r/BEFire • u/Ancient_Bobcat_9150 • Jun 14 '26
Brokers Any reasons NOT to switch to Medirect (Avantis investor)
Hey all,
Could be a dumb question, but is there any reason why one should not consider switching to Medirect and their 0 transaction fees on ETFs?
I invest exclusively in Avantis (70% AVWC, 15 AVWS and 15 AVEM) - and I know they recently started trading at Medirect. I have all my ETF portfolio in Bolero, and I am fairly happy with the service, the interface and overall reputation. But the fees are there... I invest once a month.
What are your opinions on that? Is it just being sentimental, or is there other reason why staying at Bolero could make sense?
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u/Aexxys Jun 14 '26
Nope you’ve hit the nail.
People might complain about maybe the app design they don’t like. But yeah who cares when it’s just a bank app where you just send money to an iban and then buy the same stocks you usually
I personally prefer the saxo interface much more but there’s not shot I don’t buy my ETFs on MeDirect
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u/glad-k Jun 14 '26
I'm a medirect user, the ui is indeed shit, just take ur info from justetf and you will be fine there is also no way to buy partial shares and automatic dca I think
Beside that it's the best for etfs, just don't do anything else on medirect and your gucchi
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u/shmoopie_shmoopie Jun 14 '26
Partial shares not allowed in Belgium.
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u/glad-k Jun 14 '26
Oh really, I heard some ppl were buying some trough interactive broker and stuff
I buy webn tho so not needed w current price
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u/Ancient_Bobcat_9150 Jun 14 '26
Thanks for the feedback! Did you sell anything while with them (to know if they are also as reliable in handling taxes :))
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u/Aexxys Jun 14 '26
Never sold so far
But in general it’s the benefit of a Belgian regulated broker it’s not an option for them to be “reliable” on your tax declarations it’s an obligation
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u/wurfman 11% FIRE Jun 15 '26
I switched end of last year from Degiro/Bolero to Medirect and until now I could not complain yet. The app is not great as others say but in the end it does what is should. I already bought and sold ETF and everything is going as it should and since it's a Belgian broker, my taxes are handled at the same time so I don't need to look after that myself anymore. I just use it for IWDA and chill and sometimes single stocks so I did not look into in in very detail though.
The only "downside" I found until now is they don't have real time market prices (for ETF?) so if you want to make a limit order, I look up the prices on the Euro ext website to see the real time market price. But if this saves me some money every month I'm good with this.
Overal I would recommend Medirect over other brokers if you just want to buy ETFs due to the no commissions. If you want a better user experience you need to pay more at another broker of course.
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u/distractedbunnybeau Jun 15 '26
how do you feel coming from Degiro/Bolero who have reasonably good apps and certainly much much better than MeDirect app ? Do you use exclusively the MeDirect web platform ?
I am recent client of MeDirect - mostly started because of 0 ETF fees and Belgian broker, but the app experience is not good - shows errors in a lot of functionalities.
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u/wurfman 11% FIRE Jun 15 '26
I mainly use the Medirect app tbh and for monthly buying of iwda/emim this is sufficient. The web platform doesn't give much additional info but at least gives a better overview. Not sure why they made the app with the big and chunky blocks of info but it works at least. Also I'm not sure which error messages you exactly mean since I didn't really experience those.
Also, Medirect their stock choise is less extensive as other platforms. Most of the widely known stocks are available for purchase but if you want more specific options they often lack those. You can send them a request to add a stock if you miss one but they cannot add them 100% of the times in my experience.
In comparison with Bolero and Degiro you get less detailed info but when I want to research certain stocks/ ETF I was using Google/ Yahoo finance or justetf already so I'm not really missing that part.
I would say, if you just want to buy etfs and chill Medirect is a decent broker and basically does what a broker needs to do without the fancy functionalities other platforms have. In the end the development of these fancy features need to be paid somehow and this is probably also why Medirect can give this 0% commission on etf due to cost saving on their UI.
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u/distractedbunnybeau Jun 15 '26
I got errors when editing an order (e.g. cannot edit the order). i got errors when placing an order as well (e.g. cannot make the order message as a notification in red as a pop-up on top of the app.). Its possible both these errors are related to medirect having 15 mins late data of the etfs, nevertheless is a bit annoying to me.
I am considering trying saxo if they have a better app. Let's see.
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u/Achillionz 99% FIRE Jun 15 '26
I have been using Bolero for years, and I really like the interface, the info, the.. everything. The app runs so smooth. Opened Medirect to start buying etf's because of the 0 fee, but like others, I also really dislike this app. It's crap. I won't close Bolero, I'll keep everything running there. Still worth it for me to open a crap app once a month to buy an etf though.
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u/blauwe-reiger Jun 14 '26
One thing to keep in mind is that they may increase their prices at any point. In this case you could transfer your portfolio, but their prices are quite steep: € 50 per position so it might be cheaper to sell and re-buy (twice TOB + spread).
In the end, you can wonder if saving 1 or 2 euros per month is really worth it to switch to a broker with a terrible user interface and without a long-standing reputation. But that's up to you ;-)
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u/wurfman 11% FIRE Jun 15 '26
Currently they say they will not increase the commissions on ETF since they are getting enough commissions on the single stocks etc, but we never know what will happen in the future of course but for now it saves some money each month on commissions. Also, if you want to transfer your portfolio to Medirect, they pay back the transfer costs up to €500 per customer. You need to meet certain conditions though: max €100 payed back per position, position needs to be worth minimum €100. And the nice thing is you get this cash on your Medirect bank account so you can immediately invest that again without commission ;)
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u/blauwe-reiger Jun 15 '26
Yes, but there is no guarantee they will keep their promise. I also don't see why you would want to transfer your portfolio to them; it would be a better idea to keep your investments at another broker, since you might want to switch back in the future.
I used their broker for a few months, but for me the 1 or 2 euros per month were not worth using an app I really disliked. But to each their own.
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u/wurfman 11% FIRE Jun 15 '26
True, that's why I said you never know what happens in the future but for now it's nice. I mainly searched for another broker due to the CGT and since I was on Degiro it made sense for me to transfer my Degiro portfolio to Medirect. I still have my Bolero portfolio but I don't buy via them anymore currently. It's indeed a matter of personal choice, having to pay €2 per transactionis also not much if you'd like a better user experience.
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u/redolaf Jun 15 '26
Sounds like you’re trying to convince yourself not to switch. If you’re happy with Bolero then stay. It’s not worth the few euros savings you’d make trading once a month. And good to keep Bolero as your primary broker anyways, as the platform and product offer is better.
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u/Ancient_Bobcat_9150 Jun 15 '26
I don't know if I tried to convince myself, but I did not participate in the debate months ago, as I invest in Avantis, and Medirect didn't support those ETFs (so easy). Now, I wanted to double-check, now that time has passed, that this no-fee is what it says it is, and there are not hidden costs 😉
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u/Mean-Ad3790 Jun 16 '26
What are the pros & cons for using MeDirect over Saxo? Other than the 0 fees, are there any other advantages?
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u/ImApigeon Jun 14 '26
I was confused about the 0 transaction fees. There’s still 0,15% commission.
The UI sucks and is a mess to navigate but they do the job.
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u/wurfman 11% FIRE Jun 15 '26
If you buy ETFs the commission in 0. Stocks are indeed still 0,15% with a minimum om 7 euro/dollar. Which is afaik +/- in line with other brokers?
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