You started on DEGIRO because it was cheap and simple, and for a first ETF portfolio that was a sound choice. But a lot of people reach a point where they want out: the €2.50-per-year connectivity fee on every exchange nags at you, you want multi-currency cash and cheaper FX, or you are moving countries and want a broker that travels with you. Interactive Brokers (IBKR) is the usual destination, and you almost never need to sell anything to move.
The honest answer up front: you can transfer your actual ETF shares from DEGIRO to IBKR in-specie, meaning the securities move across intact while you stay invested. You keep your acquisition dates and cost basis, and you do not create a taxable disposal by moving. That last point matters in most European countries, where selling to move would crystallise a capital gain you did not need to realise. Below is how the transfer works, what it costs, and the things that trip people up.
In-specie transfer vs sell-and-rebuy: pick the right route first
There are two ways to end up with your portfolio at IBKR, and the difference is worth money.
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An in-specie transfer (also called a securities transfer, position transfer, or in Germany a Depotübertrag) moves the ETF shares themselves from your DEGIRO custody to your IBKR account. You are never out of the market, and because you have not sold, there is no realised gain and no taxable event. Your cost basis and holding period carry over. This is the route you want in almost every case. For more detail, see our guide: eToro vs DEGIRO for EU ETF Investors.
Sell-and-rebuy means liquidating everything on DEGIRO, withdrawing the cash, and buying the same ETFs again on IBKR. It sounds simpler, and it is faster, but it forces a disposal. If your positions are in profit, you hand your tax authority a bill you could have deferred for years or decades. You are also out of the market for a few days between selling and rebuying, which is a real risk when a portfolio can move a couple of percent in that window. Only choose this route if the position is tiny, if you are sitting on losses you actively want to harvest, or if a specific ETF simply cannot be transferred.
| Factor | In-specie transfer | Sell & rebuy |
|---|---|---|
| Taxable event | None — no disposal | Yes — gains realised |
| Cost basis / holding period | Carried over | Reset to purchase date |
| Time out of market | None — stay invested | Several days of gap risk |
| Speed | Roughly 1–3 weeks | A few days |
| Typical cost | DEGIRO exit fee per line | Sell commission + FX + spreads |
| Fractional shares | Cannot transfer — must sell | Included automatically |
The step-by-step transfer process
The single most important rule: you initiate the transfer from the receiving side, which is IBKR, not from DEGIRO. IBKR reaches out and pulls the assets in. If you go poking around DEGIRO looking for a “transfer out” button you will mostly find instructions pointing you back to your new broker.
Fee figures in this guide are cross-checked against our EU broker fee benchmarks, reviewed quarterly.
1. Open and fully verify your IBKR account
Set up the account with the right entity for your residency — for EU residents that is usually Interactive Brokers Ireland (IBIE). Complete identity verification and get the account fully approved before you start the transfer, because you will need a live account number. If you want the detail on how IBKR structures client-asset protection under IBIE, that is covered in our IBKR Europe investor-protection explainer. For more detail, see our guide: Interactive Brokers ISA.
Ready to open an account? You can open a Interactive Brokers account directly.
2. Gather your DEGIRO holding details
Log into DEGIRO and note, for every position: the ISIN, the exact quantity of whole shares, and the exchange each line is held on. The ISIN is what matters — an ETF is identified by its ISIN, not by the ticker, which can differ between listings. Take a screenshot of your portfolio page so you have a clean record before anything moves.
3. Initiate the transfer inside IBKR
In the IBKR Client Portal, find the position transfer tool (under Transfer & Pay, then the option to transfer positions). Choose the transfer type appropriate to your region — IBKR uses ACATS in the US, but for European accounts you complete a manual or DWT-style transfer request. Enter DEGIRO as the delivering broker, add each ISIN and quantity, and submit. IBKR then coordinates with flatexDEGIRO to move the assets.
4. Approve on the DEGIRO side and wait
DEGIRO may ask you to confirm or authorise the outgoing transfer, so watch your DEGIRO inbox and email. From there it is a waiting game. European in-specie transfers typically settle within one to three weeks, occasionally longer if a security needs manual handling. Your shares will briefly show as “in transit” — this is normal and does not mean anything is lost.
What it costs, and where the fees hide
The transfer is not free, but it is usually cheap relative to the tax you avoid. Expect an exit or outgoing-transfer fee from DEGIRO charged per position line — as a 2026-vintage figure this has historically been in the region of €10 per ISIN plus possible external costs, but you must check DEGIRO’s current fee schedule because these numbers change and vary by entity. IBKR generally does not charge to receive an incoming transfer. If you hold ten different ETFs, the arithmetic is simply that per-line fee times ten, which is why people with sprawling portfolios sometimes consolidate a few tiny lines by selling them first.
Weigh that against sell-and-rebuy, where you would pay selling costs, currency conversion, bid-ask spreads twice, and potentially a large capital-gains tax bill. For a portfolio of any real size, the in-specie fee is trivial by comparison. You can sanity-check destinations with our cheapest EU brokers comparison and the wider European broker hub.
The pitfalls that catch people out
Fractional shares cannot be transferred. If you used DEGIRO’s fractional buying, those fragments of shares cannot move in-specie — the settlement system only handles whole shares. You will have to sell the fractional portion before or during the transfer, and DEGIRO usually liquidates them automatically. That small sale can be a taxable event, but on a fraction of one share the gain is negligible.
Not every ETF is supported at the destination. Most mainstream UCITS ETFs transfer without drama, but a niche or thinly listed fund can occasionally be rejected if IBKR does not support that exact listing. Check that your ETFs are tradeable on IBKR before you start, so you are not left holding an orphan line.
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Clean up after the move. Once everything has landed at IBKR and you have confirmed the quantities match your pre-transfer screenshot, close the DEGIRO account properly rather than leaving it dormant. A dormant DEGIRO account with a single leftover position can keep generating that per-exchange connectivity fee, which is the opposite of why you left. Make sure any residual cash is withdrawn first.
Keep your own tax records. DEGIRO does not always hand a tidy cost-basis file to IBKR the way some German brokers pass acquisition data on a domestic Depotübertrag. In many cross-border cases you remain responsible for proving your original purchase price to your tax authority when you eventually sell. Keep your DEGIRO transaction history and annual statements. This is exactly where a “verify with a local tax adviser” note earns its place, because the record-keeping duty sits with you.
What I’d do
If your DEGIRO portfolio is a handful of standard UCITS ETFs sitting in profit, transfer in-specie without hesitation — the tax deferral alone justifies the modest exit fees, and you keep your holding periods intact for whenever your country’s rules reward long-term holding. Do it position by position, confirm each line arrives, then shut DEGIRO down so the connectivity fee stops. IBKR is the natural home here because of its multi-currency cash, near-institutional FX rates, and the fact that it survives international moves better than almost any competitor; the case for it is laid out in our why IBKR stands out piece. If you are still weighing whether DEGIRO is really worth leaving, our DEGIRO review covers what it does well too — for some occasional buyers, staying put is fine.
The only time I would sell rather than transfer is if your positions are at or below cost, so there is no gain to defer and you might even harvest a useful loss, or if you are holding an oddball ETF that will not move. Otherwise, treat sell-and-rebuy as the expensive fallback, not the default. For the exact, current transfer forms and supported-security lists, work from Interactive Brokers’ own position transfer documentation rather than any third-party summary, since the mechanics are updated periodically. For more detail, see our guide: Interactive Brokers vs Trading 212 for ETF Investors.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Will transferring from DEGIRO to Interactive Brokers trigger capital gains tax?
A: No, not if you do an in-specie transfer where the shares move without being sold. Because there is no disposal, there is no realised gain and nothing to declare from the move itself. Only a sell-and-rebuy would create a taxable event, which is exactly why the in-specie route is preferred.
Q: How long does a DEGIRO to IBKR transfer take?
A: Most European in-specie transfers complete within one to three weeks. Simple, widely held UCITS ETFs move fastest, while a security needing manual handling can take longer. You stay invested the whole time, with the shares showing as in transit until they settle at IBKR.
Q: Do I start the transfer on DEGIRO or on Interactive Brokers?
A: You start it on Interactive Brokers, the receiving broker, using its position transfer tool in the Client Portal. IBKR then coordinates with flatexDEGIRO to pull the assets across. DEGIRO may ask you to authorise the outgoing transfer, so watch your DEGIRO messages during the process.
Q: What happens to my fractional shares on DEGIRO?
A: Fractional shares cannot be transferred in-specie because settlement systems only move whole shares. The fractional portion is usually sold automatically, which is a small taxable disposal, though the gain on a fraction of a share is normally negligible. Only your whole-share positions cross over intact.
Q: How much does it cost to transfer out of DEGIRO?
A: DEGIRO charges an outgoing-transfer or exit fee per position line, historically around €10 or so plus possible external costs as a 2026 illustration, so verify the current figure on DEGIRO’s official fee schedule. IBKR generally does not charge to receive the transfer. The total is usually far cheaper than the tax and spreads of selling and rebuying.
Q: Can I transfer only part of my DEGIRO portfolio?
A: Yes. You can select specific ISINs and quantities to transfer while leaving others in place, which is useful if you want to keep some positions on DEGIRO or sell off a few tiny lines instead of paying a per-line fee to move them. Just confirm the transferred quantities match your records once they arrive.
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 →