What is a Stock Broker?
The role of a stockbroker, or broker, is to act as a financial intermediary between its clients and the stock exchanges. Its role is therefore to buy, sell and store financial products (shares, ETFs, bonds, SIICs, etc.) on behalf of its clients.
This is why, when one chooses to embark on the stock market, the choice of the broker with whom to open our portfolio is of paramount importance. It is him who determines the number of stock exchanges to which one has accessthe price of orders, but above all, the platform features. What are we looking for? Being able to buy shares in an easy and optimized way!
Classic broker or trading platform?
There are two types of brokers:
- Classic brokers which offer a large number of shares, ETFs, UCITS (investment funds), real estate products (SCPI etc.). They usually also offer a PEA, which allows you to benefit from a tax reduction after five years (instead of 30%, the tax increases to 17.2%), some also have a PEA-PME or more rarely a PEA Jeune, for 18-25 year olds.
- Online trading platforms, which focus on CFDs (derivatives). These are not available via a PEA, so only the securities account is offered, but the advantage is that there is no limit: the number of products is higher (shares and ETFs, but also sometimes currencies, cryptocurrencies, precious metals and other listed assets), a large number of stock exchanges are accessible, CFDs with high leverage effects allow you to bet more than you own or to open sell positions, derivative products are also sometimes offered such as futures, warrants, puts, etc.
Which broker to choose to start?
If you are about to go public, you must surely be lost in front of all these brokers. For choose between classic broker or online trading platform (the subject of our article), you should consider the following points:
- The envelopes offered: the ordinary securities account is the envelope allowing you to trade freely and invest in CFDs, but if you prefer a PEA, which allows you to benefit from a tax reduction after five years (instead of 30%, the tax increases to 17.2%) in return for an investment and product limit, prefer a classic broker
- Your investment vision : if you do not intend to consult your stocks regularly or “trade” every day, if you prefer to position yourself on funds over the medium or long term rather than doing stock picking and swing trading (which is recommended in our articles for people who are not stock market professionals), then a classic broker will be ideal
We explain here in our article on ETFs that it is the best technique to invest in the stock market for people who don’t have time to learn on the stock market and have a long term vision. If this is your case, you may be interested in our comparison of the best classic brokers, although the brokers we present here are generally free for the purchase of stocks and ETFs.
Now that that’s clear, we can get to the heart of the matter: the best platforms for investing on the stock market… because not all brokers offer the same terms!
The best trading platforms 2022
To find your ideal broker for trading on the stock market, we will compare different aspects that differentiate one broker from another:
- The quality of the trading platform : to place orders daily or almost daily, the platform must be ergonomic, easy to access, and must offer different types of stock market order (limit order, threshold order,
- Actions available : the securities account has in theory no limit, but brokers can put some, for example, some will not offer all the shares and will focus on the largest capitalizations (compartment A of Euronext).
- Derivative products available : in addition to leveraged products, there are other derivative products such as short selling (or shorting), futures, warrants, puts… It is up to you to determine which products are important and to choose the best one broker for your case.
- Accessible stock markets : CDF brokers generally offer all European and American stock markets, but if you wish to access Asian or African stock markets, you will have to be more selective and carefully consult the list of accessible stock markets before subscribing.
- Finally, the costs : this includes custody fees, which are normally free, and trading fees, which are relatively low today, as well as CFD fees, which can vary greatly.
Comparison of brokers for trading
For this comparison of the best trading platforms, we have selected only the brokers with the most user-friendly applications, the lowest fees (even free!) and with many accessible stock exchanges.
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| Features | |||||
| Account housing | At eToro (independent) | ABN Amro | BNP Paribas | SolarisBank | Societe Generale |
| Management Tools |
eToro platform Passage of orders suitable for beginners |
webtrader Placing orders and combined orders quickly, fluidity, customizable platform and real-time price monitoring |
xStation5 Placing orders, monitoring prices in real time, |
TradeRepublic platform Passage of orders, fluidity, available on mobile only |
Trading Board Boursorama placing of orders, flexible workspace, display of positions and prices in real time ProRealTime Professional real-time technical analysis trading tool. Direct Issuers Platform for placing orders directly with issuers of warrants, turbos and certificates |
| Tax envelope | Accounts titles | Accounts titles | Accounts titles | Accounts titles | Accounts titles, AEP PEA-SME |
| Financial products available | Stocks, ETFs, Forex, CFDs, Commodities, Currencies, Cryptocurrencies |
Shares, ETFs, UCITS, Bonds, Options, Futures, Warrants |
Stocks, ETFs, Forex, CFDs, Commodities, Cryptocurrencies |
Stocks, ETFs, leveraged derivatives | Shares, ETFs, UCITS, Bonds, Options, Futures, Warrants |
| Markets |
10 European stock exchanges Paris, Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Milan, Zurich, Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki, Amsterdam 2 American scholarships NYSE, NASDAQ Other Hong Kong |
32 European Stock Exchanges Among which: Paris, Amsterdam, Athens, Brussels, Budapest, Copenhagen, Dublin, Frankfurt, 11 American scholarships Among which: NASDAQ, NYSE, AMEX, Currenex, Others Sydney, Hong Kong, Tokyo, |
15 European stock exchanges France, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, 1 American Stock Exchange NYSE |
7 European stock exchanges France, Germany, United Kingdom, Sweden, Iceland, Italy and the Netherlands American scholarships United States, Canada and the Cayman Islands Asian and Pacific scholarships Japan and China |
9 European stock exchanges Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, 2 American scholarships NYSE and NASDAQ |
| Costs | |||||
| Minimum payment from the securities account |
$50 |
0.01€ |
1€ |
10€ |
100€ |
| Custody rights |
Free |
Free |
Free |
Free |
Free |
| Inactivity fees | 10 €/month
if no connection for 12 months |
0€ |
10 €/month
if no connection for 12 months |
0€ |
0€ |
| Brokerage fees |
0€ on cash stocks and ETFs |
Euronext and America 0€ for cash stocks and ETFs |
0€ on a selection of 0.2% otherwise |
1€ by immediate order 0€ by scheduled order (stock and ETF) |
Cost varies according to envelope (CTO or PEA) and profile (Discovery, Classic, Trader and Ultimate Trader)see dedicated article |
| Withdrawal fee |
Free |
Free |
Free |
Free |
Free |
| Rating | |||||
| Note |  |
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| Learn more | Full review on eToro |
Full review on DEGIRO |
Full review on XTB |
Full review on Trade Republic |
Full review on Boursorama Bank |
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Learn more |
Learn more |
Learn more |
Learn more |
Learn more |
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As can be seen from this table, the benefits of each Broker are unique to what you are looking for in a trading platform. We will now dig into the specifics of each broker.
The top 5 best trading platforms
After comparing the characteristics of each broker, here is our top 5 of the best trading platforms according to our team: