Trading 212 Review – Safe or a Scam?

Trading 212 is a safe and legit online trading platform where users can trade CFDs, ETF and stocks. In this review we will see how to use the platform, what the minimum deposit is, how to make a withdrawal from Trading 212 and its fees and commissions.

Is Trading 212 a scam?

Let us see in our review.

Trading 212 Availability

Trading 212 is a broker based in London, UK. The company was founded in 2004, but started to gain in popularity only in 2016.

The company has 2 main regulators , one in UK and one in Bulgaria. This means it accepts traders from the UK, Europe (with main markets being Germany, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland), Africa, South America, Asia and Australia.

Because of regulations the trading platform cannot accept traders from USA, Canada and China.

Is Trading 212 Safe or a Scam?

The company Trading 212 is safe and legit to trade with. The broker has 2 main regulators :

• Trading 212 UK LTD is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) with the licence number 609146
• Trading 212 UK Ltd. is registered in England and Wales (Register number 8590005), with a registered address 107 Cheapside, London EC2V 6DN
• Trading 212 LTD is regulated by the Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) – registration number RG-03-0237

The broker also states that traders’ money is protected up to £85.000 by the Financial Service Compensation Scheme (FSCS). This means that if the company goes bankrupt, traders will receive their money back up to £85.000.

So, is Trading 212 a scam? After this review we can say that the platform is legit and safe to trade with.

Trading 212 Key Features

Here there are the key features of the platform:

• Trading 212 Minimum Deposit:$1 and for UK £1
• Minimum Trade:$1
• Leverage: up to 1:30*
• Assets:100+ (CFDs, Stocks and ETF)
• Trading 212 App: Yes
• Demo Account: Yes
• Platform:WebTrader, Mac Trading

What makes the broker Trading 212 unique is its low minimum deposit. For instance, it is possible to open an account with only $1.

Trading 212 became very popular in recent years thanks to its self-developed App. The App has been created to help beginners  start investing. The interface is very similar to  Metatrader 4 , but the investing window is different and allows the user to enter the amount of money to invest instead of the volume in lots.

Another unique feature is the fact that the broker has also ETF and stocks available to trade. This is one of the first companies to have real stock trading available among its instrument and the possibility to invest in those with such a low first deposit.

Finally, the broker offers a demo account with $50.000 to all new traders. This is a very helpful tool, because it allows people to test their own strategies with virtual money before making the first minimum deposit.

Trading 212 Demo Account

The Trading 212 Demo account is free and can be used without a registration.

Once inside the demo interface, it is possible to open some trades to test your own trading strategies with virtual money.

The demo account comes with $50.000. This is not real money, but virtual money which can be used as long as it finishes and can not be withdrawn.

In the middle of the screen there is the trading chart, where it is possible to change the timeframe, use some basic indicators and draw lines.

On the left side it is possible to choose the markets to invest in, the amount of money and the main categories available (Forex, indexes, Stocks, etc.).

On the right side of the screen  are all the selected markets’ details available.

Finally, at the bottom of the screen, you can find all the open positions, follow their trend and decide to close them manually.

If you need to check your balance and see a report of all your trades, you just need to click on your name on the top right corner and there will be all the information available.

The Trading 212 demo account allows you to invest only some fixed amounts given by the platform. This is because the demo version has been created to show how the platform works and have an idea of its usability.

Once you open a real account, all the functions will be available and it will be possible to open positions of only $1.

Trading 212 Markets

On the Trading 212 platform it  is possible to trade on more than 1000 different stocks, and 100 different currencies and indexes.

The broker has focused more effort on providing a great Stocks investing platform. There are all the main companies’ stocks available (Tesla, Google, Coca Cola, Ferrari, Apple, Microsoft, etc.) and also the main local companies for every country.

All the major currencies are available too and the same can be said for indexes.

Cryptocurrencies are not available anymore as CFDs on the platform after the introduction of new restrictions by the British Authorities.

Finally, all the commodities can be found too, and can be traded as CFDs only on the Trading 212 CFDs account.

Trading 212 Fees and Commissions

The Trading 212 platform is commission free. This means that deposits and investments won’t be charged a fee.

We will now analyse each of its instrument separately.

ETF and Stocks Fees

On the ISA account it is possible to invest in stocks and ETFs. The investments on these assets are completely fee-free.

This is a very good condition that the broker offers and applies to UK and international stocks.

CFDs Fees

When talking about CFDs, tradable on the Trading 212 CFDs account, the broker applies some commissions and spreads.

Compared to other brokers in the market, the spreads are high.

For instance, the currency pair EURUSD has a spread of 2.2 pips. The other important currencies have the following spreads:

• GBPUSD 1.1 pips
• AUDUSD 0.7 pips
• EURCHF 1.6 pips
• EURGBP 2.1 pips

The broker does not apply any extra commissions on these assets.

Finally, for the indexes the conditions are very favourable. Analysing the main ones:

• S&P 500 Index has $2 commissions
• EU50 Index has $4,6 commissions
• Apple CFDS has $5,6 commissions
• Vodafone CFDs has $7,6 commissions

From this review, the brokers offer unique conditions on its ISA and investing tools. For the CFDs account, the spreads on the main currencies are higher than the average but the stocks have very low commissions compared to other industry leaders.

Trading 212 Accounts

In terms of assets available, the broker has a large choice of instrument. As mentioned before on this Trading 212 review, it is possible to trade CFDs, Stocks and ETF with this platform.

At the registration, you can choose to open a:

• Trading 212 CFDs account
• Trading 212 ISA Account
• Trading 212 Invest Account

Comparing the difference between the two accounts.

Trading 212 CFDs Account

On this type of account, a trader can trade currencies, indexes, stocks and commodities through CFDs.

This means the actual asset will be never owned by the trader, only the speculation on its trend will be possible. The account is commission free. It is possible to open a CFDs account with only $1 which is also the same amount for the minimum trade.

The conditions for this account are the following ones:

Trading 212 Invest Account

The Trading 212 ISA account offers the opportunity to invest in real stocks and ETFs. The main difference from the CFDs accounts is that in this case the investor will trade directly the stocks and not through a CFD contract.

The main characteristics of this account are that it is possible to start with only $1. The trading conditions are very good, for instance there are no fees or commission on deposits and on the investments.

On this account there is also unique tool available, called Autoinvest & Pies.

This tool allows every trader to build a personal diversified investing portfolio with stocks from different companies and ETFs. You can also select your investing goals in terms of time, budget, initial investment and reinvestment.

The platform will then continue the investment automatically. You can monitor the performance from your App and modify the inputs whenever you want.

Deposits and withdrawals can be made at any time without modifying the goals of your Pie.

Finally, thanks to this tool it is also possible to create an unlimited investment portfolio with different stocks  in it and different goals.

Trading 212 ISA Account

The big difference between a Trading 212 ISA account and the Invest Account is that the ISA is tax free.

ISA stands for Individual Saving Account. This means that an investor can use this account for savings reasons and the interest rates will be tax-free.

On the Trading 212 ISA account it  is possible to invest in stocks and ETFs. As for the Invest Account, a client can choose to use the Autoinvest & Pie tool.

This means it is possible to create a personal investment portfolio with different types of stocks from different companies. The amount of stocks selected is unlimited.

It is also possible to select the timeframe of the investment and its risk-return ratio.

The platform offers also the opportunity to open an unlimited number of diversified portfolios.

Also on the ISA accounts it is possible to deposit more money into an existing investing plan and withdrawals are possible anytime too.

Trading 212 Autoinvest & Pie

The Autoinvest and Pie is a special tool available only for the Trading 212 ISA and the Invest accounts.

As mentioned in our review above, this tool allows people to create a personal “pie” of stocks to invest in.

The pie is a mix of company stocks such as Facebook, Coca Cola, Google, Tesla, etc. A trader can select the fraction of stocks of each individual company to add to the pie.

The system will calculate a return interest rate depending on the type and fraction of stocks in it. Once the diversified portfolio is ready, it is just necessary to proceed with the first deposit, decide a timeframe for this investment and select the redeposit amounts.

The investments will be then fully automated, following the instructions given by the investor.

It is also possible to reinvest automatically the dividends generated.

Everything can be managed with the App. This means that in case you want to adjust your investments and goals, it can be done anytime from anywhere .

Finally, you can stop your investment any time you want to without any condition. New investments and new withdrawals are possible anytime too.

Trading 212 App

The Trading 212 App is the most successful feature of this broker. Its fame comes from its easy usability and user-friendly interface.

The interface is very clean and minimal. In the middle of the first screen there is list of the most popular markets to invest in (EURUSD, Oil, Gold, etc.).

On the top there are all the categories a user can trade on.

Once a market has been selected, its chart will be visible and it is possible to enter a stop loss and take profit value and the amount of money to invest.

Finally at the bottom of the screen, users can monitor how the investments are going and decide to close them or let them go.

The App is available for Android and iOS devices and can be downloaded directly from the App store from your smartphone.

The download is totally free and, once you open the App, you can decide to create an account, log into an existing one, or test it in demo mode,as a guest, for free.

The App is available for CFDs trading and for ISA investing too.

Trading 212 Education

The broker offers a range of educational videos to all its users. All the material is available for free under the section “learn” on the top menu.

All videos are short tutorials on how to start trading, trading instruments to know and how to start investing in stocks.

The length of all video goes from 3 to 10 minutes.

For beginners these are great tutorials because they can teach the basics of online trading.

How to open a Trading 212 Account

Opening a new Trading 212 account is free. You can click on one of the buttons in this review and begin the registration.

Because the broker offers ISA accounts and Investing in stocks accounts too, the registration process is longer than any other CFDs brokers.

On the registration form it  is required to add your personal information, such as name, surname, date of birth, address and nationality.

It is also required to enter your country of residence and the personal Tax ID.

This is because ISA accounts are tax-free and the broker does the tax deduction directly on the platform.

Once all the details are complete, you can submit your registration.

Additionally, the platform requires also 2 documents:

• A proof of identity
• A proof of residence

The proof of identity can be a copy of your ID card, a copy of your passport or driving licence.

The proof of residence can be a copy of your utility bills, a bank statement, a credit card statement or a Skrill or Neteller statement, where your.  name and address is visible.

Name and address reported on the documents must match the ones used for registration in order to have your account reviewed and verified.

How does Trading 212 work?

Trading on this broker is possible on either the web version, the mobile version or the App. The procedure is the same on all platforms.

To open a position you just need to follow these steps:

• Choose a market from the list of available assets (you can sort them by type: Forex, Stocks, Indexes, Commodities)
• Decide how much money you want to invest
• Enter a stop loss price and a take profit price (if you want)
• Decide if you want to trade directly in the market or place a pending order
• Decide if you want to buy or sell

After that, your trade will be placed. You can then monitor it on the “open positions” section of the platform.

You can also decide to leave the investment open until it reaches the stop loss or take profit, or close it manually.

Once your trade is closed, you can check your new balance statement by clicking on your name.

With Trading 212 it is possible to place as many investments as you want. If you are losing money on your trades, the broker will close them automatically once you have reached 0 on your account. It is not possible to go under 0 with this broker.

Trading 212 Deposit

The Trading 212 minimum deposit is only $1. This is the minimum deposit required for CFDs account and for ISA accounts too.

To make the deposit, you need to log into your account and then click on “deposit funds”.

Once you have done, the platform requires you to enter the quantity you want to deposit. This can be from $1 up.

It is possible to make a deposit by:

• Credit or debit card
• Bank wire transfer
• Skrill or Neteller
• Bitcoin
• Local Payment Methods
• Giropay
• Gpay
• Paypal

On the deposit process you can select which account you want to deposit to: CFDs, Invest or Trading 212 ISA account.

Finally, you can also schedule one or more deposits. This function is more suitable for Invest of ISA account. This is because in an ISA account you have an investing portfolio and you want to regularly deposit some money in it according to the plan you have created.

Trading 212 Withdrawal

Making a withdrawal on Trading 212 is simple and fast. In order to do that you need to log into your trading account and go on the “withdraw funds” section.

There you can select the account you want to withdraw money from, the amount of money you want to have and the payment method.

For CFDs accounts, you can withdraw part or all the money you have on your account, anytime you want.

The minimum withdraw is $1.

For an ISA account, you can also withdraw your money anytime, and this won’t change the investing plan you have created for it. For instance, once you proceed with a withdrawal, the system will automatically adjust the payout you have from your investment portfolio according to your new account balance after the withdrawal.

An important note is that before requesting a withdrawal, your account must be have been reviewed and verified by the broker. In other words, this means you must upload your documents first and these must have been approved by the compliance team.

You can withdraw your money on a credit card, on a bank account or on Skrill or Neteller.

The withdrawal times for these methods is different:

• Bank account from 3 to 5 working days
• Credit Cards from 2 to 3 working days
• Skrill/Neteller maximum 24 hours

Finally, the broker doesn’t apply any withdraw fee. This is a unique benefit you can find on this platform, because almost all the brokers on the market apply a minimum withdrawal fee.

Trading 212 Support

It is possible to contact the customer support in 2 different ways:

• Live chat
• Email

When you are logged into your App or trading account from your computer, you can click on “live chat” and contact directly the support there.

A professional agent will be happy to help you with all your questions about a demo account, a Trading 212 minimum deposit, withdrawal or educational question.

The waiting time for the live chat is normally very short and it goes from 2 to 6 minutes.

For more specific and articulated questions, it’s also possible to send an email to the support at info@trading212.com. The support team will give an answer within 24 hours.

The Customer support is available 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.

The company provides its support service in many languages:

• English
• Italian
• Spanish
• German
• Dutch
• Danish
• Polish
• Portuguese
• French
• Arabic
• Norwegian
• Bulgarian
• Hebrew

Conclusion

At the end of our Trading 212 review, we can say that the broker based in UK is a very good choice if you are either looking to trade CFDs or invest in Stocks with their Trading 212 ISA account.

The broker is safe and regulated, which enables its users to withdraw their money anytime and invest with a legit company.

The minimum deposit is the lowest in the industry, which makes the broker accessible to everyone.

If you want to trade CFDs, there are more than 1000 markets available and the spreads and commissions for this type of account are lower than many brokers.

Finally, the opportunity to manage a tax-free ISA account, create as many diversified investing portfolios as you want and plan their risk-return ratios and investing time, makes the broker unique in the market. All your investing plans can be managed with the new App. and for all your investments. There isn’t any bond, you can change your plans and withdraw your money any time you want.

Click here to find more information about other brokers

Here you can find our comparison of Trading 212 vs eToro

Here you can learn more about the comparison between Trading 212 and Plus500: https://tradingonlineguide.com/plus500-vs-trading-212/

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Marco Sbalchiero

Author of this article and founder of Tradingonlineguide.com

My aim is to help you increase your trading knowledge with helpful content. I come from an economic background and have a strong passion for forex trading. With more than 6 years in the online trading world, I want to share my financial knowledge so that anyone can develop their investment skills.

In my spare time I enjoy cooking and travelling.

Here you can learn more about our review methodology.

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