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Best German online broker accounts and trading platforms

TOP 5 German Online Broker Accounts

It is not difficult to start investing in stocks or ETFs in Germany. FinTech startups and modern banks provide an easy way to set up your broker account and start trading with small fees. We collected several offers from different providers, which you can see in the list below.

Simply click on the offer that interests you to learn more about the terms. If you are looking for a save interest-paying bank account, check out our overview of savings accounts (with interest up to 3% p.a.).

Broker AccountMaintenance Fee
eTorofree

Disclaimer: Your capital is at risk.

Trading Stocks in GermanyBUX Zerofree

Disclaimer: Your capital is at risk.

NAGA trading account in GermanyNAGAfree

Disclaimer: Your capital is at risk.

Scalable Capital Broker AccountScalable Capitalfree

Disclaimer: Your capital is at risk.

comdirectcomdirect Depotfree

Disclaimer: Your capital is at risk.

Broker AccountMaintenance Fee
eTorofree

Disclaimer: Your capital is at risk.

Trading Stocks in GermanyBUX Zerofree

Disclaimer: Your capital is at risk.

NAGA trading account in GermanyNAGAfree

Disclaimer: Your capital is at risk.

Scalable Capital Broker AccountScalable Capitalfree

Disclaimer: Your capital is at risk.

comdirectcomdirect Depotfree

Disclaimer: Your capital is at risk.

Use the list for an overview of different online brokers in Germany. The maintenance fees indicates the monthly or yearly base fee for the account. The fee per trade shows the minimum fee you pay for each transaction (e.g. purchase of a stock). We recommend to check different broker account providers and compare their fees to ensure that you get the best service for your money.

Frankfurt Skyline

What kind of fees can an online broker charge?

Before you open an online broker account in Germany, you should compare all providers and choose the one that will cost you the least amount of fees. And this depends on what you plan on doing: Do you want to trade stocks (shares) frequently? Do you want to invest in ETFs (exchange-traded-funds) and let them sit for a couple of years? Do you want to buy financial derivatives (securities), such as options, futures, swaps?

Online brokers may have different fees for different transactions. Some are banks that offer a current account together with your broker account, including a credit or debit card. Some providers will just give you the broker account (in German: Depot or Wertpapierdepot), but nothing else.

The most common fees in German broker accounts are account maintenance fee (in German: Depotführungsgebühr), fee per trade order (Orderprovision, Orderentgelt or Wertpapierkaufsgebühr) and a deposit fee as a percentage of your funds (Wertpapierdepotgebühr).

The account maintenance fee is usually a flat fee per month, however, most providers do not charge this anymore or some require you to give a minimum amount of orders per month to waive this fee. Many providers do not charge a maintenance fee at all, e.g. eToro, Trade Republic, onvista, Smartbroker. Others, e.g. comdirect, give you a free account for 3 years and charge you a monthly fee of ca. 2€ after that – unless you make a certain amount of orders.

The fee per order is the most important aspect of your broker account, if you want to buy shares or ETFs from time to time. Some providers offer a flat fee per order, anywhere between 1€ and 25€, other take a percentage of your order volume, e.g. 0.25%, or a combination of the two.

Many banks and broker account have higher fees when you call them to place orders or when you place orders via physical post mail.

Which financial products can you trade?

Theoretically, you can trade any imaginable financial product online. This is also why you should be cautious what you buy and should only trade products that you fully understand. Shares (stocks) and ETFs are rather easy to understand, but derivatives can be more complex, especially futures or call and put options. Furthermore, not every broker account lets you trade every financial products and some accounts only allow trade at certain market places.

These are the most common financial products that you would want to trade:

  • Stocks (shares)
  • ETFs (exchange-traded-funds)
  • Options (put option, call option)
  • Swaps
  • Futures contract
See our recommendations.

Why should you get a home contents insurance (Hausratversicherung) in Germany?

If you have any personal belongings in your house that you don’t want to be stolen or damaged you need a home contents insurance. In simple terms: Imagine your house or flat without a roof and turned upside down. Anything that would fall out is your „Hausrat“ (home contents). If it is lost or damaged by fire, water, theft, burglary, or vandalism, the costs for replacement or repair are covered by this insurance.

TV, computer, mobile phone, tablet, laptop, all other electrical devices, clothes, jewellery, furniture, books, carpets, musical instruments, jewellery etc. are insured in the event of damage or theft. The place connected to this insurance is your home including balcony, garage or terrace where most of your personal belongings are usually kept. (Please note: The car or motor bike in your garage is not insured. This requires a car insurance or a motorbike insurance respectively.)

But even outside your home your personal belongings are insured when you travel and take them with you (Außenversicherung).

For example, if there was a break-in in your hotel room and your notebook and Apple watch were stolen, the insurance will cover the replacement costs. It goes without saying: Any damage or loss through your own gross negligence (grobe Fahrlässigkeit), say, you leave your notebook in the bar – is of course not covered.

Which insurance sum (Deckungssumme) should be chosen?

In general the insurance sum depends on the value of the goods insured. This sum (Deckungssumme) is the maximum sum paid by the insurance in the event of loss or damage.

There are two ways to calculate this sum:

  1. a flat rate charging a certain sum according to the size of you flat or house, for example 500 Euro per square meter. If you live in a flat with 50 sqm of living space, you should insure a sum of 25,000 Euro in order not to be underinsured. This way of calculation is the common one, it’s simple and requires little effort.
  2. an individual rate according to the detailed value of you belongings. In this case you make a list of all your belongings and sum up their values. This effort could be worth taking when you live in a spacious flat but have comparatively few belongings of value. Then you would be overinsured and pay more than necessary if you choose the flat rate.

How much does a home contents insurance cost?

The rates vary a lot between insurance companies, but you get an insurance sum of 200.000 Euro from approx. 50-60 Euro a year. Many insurance companies offer a reduced rate for deductibles (Selbstbeteiligung). That means you pay a small amount of the damage (say, up to 200 Euro), and the insurance covers the rest.

The contract period is usually one year and will be automatically extended if you don’t give notice. Further discounts are granted if longer contract periods are concluded. Depending on the area where you live extended coverage of damages through over-voltage damage, flooding, avalanches, landslides can be included at – usually small – additional rates (Elementarschädenversicherung).

Bicycles are usually not covered and must be co-insured. Here, insurance conditions also vary.

We recommend to check different insurances and compare their rates according to your needs.