5.0- Highly competitive commission structure
- Large number of products and markets available
- Easy-to-use web platform and app
- Excellent customer service
DEGIRO is ideal for building a portfolio of ETFs, being able to trade more than 200 ETFs on special terms and thousands more for a commission of 3€ per trade, both buying and selling.
5.0- Periodic investments in ETF with flat monthly fee from £2.95
- Fees reduced to £2.95 on LSE ETFs
- Advanced tools on the platform for ETF research
- Comprehensive offering of European ETFs
Fineco allows you to manually trade a selection of iShares and Amundi ETFs with 0% commissions, or make automatic purchases with reduced fees with the Regular Investment Plan
5.0- Introducing broker in Europe of Interactive Brokers
- Same access to Interactive Broker markets and platforms
- Efficient customer service with British operators
- Quick account opening compared to Interactive Brokers
MEXEM allows you to open an IBKR account while benefiting from fast account opening, an always-available help desk, and low commissions on ETFs.
5.0- Both whole and fractional real ETFs can be purchased
- Ideal platform for beginners with little experience
- Zero commissions on buying and selling real ETFs
- Possibility to invest with both real ETFs and CFDs on ETFs
eToro allows you to buy ETFs (or fractions of ETFs) for as little as $10 and with an easy-to-use trading app. This makes it suitable for those with little experience with trading platforms.
77% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
ETFs are investment funds that are just as easy to trade as shares. At the same time, however, they allow the investor to achieve an excellent level of diversification, even from the purchase of a single ETF.
This aspect, in addition to extremely low management costs, makes ETFs one of the most traded financial products by investors worldwide.
There is no doubt that exchange-traded funds (aka ETFs) have experienced a real boom in recent years, becoming one of the most attractive financial instruments for investors.
ETFs are as easy to trade as stocks and, at the same time, allow you to benefit from diversification, similar to mutual funds (but with drastically lower costs than these).
This combination of attributes has made ETFs one of the most popular financial assets in investors' portfolios.
What can ETFs be traded on?
Would you like to trade ETFs listed on the US stock exchanges? If you are a UK resident this is possible following Brexit. If you are a European resident, however, buying American ETFs is no longer available following the entry into force of Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II) in 2018.
This legislation prohibits European citizens from trading non-harmonized ETFs (i.e. non-compliant with European directives).
However, this is not an issue as most US ETF issuers have their ETFs home-based in Europe to harmonize them and make them available to UK and European investors.
How to invest in ETFs
As an investor, you can invest in ETFs on your own or with the help of a financial advisor. Using a financial advisor may be beneficial if you need to develop your financial planning within a general framework.
You can rely on an advisor when you don't have the time to take charge of the entire investment process, or when you don't feel you have enough skills or knowledge to invest in your own.
In the investing world, robo-advisors are becoming increasingly popular as an alternative to traditional financial advisors. Robo-advisors are online financial consultants, whose services are a combination of both technological (algorithms and software) and human resources (dedicated financial consultants).
This hybrid model makes robo-advisors generally more efficient and less expensive than traditional financial advisors.
What are the best brokers for trading ETFs?
ETFs are financial instruments that are regulated and listed on the main world stock exchanges. As mentioned above, they are in many ways similar to stocks. One of the similarities is how you can both buy and sell on the stock exchange.
In order to invest in ETFs independently, it is therefore necessary to go through an authorized broker. Through the use of an online broker or bank, a few clicks separate you from the purchase of an ETF. But first, it is advisable to carefully consider which broker offers the best conditions for trading ETFs.
Among the many brokers and banks that allow you to trade ETFs, we have narrowed the options to those with the lowest trading fees, those who offer the most ETFs and those with the best trading platforms.
More specifically, among the various parameters taken into consideration we have given greatest importance to the following:
- Trading fees: analyzed using our tool for ETF fees on the LSE and on the European exchanges
- Cost of keeping the account: very often the ETF investor is a passive investor, who buys an ETF with the aim of keeping it in their portfolio for years. It is therefore important to choose a broker that does not have account maintenance costs, does not charge inactivity costs, and does not have costs for the custody of ETFs.
- Ability to trade ETFs listed on the London stock exchange and on European or US stock exchanges: as previously stated, following Brexit, British investors can buy American ETFs. The most active exchanges for ETF trading are Euronext Amsterdam and Paris, Borsa Italiana, London, Xetra and Zurich.
- Possibility of launching automatic investment plans: a practice requested by investors wishing to launch a pound-cost averaging on ETFs.
DEGIRO: invest in 200 ETFs with special conditions
5.0Country: The Netherlands
Cost-free account: {yes}
Automatic investments in ETFs: {no}
Trading fees: 3.00€
Promotion: 200 tradable ETFs with special conditions
Ideal for: investing in ETFs listed on the London Stock Exchange and major European exchanges
Pros:
- 200 ETFs available with special conditions
- Full coverage of global ETFs
- Free real-time quotes
Cons:
- Automatic investments in ETFs not offered
- Annual connection fee of 2.50€ for each foreign exchange on which ETFs are traded
DEGIRO is a low-cost online broker with a banking licence in Germany. Opening a DEGIRO account consists of activating a zero-fee trading account. This account would therefore be perfect especially for buy-and-hold investors, since trading ETFs would only pay trading fees. The DEGIRO account is in fact exempt from:
- Inactivity costs
- Securities custody and maintenance costs
- Account maintenance fees
With DEGIRO you therefore only pay trading fees for each purchase/sale. For ETFs, commissions are 3.00€, whether they are listed on the LSE or on European exchanges.
There is also a list of around 200 ETFs with special conditions: no transaction fees, only possible costs for connecting to the relevant exchange and possible currency conversion costs.
Every month, one can buy or sell these ETFs without paying commission costs, but only EUR 1.00 for external costs. The first transaction within a calendar month is always free of charge. Further trades on the same traded ETF can be executed in the same month, but only if both of the following conditions are met:
- The transaction is of the same sign (buy or sell) as the first transaction. For example, if I bought an ETF commission-free, further purchases in the same month will also be commission-free. If on the contrary, I want to sell, I will pay the commission of 1.00€.
- The transaction on the ETF has a counter value of more than 1,000 EUR or USD (depending on the currency of the ETF).
Fineco: create automatic planned investments in ETFs
5.0Country: Italy
Cost-free account: {yes}
Automatic investments in ETFs: {yes}
Trading fees: £2.95 (UK ETFs); $3.95 (US ETFs); €3.95 (European ETFs)
Promotion: automatic ETF purchases with commissions reduced to £2.95 per month
Ideal for: initiate a Regular Investment Plan with automatic periodic investments in ETFs
Pros:
- Automatic investment possibilities
- Comprehensive offering of both LSE and European ETFs
- Fixed commission on ETFs cheaper than other online brokers
Cons:
- Trading platform not very user-friendly
- Limited educational tools
Fineco is the leading bank in Italy for online trading. In the UK it offers a zero-fee account, with no custody or deposit fees, no inactivity charges and no portfolio transfer costs
Commissions on ETFs are very attractive:
- £2.95 per trade for UK ETFs
- $3.95 per trade for US ETFs
- 3.95€ per trade for European ETFs
FINECO also offers automated investments in ETFs, thanks to an innovative variant that this bank offers with the classic Regular Investment Plan: an automated investment system that allows periodic fixed amounts to be directed towards one or more ETFs.
Its operation is simple: simply choose at the outset which ETFs to invest in and what periodic amount to invest in each one (minimum £/$/€ 50 per month). Fineco will then automatically invest the amounts indicated by the client, charging a fixed monthly fee of £2.95 per ETF.
A selection of commission-free ETFs issued by iShares and Amundi is also currently offered
MEXEM: the introducing broker of IBKR
5.0Country: Israel
Cost-free account: {yes}
Automatic investments in ETFs: {yes}
Trading fees: 0.08% min. £2.50 (UK ETFs); 0.06% min. 1.80€ (European ETFs)
Promotion: no ongoing promotion
Ideal for: build a portfolio of ETFs on a sophisticated trading platform (TWS) and with advanced analysis and research tools
Pros:
- Full coverage of tradable global ETFs
- Competitive fees especially for small amounts invested
- Advanced and customisable trading platforms
Cons:
- Trading environment not ideal for beginners
MEXEM is the introducing broker of Interactive Brokers, i.e. it is authorised by Interactive Brokers to take clients in Europe and the UK on behalf of the latter.
For this reason, the MEXEM broker is able to offer users what could be described as a 'hybrid' account. Traders who choose to use MEXEM will be able to take advantage of Interactive Brokers' financial product and market offerings as well as the Trader Workstation (TWS), Interactive Brokers' trading platform for more experienced traders.
One of the advantages of MEXEM lies in the ability to invest in all ETFs offered by Interactive Brokers: from those listed in London on the LSE, to European ETFs listed on Xetra, Euronext, Borsa Italiana, etc.
Although MEXEM is the introducing broker of Interactive Brokers, the commission structure and costs provided by MEXEM are not the same as those provided by IBKR.
MEXEM's commission rates for ETF trading is 0.08% (min. £2.50) for the LSE; for other European markets, ETF commissions are 0.06% (min. 1.80€)
In addition, we point out a particularly convenient account cost structure: the trading account is free of charges (no maintenance or securities custody fees) and the deposit of funds is always free of charge.
Finally, with MEXEM it is possible to take advantage of leverage by activating the margin account, which is available with a liquidity of at least £2,000.
eToro: copy trading on ETF portfolios
5.0Country: Israele
Conto senza costi: {yes}
Automatic investments in ETFs: {no}
Trading fees: variabili
Promotion: no ongoing promotion
Ideal for: investing in ETFs independently or with copy trading by copying other investors
Pros:
- Possibility of buying ETF fractions
- Copy trading functionality to copy the ETF portfolios of other investors
- User-friendly platform
Cons:
- Limited offer of tradable ETFs
- Available ETFs denominated in USD only
eToro is one of the world's leading online brokers. While specialising in CFD trading, it has expanded its offering in recent years, also offering investors real shares and ETFs. For the latter, the offer consists of 145 tradable global ETFs.
At eToro, you can invest in ETFs from iShares, Vanguard, PIMCO, Invesco, Xtrackers, SPDR, MSCI and Horizons.
So if you are looking for a broker with a user-friendly platform, and low costs and if you are interested in one of the 145 ETFs offered, eToro can be an excellent and practical solution for investing in ETFs, even with very small amounts.
In order to buy ETFs, you need to use x1 leverage. With higher leverage, you will be trading CFDs and not the underlying ETF.
77% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.
You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
