Trading212 or Eightcap – which is better for UK traders 2025? Compare Trading212 and Eightcap in this detailed breakdown of their platforms, features and fees.
Trading 212 is a European and UK-regulated CFD broker that also offers stock investing and ISAs. It’s best known for its commission-free trading model and beginner-friendly app, which has helped it attract 2.5 million users and £3.5 billion in client assets.
Eightcap is an award-winning, FCA-regulated broker offering industry-low trading fees. They are also the highest-rated brand by TradingView’s 100 million-strong users, who can trade directly on the platform. UK traders can sign up for a live account with an accessible £100 minimum deposit.
Pros
One of the standout features of Trading 212 is its commission-free trading, meaning you can buy and sell stocks, ETFs, and other financial instruments without incurring traditional brokerage fees
Trading 212 has an intuitive and user-friendly platform that is especially accessible for beginners, with a straightforward layout and a reasonable range of tools for analysis
The platform offers a good suite of instruments, including stocks, indices, ETFs, currencies, commodities, and CFDs. This variety can help you to create a diversified investment portfolio
A sleek mobile app lets you trade on the go. It’s well-designed and offers features similar to the web platform, making it convenient if you prefer mobile trading
Up to 5.2% interest on uninvested cash is available, appealing to hands-off investors
Having excelled across all key areas for traders, Eightcap outperformed every competitor to win our 'Best Overall Broker' award for 2024, also securing our 'Best Crypto Broker' title for 2025 and 'Best TradingView Broker' for 2025.
With tight spreads from 0 pips, low commission fees, and high leverage up to 1:500 for certain clients, Eightcap provides cost-effective and flexible trading conditions that can accommodate an array of strategies, including trading and scalping.
After bolstering its roster in 2021, Eightcap offers one of the most extensive selections of cryptocurrency CFDs in the market, with crypto/fiat pairs, crypto/crypto pairs, plus crypto indices for broader exposure to the market.
Eightcap stands out with a selection of powerful trading tools and resources, including MT4 and MT5, the innovative algorithmic trading platform Capitalise.ai, and more recently the 100-million strong social trading network TradingView.
Cons
Experienced traders who rely on sophisticated technical analysis tools will find Trading 212’s charting features to be somewhat basic, especially compared to alternatives like IG
While Trading 212 offers leveraged trading through CFDs, there are restrictions on leverage for certain instruments. If you want high leverage for your strategies, you will find these limitations constraining
There’s no copy trading, a significant drawback given Trading 212's client base is largely beginners and brokers like eToro offer this feature
There is no support for algorithmic or automated trading, nor third-party apps like MetaTrader 4, which will deter advanced traders. IC Markets ticks these boxes
In spite of an increasing variety of tools, Eightcap doesn't offer industry favorites like Autochartist or Trading Central, which offer cutting-edge charting analytics, live news, and market insights for short-term traders.
Eightcap needs to continue bolstering its suite of instruments to match category leaders like Blackbull Markets with its 26,000+ assets, featuring a particularly weak selection of commodities.
The demo account expires after 30 days and can only be extended upon request - a notable inconvenience compared to the likes of XM with its unlimited demo mode.
Despite a useful library of educational guides and e-books in Labs, Eightcap still trails IG’s comprehensive toolkit for aspiring traders with its dedicated IG Academy app and 18 course categories.
Trading212 have positioned themselves at the front of the mobile trading movement. Their platform is based on a ‘mobile-first’ model, so they prioritize this type of trader. The app offers 1800+ instruments, zero commissions and a free practise account. Download the app risk free and try it out.
Eightcap supports the MT4, MT5 and TradingView apps (the only FCA regulated broker offering TradingView), catering to mobile traders looking for advanced charting tools. While we don’t love the increasingly outdated design of the MetaTrader suite, its dozens of technical indicators and drawing tools, multiple charting styles, and straightforward overlays in horizontal mode are excellent. The push notifications and active social network on the TradingView app are also valuable additions for aspiring traders and Eightcap has published helpful videos on connecting TradingView accounts to iOS and Android devices.
iOS App Rating
4.8
Android App Rating
4.4
Margin Trading
Yes
Yes
MetaTrader 4
No
No
MetaTrader 5
No
Yes
cTrader
No
No
AlgoTrader
No
No
OmniTrader
No
No
TradingView
No
Yes
Autochartist
No
No
eSignal
No
No
Trading Central
No
No
STP Account
Yes
No
ECN Account
No
Yes
DMA Account
No
No
MAM Account
No
Yes
PAMM Account
No
No
LAMM Account
No
No
Demat Account
No
No
AI / Machine Learning
No
No
Robo Advisor
No
No
Negative Balance Protection
Yes
Yes
Market Maker
Yes
No
P2P Trading
No
No
Spot Trading
No
Yes
Auto Trading
AutoInvest Portfolio
TradingView Bots
Copy Trading
No
No
Social Trading
Yes
Yes
Trade Signals
Yes
VPS Hosting
No
Yes
Tournaments
No
No
Demo Competitions
No
No
Ethical Investing
Yes
No
Custodial Account
No
No
Guaranteed Stop Loss
No
No
Inactivity Fee
$0
Islamic Account
No
Yes
Account Currencies
USD
EUR
GBP
CAD
SEK
NOK
DKK
CHF
PLN
CZK
HUF
USD
EUR
GBP
CAD
AUD
NZD
SGD
Commodities
Gold
Silver
Gasoline
Oil
Copper
Palladium
Coffee
Cotton
Platinum
Corn
Sugar
Cocoa
Livestock
Wheat
Soybeans
Natural Gas
Lead
Lean Hogs
Gold
Silver
Oil
Palladium
Zinc
Nickel
Platinum
CFD
Engage in leveraged CFD trading across a wide array of instruments, encompassing forex, stocks, commodities, and indices. Yet while the selection of asset classes is satisfactory, the charting software and floating spreads for short-term traders fall behind that of competitors.
Eightcap offers a wide range of trading options with 800+ CFDs across stocks, indices, bonds, commodities, and cryptocurrencies (depending on location), with leverage up to 1:30/1:500. It excels in its tools, notably the AI-enabled economic calendar covering 25+ countries with impact filters (high, medium, low). However, its commodities offering, particularly in softs like cotton and wheat, as well as the limited precious metal and energy assets, is its weakest area.
Leverage
1:30
1:30
FTSE Spread
2.5
1.2
GBPUSD Spread<
0.00028
0.1
Oil Spread
0.4
0.03
Stocks Spread
0.2% Var
0.03 (Apple Inc)
Forex
Trade over 180 major, minor, and exotic forex pairs on the Trading 212 platform, featuring floating spreads and leverage up to 1:30. It’s important to note, though, that the forex broker has a history of adjusting margin requirements without providing adequate notice. As a result, CMC Markets is a better pick for forex traders with more currency pairs and a cleaner record.
Eightcap offers 50+ currency pairs in line with the industry average but trailing category leaders like CMC Markets with its 300+ currency pairs. However, Eightcap stands out with institutional-level spreads from 0.0 pips on major pairs like the EUR/USD, alongside low $3.50/side commissions. The broker also offers rich forex data to inform trading decisions, including key fundamentals, bullish/bearish indicators and a calendar that tracks key events in the foreign exchange market.