If you’re looking to invest online – whether that’s in the form of stocks, ETFs, or other asset classes – you need to ensure that you are getting a good deal for your money. In other words, you’ll want to pick an online broker that offers competitive fees and commissions.

One of the most notable low-cost brokers active in the space at present is that of DEGIRO. Put simply, this broker allows you to buy US shares at a cost of just €0.50 + $0.004 and ETFs on a fee-free basis. But, are these low trading fees what they seem, or are they simply too good to be true?

That’s exactly what my in-depth Degrio Review intends on finding out. Not only will I explore the broker’s fee structure from top to bottom, but I’ll also cover other important metrics. This includes everything from tradable markets, supported payment methods, user-friendliness, eligibility, customer service, and of course – regulation.

What is DEGIRO?

DEGIRO is an online stock broker that is based in the Netherlands. With that said, the platform is now home to over 600,000 investors in 18 countries. This includes much of Mainland Europe and the UK. By opening an account with DEGIRO, you will have access to a highly extensive list of assets.

As we uncover in more detail later, this includes everything from shares, ETFs, bonds, futures, and leverage products.  All in all, this online broker covers over 50 marketplaces across 30 counties. As such, if there’s a specific financial instrument that you’re interested in, there is every chance that you will find it at DEGIRO.

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If you’re simply looking to buy shares or invest in an index fund – CFDs won’t be for you. But, if you’re looking to deploy more advanced trading strategies – such as applying leverage or short-selling, then CFDs might be the solution.

Put simply, CFDs are tasked with tracking the value of an asset like-for-like. This means you won’t own the CFD instrument, but you can still profit from ever-changing price movements.

In this guide, I am going to discuss everything there is to know about CFDs. I’ll cover how CFDs work, what you can trade, how leverage and short-selling can be accessed, and what sort of cost-savings this financial instrument offers. I’ll also talk about two of my favorite CDD trading platform: eToro</a.

Before we go into this deep dive, here are the best CFD brokers/trading platforms:

• • eToro

What are CFDs?

CFDs are contracts-for-differences. They are financial instruments created by online brokers and trading platforms. The primary goal of a CFD is to track the real-world price of an asset. For example, if Tesla stocks move from $400 to $400.50, the CFD instrument will mirror this.

Similarly, if the market price of Gold goes down by 2.2%, as will the CFD. The most important thing to understand about this complex financial instrument is that by trading it, you won’t own the underlying asset. For example, if you place a $500 buy order on Bitcoin CFDs, you won’t own $500 worth of Bitcoin.

On the contrary, this is the amount that you are staking on the position. In turn, if Bitcoin increased by 10% in value, your $500 stake would now be worth $550. Although at first glance you might be put off by the fact that you won’t own the asset you are trading, CFDs come with several perks.

As I explain in more detail shortly, this includes:

• Low or even zero commissions on most CFD trading sites
• Ability to apply leverage – meaning you can trade with more than you have in your account
• CFDs allow you to short-sell assets, so you can profit from falling markets
• Spreads are usually very tight when trading CFDs – further reducing your costs
• Allow you to access difficult-to-reach markets, such as crude oil, natural gas, or stocks listed in the emerging markets

All in all, CFDs offer traders an alternative to traditional asset classes like stocks, mutual funds, or ETFs.

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One of the asset classes that I’m very bullish about is the video gaming industry, and I plan to increase my investments in this area over the coming years.

Even before the pandemic, the video game industry was lucrative, growing 7.2% YoY (year-over-year) in 2019. Video games are gradually becoming the preferred form of entertainment. Data from Newzoo and Comscore shows that global video game revenue of $148.8 billion surpassed worldwide movie box office collection of $42.5 billion in 2019.

The significant change in the technology and business models of the gaming industry is driving growth. Video games have expanded beyond consoles to PCs and mobile. Thanks to high-speed internet, game developers have gone digital. Instead of buying video game packages, gamers can download games, subscribe to cloud gaming services, and make in-gaming purchases like new missions and player skins to enhance their gaming experience.

Similar to other physical sports, video games have sporting events called esports, where professional gamers compete in front of millions of viewers. According to Newzoo, 443 million people watched esports in 2019, and this number is expected to reach 495 million in 2020. The secret to succeeding in gaming is developing games that generate a loyal fan base for sequels, prequels, and merchandise goods.

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I have been thinking about index funds and ETFs for some time, but one thing that had been bothering me is the lack of control over the makeup of such funds. We’ve seen how the COVID-19 pandemic has practically devastated some industries such as air travel and cruises, it puts an even bigger question mark on whether investing in broad market indexes is such a great idea after all.

Before I continue, let me point you to DEGIRO if you’re looking for a stockbroker solution and eToro is great for social trading. The linked reviews will explain why I like these platforms in particular.

I think that if you’re the type of investor that is educated in finance and wants to take an active attitude towards their investments, it would be a better idea to buy individual stocks that you understand and believe in. For everyone else, index funds remain a decent play.

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I’ve been reading about investing in the stock market for some years now, although with the market rising and rising, there seemed to be better investment opportunities to attend to, such as crypto and P2P lending. This doesn’t mean that I have totally abandoned the idea of investing in stocks, however.

On the contrary, I had actually invested in some hand-picked stocks that I had a good gut feeling about, and sold them all off at 100% profits in recent months. Of course, investing based on gut feelings is not something that anyone recommends, but sometimes an educated guess does the trick. Or maybe it was just the fact that so many stocks have performed well over the past 4-5 years due to the bull run that we’ve been experiencing.

That’s one thing that makes this perilous territory in my view. You never know if you really have an edge on the market and can thus book some nice profits, or if you are just gambling and happened to get lucky.

I also have a few friends from the IT space who bet much bigger stakes than me on tech companies and have turned millions in profits, and while I find this inspirational, I’m again unsure if they had an edge or whether they gambled big time and luckily got the desired outcome.

When seeking success, I usually like to pick a topic, find the best performers and learn how they do things, and then try to figure out a winning blueprint. It’s worked for me in several endeavors through the course of my life, but I have yet to find that blueprint in the world of stock investing that I can really trust.

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