DEGIRO Review 2024: Is DEGIRO Safe?

Explore DEGIRO’s pros and cons and how it stacks up against other brokers in our in-depth DEGIRO review. Uncover key features, fees, and user experiences to make informed decisions about choosing the best depot account in Germany. Read our DEGIRO review to kick off your investment journey.

Table of Contents

If you are looking for a DEGIRO review, it means you have finally decided to start investing.

Before you open an account with any broker in Germany, you should answer a few questions.

• What type of securities do you want to buy and sell? 
• What type of trader are you?
• How often do you trade?
• How much financial education and stock recommendation support do you expect from your broker?

These questions will help you find the broker that best suits your needs.

DEGIRO Overview

• DEGIRO came into existence in 2013.
• DEGIRO offers its services in 15 countries across Europe.
• As of 2023, 2.5 million customers are using the DEGIRO platform.
• DEGIRO is one of the online brokers who have won more than 100 international awards.

Who is DEGIRO for?

• You trade the stocks of public companies listed on the world’s major stock exchanges.
• You don’t need to make high-volume trades in a short time.
• You are a beginner and want to start investing with a small amount.
• You don’t want any hidden costs.
• You don’t expect any stock recommendation or financial education from your broker.

NOTE: Investing involves risk of loss.

DEGIRO Pros

• I find DEGIRO’s trading platform simple and basic.
• DEGIRO offers a competitive and transparent fee structure. 
• You can open an account with DEGIRO online.
• No inactivity fees.
• There is no minimum deposit to open the account.
• Provides annual reports for tax purposes.

DEGIRO Cons

• You cannot trade crypto on DEGIRO.
• DEGIRO doesn’t offer the option to vote as a shareholder.
• It doesn’t offer fractional shares.

Let’s dive deep into DEGIRO’s pros and cons.

Things I like about DEGIRO

Simple and clean trading platform

Here is what the DEGIRO’s mobile app looks like.

You can judge for yourself if it’s something for you.

Transparent fees

You can use the DEGIRO cost calculator to check exactly how much it will cost you to trade. The calculator makes the costs transparent.

I don’t know of any broker that offers a cost calculator. Hence, I give DEGIRO a plus point here.

Of course, there are brokers with different cost structures. So, you must check your needs and decide which cost structure is the cheapest for you. 

For example, Trading212 offers a FREE trading platform but charges a 0.15% fee when you convert funds from one currency to another. So, if you trade stocks listed on the US stock exchange, Trading212 is not free.

Similarly, Scalable Capital* offers different subscription plans. You can trade stocks for free if you pay a monthly subscription.

Again, you must check your needs and calculate the costs. 

No to a low inactivity fee

You pay no inactivity fee if you hold stocks listed on German stock exchanges in your DEGIRO account. However, you pay 2.5 € per annum per stock exchange for all other stock exchanges.

You can find the detailed fee structure here.

Annual tax report

You must pay tax on your capital gains and income from interests and dividends. Capital gain tax is flat 25% in Germany. You can learn more about it in our guide on capital gains tax in Germany.

DEGIRO offers an annual report summarizing your realized profit or loss, income from dividends & interests, and the fees you paid to make the trades. It makes it easy for you to file tax returns.

English and German Interface

DEGIRO offers its trading platform in both English and German language. But don’t get carried away, as the communication and documentation is in German.

Still, a basic interface in English is better than none.

Company’s financials and Analyst view

DEGIRO offers the past 6 years of financial reports, analysts’ views, major shareholders, recent news, and many other information about a company.

The information comes in handy while studying different companies. 

Things I don’t like about DEGIRO

No fractional shares

The biggest negative of DEGIRO is not having the option to buy and sell fractional shares. It affects the investors with less cash the most. 

Investors cannot buy expensive shares or shares of multiple companies with only 100 €.

Many brokers nowadays offer fractional share trading. Hence, if fractional share trading is a must for you, look elsewhere.

Minimum order value to buy stocks on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE)

For stocks listed on stock exchanges like Tokyo Stock Exchange, you must have a minimum buy order of 100 shares.

Again, this is a limitation for investors with low capital.

No portfolio growth chart

The mobile app offers no portfolio growth chart. It only shows the net realized profit or loss.

Having a chart showing how your portfolio changed over time is cool. I wish DEGIRO would add this feature to their mobile app soon.

No trailing stop order

A trailing stop order is a tool traders use to track the stock price. It makes buying and selling the stocks at the best price easier.

Unfortunately, DEGIRO doesn’t offer trailing stop orders.

Here is a description of the trailing stop order for those who don’t know what it is.

A trailing stop order is a buy or sell order of a security. In trailing stop orders, your limit price increases or decreases with the stock price depending on whether it’s a sell or buy order, respectively.

Sell order

The stock price moves up; your sell limit moves with it. The trailing stop maintains the gap you set between the sell limit and the current stock price. The order is executed if the stock price goes down and meets your sell limit.

Example

• Stock price: 100 €
• Gap set by you: 10 €
• Stop limit: 100 – 10 = 90 €

 The stock price increases to 120 €. As the gap you set is 10 €, the stop limit increases to 110 € (120 € – 10 €).

If the stock price declines and reaches 110 €, the stop limit will be triggered, and the stock will be sold. So, tracking the stock price and selling it at the best price is easier.

Similarly, the buy order works. The stock price declines; your buy limit goes down with it. The buy order is triggered when the stock price increases and reaches your buy limit.

You can buy a stock at the best price.

DEGIRO doesn’t provide an option to vote as a shareholder

As a company shareholder, you have the right to vote on matters that affect the company, such as the election of directors, the approval of major corporate actions, etc.

DEGIRO offers no option to vote. The ability to vote won’t matter to many investors.

But it’s important to know that other platforms like Trading212 offer this feature. They even send you an email to vote on the company’s future.

It’s hard to get a summary of the total dividends received in a period.

Of course, you get an annual report summarizing the dividends received last year. But you cannot see the dividend summary for a custom period.

Not a big deal for many. However, it’s an important feature for someone who likes to check or even project how much dividend they will or can earn in a period.

DEGIRO mobile app design

In a time where we spend most of our time on mobile, the DEGIRO mobile app design is from the 90s. So, DEGIRO will disappoint you if design matters to you. 

Is DEGIRO regulated?

Yes, DEGIRO is regulated. This is what their website says.

The flatexDEGIRO Bank Dutch Branch, which operates under the name DEGIRO, is the Dutch branch of flatexDEGIRO Bank AG. flatexDEGIRO Bank AG is primarily supervised by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). In the Netherlands, flatexDEGIRO Bank Dutch Branch is subject to integrity monitoring by the DNB and supervision by the AFM.

How safe is your investment with DEGIRO?

DEGIRO follows the standard regulations. 

• Separation of assets: DEGIRO uses a separate legal entity to hold your assets. Thus, your investments are kept separate from DEGIRO’s assets. So, even if DEGIRO goes bankrupt, the creditors cannot claim your assets to recover money. However, your assets are lost if the separate legal entity goes bankrupt.
• German investor compensation scheme (Deutsche Anlegerentschädigungssystem in German): This scheme kicks in if DEGIRO cannot return your assets. The scheme compensates losses from unreturned assets up to 90% (with a maximum of EUR 20,000). It means if the worst happens, you can recover a maximum of 20k € worth of assets, and the rest is lost.
• Cash account: Like any other bank in Germany, up to 100k € cash deposited into a DEGIRO cash account at flatexDEGIRO Bank AG is guaranteed under the German deposit protection system.

NOTE: 20K € worth of your investments (stocks, bonds, ETFs, etc.) and 100 k € cash is protected. Do not confuse 100k € CASH with INVESTMENTS.

For example, you have 80k € of investments. If the worst occurs, you will recover only 20k €. 60k € will be lost.

DEGIRO Review: Conclusion

You don’t invest all your money in a single stock. Similarly, don’t hold all your investments with one broker. Open accounts with multiple brokers to reduce the risk of asset loss.