Featured partnerSign up to Lightyear and get up to €100 in a free fractional shareCapital at risk, terms apply. Seek guidance if necessary. Claim Up to €100 Capital at risk, terms apply. Seek guidance if necessary. - Interactive Brokers is our best overall stock broker for European investors. It combines access to more than 170 markets with low currency-conversion costs, portfolio-transfer support and platforms that scale from simple to advanced.
- Trading 212 is the strongest choice for beginners and smaller orders. Its Invest account charges no dealing commission, although other fees apply, including a 0.15% currency-conversion fee.
Interactive Brokers is the best overall stock broker in Europe in 2026, and it is the broker I personally use for my own shares. It leads on the things that decide long-term outcomes: dealing cost, currency conversion, market access, and the ability to move a portfolio in without selling everything first.
Best overall does not mean best for everyone. Someone investing €100 a month is usually better served by Trading 212's fractional shares or Trade Republic's automated savings plans than by a professional-grade platform. This guide ranks six brokers for one job, buying and holding individual stocks, and compares them on dealing commission, currency conversion, market access, fractional shares, portfolio transfers, platform depth, tax paperwork and the legal entity that holds your assets.
That focus is deliberate. The broker that is biggest is not automatically the best fit for your money, and the best ETF platform is not automatically the best place to buy individual shares. We compare brokers by scale in our guide to the biggest online brokers in Europe and fund platforms in our best ETF brokers in Europe comparison. This page is for people buying stocks.
Every figure below was checked against official broker pages on 21 July 2026, with Lightyear rechecked on 28 July 2026. Fees and availability still vary by country, legal entity, pricing plan, order size and funding route, so confirm the schedule for your own residence before opening an account.
Affiliate disclosure: EU Investing Hub has commercial relationships with some brokers in this comparison. We rank the brokers on editorial criteria. We may earn a commission if you open an account through an affiliate link, at no extra cost to you.
The best stock brokers in Europe at a glance
The rank reflects the work of buying and holding individual shares. The fee labels are a compact starting point, not an estimate for every order.
The Interactive Brokers, Trading 212, Lightyear, XTB and Trade Republic rows are Sponsored Links. Trading 212: Terms apply. When investing, your capital is at risk and you may get back less than invested. Past performance doesn't guarantee future results. Lightyear: Capital at risk, terms apply. Seek guidance if necessary.
Fees vary by country, entity, exchange, pricing plan and order size. “€0 dealing” and other commission-free references mean no dealing commission; currency conversion, spread, taxes and third-party charges can still apply. The DEGIRO stock example uses its current Irish schedule. Mintos also added commission-free stocks from €1 in October 2026; it is too new to rank here, so see our Mintos stocks review for the details.
MethodHow we ranked the brokers
We scored each broker on seven weighted criteria: stock and FX cost, market access, account portability, ownership and custody clarity, legal entity and protection, platform usability, and country availability. Cost and market access carry the most weight, because they determine what you pay and what you can buy over decades of investing. Portability and custody clarity come next; a broker you can leave cleanly, holding assets that are demonstrably yours, never traps you in a decision you made years ago. Protection, usability and country coverage complete the score.
One scope rule shaped the list: we only considered real shares, where you buy and own the underlying stock, not CFDs or other derivatives. That boundary matters for a comparison built around long-term ownership and portability, because a share you own is an asset that can sit in segregated custody and move to another broker without being sold, while a derivative is a contract with a provider rather than the asset itself.
Affiliate relationships did not determine the order. Some links on this page are commercial, as the disclosure above explains, but the ranking was set by the criteria alone.
Best overall1. Interactive Brokers
Interactive Brokers is the broker I personally use, and it sets the standard the rest of this list is measured against. Its official overview states access to more than 170 markets with funding and trading in 29 currencies, which means one account can hold US, UK and continental European shares side by side without workarounds.
The European stock pricing has two plans:
- Tiered pricing for Western European stocks is 0.05% of trade value, with a minimum of €1.25 and a maximum of €29 for shares, plus applicable third-party venue and regulatory fees.
- Fixed pricing with SmartRouting is 0.05% with a €3 minimum on many Western European markets. The official page describes about €3 as typical for a Western European stock trade, with 0.05% applying above €6,000, although the exact charge varies by market and order.
- Automatic currency conversion is advertised at about 0.03%. Manual spot FX starts at 0.002% of trade value with a $2 minimum at the first tier.
- There is no account minimum and no platform fee, though third-party custody fees may apply for some positions.
The platform range covers every stage: GlobalTrader for simple mobile investing, Client Portal on the web, and Trader Workstation for advanced orders and analysis. Interactive Brokers also supports inbound asset transfers, with guided support for transfers from non-US brokers. Whether a transfer costs anything, and how your country treats it for tax, depends on the sending broker and your residence, so check both sides before starting.
European accounts held with Interactive Brokers Ireland Limited fall under the Central Bank of Ireland, firm reference C423427. Eligible private investors are covered by the Irish Investor Compensation Scheme for 90% of an eligible loss, capped at €20,000. That is a backstop for shortfalls, not insurance against market losses, and cover depends on which entity carries your account and where specific assets are held. Our guide to whether Interactive Brokers is safe for European investors works through the detail.
The main drawback is the learning curve: choosing between pricing plans and navigating Trader Workstation takes effort that app-first rivals do not ask of you. Read our full Interactive Brokers review for EU investors.
2. Trading 212
Trading 212 is the simplest starting point in this comparison. The Invest account charges no custody fee, and its headline pricing is easy to state: No dealing commission. Other fees may apply, see terms and fees.
When investing, your capital is at risk and you may get back less than invested. Past performance doesn't guarantee future results.
The main trading cost is currency conversion at 0.15%, which applies whenever the trade currency differs from the currency you hold. Fractional shares are available for most supported instruments with no extra fractional fee, so a €25 order can buy a slice of a share that trades at several hundred euros. For portability, Trading 212 supports portfolio transfers that move supported shares to or from another broker without closing the positions first, although eligibility and supported assets vary.
Your residence decides which legal entity serves you and which products you get. Trading 212 UK Ltd is FCA regulated; Trading 212 EU GmbH is BaFin regulated and keeps client money and securities separate from company assets; Trading 212 Markets Ltd is CySEC regulated. Spain is currently supported under Trading 212 EU GmbH. Protection follows the entity: EU GmbH clients have EdW cover at 90% of eligible funds up to €20,000, with eligible uninvested cash at partner banks separately protected up to €100,000 per person per partner bank, while the Cypriot ICF pays the lower of 90% of cumulative covered claims and €20,000. No single scheme applies to every European reader, so check which entity would hold your account. Our guide to whether Trading 212 is safe explains each scheme.
The weakness is the flip side of the simplicity: research and analysis tools are thinner than XTB's or Interactive Brokers', and the entity-by-residence structure means two readers of this page can face different terms. See our Trading 212 vs Interactive Brokers comparison for a direct head-to-head, and our Trading 212 promo code guide for details of the current welcome offer.
3. Lightyear
Lightyear's appeal is coherence: one tidy app where the fee for each market is easy to hold in your head. US stocks cost 0.1% of the order, capped at $1 with a $0.10 minimum, so any US order above roughly $1,000 costs $1. UK stocks cost £1, and most euro-denominated European stocks cost €1, with other local-currency minimums varying. Currency conversion for EU accounts is 0.35%, and fractional availability depends on the instrument. Full details are on the official pricing page.
Lightyear lists more than 6,000 stocks, including US, UK and European listings alongside Canadian and Chinese companies. It does not offer options, CFDs, futures or short selling, so investors who want derivatives will need another broker. Personal accounts are open to residents of 26 European countries, covering most of the EU plus Norway and the UK, though product access varies by residence and US citizens and US tax residents are excluded.
Lightyear Europe AS is an Estonian licensed investment firm. Client money and instruments are safeguarded and kept separate from Lightyear's own assets, and the Estonian Investor Protection Sectoral Fund covers eligible assets up to €20,000. As with every scheme in this article, that is a backstop for shortfalls, not cover for normal market losses.
Fractional coverage varies by instrument. Our Lightyear review for EU investors covers the platform in depth.
4. XTB
XTB earns its place through xStation, a platform that combines real share dealing with research, news and charting in one screen. If you like to check an earnings story, scan a chart and place the order without switching apps, this is the strongest package in the list.
XTB has also added extended trading hours on selected US stocks for clients of its branches in Czechia, Germany, Spain, France, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Slovakia, so you can choose to let an order execute before or after the regular US session. Spreads can be wider outside regular hours.
Investors who prefer standalone tools can pair any broker with our pick of the best stock research platforms in Europe.
Pricing favours ordinary volumes: real stocks, ETFs and fractional rights carry no commission until monthly turnover exceeds €100,000, after which commission is 0.2% with a €10 minimum. Few retail investors trade €100,000 in a month, so most pay no dealing commission. The catch is currency conversion: conversions linked to transactions and corporate actions carry a 0.5% margin on the XTB exchange rate, the costliest in this comparison. For euro-denominated shares that rarely matters; for frequent US dealing it adds up quickly, as the FX section below shows.
A €10 monthly inactivity fee applies only when two conditions are met together: no position opened or closed for 365 days and no deposit for 90 days. The official page lists exceptions, including accounts with no available funds and certain open stock or ETF positions, so long-term holders are unlikely to trigger it in practice.
XTB also offers CFDs, which are leveraged derivatives and a different product entirely; this ranking concerns only the real-share side. XTB S.A. is authorised and regulated by Poland's KNF, with local branches and other group entities serving different markets, so the exact legal entity and product list depend on where you live.
On protection, clients of XTB S.A. have segregated client money, and the Polish KDPW compensation scheme pays 100% of an eligible claim up to €3,000 plus 90% of the amount from €3,000 to €22,000, a maximum of €20,100. Compensation of this kind is a backstop if eligible assets cannot be returned; it does not cover normal market losses. The legal entity, and with it the applicable scheme, varies by residence, so these figures apply to clients of XTB S.A. rather than to every XTB customer in Europe.
5. Trade Republic
Trade Republic is built around a habit rather than a transaction: pick stocks or ETFs, set an amount and a schedule, and let the plan execute. Savings-plan executions in stocks and ETFs carry no Trade Republic fee, although other product costs, spreads and third-party charges can still apply. One-off orders carry no order commission plus a €1 trade settlement fee, and a €2 fee can apply if you select an exchange with Direct Price. That structure rewards the intended use: a €1 flat fee is proportionally heavy on a €50 one-off order, while the same money in a savings plan executes without a Trade Republic fee.
The main site states more than 10 million customers in 18 European countries and more than €150 billion of customer assets, useful context on distribution, though scale is not why it ranks here. Country access and products vary by market, so it is not available throughout Europe; check your country before planning around it.
Trade Republic Bank GmbH is a bank, which shapes how protection works. Securities in custody are your property, held through the relevant depositories, and are not covered by the deposit guarantee scheme because they are securities rather than deposits. Cash can be held at partner banks or diversified into money market funds: eligible cash at partner banks carries deposit guarantee cover up to €100,000 per customer, while money market fund units are segregated custody assets, not bank deposits. It is worth knowing which of the two your balance sits in. Our Trade Republic review goes deeper on both the app and the cash setup.
6. DEGIRO
DEGIRO states access to more than 45 global exchanges, and its strength is buying European companies on the exchanges where they have their main listing rather than through a single routed venue. Fees are country-specific, so treat the current Irish schedule as an example rather than a Europe-wide quote: Euronext Dublin stocks cost €2 commission plus €1 handling, and US stocks cost €1 commission plus €1 handling. AutoFX conversion is 0.25%, manual FX is €10 plus 0.25%, and the Irish schedule has no custody, inactivity, deposit or withdrawal fee. Trading outside your home exchange adds a connectivity fee of 0.25% of account value, capped at €2.50 per exchange per calendar year, with separate rules for US derivatives.
The structural gap is fractional investing: DEGIRO does not support fractional shares, so only whole shares can be traded. With a small monthly budget, that rules out high-priced shares that fractional brokers make accessible, and it is the main reason DEGIRO sits behind the app-first platforms here despite competitive dealing rates. The official country selector lists 18 European country sites, including the UK and Switzerland, so availability is selected-country rather than universal.
On protection, flatexDEGIRO Bank Dutch Branch holds investment assets through a separate legal entity. If segregated assets cannot be returned, the German Investor Compensation Scheme covers 90% of eligible losses up to €20,000, and cash in the linked flatexDEGIRO Cash Account has German deposit guarantee protection up to €100,000. flatexDEGIRO Bank SE is supervised primarily by BaFin, with the Dutch branch registered with DNB and supervised by AFM and DNB.
What currency conversion costs on a €1,000 stock purchase
Currency conversion is the quiet cost in European stock investing. Buy a US share from a euro account and the conversion charge often exceeds the dealing commission, yet it rarely appears on the order screen as prominently. On a €1,000 purchase, automatic conversion costs approximately:
Interactive Brokers automatic about €0.30 Trading 212 €1.50 DEGIRO AutoFX €2.50 Lightyear EU €3.50 XTB €5.00 These are simple arithmetic examples. They exclude stock commission, bid-ask spread, taxes, and exchange or third-party fees, and actual charges vary with conversion method, rounding, exchange rate, residence, account and order. Trade Republic does not appear because its official pricing does not publish a directly comparable percentage conversion rate.
One nuance on Interactive Brokers: its manual spot FX rate starts at 0.002% of trade value, but with a $2 minimum at the first tier, so a manual €1,000 conversion costs at least $2 rather than €0.02. The automatic conversion route is the like-for-like figure used above.
The gap matters more than it looks because conversion is charged each time it happens. Money that goes into dollars and later comes back to euros pays the rate twice, and at XTB's 0.5% against Interactive Brokers' roughly 0.03%, each €1,000 converted costs about €4.70 more per direction. For regular cross-currency buyers, that difference compounds into real money over the years.
Buyer's guideHow to choose a stock broker in Europe
Start with residence and legal entity
Your country of residence determines which legal entity serves you, which in turn determines products, fee schedule and compensation scheme. Trading 212 runs three entities, DEGIRO publishes country-specific pricing, and Trade Republic and Lightyear each serve a defined list of markets. Check the entity for your country before comparing anything else.
Add up the total cost for how you actually invest
Commission, conversion and recurring fees interact differently depending on order size and frequency. A €1 flat fee is heavy on €50 orders and trivial on €5,000 orders; a 0.5% conversion charge is irrelevant for euro-only portfolios and expensive for monthly US buying. Small percentage differences compound over decades, which our compound interest calculator makes concrete.
Check the exchanges and share classes you want
A broker is only useful if it lists what you want to buy. If you want European companies on their home exchanges, DEGIRO and Interactive Brokers are strongest; if your list is American and European large caps, every broker here covers it.
Test the transfer route before you need it
Being able to move shares without selling protects you if fees rise or you outgrow a platform, and it can matter for tax as well as convenience, although rules differ by country. Interactive Brokers and Trading 212 both support in-specie transfers with published processes; whichever broker you pick, confirm what can move in and out, and at what cost.
Look at the tax paperwork
Brokers differ widely in how usable their annual reports are for your local tax return, and some localise reports for specific countries while others provide generic statements. A broker statement never replaces your own filing responsibility, but a well-formatted one saves hours every year.
Match features to habits
Fractional shares suit small regular amounts, savings plans suit automation, multi-currency accounts suit cross-border earners, and research tools suit active stock pickers. Rank the features by how you will actually invest, not by the longest feature list.
ProtectionWhat happens if a broker fails?
Three separate layers stand between you and a broker failure, and it helps to keep them distinct.
Asset segregation. Client securities are held separately from the broker's own assets. Trading 212 EU GmbH keeps client money and securities separate from company assets, DEGIRO holds investment assets in a separate legal entity, Trade Republic's custodied securities remain the customer's property, and Lightyear safeguards client money and instruments apart from its own. In a failure, segregated assets should be returned or transferred to another firm rather than falling into the estate.
Investor compensation. This is a backstop if eligible assets cannot be returned in full; it does not cover normal market losses. The Irish scheme covering Interactive Brokers Ireland pays 90% of an eligible loss up to €20,000. Germany's scheme, relevant to Trading 212 EU GmbH and DEGIRO's banking group, covers 90% of eligible losses up to €20,000. The Cypriot fund covering Trading 212 Markets pays the lower of 90% of covered claims and €20,000. Estonia's fund covering Lightyear protects eligible assets up to €20,000. Poland's KDPW scheme, which covers clients of XTB S.A., pays 100% of an eligible claim up to €3,000 plus 90% of the amount from €3,000 to €22,000, a maximum of €20,100.
Deposit protection. Eligible cash held at banks can have protection up to €100,000 per person per bank. This can apply to cash at Trading 212's partner banks, Trade Republic's partner banks and the flatexDEGIRO Cash Account. Securities and money market fund units sit outside deposit schemes because they are not deposits.
The bottom line
Interactive Brokers is the best overall stock broker in Europe in 2026: more than 170 markets, funding and trading in 29 currencies, automatic currency conversion at about 0.03%, and a credible route for moving portfolios in. Trading 212 is the better starting point for small, regular purchases, Lightyear keeps multi-currency investing simple, XTB suits investors who want research built in, Trade Republic automates the habit, and DEGIRO reaches European exchanges directly.
Whichever you choose, confirm three things for your own country before funding the account: the legal entity that will serve you, its exact fee schedule, and the protection scheme behind it. All three follow your residence, and they matter more than any headline rate.
FAQFrequently asked questions
Interactive Brokers is our best overall pick for 2026, based on market access, dealing and currency-conversion costs, transfer support and platform depth. The best broker for you still depends on residence and habits: Trading 212 is the easier start for small orders, and Trade Republic leads for automated savings plans.
No single broker is cheapest for every investor. Trading 212 charges no dealing commission on Invest accounts, although other fees apply, including 0.15% currency conversion. For larger or cross-currency orders, Interactive Brokers can work out cheaper overall, so compare the commission, FX cost and spread for your own order size and frequency.
Sometimes, depending on whether the broker supports your new country and which legal entity serves it. A move can change your product set, fee schedule and compensation scheme even if the app looks identical. If the new country is not supported, a portfolio transfer may move eligible shares without selling them.
Yes. US-listed shares are widely available to European retail investors. Expect a currency-conversion cost when buying with euro cash, and remember that exact market access depends on your country and legal entity.
Regulated brokers generally hold client securities separately from their own assets, so they should be returned or transferred if the firm fails. If eligible assets cannot be returned, investor-compensation schemes provide a capped backstop. No scheme covers normal market losses.
Often, yes, through an in-specie or portfolio transfer. Trading 212 supports moving supported shares in or out without closing positions, and Interactive Brokers offers guided support for inbound transfers. Eligibility, supported assets, timelines and third-party charges vary.
Only partly. Reporting and withholding vary by broker and country, and some brokers provide more localised tax reports than others. A broker statement does not replace your local filing responsibility, so check your country's rules or ask a qualified adviser.
Interactive Brokers: broad market access with low currency-conversion costs
Trading 212: When investing, your capital is at risk and you may get back less than invested. Past performance doesn't guarantee future results. No dealing commission. Other fees may apply, see terms and fees, including a 0.15% currency-conversion fee. This is not investment advice.
Lightyear: Capital at risk. Provider of the investment services is Lightyear Europe AS for the EU. Terms apply: https://lightyear.com/terms. Seek qualified advice if necessary. This is not investment advice.
When investing, your capital is at risk. This page contains sponsored links to Interactive Brokers. EU Investing Hub may receive compensation if you follow these links, at no extra cost to you. The commercial relationship does not affect our editorial position or the verified facts in this content. This information is for educational purposes only and is not investment advice. Interactive Brokers provides execution and clearing services to its customers. Interactive Brokers makes no representation and assumes no liability to the accuracy or completeness of the information provided in this Influencer communication. None of the information contained herein constitutes a recommendation, offer, promotion, or solicitation of an offer by Interactive Brokers to buy, sell or hold any security, financial product or instrument or to engage in any specific investment strategy. Investing involves risks. Investors should obtain their own independent financial advice and understand the risks associated with investment products and services before making investment decisions.
