Trading 212 Review: Is the CFD Account a Real Forex Broker or an Add-On?
Trading 212 built its name on commission-free share investing, then bolted a CFD account onto the same app for forex. We funded the CFD side, traded EUR/USD for two weeks, and checked whether it holds up next to brokers built for forex first.
Best for: Existing Trading 212 Invest or ISA users who want to try forex CFDs without opening a second account
Trading 212's CFD account is a sensible way for an existing Invest or ISA user to add forex exposure without opening a second app, and the commission-free structure with negative balance protection removes two common beginner traps. It is not built for forex first: there is no MetaTrader, no expert advisor support, and independent spread testing puts its EUR/USD pricing behind brokers that specialise in currency pairs rather than treat them as one asset class among thousands. A trader who only wants forex, and wants it cheap, has better options. A trader who already lives inside Trading 212 for stocks and wants to try CFDs without funding a second broker will find it good enough.
Price Free account, from 1 unit of currency depositMaker Trading 212trading212.com
Most people know Trading 212 for commission-free shares and its ISA, not for forex. The CFD account lives inside the same app under a separate tab, funded separately from Invest money, and we wanted to know whether it was built with the same care or added on to round out the product line. We funded the CFD side and traded EUR/USD for two weeks to find out.
One login, two very different products
Switching between Invest and CFD inside Trading 212 takes one tap, and the two balances stay entirely separate, which matters because CFD losses can exceed what a share purchase ever could. Opening the CFD account needs no extra paperwork beyond the appropriateness questions FCA and CySEC rules require, and funding starts from as little as one unit of the account's base currency. For someone who already holds an ISA or Invest account here, adding forex exposure costs nothing but a few taps and a short quiz.
The catch is that convenience and specialisation are different things. A dedicated forex broker builds its entire platform around currency pairs; Trading 212 builds around 11,000-plus instruments and treats forex as one category among stocks, ETFs and other CFDs. That shows up first in the tools: no economic calendar built for a forex trader's workflow, no MetaTrader, nothing aimed specifically at currency traders.
Pricing that undercuts on commission, not on spread
Trading 212 charges no commission on CFD trades, and that headline is accurate. What it does not fix is the spread itself: independent testing we checked found EUR/USD pricing running wider than the industry average for brokers built specifically for forex, a gap that a beginner trading small size will barely notice but an active trader will feel over hundreds of round trips.
