10 Best Money Online Investment Platforms

Why do you need to choose a platform to invest money online?

High inflation and the danger of a recession in Europe and America have made many people think about how to protect their capital. 

The worst thing you can do is just keep money on a card or at home. Inflation in the eurozone, according to July data, almost reached 9%. That is how much you will lose if you do nothing. The second thought that may come to mind is a bank deposit. However, everything is not so simple here either because the interest rate on such deposits will not be able to overcome the current inflation. There is only one option left — investment. 

In the 21st century, almost any EU/EEA or American citizen can invest money online. Stocks, bonds, futures, options, precious metals, IPOs, forex — there are enough options. But just going to the main office of the company and buying its shares will not work. To do this, you need to use the services of one of the platforms for money online investment. Although there are quite many such platforms on the Internet, the most attractive of them are presented below in this article.

European platforms

Peerberry

The European investment platform Peerberry connects investors with non-bank lending companies. Basically, these are short-term loans.

Advantages:

• Presence of a buyback guarantee. 

• Relatively stable interest rate. 

• Bonuses and Cashback available.

Flaws:

• Not possible to instantly withdraw money. 

• Weak diversification.

Quanloop 

The Quanloop investment fund borrows 1 euro from an investor for a day and lends it to its partners. The debt is returned at midnight. That is, the company is engaged in issuing commercial debt and further lending capital at a higher rate, thus profiting from the rate spread. 

Advantages: 

• Possibility for the investor to adjust the interest rate and risks. 

• Does not require deep knowledge in the field of money online investment, so it is ideal for beginners.

• You can earn more than 15% of the invested amount per year. 

Flaws: 

• Lack of diversification of instruments. You can only invest by lending to Quanloop. 

• The fund itself chooses partners to whom it lends money (but, at the same time, respects the settings of the investor's portfolio).

Mintos

The Latvian lending platform Mintos allows investors to lend to companies from all over the world. The choice is quite large: both loans to large companies and short-term loans with different interest rates are available.

Advantages:

• High yield up to 22% (depending on the level of risk). 

• High level of trust — almost 400,000 investors use the platform. 

• There is diversification.

Flaws:

• Weak performance based on the results of previous years. 

• A lot of low-quality loans — the amount of defaulted loans reaches 81 million euros.

Bondora

It is one of the oldest lending platforms operating in Europe. Investors can choose which companies to lend to. Often, they are real estate and business loans.

Advantages: 

• Works since 2008, so it is considered very reliable. 

• Free of charge for investors. 

• Good interest rate of up to 12% per year.

Flaws: 

• Weak results over the past years. 

• There are no buyback guarantees.

Crowdestate

Crowdestate offers investors to invest money online in loans of various European projects. Most of these projects are real estate-related, but there are also mortgage or business investments.

Advantages: 

• Profitability, on average, almost 10%. 

• Automatic investment system. 

• Lots of real estate projects.

Flaws: 

• Very weak diversification. 

• Only a few projects can be credited at the same time.

American platforms

Fidelity 

This platform offers four mutual funds with no investment fund management fees. Fidelity allows you to invest money online in stocks, options, ETFs, mutual funds, IPOs, and precious metals. 

Advantages: 

• Zero commissions on most securities. 

• Ability to use a robo-adviser. 

• Possibility of fractional stock trading. 

Flaws: 

• You cannot trade futures or cryptocurrencies directly. 

• High commissions for transactions involving a broker.

TD Ameritrade 

The platform allows you to make transactions with stocks (including IPO), ETFs, options, and the Forex market without commission. A distinctive feature of TD Ameritrade from competitors is educational tools that will help a beginner understand the principles of the market. 

Advantages: 

• Lots of analytics tools. 

• Zero commission on some trades. 

• Educational content. 

Flaws: 

• There is no possibility to buy fractional shares. 

• High commission on no-load mutual funds.

Prosper

Prosper has been operating in the US for 17 years and allows investors to lend to various projects that pass a rating assessment specially created by the company.

Advantages: 

• Own rating system of borrowers. 

• Mandatory diversification for investors.

• Detailed description of the borrower's projects.

Flaws: 

• Small selection of loans.
• The platform does not work in all states

Funding Circle

The company operates in both the US and Europe and offers small business lending opportunities with low risk but low interest rates.

Advantages: 

• Very reliable platform as it is traded on the London Stock Exchange.

• Possibility of automatic investment.

• Setting risk level and interest rates

Flaws: 

• There is a service fee.

• High entry threshold

E*Trade 

E*Trade has over 9,000 mutual funds to invest, over 4,000 of which are no-load, no-transaction-fee funds. There are also managed portfolios for those with annual management fees starting at 0.3% of invested assets. 

Advantages: 

• The commission for online trading of stocks, exchange-traded funds, and options is $0. 

• Ability to use a savings account. 

• Convenient mobile application with many features. 

Flaws: 

• High margin rates. 

• A $19.99 transaction fee for non-fee-free mutual funds.

How to choose the best platform for money online investment?

The choice of an investment platform usually depends on the preferences of the investor and the tools that they want to use. For example, to buy physical gold, such a platform is not needed at all. It is enough to simply buy gold jewelry or physical bars in a bank. However, it should be understood that contrary to popular misconception, gold is far from the best hedge against inflation, especially in 2022. 

If you decide to invest money online in securities, in this case, you need to pay attention to the following criteria for choosing a platform: 

• Minimum deposit to open an account. 

• Commissions from each transaction. 

• Account maintenance fee. 

• Access to exchanges. 

• Margin trading. 

• Withdrawal policy and availability of necessary licenses. 

• Guaranteed reliability.

A considered choice of investment platform will save your money

It is important to note that money online investment in securities, forex, and especially cryptocurrencies requires certain knowledge. Beginners usually have to spend more than one hour of their time understanding all the intricacies of the market. Moreover, even this does not guarantee successful capital growth. An alternative option is the help of consultants. However, their services are not free, which can scare off investors. 

Therefore, other ways of investing money online should be considered. One example is lending through the Quanloop platform. Moderate risks and good interest rates arouse additional interest from investors. 

Another alternative is the real estate market. In this area, the entry threshold is quite high as it usually requires a large amount of money. On the other hand, such investments are more stable than operations in the securities market.

Check the reliability of platforms for money online investment

Any investment is inherently risky. Therefore, special attention should be paid to checking the reliability of the platform you have chosen for investment. 

First of all, check the presence of legal documents (licenses and registration) and review their contents. Second, read user reviews. Although some reviews may be custom, some conclusions can be drawn in any case. Carefully review the deposit and withdrawal policies and fees.

Choosing an investment platform is the first step on the road to success. But the importance of this step is so great that the future of your capital may depend on it.