options on US and EU equities, direct government and corporate bonds, futures, warrants, investment funds.
• A non-UK European who cannot use Trading 212's UK-only ISA/SIPP wrappers anyway — DeGiro's general investment account is then a peer comparison, not a downgrade.

DeGiro is not the right fit if you are:

• A UK ISA or SIPP investor — DeGiro does not offer a UK Stocks & Shares ISA, Cash ISA or SIPP. If you haven't used your £20,000 annual ISA allowance, Trading 212 is the obvious starting point, not DeGiro.
• A Pies / AutoInvest fan — DeGiro has no direct equivalent to Trading 212's pie-style auto-slice portfolios or fractional-share DCA.
• A beginner who wants zero-fee everything — a €1 handling on a non-Core trade is small, but "commission-free" is a simpler mental model on Trading 212.
• A fractional-share DCA investor on a €50/month budget — DeGiro does not offer fractional shares, so a single VWCE share (~€130 at time of writing) will leave cash drag.
• An iOS-native-app lover — DeGiro's mobile experience works, but the web app is where it shines. Trading 212's mobile polish is noticeably better.

If you're brand new to European investing, start with how to start investing in ETFs as a European beginner before picking a broker.

Fast-facts box

	DeGiro (2026)
Legal entity	flatexDEGIRO Bank AG (Germany)
Regulator	BaFin (Germany), with integrity supervision by De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB)
Deposit guarantee (cash)	German DGS up to €100,000 per client (flatexDEGIRO Bank AG)
Investor compensation (securities)	German ICS up to €20,000 per client (90% of shortfall, capped)
Custody structure	Client securities held in segregated SPV entities, legally separate from the bank
Commission — US stocks	~€1 + €1 handling per trade
Commission — LSE stocks	£1.75 + £1 handling
Commission — non-Core ETFs	€2 + €1 handling
Core Selection ETFs	Reduced-fee rule on Tradegate — see Core Selection section; one qualifying trade per ISIN per month (up to €1,000 per trade) under current terms
Options	€0.75 per contract
AutoFX (currency conversion)	0.25%
Exchange connectivity fee	0.25% of portfolio, capped at €2.50 per exchange per year (LSE exempt on UK accounts)
Inactivity fee	€0 (removed in 2022)
Deposit / withdrawal fee	€0
Custody fee	€0
Fractional shares	No
Tax-wrapped accounts	None in UK (no ISA, no SIPP); limited local wrappers in some EU markets
Products	Stocks, ETFs, bonds, options, futures, warrants, investment funds, leveraged products
Platform	Web (primary) + iOS/Android mobile app
Minimum deposit	€0.01

Numbers above are cross-checked against DeGiro's official fees page and the Core Selection terms. If anything here disagrees with those pages, trust DeGiro's pages — fees change.

Regulation and safety (what BaFin supervision actually buys you)

Most DeGiro reviews stop at "BaFin-regulated" and move on. They shouldn't.

flatexDEGIRO Bank AG — German banking supervision

DeGiro has been a division of flatexDEGIRO Bank AG since the 2020 merger between the original Dutch DeGiro and Germany's listed broker flatex. That legal structure matters for a 2026 investor in three concrete ways.

First, flatexDEGIRO Bank AG holds a full German banking licence and is supervised by BaFin (the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority). That is a stricter regime than the investment-firm licence DeGiro operated under pre-merger: banking supervision brings capital requirements, deposit-taking rules and the German banking compensation framework, per BrokerChooser's regulator summary.

Second, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) retains integrity supervision in the Netherlands — it supervises AML controls, director fitness and propriety, and conduct standards at the NL branch. This dual setup (BaFin prudential + DNB integrity) is explicit on DeGiro's own Strong & Reliable page.

Third, client securities sit in segregated SPV entities that are legally separate from the bank's balance sheet. In an orderly insolvency, your shares are your property and should be transferable — they are not available to the bank's creditors. This is the standard EU "safekeeping" structure, not a DeGiro innovation, but it's the single most important line of defence.

Investor protection — €100k DGS on cash, €20k ICS on securities

Per DeGiro's insolvency FAQ (degiro.ie/helpdesk/.../if-something-happens-degiro-are-my-investments-protected):

• Uninvested cash sits in your DEGIRO Cash Account at flatexDEGIRO Bank AG. It is covered by the German Deposit Guarantee Scheme up to €100,000 per client per banking institution.
• Securities are covered by the German Investor Compensation Scheme (ICS) up to €20,000 per client, calculated as 90% of any shortfall capped at €20,000 — a structure inherited from EU investor-protection directives.
• The €100k cash cover and the €20k securities cover are different schemes covering different situations. They are not additive and not the same thing as a single blanket £85k FSCS-style cover.

Practical takeaway — UK readers especially

If you are a UK investor comparing DeGiro against Trading 212, note the protection shapes: Trading 212 UK Ltd is covered by FSCS up to £85,000 per person for investments (with FSCS deposit cover up to £85k per banking group on the underlying cash deposit-taking bank). DeGiro is covered by DGS up to €100k on cash + ICS up to €20k on securities under German schemes. That's a different regulatory geometry, not a strictly worse one — but if you wanted £85,000 of blanket investment compensation, DeGiro's structure does not provide that. The full head-to-head is in the Trading 212 vs DeGiro (2026) pillar.

Fees — real numbers, honestly (2026)

"No commission on Core Selection" is not "free all-in". Here's the full picture from DeGiro's fees page, in the order the fees actually hit.

Commission schedule (non-Core)

• US stocks: around €1 commission + €1 handling per trade.
• LSE stocks (UK clients): £1.75 commission + £1 handling per trade.
• EU equities: commission varies by venue — Xetra, Euronext Amsterdam, Paris, Milan, Madrid and others each have their own schedule. Always check the order preview before submitting.
• Non-Core-Selection ETFs: €2 commission + €1 handling per trade.
• Options: €0.75 per contract.
• Futures: venue-specific.

Core Selection — the big structural advantage

The Core Selection terms are where DeGiro's pricing model materially diverges from Trading 212's. In 2026 the Core Selection rule for eligible ETFs on Tradegate is:

• One qualifying Core Selection trade per ISIN per calendar month benefits from the reduced-fee rule, up to a per-trade size cap of €1,000.
• Trades above the cap, or subsequent trades in the same ISIN within the same month, pay standard handling (currently around €2).
• The list of eligible ETFs is curated by DeGiro and changes over time; the current list is published as a PDF.
• A Fair Use Policy applies — abnormal-frequency use can lose Core Selection pricing.

Practical consequence: for a DCA investor buying €500/month into a single UCITS ETF on Tradegate, Core Selection is genuinely the cheapest broad-market-access product in Europe. For someone trying to buy one ETF five times a month, the economics look very different. We break this down in the Core Selection deep-dive below.

AutoFX — the 0.25% you should actually budget for

DeGiro's AutoFX converts your cash into the instrument's currency at a 0.25% fee whenever those currencies differ. A UK investor buying a USD-listed US stock from a GBP balance, or a Eurozone investor buying a GBP-line UCITS ETF on LSE from a EUR balance, triggers this on every trade. For a long-term EU investor buying EUR-denominated UCITS ETFs on Tradegate from a EUR cash balance, AutoFX doesn't fire — and that is the single biggest fee-optimisation move on the platform. Trading 212's equivalent charge is 0.15% on a broader set of currency pairs; see our Trading 212 Review (2026) for the comparison.

Exchange connectivity fee — €2.50/year per foreign venue

One of the most-confusing line items on the fees page: DeGiro charges up to 0.25% of portfolio value per year, capped at €2.50 per exchange per year, for connectivity to non-home exchanges. The London Stock Exchange is exempt for UK-account clients. If you only trade one home exchange (Xetra if you're in Germany, Euronext Amsterdam if you're in NL), this line is €0. If you trade five foreign exchanges, it's up to €12.50/year total. Tiny in absolute terms, confusing when users see it on their annual statement.

Other fees

• Inactivity fee: €0 (removed in 2022, historically a real line item).
• Deposit fee: €0 — see deposit-and-withdrawal helpdesk.
• Withdrawal fee: €0.
• Custody fee: €0.
• Regulatory pass-through costs still apply: UK Stamp Duty Reserve Tax (0.5% on LSE-listed share purchases; ETFs exempt), French FTT (0.4% on in-scope French large caps), US SEC/FINRA micro-fees on US sells. Not DeGiro-specific.

Core Selection deep-dive

The Core Selection is DeGiro's single most important product for long-term ETF investors. It deserves its own section.

What it is. A curated list (currently over 1,000 ETFs, ETCs and ETNs on Tradegate) eligible for reduced-fee trading. The list is not synonymous with "every UCITS ETF" — many lookalike ETFs across share classes, currencies and venues are not on the list, and this is the primary source of the "why am I being charged €3 on a free ETF?" confusion that ranks in the People Also Ask box.

What qualifies — UCITS classics commonly on the list. At time of writing the Core Selection typically includes mainstream UCITS accumulating and distributing share classes of ETFs investors in our best UCITS ETFs for beginners 2026 list actually hold, such as:

• iShares Core MSCI World UCITS ETF (IWDA / SWDA)
• iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets IMI UCITS ETF (EIMI)
• Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS ETF (VWCE)
• iShares Core Global Aggregate Bond UCITS ETF (AGGH, plus EUR-hedged equivalents)
• iShares Core MSCI EMU / Core S&P 500 family ETFs
• Various bond Core-series ETFs for EUR investors

Always verify the current Core Selection list and the specific ISIN before buying — a fund's Xetra line and its Tradegate line can share a ticker but have different ISINs, and only one may be Core.

Strategy implications. For a classic three-fund portfolio for Europeans (developed-market equity + emerging-market equity + bond), all three building blocks are typically available as Core Selection ETFs on Tradegate. A €500/month DCA split across three Core funds pays Core rates on all three legs if structured as one trade per ISIN per month. Change your allocation mid-month and the second trade in the same ISIN loses Core pricing — plan the ordering.

Fair Use Policy. Abnormal-frequency traders can lose Core Selection rates. This is targeted at volume-arbitrage users, not at anyone running a sensible monthly DCA. If you're making 2-4 Core trades per month you are firmly inside the Fair Use envelope.

Curvo's Core Selection explainer is a decent third-party walkthrough with examples.

Product coverage — where DeGiro wins

DeGiro's product depth is where it genuinely outshines Trading 212.

What you can buy on DeGiro:

• Stocks across 50+ exchanges (US, LSE, Xetra, Euronext, Borsa Italiana, BME, Nordic venues and more).
• ETFs — full UCITS universe plus non-Core global ETFs.
• Bonds — government and corporate, on venues where direct retail access exists.
• Options on US and EU equities (€0.75 per contract).
• Futures on major indices and commodities.
• Warrants and leveraged products (Turbos, structured notes in some markets).
• Investment funds in limited markets.

What you cannot buy on DeGiro:

• Fractional shares — full lots only. This is the single most-cited DeGiro limitation for small-contribution DCA users.
• UK tax-wrapped accounts — no Stocks & Shares ISA, no Cash ISA, no SIPP. UK-resident clients pay UK tax on DeGiro as if it were a general investment account.
• A Pies-style auto-slice portfolio product — there is no direct DeGiro equivalent to Trading 212's Pies + AutoInvest combination.

If your plan is a full three-fund portfolio in UCITS ETFs plus the occasional covered call on a stock you already own, DeGiro covers both. If your plan is "£50/month fractional buys into VWCE inside an ISA", DeGiro is the wrong tool.

Platform experience — web-first, functional mobile

DeGiro is web-first. The web platform is competent, fast, and assumes you understand order types, bid/ask and exchanges — it is not a hand-holding app.

• Web — primary surface. Clear market search, full order-type palette (market, limit, stop, stop-limit, trailing-stop), portfolio analytics and tax-reporting tools. Power users prefer it.
• iOS / Android app — functional mirror. All core trading works, but the UX is noticeably less polished than Trading 212's mobile-first app. You can do everything; you will not describe the experience as "delightful".
• Desktop / professional tooling — none. No desktop app with Level 2 order book, no public API, no algorithmic order entry. If you want a professional terminal, Interactive Brokers is the graduation platform.

Independent reviewers converge on this framing. BrokerChooser gives the web platform higher marks than the mobile app; The Poor Swiss calls out the product depth as the single biggest reason to pick DeGiro over neo-broker competitors.

Past incidents — addressed honestly

YMYL content has an obligation to discuss real regulatory history, not just marketing copy.

2018–2020 — AFM and DNB supervisory scrutiny

Before its merger with flatex, DeGiro operated under a Dutch investment-firm licence supervised by the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) and De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB). During 2018–2020 both regulators raised formal supervisory concerns around anti-money-laundering controls and the segregation of customer assets, and at one point DNB contested the "reliability" of certain former directors for policy-making positions. DeGiro disputed several findings publicly at the time.

2019 — DNB AML enforcement

In 2019, De Nederlandsche Bank imposed an enforcement action on DeGiro for failings in its AML (anti-money-laundering) framework — a publicly reported sanction that forms part of the firm's supervisory history. DeGiro remediated and cooperated with the DNB on improvements.

No DeGiro client has had invested assets impaired as a result of these regulator issues to our knowledge. But an honest review cannot omit them: they are the reason why the 2020 merger with flatex and the migration to full BaFin banking supervision was broadly welcomed by professional observers — it replaced a Dutch investment-firm supervisory regime that had struggled to oversee DeGiro's rapid retail growth with a full German banking framework plus DNB integrity oversight.

2020 — flatex merger and platform changes

The 2020 merger created flatexDEGIRO Bank AG. Some long-standing DeGiro users noted platform changes post-merger — the account structure moved to a Cash Account model (uninvested cash held at flatexDEGIRO Bank AG itself, protected by the German DGS), rather than the prior money-market fund arrangement. This was a mechanics change, not a loss of protection, but it generated user concern at the time.

What this tells a 2026 user: DeGiro has a non-trivial regulatory history and a genuine structural improvement (BaFin banking supervision) coming out of it. Both facts belong in any honest review.

How DeGiro compares to Trading 212 — the short version

The full head-to-head lives in the Trading 212 vs DeGiro (2026) pillar and the other side is covered in the Trading 212 Review (2026) sister cluster. A one-paragraph summary belongs here though.

• Trading 212 wins on tax wrappers (UK ISA, Cash ISA, SIPP), fractional shares, zero-commission simplicity, mobile UX, and a lower 0.15% FX fee vs DeGiro's 0.25%.
• DeGiro wins on product depth (bonds, options, futures, warrants, investment funds), exchange breadth (50+ venues), Core Selection ETF pricing on single-ISIN monthly DCA, and German banking supervision as a regulatory framework.
• For a UK ISA investor the comparison effectively ends before it starts — DeGiro doesn't offer an ISA.
• For an EU DIY investor who wants options or bonds, DeGiro wins on product coverage.
• For a Eurozone long-term UCITS-ETF buy-and-hold investor, both work; fee differences are within noise on a small monthly contribution.

Who actually uses DeGiro? Four honest profiles

• The Eurozone Core Selection DCA investor. €300–€1,000/month into IWDA or VWCE via Tradegate. Pays the Core Selection handling, €0 on the home-exchange connectivity (Germany / NL / Ireland / Belgium etc.), €0 FX (EUR → EUR). Biggest use case, excellent fit.
• The DIY options trader. Writes covered calls on stocks already held, occasionally speculates on index options. €0.75/contract is cheap by retail standards; the product coverage is the reason they stay.
• The bond-ladder investor. Wants direct access to specific government and corporate bonds, not bond ETFs. DeGiro is one of very few European retail brokers that offers this at scale.
• The non-UK European beginner. Germany, NL, Ireland, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal. Can't use a UK ISA anyway, so the Trading 212 wrapper advantage is moot; picks DeGiro on product depth, regulator familiarity and long-standing brand presence.

Who should not use DeGiro

• UK ISA or SIPP users. Your annual £20,000 ISA allowance is worth far more than any fee delta. Use Trading 212 (or a full-service UK provider) for the ISA, and evaluate DeGiro only for assets outside the wrapper.
• Pies / AutoInvest fans. If you already run a Trading 212 Pie, DeGiro does not replicate the feature; you'll be placing manual trades per contribution.
• Small-contribution fractional DCA investors. €50/month into a €130 ETF produces cash drag every month on DeGiro. Trading 212's fractional shares solve this; DeGiro's model does not.
• iOS-first, UX-sensitive investors. The DeGiro app is fine; Trading 212's is better. If app polish is a decision factor, don't pretend otherwise.
• Investors who need instantly-responsive phone support. DeGiro support is primarily ticket and chat; it is not a phone-desk relationship.

Methodology note

Every fee figure and regulatory detail in this review was pulled from DeGiro's official fees, Core Selection and Strong & Reliable pages, plus the DeGiro helpdesk, on 2026-04-19. The 2018–2020 Dutch regulator history and 2019 DNB AML action are based on publicly reported supervisory events. Editorial opinion (on who should and should not pick DeGiro, on Core Selection strategy, on the Trading 212 comparison) is ours and explicitly separated from sourced fact. Fee schedules and Core Selection terms change — always verify on DeGiro's own pages before funding an account.

Conclusion — is DeGiro worth it in 2026?

For the specific user it was built for — a European self-directed investor who wants broad product access, a genuine Core Selection ETF shelf with reduced-fee Tradegate trading, and German banking supervision as the regulatory backbone — DeGiro in 2026 is arguably the strongest mainstream pan-European offer. The 2020 flatex merger replaced a Dutch investment-firm supervisory regime with a full BaFin banking framework, which is a structural upgrade even if it came with platform-change friction at the time. The 2019 DNB AML action is real, worth knowing, and does not impair current client assets.

For a UK investor with ISA or SIPP headroom, DeGiro is the wrong tool regardless of fees — use Trading 212 for the tax wrapper. For a small-contribution fractional DCA investor, Trading 212's fractional shares and Pies remove cash drag DeGiro can't. For a Pies-and-AutoInvest fan, the decision is already made.

Open one, fund it small, buy a Core Selection UCITS ETF that matches your plan, and come back in five years. Nothing here is financial advice. For personal guidance, speak to a regulated advisor in your country.

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If this review helped, the companion head-to-head Trading 212 vs DeGiro (2026) is the next read, and the sister cluster Trading 212 Review (2026) covers the other side in equal depth. If you're still building your investing plan rather than picking a broker, start with our how to start investing in ETFs as a European beginner pillar, the three-fund portfolio for Europeans strategy guide, and the best UCITS ETFs for beginners 2026 list.