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DEGIRO Experience Switzerland: DEGIRO Review for Swiss Investors

The Swiss financial market has changed significantly in recent years, and many online brokers have opened up new ways of investing. However, one aspect remains exciting: Low-cost investment opportunities as with DEGIRO

While Swiss providers now have ETF savings plans in their programme, platforms such as DEGIRO still offer Extremely attractive conditionsespecially for investors who value low costs.

Find out more in this article, Why DEGIRO remains an attractive option for Swiss investors in particular and what advantages and disadvantages the broker offers.

Table of contents

DEGIRO Review Summary

In this article you will learn all about DEGIRO as a broker for Swiss investors. We compare the pros and cons of the platform, highlight the extremely favourable fees (ETFs from €1) and show how DEGIRO fares against Swiss providers such as Swissquote. You will also receive helpful information on tax aspects, ETFs and the user-friendliness of DEGIRO. 

EFind out whether DEGIRO is a sensible investment option for you!

CHF 100 Degiro voucher

For a short time, you can now get a free 100 franc DEGIRO voucher on your trading fees!
100 francs

Note: Investing harbours risks of loss.

DEGIRO Advantages vs. DEGIRO Disadvantages

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DEGIRO Advantages explained:

  • DEGIRO offers Swiss clients access to more than 50 stock exchanges in 30 countries. Many products are available, such as shares, ETFs, options or futures. 
  • Shares can be traded extremely cheaply and the ETF selection can be traded from as little as €1 - you can find the information directly at DEGIRO.
  • The User-friendliness of the platform is very high. There are helpful tools, an introduction to new registration, and yet you are not "overloaded" or exposed to overly complex content.  
  • Order types such as a limit order or a stop loss are missing with some brokers, but not so with DEGIRO. There are some Order types to choose from: day order, open order, limit order, stop-loss order, market order, stop limit, trailing stop. 
  • The Account opening goes depending on the rush Differently fast. From a few minutes to a few days. In the Schwiizerfranke test, about 2 days passed from the opening to the first trade.

 

Supplementary information on the DEGIRO disadvantages:

  • DEGIRO originally comes from the Netherlands and is now, with flatexDEGIRO AG, one of the largest 160 German companies and in the SDAX listed. Accordingly, DEGIRO is not active in Switzerland, but primarily Regulated by BAFIN in Germany. You can find out what this means in concrete terms in the second point.
  • Degiro is allowed to use so-called Securities Lending operate. This means that they may lend clients' securities to third parties via a right of use against collateral. If this is done, additional risks can arise for you as an investor. (Note: If you still have an "old" custody contract, this could be excluded there. Unfortunately, new customers can no longer choose).
  • Securities Lending is a topic in itself. Opinions differ as to whether this is good or bad. Since 2021, however, there is no longer a choice at DEGIRO and all new customers have since accepted securities lending in the GTCs.
  • A DEGIRO demo account does not exist, but since there are also No DEGIRO custody account fees you can simply open a free account for testing purposes. If your personal "DEGIRO experience Switzerland" turns out differently, you can close your DEGIRO custody account again. 
  • ETFs DEGIRO does offer Extremely cheap for purchase, but the broker does not currently offer ETF savings plans.
  • Note if you have ever heard of the DEGIRO money market fund solution: This was cancelled in July 2021. If you have heard of this disadvantage, it no longer applies. You will now receive a normal account with up to €100,000 DEGRIO deposit protection.

CHF 100 Degiro voucher

For a short time you can get a 100 franc Degiro voucher on your trading fees for free!
100 francs

Note: Investing harbours risks of loss.

DEGIRO Fees Switzerland

ProductCosts at DEGIRONote
Swiss sharesCHF 5 + CHF 1Minimum fee
ETFs (certain)1€ per purchaseETF special offer
Foreign currency fee0.25%Low compared to the competition (mostly +1%)

A big issue when choosing a broker is also the fees. Of all the brokers tested so far on Schwiizerfranke, DEGIRO offers the lowest fees. most favourable conditions an. Would you like an example?

  • The DEGIRO fees for Swiss equities amounts to CHF 5 + CHF 1
  • For some ETFs there are even no order fees and other costs 2€ + 1€

If you want to get an overview for yourself, the Overview at DEGIRO * further. DEGIRO's terms and conditions apply to the €1 ETFs. Also exciting is the Comparative calculationwhich was set up with other brokers. The chart shows you an overview of the differences between the various brokers.

You want to work in Foreign currencies invest? In Switzerland, most providers quickly collect 1% and more for the Currency exchange. Not at DEGIRO, where a so-called FX trade costs only 0.25%.

 

DEGIRO fees for exemplary share and ETF purchases:

Note: Investing harbours risks of loss.

DEGIRO vs. Swissquote

User friendliness for non-traders

Those who have already Swissquote (the largest Swiss broker platform) knows how demanding (one could also say "overloaded") the platform is. Because Swissquote is very focused on trading and therefore offers for professional traders offers some useful functions.

These instruments are to some extent superfluous for private investors with a long-term orientation and rather confusing, especially for newcomers. DEGIRO also offers many instruments and a professional interface but on a far more neat way

Local vs. international

Swissquote is a Swiss platform and Locally regulated. DEGIRO falls as a Dutch platform under European regulations of the BAFIN in Germany. 

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Fees: 

While Swissquote is ahead on the subject of fees in Switzerland, depending on the product, the international picture is of course quite different. DEGIRO offers Far more favourable conditions. Cheap at any price? By no means should you only look at the fees.

But remember that fees are a gift of return. Because performance / profit is never certain - but fees are. Clearer Plus point so for the DEGIRO Experience Switzerland-wide in this small DEGIRO vs Swissquote comparison!

CHF 100 Degiro voucher

For a short time, you can now get a free 100 franc DEGIRO voucher on your trading fees!
100 francs

Note: Investing harbours risks of loss.

DEGIRO ETF Offer

Can I buy free ETFs at DEGIRO?

A Securities purchase from €1? Yes, such favourable offers are now a well-known marketing tool with some providers outside Switzerland. Some German providers offer several hundred ETFs free of charge as a savings plan. But Swiss people cannot open an account with every bank.

But DEGIRO does, because thanks to the DEGIRO ETF offer lie the DEGIRO ETF Costn for a large Core selection at only 1€ Commission.

How this works exactly would go beyond the length of this article. You can find out the exact details directly from DEGIRO..

Note: Investing harbours risks of loss.

DEGIRO Tax return Switzerland

A wide range of almost free ETFs and other attractive offers will probably lead to an increasing DEGIRO portfolio in the long term. However, by the next tax season at the latest, the question of the DEGIRO tax return louder and louder throughout Switzerland.

You can simply transfer your positions 1:1 into your securities list. Here you will find a small guide to this. First the bad news: There is No DEGIRO tax statement for your Swiss tax return. However, this is not really necessary as you can simply enter the items into your tax return using the above guide.

Want some good news? You can apply the reduced withholding tax rate to U.S. income and thus significantly Save taxes with DEGIRO. To do so, complete the "W8-BEN" online form. DEGIRO will then apply the "W8-BEN" to selected US securities. reduced tax rates apply. These securities are then only taxed at 15% on distributions (dividends). You can find more information on this and on the DEGIRO Swiss tax return in here directly at DEGIRO Taxes Switzerland in the help section. 

Buy cryptocurrencies at DEGIRO?

If you want to buy cryptos at DEGIRO, there is an indirect solution. Because so far you can't buy real cryptocurrencies there, but Indirectly via so-called ETPs / tracker certificates invest in cryptos.

The DEGIRO Cryptocurrencies The offer currently includes significant

  • Bitcoin offers
  • Basket solutions, where you can invest collectively in entire crypto baskets
  • Altcoin offers

The Costs for DEGIRO cryptocurrency trading are 2€ +1€ commission

Important: You cannot buy real cryptocurrencies here, only securities that reflect their price. 

Conclusion of the DEGIRO Experience Switzerland Report

Yes, admittedly, the DEGIRO experience report was a long time coming. At the beginning, scepticism prevailed and the Focus was primarily on local suppliers. Some of the Schwiizerfranke readers kept bringing up DEGIRO in the comments and so the wish for a DEGIRO experience Switzerland post was fulfilled 🙂

DEGIRO Switzerland Experiences so far have been very positive and as soon as there are new experiences, the article will be updated accordingly. 

If you have been a DEGIRO customer for a while, you are welcome to share your experiences and feedback. Do you have anything else to add?

You are not with DEGIRO? What are you missing on the topic? Is DEGIRO a suitable investment platform for you?

Leave us a comment there!

CHF 100 Degiro voucher

For a short time, you can now get a free 100 franc DEGIRO voucher on your trading fees!
100 francs

Note: Investing harbours risks of loss.

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Transparency note: This DEGIRO Experience Switzerland article was written in cooperation with DEGIRO created. The presentation and description has been created independently and free of Schwiizerfranke.

36 responses

  1. Unfortunately, the ETF selection for Swiss investors is currently very limited and is becoming increasingly limited, as the KIIDs for Switzerland are apparently missing.
    I can no longer buy many existing titles.

    New ETFs are also only very rarely added on request.

    A very interesting and popular growing candidate would be e.g. the spdr msci acwi imi IE00B3YLTY66 which would also be tradable on SIX.
    Although the exchange rate conditions are still better than those of Swiss providers, the last two years have seen a considerable increase in prices and, in addition, payment in euros is not possible, i.e. since most ETPs are offered in euros and (even if available) not in CHF, the currency exchange takes place twice - when buying and selling.

    A pity, really.

  2. Thanks for the Degiro test report 🙂
    I don't necessarily want to have securities lending. Your Degiro vs Swissquote comparison shows that Swissquote also offers securities lending, but at least it's optional, which I think is good.
    Otherwise, Degiro CH is of course much, much cheaper than Swissquote. I think I will go with a combination of the two brokers in parallel 🙂

  3. I opened an account this week. The whole thing takes several working days (verification, crediting the deposit, etc.), so nothing with a few minutes or hours, but easy to create. Then I used the link here, which is supposed to earn me CHF 100, but nothing...
    Let's see if the provider then at least delivers what he promises.

    1. Dear Guido, you have to open your account via this link (as described) in order to receive the credit.
      If you open the account first and then use the link, it's probably too late. You can write to the support team, maybe they'll give you the code.

      Best regards 🙂

  4. Good day

    Thank you very much for this detailed contribution.
    I have another question: If something happens to Degiro etc. are my investments in an ETF fund at Degiro at 100% safe?

    Thank you very much for your information.

    LG

    1. Hello Enea,
      As Degiro is a securities lending company, this cannot be guaranteed 100%. If you want to be absolutely sure (which I can understand), then for example Swissquote an alternative. Securities lending is also offered there, but it is optional and selectable. Unfortunately, securities lending cannot be deselected at Degiro.

  5. Addendum:
    DG changed its fees in May. The "free" ETFs now cost a fixed €1 per purchase.

  6. Hello
    Could you explain what difference the stock market selection makes, or how one should proceed here?
    I have heard that Neon will also be offering an investment platform soon. I hope that this will also boost the "fee market" again.

    1. Dear Daniela
      There are a number of factors that should be taken into account when choosing the right stock exchange. As a rule of thumb, people like to look first at the home market of the security. A US share listed in NY probably has the highest availability there and thus the most favourable prices (so-called spreads).
      Currency exchanges cost you money, but are unfortunately often necessary. The order types can also differ depending on the exchange ... and there are other factors to consider with ETFs.

      Unfortunately, the answer is not so simple (which is why this is also an important topic in the FinanceTimetable), but I hope this already helps you a little.

  7. Hello, everyone,
    I just wanted to create a custody account with DeGiro, as securities cannot be lent with them. Unfortunately, DeGiro no longer offers this. This is for your information.

  8. Hi Eric, I have a few questions about Degiro;

    - If I go to the ETF column and enter IE00B5BMR087 (S&P 500 Index from iShares), I get several with different exchanges. Which exchange should I use? Or is there an advantage in terms of fees if you choose the Swiss stock exchange? Does the volume of the different exchanges play a role?
    - Where can I find the fees when buying ETFs on Degiro?
    - Is it possible to set up an automatic savings plan or do I have to trigger the purchase myself every month?
    - Can I also invest a fixed amount or do I always have to buy the whole share?

    Thank you
    greetings Kevin

    1. Hello Kevin
      At Degiro you still have to buy whole shares (no fractional shares available).
      You can find the fees on the website or via Google.

      The stock market plays a role, yes. The higher the volume, the lower the spreads will be. But there are other factors to consider that I can't put all in the commentary here.
      I hope that helps you already!
      Dear greetings 🙂

  9. Hello Eric & Community

    Firstly, thank you very much for your discussions, I am learning a lot very quickly :).

    However, I still have unanswered questions about which I have not yet seen any clear statements (perhaps I have overlooked something):
    1) If I open a CHF account/deposit with DEGIRO via CIC, do I not pay foreign currency fees when I transfer CHF from a Swiss account to the CHF DEGIRO account/deposit?
    2) Do I pay foreign currency fees if I use my CHF custody account at DEGIRO to invest in ETFs listed in another currency?
    3) Do I have to pay German capital gains tax on ETF price increases if I am (only) tax resident in Switzerland?

    Best regards

    Sean

    1. Hi Sean,
      thank you for your great feedback and the good questions! 🙂
      1) if you have a CHF account with Degiro and invest there in CHF, you will not pay any exchange rate fees.
      2) Yes, as soon as you invest in other currencies, fees may apply.
      3) No, what makes you think that? Are you German by birth? Degiro is from the Netherlands and you say you are only liable for tax in Switzerland ...?

      Best regards 🙂
      Eric

  10. Hi, Eric,

    Thank you for this report.
    I have set up a DEGIRO account and transferred CHF 1189.30 from my CH Neon account to the CHF DEGIRO deposit (Bank CIC Basel) for the first time.
    The aim is to build up 2 ETF accounts and to pay in amounts of around CHF 1'000 <5 times a year.
    Transferred by Neon: CHF 1'189.30 (had mistakenly ordered EUR 1200 not CHF, hence the strange number).

    Strangely enough, however, I then only received an amount of CHF 1'152.30 on the CHF Degiro Depot account.
    I don't understand this difference of CHF 37.- or 3%. Am I missing something?
    Is that normal to have to sacrifice 3% from the deposit before even investing?

    As a second topic, I would be interested to know if it is worthwhile to trade ETFs that are available for free (order fees) at Degiro on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, and not on the SWX? e.g. iShare MCIS World ETFs. Or are there significant disadvantages as a CH investor not to buy on SWX?

    Thank you and best regards
    Dave

    1. Hello Dave
      I suspect the amount was due to the exchange rate (depending on what rate you were offered and what fees were due). Therefore, always transfer the correct currency. With Neon you even have the Wise integration, in case you ever want to send money in another currency.

      To keep the comment short, feel free to take a look at this post about ETFs. There you will find my opinion (you may have a different one) about wealth accumulation in foreign currencies.
      Best regards 🙂
      Eric

      1. Hi, Eric,

        I still corresponded with Neon and DEGIRO (DEGIRO responded VERY quickly to my email, by the way), both confirmed your guess.
        It's really due to the exchange rate and an incorrect booking order on my part (rookie mistake;).

        Thanks for the linked post, love reading it.

        Yours sincerely
        Dave

        1. Hello Dave
          Could you elaborate for everyone reading what your rookie mistake is about? Just opened an account and would of course avoid the same mistake. In which currency should the booking order be entered?
          Thank you very much for a short feedback.
          Greetings
          Sera

    2. Since your account is in CHF but you transferred EUR, they were exchanged.
      You have bought EUR 1200 for CHF 1189 and have transferred it
      The EUR 1189 was exchanged back into CHF 1152 at the daily rate and so booked in. The exchange rate was not bad at CHF96.9/EUR.

      Sorry, but that was your mistake, not DeGiro's.

    1. Hey Marin
      So far, nothing has changed noticeably (see price table at Degiro). In fact, they are probably becoming more favorable, as they can now cover a broader range of products more cheaply.
      Best regards 🙂

  11. So as far as taxes are concerned, it's extremely tedious, but maybe I'm doing something wrong...
    I'm with Degiro since last year, so far quite satisfied customer 🙂 And complete novice as far as trading is concerned 😉
    Now I'm just on the tax return, I have to manually record each share, and for each share manually enter each purchase and sale with date and number.
    If this is the right way, I will probably stop trading again...
    Therefore my question, is there a short variant to enter this in the tax return? Like an account, with only two numbers, tax value and income?
    And I have not yet found out how to correctly enter the CASH in the DEGIRO investment account that is part of the portfolio, as this does not have an account number... In the securities directory I have entered this as Diverse, which is the only one that is happy without an account number.
    Then there is the money account, which was also mentioned above by other people, that is in CHF and has an IBAN that starts with DE, so far so good, but that is at 0.00, since all available money in the investment account is ready to be traded, that's just as info on the side for curious people who know even less than I do 🙂

    1. Hi Michael
      Trading, unfortunately, always provides increased effort in taxes. (For me, not the only reason why I invest boring and long-term 🙂 ). After all, if you hold certain positions longer, next year you only have to enter the possible deviations.
      Where I'm not sure, but have heard that it goes through that way for taxes: You don't have to enter every trade of a stock, supposedly it's enough to enter the ending year balance. Personally, I also enter all the information.

      Does anyone know the answer to the cash account? I think it can't be that wrong to list it as "miscellaneous" with a corresponding description.

      1. (...)You don't have to enter every trade of a share, but supposedly it's enough to enter the end-of-year holdings. Personally, however, I also enter all the information.(...)

        I would also be careful here, as otherwise you could hide transactions during the year and thus any price gains from the tax authorities, wouldn't you? The holding period of securities is also one of the criteria for being categorised as a commercial trader. As a "normal mortal", I would therefore be better off declaring everything in full in my tax return 😉

  12. Hello, Eric,

    thank you for your great contributions. I was able to read a lot on your website, because I was also looking for an ETF savings plan (German model) :).
    I actually find Swissquote very unappealing from the user interface and find Derigo exciting because of the lower fees. It also seems to me more advantageous if you want to invest monthly smaller contributions e.g. 100CHF. Would you agree with that?

    1. Hello Pina, thank you for your feedback 🙂 yes, the German or probably almost worldwide concept of savings plans has unfortunately still not fully arrived in Switzerland. Findependent now offers something very close. Otherwise, your Degiro approach is certainly a good method. A savings plan with CHF 100 or another amount has the great advantage of the cost average effect - so you never have to think about whether now is the right time to invest (there probably never is) 🙂

  13. Hello Eric

    Thank you for your DEGIRO experience report!
    I am in the process of setting up a custody account with DEGIRO so that I can then invest in ETF's on a monthly basis.

    But I have one more (rather trivial) question:
    If the monthly amount for the ETF's is transferred from my account to DEGIRO, does the money then go to DEGIRO-Switzerland or not? I only ask because I am not sure if I should open an additional account where foreign payments (if not DEGIRO-Switzerland) are cheaper than with my current account. I hope you understand my question;-)

    Love and thank you for your feedback.
    Valerie

    1. Hello Valerie
      every question is important and the basic ones even more so! 🙂
      Degiro automatically offers you a Swiss franc account with CH.... IBAN with the CIC bank. This means you no longer have to take an intermediate step if you invest directly in CHF. If you click on "Deposit" in the top right-hand corner, you will see your personal Swiss Degiro account.
      I hope this was your question?
      Kind regards
      Eric

      1. Thank you very much Eric, now it's clear to me;-)
        Best regards and keep up the exciting posts!
        Valerie

      2. Hi, Eric,

        Good blog!!

        I just opened a Degiro account, but I'm not sure my account offers me a Swiss Franc account with CH...Iban at Bank CIC! When I click on deposit on the upper right corner, it shows a DE...IBAN at flatexDEGIRO Bank AG (Frankfurt, Germany). It also mentions I can only deposit EUR (no other currencies). When opening the account, Degiro didn't give me any options actually.

        I Live and work in Switzerland, but I am Dutch and do have a EUR bank account in the Netherlands with ABN Amro Bank. I linked this EUR account to my Degiro account for deposits, basically because they said I could only deposit EUR and I thought this was the only way. But when I read this blog and Valerie's comments, it looks like it is possible to have CH...IBAN at Degiro, which likely makes more sense to me given my Income is Swiss (and otherwise I would be constantly wiring CHF to my EUR account to deposit...

        Any idea how I ended up with a DE IBAN and others with a CH IBAN, am I the only one and does anyone have any idea how to change this easily?

        Thanks,
        Bo

        1. Hi Bo
          I recommend to reach out to the support. Probably they saw that you're dutch or that your reference account is in Euro.
          For sure its possible, but probably they need to set up a new one for you 🙂
          Best regards
          Eric

    1. Hello, Lolo,
      by Degiro specifically you mean? This is my first tax year with Degiro, so I don't have any experience yet - but in general, securities that you hold abroad are the same include in the taxesas if they were held domestically.

  14. Thank you for your valuable reports and interesting tips. I also find the comments from individual readers very helpful. As is mentioned again and again,
    it's up to each individual to decide whether they want to invest abroad or in Switzerland. I've only recently started investing (not to say I'm a complete beginner 😉 ) and Degiro's low fees are of course very tempting. I'm also a bit shocked by the high fees charged by some banks because I'd never checked them before or looked into them. However, I personally have some reservations about investing my money abroad, it's just somehow this (Swiss) idea of security. There was also talk of currency losses, as the individual ETFs are only available in euros. Can such losses make up for the fees in the long term?

    1. Hello, Brigitte,
      Thanks so much for your comment and great feedback 🙂 .
      Losses on currency exchange can probably never be completely avoided, unless one would invest in Swiss shares at 100% in Switzerland. If you hedge your investment more broadly and invest globally, you have somewhat less risk. Over the long term, the returns are historically roughly comparable. So again, everyone can decide for themselves which factor should be weighted more heavily 🙂

    2. When you buy a Vangard All World fund the currency is more or less irrelevant.
      Most of the securities there are quoted in USD, EUR, CND etc. anyway. If the EUR falls, you will notice it in exactly the same way, regardless of whether the fund's price is quoted in EUR or CHF...

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