Lightyear review: fees, countries, protection and payments

Overview

Lightyear is an investment app for stocks, ETFs, money market funds, Baltic bonds and crypto assets. In Europe the service is provided by Lightyear Europe AS, an Estonian investment firm authorised by the Estonian Financial Supervision Authority (Finantsinspektsioon) under activity licence 4.1-1/31, with a second licence (4.1-1/147) for certain crypto-asset services. The regulator’s list of licensed Estonian investment firms includes Lightyear Europe AS. In the United Kingdom the service is provided by Lightyear UK Ltd, authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 987226); we could not open the FCA register to check it. All facts in this review were checked on 28 October 2026.

Where it is available

Lightyear’s help centre lists 26 countries for personal accounts: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom (its about page says “25 countries”). US tax residents and citizens cannot open an account. Residents of the United Kingdom are served by Lightyear UK Ltd; everyone else on the list by Lightyear Europe AS.

Products and markets

Lightyear says it offers over 6,000 stocks, including more than 4,000 US stocks on the NYSE and Nasdaq. Its list of execution venues names Euronext Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels, the London Stock Exchange, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Cboe Europe and Equiduct, with direct access to Nasdaq Baltic and Tradegate. Orders in non-EEA instruments are mainly passed to third-party brokers (Alpaca Securities LLC, Interactive Brokers Ireland and Lightyear U.K.), and US securities are held with Alpaca. Many instruments can be bought as fractional shares, using market orders only. Options, CFDs, futures, short selling and pre-market or after-hours US trading are not offered.

Costs

• US shares: 0.1% of the order, at least USD 0.10 and at most USD 1. Small US regulatory fees apply when you sell.
• Shares and ETPs in euros: EUR 1 per order; UK shares GBP 1; other European shares 0.1% with a local minimum.
• ETFs: no commission; the fund’s own costs still apply.
• Currency conversion: 0.35% at the live interbank rate. The account holds EUR, USD and GBP, so you can keep dollars for US shares instead of converting each time. If an order is cancelled, the conversion fee is not refunded.
• Custody and account: free. No inactivity fee is mentioned.

Lightyear also lists taxes that apply to some trades, such as the French and Spanish financial transaction taxes on buying large French or Spanish companies.

Protection

Lightyear says all its customers are covered by the Estonian Investor Protection Sectoral Fund up to EUR 20,000, an investor compensation scheme; crypto assets are not covered. Cash at Lightyear is not a bank deposit and is not covered by the Estonian deposit guarantee fund. US securities are held with Alpaca, a SIPC member, and are protected up to USD 500,000 if Alpaca fails. Client money is kept apart from Lightyear’s own money at Erste Bank Hungary, Citibank Europe (Germany branch) and in money market funds of BlackRock and J.P. Morgan.

Uninvested cash earns interest only for residents of the United Kingdom and Hungary. “Savings” are money market funds with a variable rate (the home page shows 2.45% as an indicative BlackRock rate) and a yearly fee of 0.10% in euros.

Deposits and withdrawals

• SEPA transfer in euros: free; instant transfers arrive within minutes, regular ones in 0–2 business days.
• Debit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay: 0.6% per deposit, instant. Only personal Visa or Mastercard debit cards in your name are accepted.
• Withdrawals: only to a bank account in your name, with no Lightyear fee for local withdrawals; most are paid out within 2 business days. Money deposited by card can be withdrawn only to a bank account you have deposited from.

What we could not confirm

• A minimum deposit for the investment account (the site only says Savings have no minimum).
• The FCA register entry of Lightyear UK Ltd (the register showed a bot check).
• A founding year or group headquarters.

We have not tested this platform with our own account yet; this review will be updated when we do.