Trade Republic — review of the German investing neobank

Trade Republic lands on this list with an asterisk, because it is not a forex broker. It is a German neobank built for long-term investing — founded in 2015, headquartered in Berlin, holding a full European Central Bank banking licence since December 2023. Through the app you can buy stocks, ETFs, bonds and crypto, and run a free savings plan. What you cannot do is trade currency pairs with leverage. Below I explain what Trade Republic actually offers and who it suits.

Who Trade Republic is, and why it is a bank, not a CFD broker

Trade Republic Bank GmbH was founded in 2015 — originally in Munich, under a different name — and today operates out of Berlin as one of Europe’s largest investing neobanks. According to the company’s own figures from early 2025, it serves more than eight million clients across more than a dozen countries and over one hundred billion euros in assets. That is a scale reserved five years ago for large brokerage houses, and it was built on one idea: the simplest possible mobile app for regular investing.

The key distinction for a reader of this site is this. Trade Republic is an institution where you buy real assets — a share in a company, an ETF unit, a bond — not a leveraged contract for difference. There are no margin accounts on currency pairs, no 1:30 leverage on EUR/USD, no short-selling of currencies. If you are comparing it with the CFD brokers covered in other reviews, you are comparing two different worlds. It helps to first understand what a CFD is and why investing in stocks without leverage follows an entirely different risk logic.

Regulation and safety of funds — the strong point

Here Trade Republic plays in the top tier. Since December 2023 the company has held a full banking licence granted by the European Central Bank and is supervised by Germany’s BaFin, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, together with the Deutsche Bundesbank. This is not an investment-firm licence from a small jurisdiction — it is a banking licence in the largest economy in the eurozone, supervised jointly by the national regulator and the central bank.

For your money that means two layers of protection. Cash is held in omnibus trust accounts at partner banks and covered by the statutory deposit guarantee up to 100,000 euros per client — precisely the level that applies across the European Union. Securities are a separate matter: they fall outside the deposit guarantee because they remain your property held in custody, so in the event of bank failure they do not form part of the insolvency estate. This separation of client money from the institution’s own assets is the foundation of safety wherever you invest — the forexmechanics.com section on regulation and client protection sets out why it matters.

„The statutory guarantee schemes ensure legal entitlement to compensation up to a maximum amount of €100,000 per depositor and per bank, including any claims to interest." — Deutsche Bundesbank, Deposit protection, 2026

What the app actually offers

Trade Republic’s line-up is cut for an investor, not a trader. In a single app you get access to stocks from European and US exchanges, a broad list of ETFs, bonds and crypto. The heart of the product, though, is the savings plan — automatic, recurring purchases of selected stocks and ETFs that let you build a portfolio with small, regular contributions. On top of that sits interest on uninvested cash, which turns the account into something between a brokerage and a savings account.

Costs: simplicity instead of a spread

The fee model is deliberately legible. For a single order — whether stocks, an ETF, a bond, crypto or a derivative — Trade Republic charges a flat one-euro external fee, regardless of the value of the trade. Savings plans are exempt from this fee, which makes them a cheap way to add to a portfolio on a schedule. There is no percentage commission and no spread in the CFD-broker sense.

That does not mean investing is “free”. The real cost sits partly inside the instruments themselves — an ETF has its total expense ratio, and with crypto and foreign stocks there is the matter of currency conversion. Interest on cash has been adjusted over time and differs between markets, so always check the current rate in the app rather than in older reviews. The rule holds: before you judge an offer, count the full cost of ownership, not just the per-order fee.

Trade Republic and the local investor

For a European retail client Trade Republic is a genuine option for cheap, long-term investing in stocks and ETFs from a phone — with strong, bank-grade protection of funds. It does, however, have limits worth weighing. A local broker such as XTB offers full native-language support, tax-advantaged pension accounts and local service that Trade Republic lacks. Investing through a foreign entity also means you settle capital-gains tax yourself on the annual return.

This is the classic “local or foreign” dilemma, which I break down in a separate piece on the local versus foreign broker choice. In short: if you value a tax-advantaged pension wrapper and native-language service, the local broker often wins. If you value a minimalist app and a simple fee, and you handle your own tax return without trouble, Trade Republic holds up very well. Just do not confuse this decision with choosing a forex broker — that is a different conversation.

Common misunderstandings

1. Treating Trade Republic as a forex broker — there are no leveraged currency pairs or CFDs here.
2. Assuming a “one-euro fee” means zero cost — cost also sits in the instruments, for example an ETF’s expense ratio.
3. Counting on a tax-advantaged pension account — Trade Republic does not offer local pension wrappers.
4. Confusing deposit protection with protection against a falling share price — 100,000 euros covers bank failure, not market risk.
5. Reading old cash-interest rates as current — check the live figure in the app.

Where Trade Republic fits among its peers

Trade Republic belongs to a new generation of European investing apps that have lowered the barrier to the stock market. In the same category you will find, among others, Trading 212, which tempts with zero stock commission, and banking apps extended with an investing module. Each plays a slightly different card: one a banking licence and cash interest, another zero commission, a third a payments ecosystem.

For a forex reader the takeaway is simple. These tools are excellent for building a portfolio of stocks and ETFs, but none of them replaces a CFD broker if your goal is leveraged currency trading. They are two different jobs with two different risk profiles — investing without leverage and leveraged currency speculation rarely fit in one app, and rightly so, because they demand different discipline.

What to do before you open an account

1. Define the goal. If you want to invest long-term in stocks and ETFs with small, regular contributions, Trade Republic is a strong candidate. If you want to trade leveraged forex, skip it outright and choose a CFD broker supervised by a regulator.
2. Verify the supervision. Confirm you are dealing with Trade Republic Bank GmbH under BaFin and Bundesbank oversight, and that cash is covered up to 100,000 euros. The mechanics of verifying a broker’s licence and safety are laid out in the guide to broker regulation and KNF.
3. Count the full cost. Add the ETF expense ratio, currency-conversion costs and the current cash-interest rate in the app to the one-euro per-order fee — only then compare with a local broker.
4. Think about tax and pensions. If you want a tax-advantaged pension wrapper, Trade Republic does not have one — consider a local broker. Investing abroad, plan to settle your gains yourself on the annual return.