If you're on a Galaxy Fold, consider unfolding your phone or viewing it in full screen to best optimize your experience.
Bitpanda is a European crypto broker that trades cryptocurrencies, stocks, ETFs, and commodities. Unfortunately, it is not available in the U.S. The platform stands out for its low fees, crypto index fund, and intuitive interface. Read our full Bitpanda review to find out if this platform is right for you.
Bottom Line
A good crypto and stock platform for investors of all levels, but the fact that it's only available to European investors weighs on our overall rating - we'd prefer more global availability.
Fees:
Basic: 1.49%, Pro: 0.10% 0.15%
Account Minimum:
1 euro
Offer |
![]()
Robinhood
Limitations Apply |
![]() |
---|---|---|
Rating |
Rating image, 4.50 out of 5 stars.
4.50/5
Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale.
5 stars equals Best.
4 stars equals Excellent.
3 stars equals Good.
2 stars equals Fair.
1 star equals Poor.
We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
|
Rating image, 4.50 out of 5 stars.
4.50/5
Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale.
5 stars equals Best.
4 stars equals Excellent.
3 stars equals Good.
2 stars equals Fair.
1 star equals Poor.
We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
|
Commissions |
$0 for stocks, ETFs, options, and cryptocurrencies
|
Variable fees (Coinbase), 0%-0.60% (Coinbase Advanced Trade), $29.99 monthly (Coinbase One)
|
Next Steps |
This cryptocurrency broker is a good fit for: European investors who want to manage all their assets in one place.
Bitpanda has a lot to offer European investors, as it makes it easy to trade a variety of assets. Here are some of the platform's big advantages:
Not only does Bitpanda have a decent range of cryptos available, it also offers three crypto index funds. These contain the top five, 10, or 25 cryptos by market cap, and make it easy for European investors to diversify their crypto portfolios without having to buy each individual coin or token. I find this to be one of the most appealing aspects of the platform as it's a hassle-free way to hold top cryptos.
Bitpanda sells stocks, ETFs, and commodities such as gold and silver as well as cryptocurrencies. This makes it a good option for investors who want to manage all their investments in one place and ensure crypto makes up part of a diversified portfolio. Plus, customers can easily swap between one asset and another.
Bitpanda has a tremendously intuitive interface. From the know-your-customer (KYC) verification to the trading, every aspect of the platform feels well thought out and is easy to use. Fee information is clear and transparent. Bitpanda has taken the same approach with its mobile apps.
The Bitpanda academy contains a lot of useful information, broken down for different types of investors. For example, beginner investors might want to know how blockchain technology works, and what a crypto wallet does. Intermediate articles cover things like consensus models and smart contracts. At the end of each section, investors can test their knowledge with a 15-question quiz.
People who live in countries that have adopted the euro can apply for the Bitpanda Visa card. This fee-free debit card offers between 0.5% and 2% in rewards on spending. Users can choose which assets they want to use for payments, making it easy to spend cryptocurrency. However, it's worth noting that crypto spending may not be great for long-term, buy-and-hold investors.
TIP
Once you’ve chosen one of our top-rated brokers, you need to make sure you’re buying the right stocks. We think there’s no better place to start than with Stock Advisor, the flagship stock-picking service of our company, The Motley Fool. You’ll get two new stock picks every month, plus 10 starter stocks and best buys now. The average stock pick inside Stock Advisor is up 571% — more than 4x that of the S&P 500! (as of 6/12/2024). Learn more and get started today with a special new member discount.
Bitpanda is a European-focused crypto exchange based in Austria. It currently only accepts users from certain European countries, including the U.K., France, Germany, Spain, and Switzerland. Residents of the United Arab Emirates can also apply. U.S. residents cannot use this platform.
Bitpanda has two trading platforms aimed at beginner and advanced traders. The Pro platform has lower fees, but is limited, as it has fewer available cryptocurrencies. Most of these can only be traded with euros and can't be traded with each other. In contrast, the basic platform allows customers to swap cryptocurrencies for stocks or commodities and back again.
Most platforms do not charge a fee for crypto deposits, which is useful because you often pay a withdrawal fee on the other end. The fees aren't huge, and Bitpanda does waive it for deposits over a certain amount (which varies per crypto). But it would be good to see this fee eliminated altogether.
Bitpanda is a cryptocurrency broker that also sells stocks, ETFs, and commodities like gold and silver. It has a wide selection of stocks and ETFs. It also offers fractional share trading, which lets investors buy as little as 1 euro of a stock. Customers who employ dollar cost averaging can also set up recurring buys. I have a recurring buy set up for one of the index funds, so I can automatically buy crypto at regular intervals. Bitpanda also has its own native token to reward investors, the Bitpanda Ecosystem Token (BEST).
Bitpanda does not have its own crypto wallet. However, it does let users send and receive cryptocurrency on its platform. This sets it apart from other crypto brokers. Its Bitpanda apps on iOS and Android are rated 4.8 and 3.5 out of 5, respectively.
READ MORE: Best Cryptocurrency Apps
Bitpanda also offers some users a way to spend their crypto -- customers in countries that have adopted the euro can apply for the Bitpanda Visa card. This debit card earns crypto rewards on spending, and makes it easy to spend cryptocurrency and other assets. Be aware that spending crypto and other assets can have tax implications. Buy-and-hold investors who don't want to dip into their investments for day-to-day spending can top it up with fiat currencies instead.
Bitpanda's trading fees are in line with some of the best-value crypto exchanges, especially on the advanced trading platform. It also offers trading discounts and other perks for investors who hold its BEST utility token. Here's how the trading, deposit, and withdrawal fees break down.
Bitpanda has trading platforms for Pro and basic users. The basic trading platform is more expensive to use, but more accessible for beginners. It charges a fee of 1.49%, built into the price you see. To buy 200 euros worth of Bitcoin (BTC) on the basic platform, you'd pay a transaction fee of 2.98 euros.
READ MORE: Best Places to Buy Bitcoin
Experienced traders can reduce trading fees by using the Bitpanda Pro platform. Here, the maximum maker/taker fee is 0.1% to 0.15%. At most, it would cost 0.30 euros to buy 200 euros worth of Bitcoin on the Pro platform. Pro fees are reduced with higher trading volumes. The reason the fees differ is that Pro users trade at market prices, whereas the basic platform offers a 60-second price guarantee.
Platform | Fees |
---|---|
Bitpanda | 1.49% |
Bitpanda pro | 0.10% - 0.15% |
Bitpanda makes it easy to deposit fiat money via bank transfer, credit card, debit card, and other methods. The interface is clear, and the fees are transparent and easy to understand. The minimum fiat deposit is around 25 euro, depending on the currency.
Method | Fees |
---|---|
Bank transfer | Free |
Credit / debit card (Visa and Mastercard) | 1.5% - 1.8% |
Other payment processors such as Skrill and Neteller | Set fee plus 3.6% |
Bitpanda is unusual in charging fees for crypto deposits. Most exchanges offer this service for free. The fee isn't crazy high -- often around $5. But given that you usually must pay to withdraw it from the original location, it's worth factoring the extra cost.
The crypto deposit fee gets waived for deposits higher than a certain amount of crypto. The minimum varies from crypto to crypto, but in many cases the fee-free threshold is around $150. Notable outliers are Avalanche (AVAX), with a minimum of about less $10, and Bitcoin, with a minimum of about $2,000.
Bitpanda's withdrawal fees also vary from crypto to crypto. This is because different crypto networks charge different transaction fees. It can cost anything from less than a dollar to over $50 to withdraw crypto from Bitpanda.
With over 150 cryptocurrencies on its books, Bitpanda has a solid selection of coins and tokens. It lists most of the top 20 cryptos by market capitalization, including Bitcoin, Ethereum (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB), Ripple (XRP), Cardano (ADA), and Solana (SOL). It also trades several stablecoins, such as Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC).
READ MORE: Best Places to Buy Ethereum
It's worth noting that the cryptocurrency selection is more limited on Bitpanda Pro, which also has fewer trading pairs. There are a lot fewer cryptocurrencies on the advanced platform, and most can only be paired with euros rather than other cryptocurrencies.
One of the most interesting features on the platform is the Bitpanda Crypto Index. Bitpanda has three crypto index funds, each of which is rebalanced once a month to reflect the current market.
Crypto index funds can offer a great way to build a diversified portfolio. But investors also have less control over the individual holdings.
READ MORE: How to Invest in Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency can be a high-risk and volatile asset class. It's also a relatively new industry with less investor protection than other asset classes, which makes it all the more important to look for platforms that protect your investments.
Bitpanda says it takes security seriously, and has some measures in place to protect its customers. For example, it keeps assets offline in cold storage, making them more difficult to hack. Accounting firm KPMG carried out an independent audit of Bitpanda's reserves last year. It found the platform had more than enough funds to cover user assets.
It also offers several user-level protections. These include two-factor authentication and sending confirmation emails to authorize withdrawals. However, it would be nice to see some additional security features such as anti-phishing measures and third-party insurance. Several big crypto exchanges have outside insurance to cover user losses in the event of an exchange hack.
We're firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers. The Ascent, a Motley Fool service, does not cover all offers on the market. The Ascent has a dedicated team of editors and analysts focused on personal finance, and they follow the same set of publishing standards and editorial integrity while maintaining professional separation from the analysts and editors on other Motley Fool brands.
Emma Newbery owns Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance Coin, Cardano, Solana, Sandbox, Chainlink, Ripple, Avalanche, and USD Coin.
Robinhood disclosure
This advertisement contains information and materials provided by Robinhood Financial LLC and its affiliates (“Robinhood”) and Publisher, a third party not affiliated with Robinhood. All investments involve risk and the past performance of a security, or financial product does not guarantee future results or returns. Securities offered through Robinhood Financial LLC and Robinhood Securities LLC, which are members of FINRA and SIPC. Publisher is not a member of FINRA or SIPC.
Robinhood Crypto disclosure
This advertisement contains information and materials provided by Robinhood Financial LLC, Robinhood Securities LLC and its affiliates (“Robinhood”) and Publisher, a third party not affiliated with Robinhood. All investments involve risk and the past performance of a security, or financial product does not guarantee future results or returns. Securities offered through Robinhood Financial LLC, a member of FINRA and SIPC and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc. Cryptocurrency trading offered through Robinhood Crypto LLC. Robinhood Crypto and Publisher are not a members of FINRA or SIPC and cryptocurrencies are not stocks and your cryptocurrency investments are not protected by either FDIC or SIPC insurance.