Choosing a broker is one of the most consequential decisions for any investor. It determines what you can buy, how much you pay, how your gains are taxed, and whether your portfolio tracking can be automated. Yet most comparisons focus almost exclusively on commissions, missing the broader picture.
Here are the five criteria that truly matter when you invest from Europe.
1. Fees: look beyond commissions
Commission per trade is just the visible part. The real cost of a broker includes currency conversion fees (often 0.25% to 1% per transaction), custody fees (still common with some European banks), inactivity fees, and the spread on certain instruments. A broker that looks cheap on paper can end up costing significantly more once you factor in these hidden charges. Also consider best execution: a broker that routes your orders to the most competitive venues will save you on the spread, an invisible but very real cost over time.
2. Market access: make sure you can buy what you need
Not all brokers offer the same universe. Some focus on European exchanges, others give access to US markets, and only a handful cover Asian or emerging markets. If your strategy includes US-listed ETFs, individual stocks on NASDAQ, or bonds on secondary markets, verify that your broker actually supports those instruments before opening an account.
Also keep in mind that EU regulations (MiFID II / PRIIPs) restrict direct access to certain US-domiciled ETFs for retail investors. Some brokers find workarounds (options, professional status); others simply block these products. This is worth checking early.
3. Regulation and deposit protection
A broker should be regulated by a recognized authority: BaFin in Germany, the FCA in the UK, the AMF in France, the CSSF in Luxembourg, or equivalent bodies across Europe. Regulation ensures segregation of client funds, mandatory reporting, and access to investor compensation schemes.
Protection levels vary. In the EU, the standard investor compensation is up to €20,000 per person per institution, but some jurisdictions offer more. The UK's FSCS covers up to £85,000. If your portfolio is substantial, understanding these limits matters. Spreading across multiple brokers can be a deliberate risk management strategy, not just a convenience.
4. Tax wrappers: a European patchwork
Most European countries offer some form of tax-advantaged investment wrapper: the ISA in the UK, the PEA in France, Sparpläne with tax allowances in Germany, the Investeringssparkonto (ISK) in Sweden, the Effectenrekening rules in Belgium. These wrappers can make a significant difference in net returns over time, but they usually come with constraints on eligible instruments, contribution limits, or holding periods.
This is where one of the real dilemmas of investing in Europe emerges: the brokers that offer the most attractive tax wrappers are rarely the ones with the best pricing. In France, the PEA is almost exclusively available through traditional banks or domestic brokers, whose trading and currency conversion fees tend to be significantly higher than those of an Interactive Brokers or a Saxo. In Germany, a Sparplan with a local neobroker may be very cheap, but the range of available instruments will be narrow. In the UK, some ISA providers charge annual platform fees that, on a sizeable portfolio, weigh far more than any per-trade commission. For larger portfolios, spreading assets across multiple brokers also brings a practical benefit: deposit protection (€20,000 per institution in the EU) applies per broker, so using several lets you cover a much larger share of your wealth. It is this combination of constraints (tax efficiency, fees, protection) that leads many European investors to use two brokers or more. The challenge then becomes consolidating your positions into a unified view.
5. API access: the overlooked criterion
Few comparison sites mention API access, yet it changes everything for portfolio tracking. A broker with an API lets your tracking tool pull positions, transactions, and balances automatically, with no manual entry, no CSV imports, no stale data. We explored this in detail in our article on why a broker API matters for tracking.
Today, Interactive Brokers and Saxo stand out as two major European-accessible brokers that offer robust, well-documented APIs. Tukhe connects to both natively, enabling real-time portfolio consolidation without giving up control over your data.
How to compare: the right tools
Rather than relying on a single ranking, we recommend BrokerChooser, an independent comparison platform that evaluates brokers across dozens of criteria and adapts its recommendations to your country of residence. It covers the brokers Tukhe integrates with (Interactive Brokers and Saxo) as well as many others, so you can make an informed decision regardless of which tracker you use.
And then: track everything in one place
Once you have chosen your broker (or brokers), the next challenge is seeing your full allocation clearly. This is where a dedicated portfolio tracker comes in. We have compared the best portfolio trackers for European investors if you want to explore your options.
Tukhe was built for exactly this scenario: consolidating positions across multiple brokers, in multiple currencies, while keeping all your data local and private. No cloud sync, no screen scraping, no shared credentials. Just a clean, unified view of your wealth.
