Trading 212

Is Trading 212 safe?

Yes, for most UK investors. Trading 212 UK Ltd is regulated by the FCA, it does not hold client shares itself but places them with Interactive Brokers and BNY Mellon, and client cash sits in segregated accounts at banks such as Barclays and NatWest. The UK company made £123.1 million before tax in 2025. We score it 78/100.

Two things keep the score down. Trading 212 is privately owned, so outsiders see much less of its finances than at listed brokers such as eToro or Robinhood. And clients outside the UK get less protection: the EU compensation schemes that apply pay at most €20,000.

Where Trading 212 keeps your shares and cash

Trading 212's own role is to take your orders and keep the records. The assets sit elsewhere:

• Shares and ETFs are held by its custodians, Interactive Brokers and BNY Mellon, in segregated accounts under the FCA's custody rules (CASS 6). Trading 212 reconciles its records with them daily, and the audit firm Buzzacott checks the arrangements once a year.
• Uninvested cash is held as client money (CASS 7) at FCA-regulated banks, including Barclays, NatWest and J.P. Morgan. The app shows what share of your cash sits at each bank.

Using an outside custodian is a strength. If Trading 212 failed, your shares would be at a large, separately regulated firm, and an administrator would return them rather than use them to pay Trading 212's debts.

FSCS, ICF and the £120,000 question

Trading 212's website says the FSCSDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary covers your cash up to £120,000. That is the FSCS limit for bank deposits since December 2025, and it applies if one of the partner banks fails. It counts everything you hold at that bank, including your own current account, so someone with a Barclays account and Trading 212 cash at Barclays shares one limit.

If Trading 212 UK itself failed and assets were missing, the investment limit applies instead: £85,000 per person. Outside the UK the cover is thinner.

Company	Regulator	Compensation if assets are missing
Trading 212 UK Ltd	FCA	FSCS, up to £85,000
Trading 212 Markets Ltd (Cyprus)	CySEC	Cyprus ICF, 90% up to €20,000
Trading 212 EU GmbH (Germany)	BaFin	German statutory scheme, 90% up to €20,000
Trading 212 Ltd (Bulgaria)	Financial Supervision Commission	Bulgarian ICF, 90% up to €20,000
Trading 212 Markets (Ireland) Limited	Central Bank of Ireland (authorised December 2025)	Irish ICS, 90% up to €20,000

Which one you are with depends on where you live; it is named in your account agreement. The Irish company is the newest: in June 2026 Trading 212 said it would make Trading 212 Markets (Ireland) Limited a European hub for risk, compliance, trading and operations, with 40 jobs in Dublin. It has not said which clients, if any, will move to it, so check your agreement if you get a notice. We base the score mainly on the UK company, which files the most detailed accounts.

What happened in January 2021?

When GameStop and AMC shares surged on 27 January 2021, Trading 212's platform could not place trades for about five hours as demand spiked at the US market open. The next day its execution broker, facing higher capital requirements, made GameStop sell-only, and Trading 212 passed the restriction on to clients. Trading 212 also stopped opening new accounts and put applicants on a waiting list, reopening in stages over the following months.

A client who lost out complained to the Financial Ombudsman, which did not uphold the complaint: it found the restrictions came from the wider clearing system and that Trading 212 had acted within its terms. We found no published fine against Trading 212 by the FCA, CySEC, BaFin or the Bulgarian regulator. The UK accounts report 99.99% system uptime in 2025.

How strong is the company?

Trading 212 grew fast. The UK company's revenue rose 72% to £277.6 million in 2025, pre-tax profit more than doubled to £123.1 million, and net assets grew to £194.3 million after £54 million of dividends. The FCA gave it permission to run a pension (SIPP) product in February 2026. The weak point is disclosure: there is no listed parent, no credit rating and no consolidated group accounts comparable to a US 10-K, so we cannot see the whole group's capital. For a listed broker that also holds many Trading 212 client shares, see Interactive Brokers.

How to keep your Trading 212 account safe

1. Turn on two-factor authenticationTwo-factor authenticationSigning in with a second proof of identity on top of your password, such as a code from an app, a security key or a passkey.More in the glossary with an authenticator app under Privacy and Security. It is optional unless you hold the Trading 212 card.
2. Enable a passcode and biometrics in the app as well.
3. If you keep large cash balances, check in the app which banks hold your cash, and count any money you hold directly at the same banks against the £120,000 deposit limit.
4. Keep CFDs in a separate account mentally: they are contracts with Trading 212, not shares held at a custodian.

How we scored it

Regulation (85) is Trading 212's strongest factor, with FCA, CySEC and BaFin licences and no offshore entity. Investor protection (78) benefits from outside custodians and UK bank accounts but loses points for the €20,000 EU limit. Financial strength (72) is the weakest because the group is private and publishes only entity accounts.