Retail Brokerage Trends: Comparing Investor Behavior in the US and Europe
The analyst team behind this global brokerage comparison platform continuously monitors new developments and shifting trends within the retail brokerage industry. For this study, internal database insights were analyzed to understand how investor behavior differs between users from the United States and those from Europe.
The research focused on several key aspects, including investors’ tolerance for risk, the types of financial products they are most interested in, and how frequently they use mobile devices to access brokerage services.
Continue reading to discover the main insights revealed by this analysis.
US clients: more complex products, greater risk tolerance
Options and Futures Significantly More Popular Among US Investors
The number of US users who identify options and futures as their primary investment products is roughly double that of users based in the European Union. This highlights a clear difference in preferences, with American investors showing a much stronger interest in derivatives compared with their European counterparts.
Chart Note and Key Data Insights
Chart note:
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Data was gathered during the first half of 2020
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Approximately 4,000 respondents from the United States participated in this survey
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Around 23,000 respondents from the European Union provided answers
Source: internal research data from the brokerage comparison platform
The data also reveals a notable difference in trading activity between the two regions. About 40% of US participants expressed interest in trading on a daily basis, whereas 31% of EU users indicated the same preference. This suggests that investors in the United States tend to engage more frequently in active trading compared with their European counterparts.
Chart Note
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The data was gathered during the first half of 2020
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Approximately 5,000 respondents from the United States answered this question
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Around 28,000 respondents from the European Union participated in the survey
Source: internal research data from the brokerage comparison platform
More Than Half of US Users Are First-Time Investors
Data from the brokerage comparison platform indicates that investors from the United States tend to have less experience than those from Europe. Among visitors coming from the US, 54% reported being first-time investors with limited experience.
By comparison, the share of beginners among European users is lower, with 44% identifying themselves as newcomers to investing. This suggests that a larger proportion of US users are entering the investment world for the first time compared with their EU counterparts.
Note to the chart:
- Data collected during H1 2020
- ~6,000 customers from the US answered this question
- ~35,000 customers from the EU answered this question
- ~12,000 customers from the UK answered this question
US Readers Prefer Mobile, While EU Users Favor Desktop
Visitor analytics reveal clear differences in how audiences access brokerage comparison content across regions. Users from the United States and the United Kingdom are more likely to browse the platform on mobile devices, with 51% of all pageviews coming from smartphones. This trend is significant because mobile-first users are often newer or less experienced traders.
In contrast, visitors from the European Union show a different pattern. About 60% of pageviews originate from desktop computers, indicating that EU users are more likely to access brokerage research and information through traditional desktop browsing rather than mobile devices.
You can download our findings here.