Best trading platform in Germany in 2026

So you want to start investing in Germany and you opened ten broker websites in tabs. Everyone says “lowest fees”, everyone says “best app”. Two evenings of reading and nothing is clear.

Familiar problem. This article will show the top-notch trading platforms in Germany with no pitfalls.

Why the German broker market looks weird

Most Germans still keep their securities account at a traditional bank. Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, Sparkasse, the usual ones. The fees there are brutal.

Ten to twenty-five euros per trade in a branch is normal, plus monthly account fees, plus sometimes custody fees. Save two hundred a month into an MSCI World ETF and this math kills your returns.

That is the hole online brokers in Germany filled in the last decade. Two thousand euros of shares at Trade Republic, one euro fee. Same trade at Deutsche Bank, twenty-five. Over a year, hundreds or thousands depending how active you are.

About BaFin

There is one regulator you should know: BaFin. Full name Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht, which nobody ever pronounces correctly. It licenses and supervises banks, brokers, most financial products in Germany, and when a platform writes “regulated by top tier financial authorities” you should check the small print to see if they have their own BaFin license or are just passporting from another EU country, because that is not the same thing.

What “best trading platform in Germany” actually means

Honestly, there is no single best broker. It depends on what you trade and how often. Someone who buys an ETF once a month and forgets it has nothing in common with a day trader running two hundred orders a week.

What changes the answer: how much per order (flat fee, percentage, commission free trading). Number of free ETF savings plans and the minimum. Asset coverage. Access to international stock markets, not only Xetra and gettex. Securities account fees, inactivity fees, withdrawal fees. BaFin license. App quality. Whether taxes are automatic.

A great platform for one person is a bad one for another. So no way around it.

Trade Republic

Truth is, this is the default answer if you ask any German under thirty-five. Trade republic launched in Munich in 2015, moved headquarters to Berlin later.

Biggest neobroker in Europe now, ten million plus users, eighteen countries. BaFin license, supervised by Bundesbank, full banking license.

How they charge

One euro per trade, flat. Buy or sell stocks and ETFs, same price. Savings plans on ETFs are completely free, no order fees. No account fees, no inactivity fees, no withdrawal fees. Minimum to start, one euro.

About that one euro. Trade Republic calls it “external settlement fee” in their docs. Most of the actual revenue is payment for order flow from Lang & Schwarz Exchange.

The EU has banned this model, transition runs to mid-2026. In January 2026 a Trade Republic subsidiary got its own BaFin license to run a multilateral trading facility, so they are clearly getting ready.

What you get

Around 9,000 stocks and 2,500-plus ETFs. Free savings plans from one euro. Bonds and crypto trading too.

Securities protection up to 20,000 euros plus 100,000 cash. Two percent interest on uninvested cash, paid monthly which is nice. Account opening through the app, about fifteen minutes.

What is missing

No options, no futures, no derivatives. Charting is basic, just OHLC and a few indicators. No demo account, no phone support.

Mobile first, the web version exists but feels like an afterthought, fine for the lazy ETF thing every month but rough if you actually want to manage anything actively. For long-term ETF savings plans this is fine. For beginners too.

Scalable Capital

Munich, 2014, started as a robo advisor, grew into a full scale trading platform.

Twenty billion plus under management, six hundred thousand clients. BaFin license through Scalable Capital Bank AG.

Three different plans, basically two now

The FREE Broker has no monthly fee. ETF savings plans always free. PRIME ETFs from Amundi, iShares, Xtrackers, Vanguard at trades from 250 euros are also free. Anything else, 99 cents per trade.

PRIME+ Broker is 4.99 a month. All trades from 250 euros free, not just PRIME ETFs. Crypto ETP spread drops to 0.69 percent. 2.5 percent interest on uninvested cash up to half a million. Insights tool, a few extras.

Five or more trades a month above 250, PRIME+ pays itself back. Savings plans only, FREE is enough.

What you can trade

Stocks, ETFs, bonds, commodities, forex, crypto ETPs (no spot crypto), private equity, derivatives. The savings plan catalogue is the biggest in Germany, over 2,700 funds.

Trading via Xetra costs 3.99 plus 0.01 percent venue fee (1.50 minimum), no matter which plan you are on, which is something a lot of people miss when they compare neobrokers head-to-head. Most retail orders go through gettex or the European Investor Exchange instead.

[image_search: ETF investment portfolio diversification chart]

No demo. EUR only. Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands. No spot crypto, only ETPs.

Good pick if you need flexibility between casual and active trading, or for heavy savings plan use, or if you want a robo advisor and a brokerage account under the same roof.

DEGIRO

Part of flatexDEGIRO, listed on Frankfurt Stock Exchange. flatexdegiro bank ag has its own BaFin license, DEGIRO is the Dutch branch under that license.

Look, the corporate structure is strange but the protection works the same way. Deposit guarantee to 100,000, investor compensation to 20,000.

Why pick them

Reach. Twenty-nine stock exchanges, over 5,000 ETFs, commission-free ETF Core Selection, and pretty much any market you can think of, from Hong Kong to Helsinki to Singapore. Trade Republic does not give you that.

The fee structure

German stocks on Xetra, about two euros plus exchange costs. Big European markets 4.90 flat. US stocks around one euro.

ETF Core Selection one euro with one free monthly transaction. Futures 75 cents. Currency conversion 0.25 percent via AutoFX.

A 2.50 yearly connectivity fee per foreign exchange where you hold positions. Annoying but not big money.

Zero fees for opening, inactivity, withdrawals. But they pay zero interest on uninvested cash, which is a real downside next to Trade Republic and Scalable.

About that BaFin fine

In February 2023 BaFin fined Flatexdegiro Bank AG 1.05 million euros for internal control issues. Process problems, not client money lost. Fixed by 2024.

Honestly, this is the regulator doing the job, not a reason to run away. DEGIRO is safe.

For international trading on many exchanges, or portfolios with US, UK, Asian stocks, this is probably your best bet.

Interactive Brokers

Interactive brokers is regulated by top tier financial authorities in many jurisdictions. In Europe it goes through Interactive Brokers Ireland Limited. Not BaFin directly, but full EU passport. The most powerful platform on this list, hands down.

What you get is hard to fit in one paragraph. Over 150 markets in 30-plus countries. Stocks, ETFs, options, futures, bonds, forex, mutual funds, crypto via ETPs.

Margin loans at competitive pricing, TWS on desktop, IBKR mobile, web platform, all with advanced charting capabilities and real research tools. Currency conversion at almost interbank rates. Real fractional shares on US stocks. Phone support that actually picks up.

Pricing is tiered or fixed, and for most retail clients the fixed plan is fine: US stocks at $0.0035 a share with a $0.35 minimum, German stocks on Xetra around 0.05 percent with 1.25 minimum, ETFs free on a curated list. No monthly fee. No inactivity fees since 2021.

The catch for Germans is taxes. Look, Interactive Brokers is not a German tax agent for retail clients, so capital gains and dividends get declared in the Finanzamt by hand, and if automatic Abgeltungsteuer deduction was the goal, this will annoy a lot.

Also the platform is overwhelming if you are new. Experienced traders, derivative users, professionals, expats who already used IBKR somewhere. That is the audience.

Traditional banks: Comdirect, ING DiBa, DKB

A brokerage account at a German traditional bank is the middle ground. Comdirect (Commerzbank brand), ING DiBa, DKB, Consorsbank.

Fees are higher than neobrokers, but integration with your checking bank account is better. The interface is conservative, phone support is real, taxes fully automatic.

Comdirect is around 9.90 for a German share order plus exchange fees. ING DiBa similar. DKB sometimes runs promos where ETF savings plans go commission-free.

If you want a one-bank setup, brokerage and savings account and checking bank account under one regulated branch bank, this works. Boring, conservative, reliable.

eToro and crypto-focused platforms

eToro is not a German broker. Regulated through eToro Europe Ltd in Cyprus by CySEC. Available to German residents, famous for social trading features and copy trading.

Wide range: stocks, ETFs, commodities, currencies, indices, crypto. Zero commission on stocks and ETFs, spreads on everything else. Five dollar withdrawal, ten dollar monthly inactivity after twelve months without login.

If copying other traders is your thing, eToro works. For long-term ETF investing it is not the cheapest.

For crypto: Bitpanda is regulated in Austria, offers crypto plus stocks, ETFs, commodities, metals. Coinbase, Kraken, Binance are pure crypto exchanges.

If you already use a broker and want some Bitcoin sometimes, Trade Republic or Scalable handle it inside the broker account. Catch: you do not own the coins in a wallet, just exposure.

To actually hold crypto, or move between crypto and cash, that is what Coin24 does.

[image_search: cryptocurrency trading bitcoin ethereum]

Quick summary

Beginner running ETF savings plans, go to Trade Republic. Biggest ETF catalogue and a bit more flexibility, Scalable Capital FREE (or PRIME+ if you trade actively on Xetra above 250). International markets and twenty-nine exchanges, DEGIRO. Derivatives or global pro access, Interactive Brokers. One-bank setup with automatic taxes, Comdirect or ING DiBa. Copy trading, eToro.

Fees that get hidden in the small print

Marketing pages do not show all of this clearly. And the real cost of trading is the sum of several things, so it pays to look at all of them before picking a broker just because the headline number looks pretty.

Order fees, the headline. Securities account fees and account maintenance fees (zero at neobrokers, may apply at traditional banks). Inactivity fees (Trade Republic and Scalable have none, eToro charges after twelve months).

Withdrawal fees (most do not charge for SEPA bank account withdrawals). FX costs (DEGIRO 0.25 percent, IBKR almost zero, Trade Republic varies).

Then the hidden ones: wider spreads on a “free trading” broker, that is where the money sometimes comes from. External fees like DEGIRO’s 2.50 yearly per foreign exchange.

Total cost matters, not the headline fee.

Opening an account

For any BaFin regulated broker you need a valid passport or German ID card. Proof of address (Meldebescheinigung or recent utility bill). A linked checking bank account in your name, SEPA preferred. Your tax ID (Steuer-ID). Sometimes proof of trading experience for derivatives.

Trade Republic and Scalable take 10-20 minutes in the app plus VideoIdent. Most accounts activate next business day. DEGIRO similar. Interactive Brokers slightly longer.

Taxes, briefly

Investment profits in Germany hit Abgeltungsteuer. 25 percent flat, plus 5.5 percent solidarity surcharge, plus church tax if applicable. About 26.4 to 28 percent total.

German-licensed brokers (Trade Republic, Scalable, Comdirect, DEGIRO) handle this automatically. Tax deducted at source, reported to Finanzamt.

International brokers like Interactive Brokers do not. You get gains gross and file them yourself.

Annual tax-free allowance is 1,000 per person (2,000 jointly for couples). Submit a Freistellungsauftrag to your broker to claim it.

Bottom line

Investments can lose value. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Standard disclaimer, but true.

For most people building wealth long-term, just open Trade Republic or Scalable Capital FREE and start. Both work.

Active day traders or international portfolios, DEGIRO or Interactive Brokers. For traditional bank comfort, Comdirect or ING DiBa. Copy trading and social features, eToro.

Questions about buying or selling crypto for cash or bank transfer? That part is what Coin24 handles.