Bolero vs Avanza — which broker is better?

Pros

• Run by KBC Bank NV, a Belgian credit institution supervised by the ECB together with the National Bank of Belgium and by the FSMA for conduct; the KBC Group is listed on Euronext Brussels
• Small orders from EUR 2.50 (up to EUR 250) on Euronext, Germany, the other online European markets, Toronto and the 100 ETFs of the ETF Playlist, and from USD 2.50 in the US
• No custody fee, no account management fee and no minimum deposit; opening and closing the account are free
• Belgian taxes handled at source: the stock exchange tax on every contract note, and from 1 June 2026 the 10% capital gains tax withheld unless you opt out
• More than 20 markets online, plus phone orders through the Orderdesk on exchanges such as Hong Kong, Japan and Australia
• Research included at no charge: a daily newsletter running since 2006, share analyses, Reuters and ABM Financial News, screeners and the Idea Center
• Invest & Repeat: periodic orders on the ETF Playlist monthly, every two months, quarterly, half-yearly or yearly, priced from EUR 2.50
• Long phone hours: the Orderdesk takes orders every trading day from 08:00 to 22:00

Cons

• Adults domiciled in Belgium only, with a Belgian current account; residents of other countries and US persons cannot open an account
• Mid-sized orders cost more than at low-cost platforms: on Euronext an order above EUR 2,500 costs EUR 15 per EUR 10,000, up to EUR 50
• A 0.60% currency conversion margin, 2% (maximum EUR 125) for collecting foreign dividends, and no credit interest on cash at present
• No futures, short selling or securities credit; we found no CFDs, forex trading or fractional shares, and Bolero points to trackers and turbos for commodities
• Crypto is limited to Bitcoin and Ether, cannot be transferred in, can leave only to an account at a regulated EU or EEA provider and is outside the guarantee fund
• A phone order costs EUR 15 when the security can be traded online, and the administration answers only during office hours

Pros

• Start class: 0% courtage on Stockholmsbörsen and 100% of fund fees refunded for customers who have never had SEK 50,000 in total savings at Avanza, until SEK 50,000 or more than 500 free trades in 12 months
• Mini class from 0.25% with a SEK 1 minimum on Stockholmsbörsen and First North, and a USD 1 minimum on US shares
• Avanza Bank AB is a Swedish bank supervised by Finansinspektionen, and the parent Avanza Bank Holding AB is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm as AZA
• Two Swedish schemes: the deposit guarantee covers uninvested cash up to SEK 1,150,000 per customer and institution, the investor compensation scheme covers securities up to SEK 250,000
• SEK 0 annual, management and deposit fees on every account type in the price list, ISK, kapitalförsäkring and pensions included, and no minimum deposit
• Wide range for a domestic bank: shares in the Nordics, North America and nine further European markets online, desk orders on most other exchanges, funds without courtage, ETFs, options, futures, certificates, warrants and bonds
• Avanza calculates the ISK flat-rate income and reports it to Skatteverket, and the pre-filled K4 form costs SEK 0 since January 2026
• Free real-time prices for the Nordic markets, Nasdaq and NYSE, and US trading from 11:00 to 22:30 Swedish time

Cons

• The website and app address residents of Sweden; residents abroad cannot trade European shares online, and we found no route in from Germany, Austria or Switzerland
• Automatic currency exchange costs 0.25% in each direction, 0.5% on a round trip; the manual service at 0.125% per direction does not cover funds and, according to Avanza, cannot be added to an ISK and needs an approved securities credit on the aktie- och fondkonto
• One courtage class applies to all orders on all accounts: a SEK 10,000 order costs SEK 25 in Mini but SEK 39 in Small, SEK 69 in Medium and SEK 99 in Fast Pris
• We found no demo account and no source for fractional shares; crypto exposure is limited to exchange-traded certificates, and Avanza does not sell crypto assets directly
• Support in Swedish, by phone and by secure message in the logged-in area; we found no live chat and no email address, and general opening hours were not readable on the pages we could open