Trading 212 Review
Introduction and Background information
Trading 212 was founded in 2004 under the name Avus Capital through its Bulgaria-based entity that is regulated nationally by the Financial Supervision Commission (FSC).
Trading 212 is currently privately held, jointly owned by Ivan Ashminov and his business partner, who both own 50% of the company. Even with offering zero-commission trades, Trading 212 still posted revenues of £43.7m in 2017, with estimated pre-tax profits of over £25m in 2018.
Account types
Instruments
more than 1800 available instruments.
14 crypto pairs and several unique FX pairs supported, including 37 against the Bulgarian Lev.
Education
the bulk of research being an economic calendar, news headlines, and market analysis from staff.
Regulation
In 2013, Trading 212 obtained regulatory status through its United Kingdom (UK) entity, Trading 212 UK Ltd, that is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK. Thanks to its FCA license, Trading 212 is pass-ported throughout 11 nation states within the European Union (EU) under MiFiD regulation. EU residents of the remaining member states not covered by the firm’s UK license (not including country-specific restrictions) can open an account with the broker’s Bulgarian entity.
Trading 212 primarily offers a web-based trading platform for traders. also has its own Google chrome plugin, which provides quick-access to the platform from within a browser by emulating the mobile version. Five chart types, 55 indicators, and nearly 20 drawing tools are available.
Trading 212 offers a mobile app for Android and iOS devices. The company advertises that their app has been downloaded more than 14 million times. Both the Apple App store (4.5-star average) and Google Play store (4.3-star average) boast strong ratings for the Trading 212 app.
The Trading 212 mobile app also offers automated trading through Pro Quant where users can follow strategies, akin to a social copy-trading offering or MetaTrader Signals Market. However, one major caveat is that the Pro Quant app must also be installed alongside the Trading 212 mobile app, settings are only configurable within the Pro Quant app, and there is no web version of Pro Quant available.
43 indicators and 19 drawing tools are cleanly integrated into the app’s charting tool.
Deposit and Withdrawals
Fees (Account and spreads/commission)
Trading 212 advertises zero commission trading; however, actual trading costs vary. On one hand, it charges zero-commissions on many of its instruments, namely shares and ETFs. On the other hand, when trading forex and other CFDs such as crypto, commodities and indices, Trading 212 charges a spread. Like many forex and CFDs brokers, Trading 212 does not publish an average spread to reflect its actual costs to traders.
While the fixed spreads offered on 32 pairs are quantifiable, the pricing is less clear on the more than 150 pairs it offers with variables spreads.
Nonetheless, providing both fixed and variables spreads from the same account can be a value to traders depending on their needs, as Trading 212 offers a diverse range of markets from a single account.
Execution
Customer Support
Promotion
Conclusion
