By Kestutis Balciunas·Reviewed August 26, 2026

Why DEGIRO Stands Out for ETF Investors: The European Choice

Short verdict: DEGIRO is still the cheapest sensible home for a buy-and-hold UCITS ETF portfolio in Europe, and it is a real bank — flatexDEGIRO Bank AG, licensed by BaFin in Germany with Dutch AFM and DNB oversight. Since the October 2025 restructuring you pay only a small handling fee, illustratively around €1, on a Core Selection ETF bought on Tradegate; roughly €3 plus about €2.50 a year in connectivity if you buy off-list; and about 0.25% on Auto FX if you touch a non-euro asset.

Three things to know before you sign up: the protective Custody account has been closed to new clients since 2021, so you get the Basic account; securities lending is off by default since October 2025 and you must opt in; and there are no fractional shares, so every contribution leaves a little cash idle. Support is the weakest part of the product and always has been.

I have used a fair number of European brokers over the past decade, and I keep coming back to one core question when readers ask me where to put their long-term money: is DEGIRO for ETF investors still the sensible default, or has the market moved on? After eleven years of buying UCITS ETFs across several platforms, I wanted to write an honest, hands-on review. This is not a sponsored piece. There is no affiliate link here, and I have no commercial reason to flatter the platform. I will give you the genuine strengths and the real frustrations, so you can decide whether it fits your own plan. For more detail, see our guide: DEGIRO Securities Lending.

What is DEGIRO, and who regulates it?

DEGIRO is a low-cost European broker built for self-directed investors. It launched in the Netherlands and grew quickly into one of the most-used retail platforms on the continent. It is operated by flatexDEGIRO Bank AG, a German bank, and the listed group behind it reports more than 3.6 million customers across 16 countries and access to more than 50 exchanges worldwide (flatexDEGIRO corporate overview, read 26 August 2026).

That corporate structure is the safety answer. Because the operator is a licensed German bank, the prudential supervisor is BaFin; the Dutch business is additionally supervised by the AFM for conduct and DNB for prudential matters, and you can look up any firm’s permissions yourself in the AFM’s public registers. In other words you are dealing with a licensed European bank, not a lightly regulated app — and unlike most broker-safety claims, this one is checkable in a public register in about a minute.

Methodology: this guide applies our broker review methodology, from safety-of-assets checks to total-cost math.

Torn between them? Here is the premium broker duel.

The product itself is deliberately simple. You get access to shares, ETFs, bonds, options and futures. You do not get a flashy research suite, a robo-advisor or a savings-rate gimmick. DEGIRO sells one thing well: cheap, broad market access for people who know what they want to buy.

Who DEGIRO for ETF investors suits, and who it does not

Let me be blunt about fit, because it saves disappointment later. DEGIRO suits buy-and-hold ETF investors. If you build a portfolio of two or three UCITS ETFs and add to them every month or quarter, this platform was practically designed for you. It rewards patience and a steady hand.

It does not suit everyone, though. Active traders who want fractional shares, rich charting or a polished mobile experience will feel short-changed. Beginners who want hand-holding may prefer something gentler. And anyone who needs fast, reassuring customer support during a crisis should think twice. I will return to that weakness in detail below. For a wider view of the field, my European ETF broker hub sets out the main contenders side by side.

The free and core ETF selection, explained honestly

The headline that draws most people in is the “free” ETF list, now called the Core Selection. This is the single biggest reason DEGIRO for ETF investors keeps its loyal following. Here is how it works in practice, and where the asterisks hide.

Since the October 2025 restructuring, the Core Selection sits on the Tradegate exchange. Trades on these ETFs carry no execution commission. You still pay a small handling fee per trade, illustratively around €1, which covers external clearing and settlement rather than going to DEGIRO itself. There is no daily trade limit on these products and no separate connectivity charge for that venue.

That is genuinely cheap. But read the conditions. Historically the free list required a minimum trade size, often around €1,000, and limited you to one free trade per ETF per month before extra charges applied. Rules like these change, so do not take my numbers as gospel. Always verify the current fees on degiro.com before you commit, because the structure has shifted more than once.

What does DEGIRO actually cost an ETF investor?

About €1 per trade on the Core Selection, about €3 plus €2.50 a year per exchange off it, and about 0.25% whenever Auto FX converts your money. Those are illustrative 2026-vintage figures and DEGIRO has changed them more than once, so treat the shape as durable and the digits as provisional.

Cost is where DEGIRO earns its reputation, yet the picture is more layered than the marketing suggests. The October 2025 restructuring reshaped how a buy-and-hold investor pays. Before that change, the free list spread across several exchanges, and the rules around minimum sizes and one free trade per month confused a lot of people. DEGIRO simplified it by moving the whole Core Selection onto a single venue, Tradegate. Buy a Core Selection ETF there and you pay only that small handling fee, illustratively around €1, with no commission and no separate connectivity charge for that venue.

The trade-off lands when you stray off the list. Buy an ETF on another exchange, such as Xetra or Euronext Amsterdam, and the cost rises. Illustratively, that runs around €3 per trade, plus a modest annual connectivity fee per exchange you actually use, often around €2.50. For a buy-and-hold investor this matters more than it first appears. If your chosen ETF lives on the Core Selection, the new model is excellent, perhaps the cheapest sensible route in Europe. If your preferred fund trades elsewhere, you face a quiet decision: switch to a near-equivalent on Tradegate, or accept the higher per-trade cost on every contribution. I would rather pick a Core Selection ETF from the outset than pay three euros a month forever.

Frequency also shapes the maths. Because the handling fee is flat, smaller monthly contributions carry a heavier percentage drag than larger ones. On a €1,000 buy, a €1 fee is a tenth of a percent and barely registers. On a €100 buy it is a full one percent before your fund even moves. So the restructure quietly rewards investors who contribute larger sums less often. If you drip-feed tiny amounts weekly, the flat fee bites harder, and a rival with free savings plans may suit you better.

Currency conversion is another quiet cost. DEGIRO has no multi-currency wallet by default. If you buy a dollar-denominated asset, its Auto FX converts automatically, illustratively at around 0.25%, and uninvested cash earns no interest. For a euro-based investor buying euro-denominated UCITS ETFs, this rarely bites. For anyone reaching into US-listed products, it adds up on every trade and every dividend. None of these figures are huge in isolation, yet together they decide whether DEGIRO truly is your cheapest option. Treat them as illustrative and verify the current fees on degiro.com. To model your own numbers, my EU broker fee comparator lets you plug in your trading pattern.

Can I still open a DEGIRO Custody account?

No. DEGIRO closed the Custody account to new clients in 2021, so anyone signing up today gets Basic. That used to be the whole argument against Basic, because Basic allowed share lending. Since October 2025 lending is off by default and opt-in only, which closes most of the gap — but the choice itself is gone, and that is worth knowing before you open an account rather than after.

This section matters more than most reviews admit, and it took me years to fully appreciate why. For years DEGIRO offered two account types. The Basic account was cheaper but allowed the broker to lend out your shares to third parties. The Custody account cost more yet kept your securities ring-fenced and unlent. The distinction was not academic. When a broker lends your shares, you take on counterparty risk: if the borrower fails and the collateral falls short, you could, in a worst case, be left chasing what you are owed. Custody removed that exposure in exchange for higher fees, particularly on dividends.

Here is the catch for new investors. DEGIRO stopped offering the Custody account to new clients back in 2021. Existing Custody holders keep their original terms, but anyone signing up today gets the Basic account only. So the protective option that long-term, risk-averse investors valued most is simply no longer on the menu. That is a meaningful change, and I wish DEGIRO communicated it more loudly.

So what about lending your shares under the Basic account? Here the news genuinely improved. Since October 2025, securities lending is off by default. Your shares will not be lent unless you actively opt in through your settings. If you do choose to participate, DEGIRO shares roughly half the lending revenue with you. That is a far fairer arrangement than the old opt-out model, where lending happened unless you knew to object. In practice, this narrows much of the gap that the closed Custody account left behind. A cautious buy-and-hold investor can now simply leave lending switched off and sleep soundly.

My own stance is straightforward. I keep lending disabled. The extra revenue is small for a typical portfolio, and I would rather hold my ETF units cleanly than chase a few euros a year while carrying counterparty risk. If you do consider opting in, read DEGIRO’s terms on collateral and understand exactly what is being lent. I explain the wider risk in my guide on whether your broker is lending out your ETF shares.

ETF and market access

Breadth is a real strength, and this page previously undersold it. The flatexDEGIRO group states access to more than 50 exchanges worldwide, spanning every major Western market, several Eastern European venues and the main Asian exchanges. The ETF universe runs to several thousand products, well over 5,000 by recent counts. For a European investor who wants Irish-domiciled, accumulating UCITS ETFs, the choice is generous.

One important limitation: DEGIRO is long-only for ordinary stock and ETF investors, and it does not offer fractional shares. You buy whole units only. For expensive ETFs or pricey single shares, that can leave spare cash sitting idle. If precise, fully invested contributions matter to you, this is a genuine drawback. Domicile and tax treatment also affect your real return, which I cover in my ETF tax efficiency guide.

Related reading: Which European Brokers Offer Fractional ETF Shares?.

How DEGIRO for ETF investors compares to IBKR and Trade Republic

No broker wins on every axis. Interactive Brokers offers deeper markets, true multi-currency accounts and professional tools, but with a steeper learning curve. Trade Republic offers fractional shares, a slick app and savings plans, yet a narrower exchange range. DEGIRO sits between them: cheaper than most for plain ETF buying, broader than Trade Republic, simpler than IBKR. The table below sketches the trade-offs. Treat every figure as illustrative and verify before acting.

If you want the full counterpoint, read my detailed take on why Interactive Brokers stands out for ETF investors in Europe. The two platforms suit different temperaments.

Fee figures in this guide are cross-checked against our broker fee data table, reviewed quarterly.

My first-person experience

I have run real money through DEGIRO for years, so this is not a spec-sheet verdict. The everyday experience is calm and predictable. I log in, place a monthly order on a Core Selection ETF, and pay a tiny fee. Orders fill quickly, and I have never had a routine trade go wrong. The web platform is plain but functional, and I have never felt confused by it. For my own long-term core, this is exactly what I want: cheap, boring and reliable. Boring, in investing, is a compliment. A platform that tempts me to tinker is a platform that costs me money, and DEGIRO mercifully does neither.

The annual rhythm suits me too. I rebalance once a year, top up after bonuses, and otherwise leave the account alone. The tax statements DEGIRO provides have been adequate for my filing, though I still cross-check them, and the dividend handling on accumulating UCITS ETFs has never caused me a headache. Over eleven years of investing, the platforms I trust most are the ones I think about least, and DEGIRO has slowly earned that quiet trust.

My frustrations are real, though, and I will not soften them. The research tools are thin to the point of being decorative. I keep Morningstar and justETF open in another tab because the platform alone will not tell me what I need about a fund’s holdings, tracking difference or domicile. The lack of fractional shares occasionally leaves a few euros uninvested each month, which nags at the part of me that likes a fully deployed portfolio. The mobile app does the job but never feels polished next to the app-first rivals.

And, most importantly, customer support tested my patience. On one occasion I had a question about a corporate action and waited days for a clear answer. Replies can be slow, especially during busy market periods when, ironically, you most want reassurance. When you have a live account question, that delay feels far longer than the clock suggests. I have learned to plan around it: I never leave admin to the last minute, and I treat support as a slow channel rather than a safety net. The Trustpilot score, hovering around 4.1, reflects that mixed reality fairly. If you need a hand-holding broker, this honest weakness should weigh heavily in your decision.

See also: Metatrader 5 broker.

How to get started

Opening an account is straightforward. You register online, verify your identity, link a bank account in your name and fund it. DEGIRO usually requires the first deposit to come from a bank account you own, which doubles as verification. Once funded, search for your chosen ETF, check whether it sits on the Core Selection, and place a limit order rather than a market order so you control your price. Start small while you learn the interface. There is no rush.

Common mistakes to avoid

I see the same errors repeatedly. First, people buy a near-identical ETF off the Core Selection and pay needless fees; always check the list first. Second, they trade frequently and erode the cost advantage that makes DEGIRO worthwhile. Third, they ignore currency conversion costs by buying dollar assets without thinking about FX. Fourth, they opt into securities lending without understanding it. And fifth, they expect rapid support and then panic when a reply takes days. Knowing these traps in advance keeps the experience smooth.

See also: Degiro fees.

Key takeaways

• DEGIRO offers rock-bottom costs for buy-and-hold ETF investing through its Core Selection.
• It is operated by a German bank, flatexDEGIRO, and regulated by BaFin with Dutch AFM/DNB oversight.
• Securities lending is now off by default; you must opt in, and revenue is shared.
• The Custody account is closed to new clients, so new sign-ups get the Basic account.
• Real weaknesses: slow support, no fractional shares, long-only, and thin research tools.
• Verify every fee on degiro.com, since the structure has changed more than once.

FAQ

Q: Is DEGIRO safe and properly regulated?
A: Yes. It is operated by flatexDEGIRO Bank AG, a licensed German bank supervised by BaFin, with additional Dutch oversight from the AFM and DNB. Your assets are held in segregated structures.

Q: Is DEGIRO a regulated broker in the Netherlands, and what do the AFM and DNB supervise?
A: Yes, and the split is worth understanding. The AFM (Autoriteit Financiële Markten) is the Dutch conduct regulator: it supervises how the firm treats clients, what it discloses and how it sells. DNB (De Nederlandsche Bank) is the prudential regulator: it supervises solvency and capital. On top of both, the operating entity flatexDEGIRO Bank AG is a German bank, so BaFin is its home prudential supervisor and the Dutch business runs as a branch. You can check the permissions yourself in the AFM’s public registers rather than taking a review’s word for it.

Q: Is DEGIRO worth it in 2026?
A: For a buy-and-hold UCITS ETF portfolio bought on the Core Selection, yes — it is among the cheapest routes in Europe and it is run by a licensed German bank. For anyone who wants fractional shares, weekly small savings-plan contributions, a polished app, real research tools or fast support, no: Trade Republic and Scalable Capital do those things better, and Interactive Brokers does global access better. The 2025 changes cut both ways — lending off by default is a clear win, the closure of the Custody account to new clients is a clear loss.

See also: Is freedom24 safe.

Q: Is DEGIRO for ETF investors really the cheapest option?
A: For Core Selection ETFs bought and held, it is among the cheapest in Europe. Trade off-list, frequently or across currencies, and the gap narrows. Compare your own pattern before deciding.

Q: Does DEGIRO charge a fee for ETFs?
A: Core Selection ETFs carry only a small handling fee, illustratively around €1, with no commission. Other ETFs cost more per trade plus a small connectivity fee. Verify current figures on degiro.com.

Q: Can I buy fractional shares on DEGIRO?
A: No. DEGIRO sells whole units only. If exact, fully invested monthly contributions matter to you, this is a genuine limitation worth weighing.

Q: Will DEGIRO lend out my shares?
A: Not unless you choose to. Since October 2025, securities lending is off by default and opt-in only. If you participate, DEGIRO shares roughly half the revenue with you.

Q: Can I still open a Custody account?
A: No. DEGIRO closed the Custody account to new clients in 2021. New sign-ups receive the Basic account. Existing Custody holders keep their original terms.

Q: How good is DEGIRO’s customer support?
A: It is the weakest part of the experience. Support exists by email and phone, but replies can be slow during busy periods. Plan for delays rather than instant help.

Q: Does DEGIRO handle multiple currencies well?
A: Not really. There is no multi-currency wallet by default. Auto FX converts automatically at a small spread, illustratively around 0.25%, which adds up if you trade foreign-currency assets often.

Q: Is DEGIRO good for beginners?
A: It can be, if you keep things simple and buy Core Selection ETFs. The platform is plain rather than hand-holding, so beginners should learn the basics first and start with small orders.

Q: How does DEGIRO compare to Trade Republic and IBKR?
A: DEGIRO is cheaper for plain ETF buying and broader than Trade Republic, but lacks fractional shares and rich tools. IBKR offers more for advanced, global investors. Choose by temperament and need.

Sources

• flatexDEGIRO SE corporate overview — operator, 3.6m+ customers, 16 countries, 50+ exchanges (read 26 August 2026)
• BaFin — the German prudential supervisor of flatexDEGIRO Bank AG
• AFM public registers — where to verify the Dutch conduct authorisation yourself
• degiro.com — the fee schedule itself is the only authority on current pricing. Note that degiro.com blocks automated requests (it answers HTTP 503 to non-browser clients), so the fee figures on this page are stated as illustrative and were not machine-verified; open it in a browser before you act on a number.

Fees and rules change — verify current terms with each broker.

See also: Freedom24 review.

Kestutis Balciunas
European UCITS/ETF investor with 11+ years building a global dividend and index portfolio, and founder of Financial Expert Class. I write every guide here from first-hand experience investing across EU brokers and tax regimes — not theory. More about me →