Broker Inactivity Fees

Inactivity fees are separate from account maintenance fees

Investor.gov defines an inactivity fee as a charge that a broker-dealer may assess when an account has made few or no transactions for a period. It separately describes maintenance fees, minimum-balance fees, wire or transfer fees and account-closing fees. Keep those categories separate when comparing a broker.

A quiet account can avoid an inactivity charge and still incur custody, exchange-connectivity, platform, market-data or product costs. Use this guide with Broker Fees Explained and calculate the cost of the actual account rather than relying on a zero-commission headline.

Account charges that can be confused with an inactivity fee

Fee category	What it usually relates to	Question to verify	Why the distinction matters
Inactivity fee	A defined period without the activity specified in the official schedule.	Which conditions must be met and how often is the charge applied?	A login, deposit, open position or trade may be treated differently by each schedule.
Account maintenance or platform fee	Keeping a service, account tier or platform available.	Does it apply regardless of trading activity or only below a threshold?	It can continue even when the inactivity fee is zero.
Custody or connectivity fee	Holding securities or maintaining access to a market or exchange.	Does holding a position create the charge?	A buy-and-hold account can incur it without placing a new trade.
Market-data or subscription fee	Real-time quotes, research or premium tools.	Is there a separate cancellation or waiver rule?	Stopping trading may not cancel the subscription.
Transfer withdrawal or closure fee	Moving cash or securities or ending the relationship.	Is the amount charged per request, position, rail or account?	Leaving an unsuitable account can have a separate one-time cost.

What can trigger an inactivity fee

The trigger is whatever the current entity-specific schedule defines. A rule can depend on time since an opening or closing trade, time since a cash deposit, whether qualifying positions remain open, the available cash balance, the account type or an exemption. Do not infer the rule from the word inactive.

• Clock: identify the event that starts or resets each time period.
• Conditions: determine whether every listed condition or only one condition must be met.
• Scope: confirm the legal entity, country, account type and product to which the rule applies.
• Amount: check the fee currency, conversion method, frequency and treatment of insufficient free cash.
• Exceptions: record any rule for open positions, zero balances, tax wrappers or specialised accounts.
• Notice: check how the broker communicates a charge or a future fee change.

Do not assume that a dividend, recurring investment, login or transfer counts as activity unless the current official terms say so. The audited XTB example below explicitly refers to opening or closing positions and cash deposits; other schedules can use different definitions.

Read the rule as a set of conditions

Translate the fee clause into a simple decision test. For each condition, write the relevant date or account state and whether the clause connects it with and or or. A charge requiring two simultaneous conditions should not be described as if either condition alone is sufficient.

1. Identify the legal entity and open its current fee schedule and client terms.
2. Write each inactivity condition on a separate line.
3. Record the measurement period and the event that resets it.
4. Check exemptions, the charging date and the maximum amount available to deduct.
5. Save the dated schedule and compare it with the next account statement.

This method also prevents a common error: confusing a broker's current price of zero with a promise that the fee can never change. The current schedule is the price source; the client agreement explains how changes, deductions and notices may operate.

Current inactivity-fee examples from official broker pages

The examples below were checked on July 14, 2026. They are scoped summaries of the cited public pages, not promises for every country, entity, account or future date.

Public inactivity-fee examples checked July 14, 2026

Broker and scope checked	Current public inactivity rule	Important qualification
Interactive Brokers retail individual joint trust and organisation accounts	The cited required-minimums page lists USD 0 inactivity fees.	Specialised broker-client account structures have separate minimum-commission and low-balance rules.
XTB English help-centre terms for the cited entity page	EUR 10 or account-currency equivalent monthly when both no position has been opened or closed for 365 days and no cash deposit has been made for 90 days.	The page states exceptions involving available funds, specified open positions and ISA accounts; verify the entity that serves you.
Trading 212 current help-centre statement	No inactivity fee is associated with the account.	Check the fee pages for the exact Invest ISA SIPP or CFD product and legal entity.
DEGIRO UK fee page	The published inactivity fee is EUR 0.	Exchange-connectivity and other product or currency costs can still apply.
eToro current general investment fee schedule	The public schedule lists the inactivity fee as free.	Do not reuse historical fee amounts; verify the current schedule and the agreement for the entity serving the account.
Saxo current general charges page	The cited page says no inactivity fee is charged.	Custody and other charges can vary by country of residence, account tier and product.

These examples are deliberately not ranked. A broker with no inactivity fee can be more expensive for a particular portfolio after trading, foreign-exchange, custody, connectivity, subscription and transfer costs are included.

Why a zero inactivity fee can still leave ongoing costs

A zero inactivity line answers only one question. DEGIRO's cited page, for example, lists a zero inactivity fee while separately describing connectivity fees for access to markets outside the home exchange. Saxo's cited schedule says no inactivity fee while explaining that custody charges can vary by country and account conditions.

Also check product-level costs. ETF expenses, margin interest, CFD financing, market-data subscriptions and currency conversion are not inactivity fees. They can affect a quiet account or the cost of eventually selling and withdrawing.

Quiet-account costs to compare

• Account maintenance, platform and premium-tier charges.
• Custody, exchange-connectivity and market-data subscriptions.
• Fund expenses, financing, negative-cash interest and product charges.
• Currency conversion on fees, distributions, sales or withdrawals.
• Cash withdrawal, securities transfer and account-closing charges.
• Tax, statement and reporting consequences of selling solely to close an account.

FINRA warns that zero-commission trading does not mean zero-fee investing. Review the detailed fee schedule and the applicable relationship summary or equivalent disclosure instead of relying on the headline trading price.

How to estimate the cost for your own account

Model at least twelve months using the actual portfolio, currencies and expected activity. Add every recurring account cost, the inactivity rule if it would trigger, product costs, likely conversion charges and the cost of one realistic exit route. Divide flat charges by the expected account value to see their proportional effect.

Run a second scenario in which you make no trade or deposit. This reveals whether your plan depends on remembering a fee-avoidance action. Do not place an uneconomic trade solely to reset a clock without comparing the trade, spread, tax and behavioural cost with the fee.

Long-term investors and second brokerage accounts

Buy-and-hold investors and backup accounts are most exposed to forgotten conditions because low activity is intentional. A low flat charge can also be large relative to a small portfolio. Review every account at least annually and keep a record of the current fee schedule and any broker notices.

Use Best Brokers for Long-Term Investing to compare inactivity policy with custody, recurring investing, ETF access, tax records and transfer practicality. The lowest visible fee is not automatically the best long-term fit.

Before depositing transferring or closing

Before funding the account, confirm how the inactivity clock begins and how a zero cash balance, open position or tax wrapper is treated. Before leaving, distinguish a cash withdrawal from an in-kind securities transfer and from closing the account. Review Broker Withdrawal Fees and Broker Transfer Fees Explained before assuming that sale is required.

Unsupported assets, fractional positions or a receiving broker's rules can still lead to sale or cash settlement in a particular transfer. Read How to Choose a Stock Broker and verify the exact transfer route, tax records and closure process before acting.

Red flags in fee disclosures

• A zero-commission headline is prominent but the detailed account-fee schedule is difficult to locate.
• The page does not identify the legal entity, account or effective date to which the fee applies.
• The words active and inactive are used without a measurable definition.
• The schedule does not explain the fee currency, charging frequency or treatment of insufficient cash.
• A broker comparison repeats a historical fee without checking the current official schedule.
• You would need to make an unnecessary trade merely to keep the account economical.

FAQ

Do all brokers charge inactivity fees?

No. Current public schedules differ. Several audited brokers list no inactivity fee, while the cited XTB page describes a conditional monthly fee. Always use the schedule for the legal entity and account that would serve you.

Does one small trade always stop the fee?

No. A trade can reset a condition in one schedule, while another schedule may use different activity, timing or account criteria. Trading only to avoid a fee can also create commission, spread, tax or behavioural costs.

Does logging in count as activity?

Only if the official terms say so. Do not treat a login, dividend, deposit, transfer or recurring instruction as qualifying activity by assumption.

Can an inactivity fee reduce the remaining cash balance?

It can where the applicable terms allow deduction from available cash. The cited XTB page explains its own treatment of available funds. Other brokers can use different rules, so check the amount, currency, notice and insufficient-funds treatment.

Sources and methodology

Last checked and update policy

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