> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://entrepreneurplus.co.uk/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # How Does Trading 212 Make Money? Inside Its £277.6M Business - URL: https://entrepreneurplus.co.uk/how-does-trading-212-make-money-inside-its-277-6m-business/ - Published: 2026-10-09T10:08:31.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-09T10:43:15.000Z - Description: Trading 212 offers commission-free stock trading, yet its UK revenue reached £277.6 million in 2025. From CFD spreads and FX fees to share lending and interest on client cash, here’s how the platform turns free trading into a profitable business. - Author: Editorial Desk - Tags: Founder Stories Trading 212 built its name on commission-free stock and ETF trading: Invest and Stocks and Shares ISA users pay no dealing commission, custody fee or inactivity charge. But commission-free doesn't mean cost-free everywhere on the platform. Currency conversion, CFD trading and a few smaller charges all still apply. So how does Trading 212 make money? The answer runs through its CFD business, currency conversion fees, its **share lending programme**, interest on client cash and a handful of smaller charges most users never notice. The latest filed accounts show how quickly the UK entity has grown, with revenue rising from £104.1 million in 2023 to £277.6 million in 2025. --- ## What Is Trading 212 and How Is It Structured? Trading 212 offers Invest and Stocks and Shares ISA accounts for buying real shares and ETFs, alongside a separate CFD account for leveraged derivatives. These accounts sit within the same business but have different fee structures and revenue sources. **Trading 212 UK Ltd** is the FCA-regulated entity behind the UK product. It was incorporated in June 2013 and renamed from **Avus Capital UK Ltd** in September 2017\. The wider group traces back to 2004 in Bulgaria, and the holding company, Trading 212 Group Ltd, was co-founded by Bulgarian entrepreneurs **Borislav Nedialkov** and **Ivan Ashminov**. --- ## How Does Trading 212 Make Money? Trading 212 earns from different revenue streams across its investment and CFD accounts rather than one dominant source. - **Invest accounts:** the main sources are currency conversion fees, share lending and interest on uninvested cash. - **Stocks and Shares ISAs:** currency conversion fees and interest on cash. Share lending is not available on ISAs because of HMRC rules. - **CFD accounts:** spreads and overnight financing. - **Smaller items:** card deposit fees above the free allowance and income from the Trading 212 debit card. This matches how the group's own filing describes it: share dealing income comes from currency conversion fees, part of the interest on uninvested cash and stock lending, while CFD income comes mainly from spreads and overnight financing. So the honest answer to **how Trading 212 makes money** while giving stock trading away for free is several smaller, deliberately separated revenue lines rather than one single subsidy. --- ## Trading 212 CFD Fees: Spreads and Overnight Financing Trading 212 CFD fees come in three forms: the spread, overnight financing and a currency conversion charge. There is no commission, onboarding fee or custody charge on the CFD account itself, according to Trading 212's Costs & Charges Disclosure. The spread, the gap between the buy and sell price, is applied twice on every trade: once when a position is opened and again when it is closed. Positions held past the daily cutoff attract overnight financing, which can be negative or positive depending on the instrument and trade direction. Rates change daily by instrument, so check **Trading 212's current instrumen**t-specific rates rather than relying on a fixed example. A 0.5% currency conversion charge applies to the realised result (profit or loss) when a CFD position is closed in a currency other than the account's base currency. It is calculated on the outcome of the trade, not the full position value. CFDs are high risk. Trading 212's mandatory disclosure of the share of retail CFD accounts that lose money is updated periodically, and recent versions have shown figures in the low-to-high 70s percent. Check the current UK disclosure on Trading 212's site before relying on any single number. --- ## Trading 212 Share Lending: What It Is and How It Pays the Platform Share lending lets Trading 212 loan out shares held in eligible Invest accounts to third-party borrowers. For each day shares are lent, Trading 212 receives interest and passes 50% of it to the account holder, according to its own share lending page. ISA accounts are excluded because of HMRC rules. The feature is optional: the user switches it on, and it then runs automatically. Loaned shares are collateralised at a minimum of 102% of their value, secured against US government bonds and adjusted daily. Lending does not stop the user from selling. Two caveats are worth knowing: - Voting rights on loaned shares transfer to the borrower while the shares are out on loan. - Dividends are normally paid in the usual way, but in some cases they arrive as a "manufactured payment" of equivalent value, which can be taxed differently. It remains one of the clearer, better-documented pieces of **Trading 212's business** **model**, even with those caveats. --- ## Interest on Uninvested Cash: Marketing Tool or Revenue Driver? Trading 212 pays interest on eligible uninvested cash. Which currencies qualify, and at what rates, depends on the account and current product terms, so check the app and Trading 212's official terms and fees pages. Client cash is placed in qualifying money market funds and bank accounts. The UK accounts report net client interest income of £11.6 million in 2024, rising to £20.6 million in 2025\. This is the income the company keeps, not the full amount earned on client cash before payouts to users. Whether the interest offer works mainly as a **customer-acquisition tool** is a reasonable interpretation, given how prominently Trading 212 markets it. That is analysis rather than something the published figures prove. What the accounts do confirm is that it is a genuine and growing contributor alongside the CFD business. --- ## FX Conversion Fees and Other Smaller Revenue Streams Trading 212 charges a 0.15% FX conversion fee on eligible Invest and ISA transactions involving currency conversion, including purchases of assets denominated in another currency. Holding the relevant currency in a multi-currency balance and trading in it avoids the fee on those trades. **Other charges and income are modest:** - Bank transfer deposits are free. - Card and supported e-wallet deposits are free until a cumulative £2,000 (or €2,000) lifetime allowance is used. After that, a 0.7% fee applies to deposits above the threshold. - The UK accounts reported £1.68 million of debit card income in 2025. None of these is individually dramatic, but together they round out a business model that collects small amounts almost everywhere a transaction happens. --- ## Trading 212's Business Model Trading 212's UK arm reported revenue of £161.7 million for 2024, up 55% on 2023's £104.1 million, with pre-tax profit of £52.9 million. **Growth accelerated** in 2025: UK revenue reached £277.6 million, up 72%, and pre-tax profit more than doubled to £123.1 million, with net profit of £92.2 million. | UK figures | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | | -------------- | ------- | ------- | ------- | | Revenue | £104.1m | £161.7m | £277.6m | | Pre-tax profit | £38.7m | £52.9m | £123.1m | | Net profit | £30.4m | £39.7m | £92.2m | The UK entity paid dividends of £13.6 million in 2024 and £54.1 million in 2025. Within 2024's total UK revenue, investment brokerage services accounted for roughly £150 million, with net client interest income of £11.6 million. In 2025, trading revenues were about £257 million and net client interest income was £20.6 million. ![Trading 212 Business Model ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/05/a4/05a4a052-18ab-4836-8924-ec8b322c371c/content/images/2026/10/Cinematic-Financial-Analysis-Workspace-1.png) Trading 212 Business Model These are reported accounting categories and do not show how much comes from CFD spreads, overnight financing, FX conversion fees and share lending individually. At group level, **Trading 212 Group Ltd**, which spans the UK, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Germany, Australia and Ireland, reported 2025 revenue of £345.8 million, up 70%, and pre-tax profit of £127.7 million. The UK entity contributed about four-fifths of revenue. It is a trajectory that answers how Trading 212 makes money better than any single fee could: through several channels at once, and increasingly profitably. --- ## FAQs ### **1\. Is Trading 212 really free?** Trading 212 doesn't charge commission on Invest and ISA stock and ETF trades, and there is no account, custody or inactivity fee. Costs that do apply include a 0.15% FX conversion fee, CFD spreads and overnight financing, and a 0.7% fee on card deposits above £2,000 lifetime. "Free" holds cleanly for simple share dealing, less so for CFD trading or cross-currency transactions. ### **2\. Does Trading 212 lend out your shares?** Only if you switch it on, and only for eligible Invest accounts (not ISAs). Proceeds are split 50/50 with the account holder, and loaned shares are collateralised at a minimum of 102% against US government bonds. Lending doesn't prevent a sale, but voting rights transfer to the borrower while shares are out on loan. ### **3\. How does Trading 212 make money if there's no commission?** Through several separate streams: CFD spreads and overnight financing, currency conversion fees, share lending on Invest accounts, interest on client cash, and smaller deposit and card income. Its UK accounts show roughly £150 million of 2024's £161.7 million revenue came from investment brokerage services, not from commission on share dealing. **Also Read:** [*How Freetrade Makes Money From Commission Free Investing*](https://entrepreneurplus.co.uk/how-freetrade-makes-money-from-commission-free-investing/) --- *Sources: Trading 212’s Costs & Charges Disclosure (trading212.com/legal-documentation/uk/common/Costs-and-Charges-Disclosure\_EN.pdf), Risk Disclosure Notice (trading212.com/en/AVUSUK/risk-disclosure-notice), interest-on-cash page (trading212.com/interest-on-cash), and share lending pages (trading212.com/share-lending); Trading 212 UK Limited’s accounts filed with Companies House, as reported by Finance Magnates, City AM, TradeInformer and FX News Group. Figures reflect the most recent available data at the time of writing; fees, rates and risk disclosures should be rechecked against current official terms before publication.* ***The EP+ Editorial Desk covers UK startups, founder stories, and venture capital. All editorial content is independently produced and human-reviewed before publication.***