tradegate.direct review 2026

tradegate.direct automatically gives every customer two separate securities depots – a trading depot and an investment depot – and both are free of charge. The provider expressly advertises "fee-free depot and account management" and names the usual market spread as the only possible cost component. There is no condition such as minimum turnover, minimum balance or subscription. The settlement account is included in the depot and free. A current account with the provider is neither necessary nor possible: deposits and withdrawals run through an external reference account at the customer's own bank, which is permanently stored in the depot – the provider even lists this as a security feature. Scoring (20/20): The unconditionally free depot management – here even for two depots – earns the full 15 points. Because no current account with the provider is needed, the full 5 points are added.

The pricing model consists of a single number: €0 per trade. The provider permanently waives order fees and exchange fees, equally for shares, ETPs and mini futures. The only cost component named by tradegate.direct is the usual market spread, which is meant to be tight on Tradegate BSX thanks to competitive price formation. A one-off investment of €500 therefore costs €0 – although the minimum order value when buying shares is exactly €500, for ETPs €100 and for mini futures €0.0001; there is no lower limit for sales. Anyone who wants to buy individual shares in tranches smaller than €500 therefore cannot do so here. Savings plans are likewise free of execution charges; according to the FAQ they are processed off-exchange as fixed-price transactions, so here too the spread is the only cost component. A €400 savings plan instalment therefore costs €0. The serious limitation lies in the trading venue: trading takes place exclusively via the order book of Tradegate BSX. Xetra, the regional exchanges, other issuers' off-exchange direct trading and all foreign exchanges are not available. Scoring (22/25): The free €400 ETF savings plan brings the full 12 points, and the free €500 one-off investment the full 10 points. Because a Xetra order is not possible, the 3 points of the third criterion are dropped entirely.

According to the provider, more than 4,000 ETPs and several hundred shares on Tradegate BSX are eligible for savings plans. tradegate.direct does not publish a figure broken down into ETFs, ETCs and ETNs – the 4,000 is a collective figure for all three product types. Because the provider generally charges no order fees, all savings plans are free of execution charges; here too, the spread remains as an indirect cost component. The minimum savings rate is €25 per savings plan and is thus much higher than at competitors that start from €1. Execution is monthly, every two months, quarterly, half-yearly or yearly, in each case on the 3rd, 9th, 18th or 27th of a month. Fractions are possible: any residual amount remaining after buying whole units is invested in a fraction. Savings plans can be set up in both depots and adjusted at any time, and execution is always on a cash balance basis. Scoring (16/20): With over 4,000 ETPs eligible for savings plans, the provider is above the 2,000 threshold – we award the full 8 points but point out that ETFs are not shown separately. Because all savings plans run with no execution fee, the full 7 points for free savings plans are also awarded. The minimum rate of €25 meets only the lowest level and brings 1 out of 5 points.

The trading universe includes over 7,000 shares, more than 4,000 ETPs from over 80 issuers and more than 5,000 mini futures on over 300 of the most liquid shares on Tradegate BSX – altogether the provider advertises over 16,000 tradable products. The share selection covers standard stocks, small caps and international blue chips and is continuously expanded, but at around 7,000 securities it remains below the top threshold of our methodology. For the other asset classes the limits of the model show. Individual bonds and traditional investment funds are not tradable; bonds and commodities can only be tracked indirectly via corresponding ETPs. Crypto assets are likewise available only as ETPs or ETNs, i.e. not as genuine coins with a wallet. Derivatives are present in the form of mini futures, but are expressly limited for now to this one product type on individual shares – warrants and traditional investment certificates from other issuers are missing. Scoring (12/15): Over 4,000 ETPs exceed the 2,000 threshold and give 6 out of 6 points. With over 7,000 shares, the provider stays below the 7,500 threshold and receives 4 out of 6 points. For the combined criterion, derivatives (mini futures) and crypto assets (as ETPs) are covered, but individual bonds are not – that gives 2 out of 3 points.

tradegate.direct publishes no information on interest on uninvested balances in the settlement account. Neither on the depot page nor in the FAQ or in product communication is there an interest rate, a scale or even a note that balances earn no interest. We therefore award the lowest level and note that this is an assessment of missing transparency. Investors should ask about it specifically before opening a depot, because competitors currently pay 2 percent and more on balances. We also could not verify a new-customer bonus, a depot transfer bonus or a comparable introductory promotion. The provider instead advertises permanent fee-free status and points to awards such as the cost win at Stiftung Warentest (12/2025) and the recognition of Tradegate BSX as "Germany's fairest exchange" (SWI and Börse Online, 10/2025). Scoring (0/8): With no verifiable interest on the settlement account 0 out of 5 points, with no verifiable new-customer bonus 0 out of 3 points.

The trading app is available for iOS and Android, supplemented by web access. Functionally it is well equipped for a free broker: market, limit, stop (limit), OCO (limit) and trailing stop (limit) as order types, ten watchlists of 150 securities each, trading directly from the watchlist, a performance analysis and a free quarterly report. On the Apple App Store the app scores 4.3 stars from 75 reviews, and on Google Play 4.0 stars from 194 reviews with over 100,000 downloads (retrieved on 15.09.2026) – the base of ratings is therefore still narrow. On price data the provider clearly scores. Customers receive real-time prices for trading, watchlist, portfolio overview and performance tracking; Tradegate BSX provides free real-time prices with no exchange-side fees. For mini futures, the quotes are expressly binding and tradable rather than merely indicative. Trading takes place every exchange day from 7:30 am to 10:00 pm. Scoring (6/8): The app is available on both platforms but, at 4.3 and 4.0 stars, is below the 4.5 threshold – this gives 3 out of 5 points. For the verifiably free real-time prices there are the full 3 points.

On support, tradegate.direct is strikingly reticent. The provider advertises "people instead of bots" and qualified experts in its Berlin office, but publishes only email addresses as a way to make contact: info@tradegate.direct for general enquiries and support@tradegate.direct for depot transfers. The "Contact" menu item in the website footer is simply a mailto link. The provider names no service phone number for depot customers; the head office number given in Tradegate AG's legal notice is not a designated broker hotline. Nor are service hours published. On security, things look much better. Tradegate AG is a German full bank under BaFin supervision (Berlin-Charlottenburg local court, HRB 71506 B), deposits are protected by law up to €100,000, and securities remain customer property. Trading takes place on a regulated exchange with an independent trading surveillance office, data is processed in the EU, and depot opening runs digitally via VideoID, eID or KontoID through the partner WebID. As a German bank, Tradegate AG pays flat-rate withholding tax (Abgeltungsteuer) automatically; opening a depot requires unlimited tax liability in Germany, and US persons are excluded. Our methodology does not assess these strengths in this chapter, however – only phone support counts here. Scoring (0/4): Because no telephone customer support is published for depot customers, we award 0 out of 4 points. This is expressly an assessment of the publicly verifiable service offer.