Updated 1 week ago by Antoine Porte

Only users who are French tax residents and of French nationality over the age of 18 with a telephone number starting with +33 and a verified Lydia account can access the service.

Lydia users can invest their savings directly from the Lydia app.

  • In ETFs, companies (French, European, American), precious metals and even cryptocurrencies
  • From €1
  • 24/7 (with a defined price even when markets are closed)
  • Commission-free and with a tight spread
  • Register for the service in 5 minutes

Opening a trading account

From the app home page or from the account carousel (as for creating any other type of account), users can access this service.

During their initial access, users will be asked to provide personal information, read disclaimers, specify investment knowledge and experience, and accept the contractual documents.

Buying/selling

Once their account has been opened, users have access to the asset catalogue. They can browse through it using the search system or by exploring the different categories available: Companies, Cryptocurrencies, ETFs, Precious Metals.

The lists are sorted by performance over the year, and much of the data displayed is also calculated over the year, allowing users to project their investments.

When selecting an asset, users have all the information necessary to make a decision:

  • Asset performance over the year
  • Graph showing performance over different periods
  • Detailed financial information

Once they have made their decision, they simply indicate the amount they wish to buy or sell, as if they were making a Lydia transaction to a friend, and accept the conditions.

The number of shares associated with the chosen amount is automatically indicated.

Implemented by Bitpanda

The trading functions and products are those of Bitpanda, directly integrated into the Lydia app.

They are one of the European leaders in this field, based in Austria.

Derivative products

The assets available are derivatives that replicate listed stocks.

What is a "derivative"? The difference between a share and a derivative is comparable between an object and its shadow: one is an existing entity and the other is an exact copy created by the entity. The money users invest is fully backed by the respective underlying assets stored in Bitpanda's partner banks.

Fees and limits

Trades, both bought and sold, are counted in the monthly Lydia pricing limits. Therefore, intensive investors are better off with a Lydia Black account.

No fees are applied to trades. Bitpanda applies a so-called spread, which is included in the price. By investing via Lydia, users benefit from a tight spread.

Spread: definition The spread is the difference between the possible purchase price of an asset and its possible resale price. It’s an indicator of liquidity (i.e. its ability to be traded easily without major impact on its price), and it also allows stock market intermediaries to insure their risk and earn a return. Sometimes fixed, often variable, the spread fluctuates in real time, depending on market conditions.

Precious metals

When purchasing precious metals, the ingots purchased are safely stored in a safe in Switzerland. Once the transaction is validated, the user becomes the owner of the metal. As storage has a cost, the user contributes to the cost of storage:

  • 0.0125% for gold;
  • 0.0250% for silver;
  • 0.0250% for Palladium;
  • 0.0250% for Platinum.

The calculation is made daily and deducted from the trading account on a weekly basis (if the balance is 0, no mark-up is deducted).

Minimum value for sales

The minimum amount needed to validate a sale is €1. If a position is less than this amount, the sale won’t be able to be completed.

Dividends

Users are indirectly, virtually and proportionally entitled to the corresponding dividend or fund distributions.

These virtual dividends are automatically and directly paid into the user's main Lydia account.

If users hold fractional shares, they will receive dividends proportional to their position. For example, for half a unit, they will get 50% of the respective dividend.

Users must hold the asset at the time of the company's dividend distribution to be entitled to it.

Declaration and taxation

As with any financial product, gains must be reported to the State when filing annual tax returns. As the gains are generated in a foreign account, it will also be necessary to formalise the holding of a foreign account. The account information will be available in the app before the tax filing period.

These gains must be declared as profits on financial products abroad.

For more information about tax reporting, visit impots.gouv.fr or contact your Tax Information Service.


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