Trading Education Platform SystemSubscribe for FreeSupport
Brokers / Lightyear
BROKER RIGOR REPORT · VERIFIED 11 OCT 2026

Lightyear: what the sources say

87
Evidence 100%

Key facts

The questions, with sources

QuestionWhat the sources saySource
Main entity
Lightyear Europe AS (Estonia, company no. 16235024) for EU/EEA customers; Lightyear UK Ltd (England and Wales, company no. 14367910) for UK customers; group/copyright holder Lightyear Financial Ltd, Estonia (EU); United Kingdom
Listed parent
no: Lightyear Financial Ltd (named as copyright holder on company pages; group structure not verified)
Regulation
Major regulator. Finantsinspektsioon (Estonian Financial Supervision Authority) (Estonia): Regulator's own announcement: investment firm authorisation granted 3 March 2022 to Lightyear Europe AS. Company pages state activity licence no. 4.1-1/31 and crypto-asset services licence 4.1-1/147. Estonia is an EEA state; counted as equivalent national securities regulator (not on named list). The fi.ee market-participants register entry itself was not found in search results; FCA (UK): Lightyear UK Ltd, FRN 987226; this FCA register URL is the one linked from the company's own regulation page (not opened directly, as it did not appear in search results). UK clients migrated to Lightyear UK Ltd on 30 Dec 2024 (previously appointed-representative structure). Company also states HMRC-approved ISA manager
Compensation scheme
Yes. Estonian Investor Protection Sectoral Fund (Guarantee Fund / Tagatisfond) for EU customers; FSCS for UK customers Company page: EU up to EUR 20,000 per account type (personal/business), crypto not covered; UK up to GBP 85,000 per customer per institution; US securities held with Alpaca (SIPC member) up to USD 500,000. Scheme's own page (riigiteataja.ee Guarantee Fund Act) could not be read (JavaScript-only page); FSCS page not opened
Client assets separated
Yes. Company states uninvested cash is kept separate from its funds (Erste Bank Hungary, Citibank Europe, LHV, qualifying money market funds) and invested assets are held by custodians in separate accounts
Public financials
No. Private, venture-backed company (USD 23m Series B led by NordicNinja, July 2025, press; reports over USD 1bn client assets); no annual report or published financial statements located in this research
Who can open an account
Authorised across EU/EEA; available in 25 countries (AT, BE, BG, HR, CY, DK, EE, FI, FR, DE, GR, HU, IE, IT, LV, LT, LU, MT, NL, NO, PT, SK, SI, ES, SE) plus UK
Markets
US stocks (NYSE, Nasdaq, 4,000+), UK (LSE), European stocks (20+ countries), Baltic stocks and bonds, ETFs, money market funds, UK gilts, crypto (EU entity)
ETFs / fractional shares
ETFs: yes. Fractional shares: yes.
US stock commission
Official EU pricing page (table as of 01.09.2026): US stocks 0.1% per order, up to USD 1 max, minimum USD 0.10. UK homepage: US stocks and ETFs cost nothing per order
Cost to buy 1,000 USD
0.1%. EU entity (default/main): 0.1% of USD 1000 = USD 1, which equals the USD 1 cap, so 0.1%. UK entity: 0. FX (0.35% EU / 0.1% UK) and spread excluded
Currency conversion
EU pricing page: 0.35% per currency conversion at live interbank rate; UK page: 0.1% when converting currency
Inactivity / account / withdrawal
Not mentioned on EU pricing page; UK page says no account, execution or custody fees; EU pricing page: account fee free; ETF custody free; custody fee for other holdings not stated. Other EU fees: UK stocks GBP 1 per order; EUR-denominated European stocks/bonds EUR 1 per order; other European stocks 0.1% with local minimums; crypto 0.45%; money market funds 0.15% or less; LEI for business accounts EUR 48 + VAT per year; EU pricing page: bank transfer out free; bank transfer in free; card deposit 0.6%; receiving USD wire USD 6.11

"Not verified" means we could not confirm it from a source we could read. Check the entity and rules for your own country. Education only, not investment advice.

Score

How the points add up

  • Regulation 20 of 20. Licensed by a major financial regulator (see the broker page for the register entry)
  • Client protection 20 of 20. Investor compensation scheme applies: Estonian Investor Protection Sectoral Fund (Guarantee Fund / Tagatisfond) for EU customers; FSCS for UK customers; Client assets held separately from the broker's own (stated in its documents)
  • Transparency 0 of 10. No public financial statements found
  • Security record 15 of 15. No incident found in our search of the last five years (not an exhaustive guarantee)
  • Compliance record 25 of 25. No regulator or court action found in our search
  • Costs 7 of 10. Buying 1,000 USD of a US stock or ETF: 0.1% commission at the published base tier (FX and spread not included)

Points earned of points available. A criterion we could not verify is left out and lowers the evidence share. See how we score.

Record

Security incidents

  • No incident found in our search. Search depth: full. That is not proof there is none.
Record

Regulator and court actions

  • No regulator or court action found in our search. Search depth: full. That is not proof there is none.

Actions reported by press only are shown and not scored.

Not scored

Other reports

  • 2019-01 Search result 'Lightyear settles with SEC for overcharging investors' (privatefundscfo.com) concerns a US private-funds firm; article paywalled and does not mention Lightyear Europe AS; listed only to record it was checked and excluded source

Reports that are not security incidents or regulator actions against the broker, shown for completeness and not scored.

Summary

Key facts in five lines

  • Lightyear Europe AS was granted an investment firm authorisation by the Estonian Financial Supervision Authority on 3 March 2022; Lightyear UK Ltd is FCA-authorised (FRN 987226) per company pages [source 2][source 8].
  • EU customer assets are stated as covered up to EUR 20,000 by the Estonian Investor Protection Sectoral Fund; UK customers up to GBP 85,000 under FSCS (company statement) [source 3][source 4].
  • The official EU pricing page lists US stocks at 0.1% per order (min USD 0.10, max USD 1), ETFs free and 0.35% FX; the UK page lists no per-order cost and 0.1% FX [source 9][source 6].
  • The service is available in 25 European countries and the UK; the company raised a USD 23m Series B in July 2025 and reports over USD 1bn in client assets (press) [source 1][source 10].
  • Three incident searches and three legal searches found no data breach, outage, fine or court action concerning Lightyear Europe AS or Lightyear UK Ltd since 2021 [source 2][source 11].
Questions

Questions about Lightyear

Is Lightyear safe?

We do not give a yes or no. We record its regulation (Finantsinspektsioon (Estonian Financial Supervision Authority), FCA), whether an investor compensation scheme applies, and what we found about incidents and regulator actions. Read the sections above, and check which entity holds your account.

Does Lightyear charge commission on US stocks?

Official EU pricing page (table as of 01.09.2026): US stocks 0.1% per order, up to USD 1 max, minimum USD 0.10. UK homepage: US stocks and ETFs cost nothing per order

Sources

Where this comes from

Not verified: FCA register page and fi.ee register entry not opened directly (FCA URL taken from the company's regulation page). Compensation-scheme limits rest on company statements: the Estonian Guarantee Fund Act page (riigiteataja.ee) requires JavaScript and could not be read; FSCS page not opened. Founding year not stated on company pages (press implies about 2022). No financial statements found. Incident and legal searches (3 each) returned only unrelated entities (e.g. a 2019 SEC settlement by a US firm named 'Lightyear', not linked to this broker) or generic items, so lists are empty but absence is not proven. EU and UK fee schedules differ; cost_1000usd_pct uses the EU entity.

To report an error, use corrections and right of reply.