Trading 212, Brief Introduction And First Impressions

It took well over a year after “joining the queue”, but I finally got the invitation to open a Trading 212 account. Happy days!

If you are not familiar with the company, Trading 212 is an investing platform that works on a “commission free” basis. This doesn’t mean they don’t charge any commissions at all, but if you follow a few tips, you will not be charged any commissions. For instance, if you deposit your money via bank transfer and instant bank transfers, then you don’t pay any commission. If you decide to deposit money using credit or debit cards, you will not be charged a fee until you deposit €2000. However, if you continue depositing money via credit or debit card after those first €2000, then you will be charged a 0.7% fee. There is also a currency conversion charge of 0.15%. What is this “conversion charge”? If your account is in EUR and you are buying/selling products denominated in USD, GBP, JPY or any other currency, then you will be charged a 0.15% fee for converting the foreign currency into your local one.

The platform includes lots of different “instruments” (stocks, ETFs, etc.) from all around the world and stock exchanges including NYSE, LSE, Germany, Spain, Italy, France… Plenty to choose from!

To purchase your first shares or ETFs, just deposit some funds, search for the instrument you want to invest in and buy them. They will appear in your portfolio the moment the order is completed. Remember that if you are buying shares in a foreign market the exchange may be closed at the time you place your order and it will take a few hours to complete! And, by the way, you can buy fractions of shares in case the share price of your dream company is too high (Tesla? Apple?). For instance, you buy €100 worth of Tesla shares and you will receive 0.12 shares of Tesla (unsure of Tesla share price at the moment but you get the idea, right?).

Oh, and did I mentioned that you can get a free share worth up to €100? Get a monkey friend to pass you an invite both of you will receive a free share once you deposit some funds which can be as little as €1. Not bad!

But remember, don’t totally go bananas with your money. Only invest money you can afford to lose. Ask yourself, if your investment is worth €0 tomorrow, would I need to do any changes in my lifestyle? If your answer is “yes” you probably can’t afford to invest that money! Be careful with your peanuts and bananas!

This article is NOT financial advice, just a monkey typing stuff.

Pic Source: Trading 212