Trading 212: what the sources say
The questions, with sources
"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.
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: FSCS (UK, Trading 212 UK Ltd); company about-us page also lists ICF Cyprus, ICF Bulgaria and EdW (Germany) depending on entity; Client assets held separately from the broker's own (stated in its documents)
- Transparency 10 of 10. Annual financial statements are public (listed parent or published report)
- 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. 1 regulator or court action(s) in the window; reports from press only are shown but not scored
- Costs 10 of 10. Buying 1,000 USD of a US stock or ETF: 0% 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.
Security incidents
- 2020-11-03 DDoS attack; third-party protection service failed; users briefly blocked from logging in (~1 hour). Out of window (flagged). Customer funds lost: no. Outcome: Company stated assets and personal information safe (press). source older than 5 years
- 2020-11-24 Order execution delayed after downtime at intermediary Interactive Brokers. Out of window (flagged). Customer funds lost: not verified. Outcome: Press report; user claims unverified. source older than 5 years
Regulator and court actions
- 2026-01 FCA: Press (Financial Times, reported by Cointelegraph 2026-01-27): Trading 212 UK Ltd let UK retail clients trade crypto ETNs from Oct 2025 to Jan 2026 before holding the FCA permission to deal in debentures; it applied after FCA supervisors contacted it and the register was updated to show the permission in Jan 2026. Outcome: press; no FCA enforcement action, fine or statement naming the firm found. Press URL: https://cointelegraph.com/news/trading-212-crypto-etns-sold-without-fca-authorization-uk source
Actions reported by press only are shown and not scored.
Other reports
- FCA clone warning (24 Jul 2020) concerned an impersonator site, not the broker.
- Jan 2021 meme-stock buying restrictions and Feb 2021 onboarding freeze (Wikipedia): no regulator action against the firm found; Financial Ombudsman decisions on individual complaints exist (e.g. DRN-3353695), not assessed.
Reports that are not security incidents or regulator actions against the broker, shown for completeness and not scored.
Key facts in five lines
- Trading 212 UK Limited is FCA-authorised, FRN 609146, per an FCA page and the official money-protection page. [source 5][source 13]
- Official money-protection page: uninvested cash covered by FSCS up to GBP 120,000; investments held in segregated accounts at custodians Interactive Brokers and BNY Mellon under CASS 6/7. [source 13]
- Official Costs and Charges Disclosure: no commission on ETF trades, no account fees, 0.15% FX fee; 12 Invest account currencies. [source 14][source 15]
- Press reported in Jan 2026 that the UK entity offered crypto ETNs before holding the FCA debentures permission; no enforcement found. [source 7]
- Press reports Trading 212 Group Limited FY2025 accounts filed at Companies House: revenue GBP 345.8m, profit after tax GBP 93.9m. [source 16]
Questions about Trading 212
Is Trading 212 safe?
We do not give a yes or no. We record its regulation (FCA, CySEC), 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 Trading 212 charge commission on US stocks?
Official Trading 212 UK Ltd Costs and Charges Disclosure (undated PDF, read 2026-10-11): 'Trading 212 does not charge commissions on ETF trades'; no charge for opening, closing or maintaining the Invest account; only a 0.15% FX fee on currency conversion, plus third-party taxes/levies (UK stamp duty 0.5%, PTM levy GBP 1 over GBP 10,000, US SEC fee 0.0008% and FINRA fee USD 0.000166/share on sales, French FTT 0.3%). The document does not state a separate figure for US stock commission; the official multi-currency page carries only the tagline 'Commission-free investing for everyone'. Wise (third party) states 0 commission on stocks.
Where this comes from
- [1] Trading 212 about us accessed 2026-10-11
- [2] Wise: Trading 212 fees (third party) accessed 2026-10-11
- [3] Finance Magnates DDoS 2020 accessed 2026-10-11
- [4] Finance Magnates IB outage 2020 accessed 2026-10-11
- [5] FCA warning: TRADING212 clone of authorised firm (names Trading 212 UK Limited FRN 609146) accessed 2026-10-11
- [6] Bank of Latvia register: Trading 212 Markets Ltd (EEA passport, reg. 398/21) accessed 2026-10-11
- [7] Cointelegraph: Trading 212 crypto ETNs sold without FCA authorisation (citing FT) accessed 2026-10-11
- [8] FX News Group: Trading 212 Group 2025 results accessed 2026-10-11
- [9] FX News Group: Trading 212 UK 2025 results accessed 2026-10-11
- [10] Trading 212 Invest terms page (entity/licence numbers) accessed 2026-10-11
- [11] Wikipedia: Trading 212 accessed 2026-10-11
- [12] ICO disclosure log IC-282602-K9P4 (Jan 2024, Trading 212 breach query: information not held) accessed 2026-10-11
- [13] Trading 212: Protecting your assets (official money-protection page) accessed 2026-10-11
- [14] Trading 212 UK Ltd: Costs and Charges Disclosure (official PDF, undated) accessed 2026-10-11
- [15] Trading 212: Multi-currency account page (official) accessed 2026-10-11
- [16] Finance Magnates: Trading 212 Group revenue climbs 70% to GBP 345.8m in 2025 (press; states accounts filed with Companies House 28 Sep 2026) accessed 2026-10-11
Not verified: Incidents: 3 searches found no in-window incident; only 2020 DDoS/outage threads and an ICO FOI reply (Jan 2024) saying no information held. Legal: 3 searches found no fine; only the Jan 2026 crypto-ETN permission matter (press only). FCA register, CySEC, BaFin, ASIC register pages could not be opened. Costs: now from the official UK Costs and Charges Disclosure (undated PDF), which states no ETF commission and no account fees but does not spell out a stock commission figure; cost_1000usd_pct = 0 rests on the ETF statement. Protection/segregation now from the official money-protection page (UK entity); FSCS and ICF/EdW scheme pages themselves not opened, EU-entity protection rests on company about-us page. Financials: Companies House filing confirmed only via press (not opened); group vs UK profit figures differ between press outlets. Founding year from Wikipedia.
To report an error, use corrections and right of reply.