In this article, we are going to conduct a side-by-side broker comparison of AvaTrade and Trading 212. We’ll look at some important aspects of each broker to help you assess which might be the best choice for you, given your current needs and requirements, and, of course, your level of trading experience. Both brokers are well-regarded and have many positive customer reviews, but is AvaTrade better than Trading 212? Or vice versa? That depends on what you want from your broker.
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high degree of risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 77% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
AvaTrade offers commission-free trading with broker profits coming from the spreads, which tend to be around 0.9 pips on the EURUSD, on average, during the prime trading hours. There are no deposit or withdrawal fees at AvaTrade, but there is a $50 inactivity fee charged per quarter and an annual admin fee of $100. As with most brokers, there are swap fees on positions held overnight.
Trading 212 is also commission free. Larger shares, currencies and commodities can have very tight spreads here due to high liquidity, though other assets may have wider spreads. There is a swap fee, but no inactivity fee and no deposit or withdrawal fees.
AvaTrade is a multi-asset broker offering a range of financial instruments via CFDs, including forex, stocks, commodities, cryptocurrencies and indices. There are over 50 forex pairs available, along with a good choice of cryptocurrencies. Unlike some multi-asset brokers, AvaTrade goes beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum to offer other altcoins such as Dash, Litecoin, Ripple and Shiba Inu.
Trading 212 offers the opportunity to invest in forex pairs, single shares, indices and other assets via CFDs. The firm offers commission-free trading and other tax-efficient investing options such as stocks and shares ISAs. Trading 212 has over 180 forex pairs available along with numerous other assets. You can trade major international indices, and commodities such as precious metals and niche agricultural assets, all available to trade with leverage. Currently, however, you cannot trade cryptocurrencies with Trading 212.
Both brokers offer a solid user experience, which is reflected in the fact that they both have an overall score in the ‘excellent’ range on Trustpilot. AvaTrade offers a quick and easy account opening process, a fast verification of your documents, and multiple ways to fund your account. Mobile apps are available for trading on the go for both iOS and Android users. An account at AvaTrade is pretty accessible whatever your budget, with a minimum deposit requirement of just $/£/€100.
We found the AvaTrade website very clean and easy to find our way around. There is plenty of information on trading, education, instruments and trading platforms. The broker offers MT4 and MT5 trading, WebTrader and its own AvaTradeGO platform, along with social and automated trading via the AvaSocial app, ZuluTrade and DupliTrade.
At Trading 212, account opening is also very straightforward and trading conditions are clearly laid out. There is a commission-free model, with reasonable spreads and no hidden fees. You can sign up online or download the Trading 212 app from the Apple and Google Play stores, for easy mobile trading. The App Store version of the Trading 212 app has significantly better reviews than the Android version, so this is something to consider for mobile traders.
The Trading 212 site is clean, simple and easy to navigate, and available in multiple languages, with handy drop-down menus in the top bar that cover a range of important information. Click ‘More’ in the top bar menu to access trading terms, instruments, a community forum and help centre.
AvaTrade is regulated by a number of different authorities throughout the jurisdictions in which it operates. AvaTrade EU is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland, but the firm also operates under the relevant regulatory bodies in other countries where it has a local office or presence, such as Cyprus, Australia, Japan, South Africa, Abu Dhabi, the British Virgin Islands and Israel.
Trading 212 is registered in England and Wales and is fully authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK. However, the firm is also registered and regulated to operate in Cyprus, where it is overseen by CySEC, and Bulgaria, where it is under the authority of the Financial Supervision Commission.
New clients at AvaTrade are automatically offered the choice of a live account or a demo account, and signing up for a demo account is particularly easy as you will only need to provide some very basic information. You can then select the platform you want to use with your demo account and start practicing. The AvaTrade demo account can be funded with up to $100,000 of virtual money to allow you to really practice your trading strategies.
At Trading 212, there is both a demo account and a live account, also sometimes referred to on the site as Real Money Mode and Practice Mode. The Practice Mode is, obviously, the Demo Account and gives unlimited access to the broker’s entire portfolio of instruments, along with a maximum of $50,000 in virtual funds.
While both AvaTrade and Trading 212 are reputable, popular and safe brokers, they each have their pros and cons. Crypto traders will be impressed at the range of altcoins available at AvaTrade, while forex traders will note that there are many more forex pairs at Trading 212. Remember that when doing a broker comparison, it is important to focus on what is important to you. Hundreds of forex pairs are not important if you are mainly going to trade the majors. And even if you are a crypto investor, you may prefer to use a dedicated crypto exchange for that and a specialist forex broker for your forex activities. Only you will know what is going to work best for you and best fit with your style of trading.