Investor guides

Where to keep stocks — three brokers I use myself

A broker is the middleman between you and an exchange. You can’t buy a share of Apple or Nike directly — an exchange works only with licensed members. A broker opens an account for you, executes your orders, holds your assets and reports to the regulator. No broker — no access to the market. That simple.

There are dozens of brokers in the world. But for a Ukrainian the list shrinks fast: most large American and European platforms simply don’t open accounts with a Ukrainian passport or address. Of what really works I picked three: the world leader, the one that is easy to start with, and a crypto exchange with real stocks — for those whose money is already in crypto. I’ll say it plainly: if I didn’t use them myself, I wouldn’t mention them.

IBKR (Interactive Brokers) — the world standard. Access to most of the planet’s exchanges and some of the lowest fees in the industry. The company is public — it is in the S&P 500 index, which speaks for its level. Assets are insured: SIPC covers up to $500K per account, plus extra cover through Lloyd’s up to $30M. This isn’t marketing — it’s real protection in case the broker goes bankrupt. Downsides: the interface isn’t for beginners, and you’ll have to prepare tax reports yourself.

Transparently about the referral program: you get IBKR shares worth up to $1K when you fund the account — $1 in shares for every $300 deposited (the gifted shares can be sold only after a year). I get $200, but only if you deposit $10K or more in the first 30 days and keep that balance for a year.

Freedom24 — a friendlier interface, popular among Ukrainians. The company has Kazakh roots, but the broker itself is registered in Cyprus, regulated by the local CySEC, and assets are protected by the ICF compensation fund up to €20K per account. There’s a personal manager for questions — handy at the start. Reporting is simpler. Downsides: fees are higher than IBKR’s, and the protection of assets is more modest.

On the referral program: sign up through my link, deposit €450 or more — and you get a coupon for a random share worth up to $800. For each such client I get €20 in points toward fees.

Backpack — a crypto exchange where I now have an account too. Since June 2026 it sells real American stocks and ETFs: not tokens or price contracts, but the securities themselves, held by American partner brokers. The main plus for a Ukrainian is funding with crypto: stablecoins from any exchange or wallet land on the same account where you buy stocks, with no SEPA and no bank in between. There’s no separate fee for buying stocks, you can trade almost around the clock on weekdays, in fractions from $1. Downsides: American securities only — there are no Irish (UCITS) funds, the stock service is young, and it gives no tax reports — you’ll have to keep the records yourself.

On the referral program: sign up through my link — and you pay a slightly lower fee on trades. I get 10% of your fees.

There’s no point signing up without a referral link — the bonus doesn’t apply retroactively, and the cat stays hungry.

Funding the account, withdrawing money, fees, taxes and reporting get a guide of their own — there are things worth knowing before the first trade, not after.

An account doesn’t open in one click: identity verification, proof of address, a few questions about your experience and the source of your funds. If you get stuck on a step — write to me, I’ll help you sort it out.

The links below are my referral links.

Funding a brokerage account

The main restriction: you can’t send money straight from a Ukrainian bank to a broker (the NBU forbids it).

Step 0 — hryvnias into a currency:

• Buying online in your bank’s app: a limit of ₴50K a month per bank; with several banks the limit multiplies.
• Buying against a deposit of 3 months or more: a limit of ₴200K a month, but the money is frozen.
• Exchanging cash and paying it onto a currency card: no online limit (on large sums the bank will ask where the money comes from).

A card, directly.

Freedom24 — instantly, a 2% fee. Expensive but simple — the best for the first small deposits.
IBKR — doesn’t take cards.
Backpack — takes cards, but the fee isn’t published in advance: see it in the payment window before you confirm.

Next — what IBKR and Freedom24 share. The brokers themselves take nothing for incoming transfers — all the costs are on the side of the services and the banks. Backpack doesn’t take euros by SEPA — these routes don’t suit it; its ways are in the sections “An account in a foreign bank” and “Crypto”.

Wise
My main route for IBKR; it suits Freedom24 too. You top up the service from a currency card (Mono will take 1%), then send a SEPA transfer in € to the broker’s details with no fee. It arrives in 1–2 business days. IBKR has a direct integration with Wise for depositing $ with a fee of up to $10. Important: Wise doesn’t open new accounts for Ukrainians; only accounts opened long ago work.

Genome
A Lithuanian service that officially opens accounts for Ukrainians with a Ukrainian address. A European IBAN, an outgoing SEPA transfer — €1. The monthly fee: €20 for new clients, while those who signed up before 13 June 2025 stayed on the old €5 plan. Hence the math: deposit $5K or more at once — the total costs are under 0.5%, cheaper than Wise. Deposit $500 — the costs are 4%, a card into Freedom24 is simpler. Genome is a tool for large and regular sums.

Revolut and Zen
They no longer open new accounts for Ukrainians with an address in Ukraine — sign-up stayed only for those who live in the EU. Old accounts in Zen work. Let me know if you want to hear more about their fees.

Payoneer, Paysera and TransferGo
The mechanics are the same: you bring in the currency and send a SEPA transfer. Payoneer is handy for freelancers who are paid into it. Paysera has a catch: bringing money straight from a Ukrainian card is expensive; it’s cheaper to use TransferGo as a gateway. Freedom24 doesn’t take payments from TransferGo directly — for the broker that’s a transfer from a third party. So the route to Freedom24 has two steps. First: in TransferGo you create a transfer to yourself — the recipient is you, the details are your IBAN in Paysera, and you pay with a currency card. The TransferGo fee is 0–1% (there are offers regularly) plus ~1% to the bank for the charge. Second: from Paysera — an ordinary SEPA transfer to Freedom24’s details, with the brokerage account number in the payment reference, always. For IBKR it’s simpler: TransferGo works as a gateway directly. You create the transfer straight to the broker’s details, with the brokerage account number and your full name in the reference.

An account in a foreign bank.

If you have an account in any EU country, transfers from there to IBKR and Freedom24 by their details go through freely.

From fiat, Backpack takes only dollars by SWIFT and only from an account in your name. Wise and similar services work if the transfer goes by SWIFT in your name. The minimum is $100, it arrives in 1–5 business days. The first few transfers are free — from 1 to 5 depending on the account level, deposits and withdrawals counted together. After that $30 per deposit plus the fees of the banks along the chain. With an address in Crimea or in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk or Kharkiv region, dollar transfers at Backpack aren’t available.

Crypto.

Freedom24 — took it until 1 July: they are actively looking for a new provider with a MiCA license. Once there is one, I’ll add it here.
IBKR — funding with crypto isn’t available.
Backpack — takes it: stablecoins land on the same account where stocks are bought. For it this is the main way, even if you don’t have crypto yet.

Stablecoins to Backpack
Step 0 isn’t needed here: a stablecoin is bought straight for hryvnias — by P2P or on WhiteBit — it’s in the crypto exchanges guide below. Take USDC: on Backpack it buys stocks as dollars, 1:1. If you have USDT, exchange it for USDC on the same exchange or on Backpack itself. Withdraw to Backpack’s deposit address on a cheap network — Solana, Base or Arbitrum, where the network fee is cents; Ethereum is noticeably more expensive. The network of the withdrawal must match the network of the address, and Backpack doesn’t credit bridged USDC.e. Backpack itself takes nothing for crediting — you pay with the buying rate (on P2P usually 1–2% off the market) and the sending exchange’s withdrawal fee.

For IBKR and Freedom24 there’s a workaround if your money is already in crypto: sell it for euros on an exchange (Binance, for example), withdraw by SEPA to your IBAN in any service above — and on to the broker. One condition: the service must be fine with incoming payments from crypto exchanges — check with its support in advance, or the payment will hang in review (Wise and Zen take such payments). And remember: for a broker, selling crypto isn’t the simplest case.

Proof of the source of funds.

On deposits over $10K the broker will ask for the source of funds — an income statement or a tax return. Prepare it in advance, or the money will hang in compliance.

The first deposit — a test sum of up to $300. Better to learn about a return caused by a mistake in the payment reference on a small check. The general principle is the same as with exchanges: pick the route that is easier for you. The cat is for minimalism too: one bowl, one route, zero extra moves.

Current as of 1 September — everything in this area changes quickly.

A crypto exchange is a platform where you can buy, sell or exchange crypto. There are two kinds: a CEX (centralized) — a company in the middle that holds your assets and executes your trades; and a DEX (decentralized) — trades go straight from your own wallet, with no one in the middle. All the platforms below are CEXs.

The exchanges on the list are the ones I use myself. In alphabetical order, plus a bonus at the end.

Binance
The largest exchange in the world: 200M+ users, 350+ coins, the deepest liquidity. Protection: the SAFU fund of $1B+ in bitcoin — a reserve in case of a hack. A downside worth knowing: Binance readily hands users’ data to a state that asks for it.
Why choose it: the best choice of pairs and tools.

BingX
Founded in 2018, a bet on beginners: a simple interface and copy trading — automatically repeating the trades of traders you pick. Registered in Lithuania and Australia; no European MiCA license. In 2024 its hot wallet was hacked for $40M+ — users were compensated in full. Protection: Proof of Reserves (public proof that clients’ assets are held 1:1), an insurance fund.
Why choose it: to learn by copying the trades of experienced traders, plus a simple interface with a chart of the portfolio’s return.

Bybit
The second in the world by trading volume, 80M+ users, strong in derivatives. Headquartered in Dubai, licensed in the UAE, Cyprus and France, and under MiCA in Austria. In February 2025 it went through the largest hack in crypto’s history — $1.5B — and within days closed the hole from its own reserves; clients didn’t lose a cent. Protection: Proof of Reserves, cold storage, multisig.
A plus of its own — Bybit Card, available to Ukrainians: a virtual and a physical Mastercard that goes into Apple Pay and Google Pay. You pay with crypto like an ordinary card, without withdrawing to a bank: cashback on every purchase.
Why choose it: a clear interface with a large set of features, plus the card — spend crypto directly and get cashback.

OKX
Among the three largest exchanges in the world, strong in derivatives and Web3. It has published Proof of Reserves monthly since 2022 — an important sign of transparency. Protection: most assets in cold storage, multisig.
Why choose it: an exchange and a Web3 wallet with DeFi tools in one app.

WhiteBit
Founded in Ukraine in 2018, headquartered in Tallinn, licensed by the Estonian financial regulator — one of the few on the list with real European regulation. Convenient for deposits and withdrawals in hryvnias and through European banks. Protection: 96% of assets in cold storage, the WB Defense insurance fund.
It has a card of its own too — Nova USD, a dollar Visa for Ukrainians: issued free in a couple of minutes, goes into Apple Pay and Google Pay. You pay with crypto straight from the exchange balance — converted at the moment of payment, cashback, cash withdrawals at ATMs.
Why choose it: a start from hryvnias — the shortest way from a card to the first coin.

Walt (ex Telegram Wallet)
Technically not an exchange — a custodial wallet inside Telegram, but since 2025 it has spot trading and P2P: you can buy and sell crypto right in the messenger. It runs on TON and supports Bitcoin, USDT, GRAM and others. Transfers between cats Telegram users are instant and free. Protection: the operator holds the assets, not you — a custodial risk, not for large sums.
Why choose it: everyday payments and transfers.

The mechanics of the referral links are the same for all but Walt: sign up through my link — and the exchange shares a percentage of every fee you pay. Part of it goes to you as a discount, part to me. Over time it adds up — in my view, it’s even better than a sign-up bonus. Each exchange has its own percentage.

All exchanges require KYC (Know Your Customer) identity verification — a requirement of the regulators.

I recommend starting with one exchange, the one that speaks to you most.

The links below are my referral links.