Is Trading 212 Legal in UK? Is it Safe?
Reliability is the key criterion for choosing any broker. If you have doubts about the reliability of a company, it is not recommended to work with it. Traders from UK often ask “Is Trading 212 safe? Does the company operate legally in the territory of the country, can it be trusted?" Traders Union analysts have prepared a detailed analysis, where we will see whether Trading 212 is legal in UK and whether you can work with this broker.
Short summary about the broker Trading 212
The Trading 212 brokerage company (trading212.com) is registered to do business in London in 2006. Its specialization is the provision of services for investment and active trading in the foreign exchange and stock markets. The company is regulated and licensed by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA, 609146) and by CySEC (398/21) in Europe. The broker does not provide data on awards received during the work.
| 💰 Account currency: | GBP, EUR or a supported local currency |
| 🚀 Minimum deposit: | 1 £,€ |
| ⚖️ Leverage: | 1:30 (retail clients), 1:500 (Pro clients) |
| 💱 Spread: | From 0 pips |
| 🔧 Instruments: | Currency pairs, CFDs on stocks, indices, futures, commodities, ETFs |
| 💹 Margin Call / Stop Out: | 45%/25% |
Pros and cons of Trading 212
👍 Advantages of trading with Trading 212:
•low level of the minimum deposit;
•a large selection of trading assets;
•multilingual site interface.
👎 Disadvantages of Trading 212:
•lack of investment programs;
•a small number of ways to contact support;
•the company does not hold contests for traders;
What information should a broker disclose?
Only the broker that discloses all legal information can be considered reliable. You need to take notice of this factor when choosing the company.
The official website of the broker should contain the following information:
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The name of the legal entity.
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Country of registration.
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Number of the registration certificate.
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Legal address, factual addresses of the offices of the broker.
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License to conduct financial activity.
The information must be published either in a special section on the website of the broker or in the disclaimer. Make sure to check it.
The official website of the broker must also provide internal regulatory documents. Before you start working with a company, review Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, Disclaimer, Risks Notice, and other documents.
Broker regulation
FCA
The FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) is the financial regulator of the UK. It is a non-government body that operates in cooperation with the Bank of English and the HM Treasury. The mission of the FCA is to regulate the operation of financial and investment companies, including Forex brokers.
A broker with the FCA license is fully legal in the UK. The document issued by this regulator is highly regarded also outside the UK. Also, the companies with licenses issued in other jurisdictions can operate in the UK.
CYSEC
The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySec) is the financial regulator authority of Cyprus. The regulator has the power to audit companies and issue licenses to conduct financial activities in the territory of the country.
Cyprus is an EU member and therefore the CySec license also allows companies to operate in the entire territory of the EU. Furthermore, the document issued by the regulator is considered reliable beyond the borders of the EU countries.
Is Trading 212 legal in UK? Broker’s license
Security (Protection for Investors)
Trading 212 UK Ltd is registered in England and Wales, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, FCA (Firm reference number 609146).
Trading212 Markets Ltd. is registered in Cyprus, authorised and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, CySEC (Lisence number 398/21).
Clients registered under Trading 212 UK entity are insured for up to 85,000 GBP as per FSCS, and for clients registered under Trading 212 EU entity - their funds are insured for up to 20,000 EUR plus an additional up to 1M EUR per client underwritten by Lloyds of London.
👍 Advantages
- Availability of licenses and regulators
- Documents confirming the existence of a license are provided on the broker's website in the open access
- Customer funds are protected using segregated accounts
- In case of liquidation of the company, clients receive financial compensation in the amount of up to 90%, but not more than EUR 20,000
- The regulations governing the relationship between the broker and clients
- Disputes between the company and the investor are resolved by independent experts
👎 Disadvantages
- Consideration of a claim from a private client may take more than one month
- The regulator does not consider small claims
Brokers that are similar to Trading 212
In addition to license and reliability, you also need to take notice of the trading conditions of brokers. This is important both for beginners and experienced traders, as the demands of the clients with different experience differ. Traders Union analysts have prepared a comparison table of Trading 212 with similar brokers.
Comparison of Trading 212 with other Brokers
| Trading 212 | Bybit | Eightcap | XM Group | Exness | Vantage Markets | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Trading platform |
Web Trading platform, Mobile platforms |
MetaTrader5 |
MT4, MT5, TradingView |
MT4, MT5, MobileTrading, XM App |
Exness Trade App (mobile), Exness Terminal (web), MetaTrader5, MetaTrader4 |
MT4, MT5, TradingView, ProTrader, Vantage App |
Min deposit |
$1 |
No |
$100 |
$5 |
$10 |
$50 |
Leverage |
From 1:1 |
From 1:1 |
From 1:30 |
From 1:1 |
From 1:1 |
From 1:1 |
Trust management |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Accrual of % on the balance |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Spread |
From 0 points |
From 0 points |
From 0 points |
From 0.8 points |
From 0 points |
From 0 points |
Level of margin call / stop out |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Execution of orders |
Market Execution |
Market Execution |
Market Execution |
Market Execution |
Market Execution, Instant Execution |
Market Execution |
No deposit bonus |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Cent accounts |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
The broker is focused on cooperation with novice and experienced traders, but pays more attention to the development of service and trading conditions, rather than educational programs.
Overall. Bybit offers seamless Forex integration with crypto infrastructure, automatic leverage allocation, and MT5 support with Expert Advisors. The platform is suitable for users familiar with trading basics, as well as beginners and algorithmic traders.
Eightcap has favorable working conditions due to a large choice of instruments, tight spreads, high leverage, and no withdrawal fees. Integration with popular trading platforms and basic deposit/withdrawal options greatly facilitates work with the broker and reduces the entry threshold. In addition to comfortable conditions and low financial costs, traders get free educational materials and special services for technical analysis. A relative disadvantage is the absence of opportunities for passive income. Also, the broker works only with CFDs, so other groups of trading instruments are not available.
XM Broker is a broker for professional trading. Trading conditions correspond to the average market; there are technical advantages that distinguish XM Broker from its competitors.
Exness broker is a trusted broker partner that is compliant with all relevant terms. Exness complies with all payment obligations and pays money earned.
Vantage Markets is a broker that is a real catch for traders who prefer ECN trading.
Conclusions
Traders Union showed that Trading 212 is indeed very reliable and legal in UK. The company holds all necessary licenses to conduct financial activity; it complies with all key requirements of the regulator. Legality of the broker’s operation in the country is one of the key criteria for choosing the company for trading. It is important to take this into consideration, as well as the trading conditions. In this case, we can say that the broker meets all the reliability requirements.
FAQ
Can I work with a broker who does not hold the license?
Trading with a broker without the license involves high risks. The license guarantees that the company performs its obligations. Working with a broker without the license creates a risk of manipulations with quotes, failure to pay, and other schemes.
Where can I complain if a broker with a license violated its obligations?
If a broker allows a violation of the conditions, you can appeal to the authority that issued the license and to the court.
How do I choose the best broker in UK for beginners?
Novice traders need to consider the brokers with licenses issued in UK or other European Union countries, availability of a demo account or cent account, the level of commissions and fees and minimum deposit, as well as educational materials.
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Team that worked on the article
Mikhail Vnuchkov joined Traders Union as an author in 2020. He began his professional career as a journalist-observer at a small online financial publication, where he covered global economic events and discussed their impact on the segment of financial investment, including investor income. With five years of experience in finance, Mikhail joined Traders Union team, where he is in charge of forming the pool of latest news for traders, who trade stocks, cryptocurrencies, Forex instruments and fixed income.
Olga Shendetskaya has been a part of the Traders Union team as an author, editor and proofreader since 2017. Since 2020, Shendetskaya has been the assistant chief editor of the website of Traders Union, an international association of traders. She has over 10 years of experience of working with economic and financial texts. In the period of 2017-2020, Olga has worked as a journalist and editor of laftNews news agency, economic and financial news sections. At the moment, Olga is a part of the team of top industry experts involved in creation of educational articles in finance and investment, overseeing their writing and publication on the Traders Union website.