Revolut trading: An analysis of the app, fees & more
- Price per trade
- £0 up to monthly allowance, £1 thereafter
- Min. initial deposit
- £0
Our verdict
Revolut offers quite a basic investment platform, but it’s good value for some investing styles and comes with a range of account options.
Revolut is an all-in-one fintech app that also offers a limited investing experience for customers. It’s great for confident beginners who are happy to pick stocks.
It’s pretty cheap if you are looking to trade US stocks, but it’s restrictive in what it offers. For example, no exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or any other type of funds.
You’re able to invest in over 2,000 stocks from just $1, and you get a commission-free investing allowance based on your Revolut membership tier. However, sometimes you have to pay a foreign exchange (FX) fee, and there is technically a 0% platform fee, Revolut just calls it a “custody” fee.
Pros
-
Over 2,000 US stocks
-
Invest in fractional shares from just $1
-
Excellent app interface
-
Free trades with Revolut membership
Cons
-
Limited number of commission-free trades
-
Investment choice is limited
-
Lack of tax-efficient accounts
-
No FSCS protection
Estimated reading time: 2 min
Due to the potential for losses, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) considers this investment to be high risk.
What are the key risks?
1. You could lose all the money you invest
- The performance of most cryptoassets can be highly volatile, with their value dropping as quickly as it can rise. You should be prepared to lose all the money you invest in cryptoassets.
- The cryptoasset market is largely unregulated. There is a risk of losing money or any cryptoassets you purchase due to risks such as cyber-attacks, financial crime and firm failure.
2. You should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong
- The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) doesn't protect this type of investment because it's not a 'specified investment' under the UK regulatory regime – in other words, this type of investment isn't recognised as the sort of investment that the FSCS can protect. Learn more by using the FSCS investment protection checker.
- The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) will not be able to consider complaints related to this firm or Protection from the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) does not cover poor investment performance. If you have a complaint against an FCA regulated firm, FOS may be able to consider it. Learn more about FOS protection here.
3. You may not be able to sell your investment when you want to
- There is no guarantee that investments in cryptoassets can be easily sold at any given time. The ability to sell a cryptoasset depends on various factors, including the supply and demand in the market at that time.
- Operational failings such as technology outages, cyber-attacks and comingling of funds could cause unwanted delay and you may be unable to sell your cryptoassets at the time you want.
4. Cryptoasset investments can be complex
- Investments in cryptoassets can be complex, making it difficult to understand the risks associated with the investment.
- You should do your own research before investing. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
5. Don't put all your eggs in one basket
- Putting all your money into a single type of investment is risky. Spreading your money across different investments makes you less dependent on any one to do well.
- A good rule of thumb is not to invest more than 10% of your money in high-risk investments.
If you are interested in learning more about how to protect yourself, visit the FCA's website here.
For further information about cryptoassets, visit the FCA's website here.
How we rated Revolut's investment features
| Feature | Score | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Fees | 3.7 ★★★★★ | Revolut offers decent value for certain types of investors. |
| Investment choice | 3.9 ★★★★★ | It offers a wide range of US investments but is otherwise limited. |
| Safety and security | 3.2 ★★★★★ | Revolut offers a relatively secure and safe place for people to invest but the lack of FSCS protection isn’t ideal. |
| Account types and products | 3.4 ★★★★★ | The platform only offers a general investment account. |
| Ease of use | 4.5 ★★★★★ | Revolut offers a great app that most customers seem happy with. |
| Tools, resources and features | 3.0 ★★★★★ | Revolut offers a limited range of additional investing tools and resources. |
Popular digital banking brand and general fintech disruptor Revolut lets you invest in over 2,000 US stocks, all at your fingertips. You can even buy fractional shares to make investing more affordable. However, Revolut has 5 tiers, and these can impact how many free trades you can make each month.
To give you some clarity, we’ve done an in-depth dive into the app with our Revolut trading review. We’ll explain the main features, fees and key things you should know when using Revolut to trade stocks.
Is Revolut stock trading legit?
Yes, and you can invest in over 2,000 US stocks. You can also invest in commodities like gold or silver, along with the ability to trade some currencies (and cryptos).
Revolut’s trading platform is an extension of its existing mobile banking app – so you need to have a Revolut account open to start trading on the app. The good news is it can take less than 5 minutes to open a Revolut account and start investing (we tried it).
Revolut fees
| Fees score | 3.7 ★★★★★ |
|---|---|
| Platform fee | 0% |
| UK shares | N/A |
| US stocks | 0.25% (£1 minimum) |
| International shares | N/A |
| Funds/ETFs | N/A |
| Foreign exchange (FX) fee | 1% (free during the week) |
| Regular investing | No |
| Withdrawal/deposit fee | £0 |
| Inactivity fee | £0 |
Revolut is pretty cheap but it does have quite a unique (and slightly confusing) pricing structure.
With each 5 tiers of the Revolut plans, you get different perks, and commission-free trades is one of them. Here’s how many free trades you get based on your plan:
| Account type | Cost | Free trades per month |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | Free | 1 free trade |
| Plus | £3.99 per month | 3 free trades |
| Premium | £7.99 per month | 5 free trades |
| Metal | £14.99 per month | 10 free trades |
| Ultra | £45 per month | 10 free trades |
Outside of your commission-free trades, there’s a fee to pay when buying or selling investments. For Standard, Plus, Premium or Metal members it’s 0.25% (£1 minimum). And for Ultra members, it’s 0.12% (£1 minimum).
The FX fee structure is also pretty weird. So, on weekdays (between 6pm Sunday and 5pm Friday, New York time), there’s no FX fee. On weekends (between 5pm Friday and 6pm Sunday, New York time), there’s a 1% FX fee.
There also might be additional FX fees depending on your plan and whether you’ve exceeded your fair usage limit.
Buying cryptocurrencies or commodities come with additional fees.
Thankfully, apart from these quite bizarrely-arranged fees, there’s not much else to worry about in the way of charges.
Revolut investment choice and stocks
| Investment choice score | 3.9 ★★★★★ |
|---|---|
| Asset options | 3+ |
| Markets | 3+ |
| Number of investments | 2,000+ |
| Number of ETFs/funds | N/A |
| Fractional shares | |
| Minimum deposit | £0 |
| Minimum investment | $1 |
Revolut has a solid choice of US stocks, but other than that it’s pretty limited. You can invest in commodities and cryptocurrencies, but these aren’t useful assets for beginners (or most investors).
There are over 2,000 US stocks and you can buy fractional shares with just $1. We think Revolut can be useful for investing, but the limited options mean it’s probably not going to be your one-stop-shop for investments.
Is Revolut safe?
| Safety and security score | 3.2 ★★★★★ |
|---|---|
| Biometric login/2FA | |
| FCA regulated | |
| FSCS protection | |
| SSL certificate | |
| Public company |
Revolut is an appointed representative (AR) of Resolution Compliance Ltd, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Unfortunately, you are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme protection. So your deposits of up to £85,000 aren’t covered in the event that Revolut goes bust.
Like any other type of investment, your capital is at risk when you invest using Revolut and you may end up with less than what you originally invested. The performance of investments will vary, and there is no guarantee of return.
Revolut account types and products
| Account types and products score | 3.4 ★★★★★ |
|---|---|
| General investment account (GIA) | |
| Stock and shares ISA | |
| Self-invested personal pension (SIPP) | |
| Lifetime ISA (LISA) | |
| Junior ISA (JISA)/Junior SIPP (JSIPP) | |
| Business Account | |
| Interest on cash balances |
Revolut is pretty limited in terms of accounts with only a GIA for investing. It does also offer business accounts and you can earn interest on cash, but it’s a bare bones approach for UK investors.
Revolut general investment account
The Revolut GIA is best suited to you if you’ve already made use of your ISA allowance in the current tax year.
This does mean that you might be liable to pay capital gains tax on any profits you make over £3,000 or dividends over £500 (in the 2024/2025 tax year).
Revolut ease of use
| Ease of use score | 4.5 ★★★★★ |
|---|---|
| Apple iOS rating | 4.9/5 |
| Google Play rating | 4.7/5 |
| Ways to contact customer service | Phone, email and in-app chat |
| UI/UX | Good |
| Desktop or mobile app | Mobile |
Revolut scored well in our ease of use assessment. There’s a few ways to contact the customer service team and the Revolut app is popular with customers.
On the App Store, Revolut scores a near-perfect 4.9 out of 5 from over 650,000 reviews, and on Google Play it has a slightly lower 4.7 out of 5 from over 2 million reviews (as of January 2024).
It’s worth keeping in mind these are for Revolut’s whole app and not specifically just the investing part. Also, there’s no desktop platform and you can invest only with the Revolut app.
Revolut customer reviews
| Score | Rating |
|---|---|
| Trustpilot | 4.2/5 |
| User reviews | 4.2/5 |
Revolut Trading came fourth in the 2024 Finder customer satisfaction survey, with 96% of customers saying they’d recommend the service Many customers described Revolut as “easy to use”.
One customer commented:”Really easy experience with Revolut and there’s accessible help on hand whenever you may need.”
Another said: “Easy to trade, extremely easy and thorough info about companies and shares.”
On Trustpilot, users seem to agree and Revolut (overall) has a 4.2 out of 5 – classed as “Great” – from over 148,000 reviews (last updated: February 2024).
Revolut tools, resources and features
| Tools, resources and features | 3.0 ★★★★★ |
|---|---|
| Analysis features | |
| Tools for investing/trading | |
| Social features | |
| Learning resources | |
| Additional Features |
Revolut offers some tools for researching and analysing investments, but not a lot. The main reason for this is that it’s not a pure investing platform.
Although Revolut lets customers invest, it’s not its bread and butter. So you’ll find some basic charting tools along with learning resources like a stock course, but don’t expect in-depth features on this front.
Some of the key features of Revolut’s trading account are:
- Open an account from your app. You can start trading directly from the Revolut app. You’ll need to be at least 18 and already have a Revolut account.
- Buy shares in more than 2,000 companies. The list includes the likes of Alphabet, Amazon, Tesla, Apple and many more. For now, you can only invest in US stocks.
- Fractional shares. Revolut allows you to buy fractional shares, so you can start with as little as $1.
- Order types. You can use trading order types to automate investments.
- Dividends. If you buy shares in a company that pays dividends, they’ll show up directly in your app.
- Set a watchlist and price alerts. Keep track of stocks that you’re interested in.
How to fund your Revolut account
To fund your trading account, you need to transfer money from your standard Revolut account within the app. You can put money onto Revolut using a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
You can only hold funds in USD in your trading account, so you might have to convert some pounds first. One bonus is that there’s no minimum deposit required.
Trading crypto on Revolut
When it comes to cryptocurrencies, Revolut stands out from its competitors. In 2017, it became the first challenger banking brand to let customers buy crypto in its app.
Revolut’s aim is to make crypto accessible, so you don’t have to be a tech whizz to get your hands on them. Below, we list what Revolut offers.
- Cryptocurrencies. Customers have access to over 120 cryptocurrencies, including popular ones such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and XRP.
- Exchange currencies for crypto. Exchange one of the base currencies in the app for one of the crypto options. So, change pounds into Ethereum, or change euros into Bitcoin.
- Real-time rates. Real-time cryptocurrency graphs show you current rates. Plus set up price alerts to hear when your cryptocurrency hits a certain value.
- Crypto card spending. Spend cryptocurrencies using your Revolut debit card. Link your crypto pocket to your card and make payments with instantly converted tokens.
- Fees. Revolut charges a markup on cryptocurrency transactions for Standard and Plus users (less for Premium, Metal and Ultra users). Revolut says it gives the best possible exchange rates, but it could still be worth taking a look at other options if you’re seeking to delve into cryptocurrencies.
- Learn and Earn. Earn yourself some free crypto by completing educational courses and receiving DOT tokens as a reward.
- Send to friends. Transfer cryptocurrencies to other Revolut users if you want to.
- Staking. Stake your Ethereum (ETH), Cardano (ADA), Polkadot (DOT) and Tezos (XTZ) to earn crypto rewards.
- Risks. Revolut does warn that the value of cryptocurrencies can rapidly increase or decrease at any time. So you could make some serious losses. Its cryptocurrency platform is not regulated by the FCA – crypto isn’t regulated in the UK. But UK-based companies are required to register with the watchdog, and Revolut is on the FCA’s registry of cryptoasset firms.
- Cryptocurrency services aren’t regulated in the UK – there’s no consumer protection. Your capital is at risk.
Is my money protected by the FSCS with Revolut?
No. Money held in Revolut’s “Savings Vaults” are covered, but funds in your trading account don’t come with Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) protection. Client money has to be kept separate from the company’s finances. So if Revolut were to go bust, if it held any money of yours, you’d likely get at least some of it back.
Of course, this does not mean you’re not at risk of losing your money. Investments can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invested.
How to open a trading account with Revolut
To open a Revolut trading account, you need:
- To already be a Revolut account holder
- Be at least 18 years old
- Be a legal resident of the United Kingdom
Setting up a Revolut trading account is easy:
- Download the Revolut app. You can get it on the App Store or Google Play Store.
- Provide your phone number. You’ll need to verify it with a code.
- Provide some personal details. These include your name, email address, home address and date of birth.
- Verify your identity. You can do this through the app with a passport or ID.
- Wait for verification. This took under 5 minutes for us.
- Select the “Stocks” tab. Find this tab at the top of your home screen.
- Provide a few extra details. You might need to give your national insurance (NI) number explain your knowledge about investing and sign a W-8BEN.
- Start investing. It’s as simple as that.
- Commission-free stock trades
- Receive dividend payments
- Invest in fractional shares
- Commission-free trading
- Invest in fractional shares
- Over 5,400 stocks & ETFs
- No commissions for funds
- Expert research and insights
- Wide range of tax wrappers
Compare share-dealing platforms
All investing should be regarded as longer term. The value of your investments can go up and down, and you may get back less than you invest. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. If you’re not sure which investments are right for you, please seek out a financial adviser. Capital at risk.
Frequently asked questions
Share dealing platform scores
Finder scores, in blue, are based on our expert analysis. We also show reviews from users, where we've received more than 10, with a score in yellow. We gather more reviews from customers every year in Finder's customer satisfaction survey.
