Where to Buy Stocks: A Comparison of Stock Depot Providers

What is a securities account and how does it work?

A securities account – often simply called a brokerage account – is an account for securities. While a current account holds money, a securities account holds shares, ETFs, funds or bonds. It is maintained by a bank or a broker – in industry jargon, the custodian or depository bank.

How does a securities account work in practice? Every securities account comes with a so-called settlement account (cash account). You transfer money from your current account to this settlement account, buy securities with it, and when you sell or receive dividends, the money flows back into the settlement account. From there you can transfer it to your current account at any time.

In other words: the securities account is the “treasure chest” for your securities, the settlement account is the cash box next to it. At direct banks such as ING, comdirect or DKB, your existing current account can serve as the settlement account. Neobrokers like Trade Republic, by contrast, deliberately operate as a securities account without a current account – you simply receive a settlement account with its own IBAN.

One account or several?

You may hold as many securities accounts with different providers as you like. That is often even sensible: for instance, a low-cost neobroker for many small individual purchases, plus a direct bank for larger positions or for stocks where withholding-tax handling matters (more on this below). Many full-service banks also offer a joint securities account for married couples – something neobrokers like Trade Republic and Scalable Capital do not offer so far.

Incidentally, how many stocks belong in an account is not a question of the provider: technically, thousands of positions fit. For private investors, 15 to 30 individual stocks are considered a sensible range for adequate diversification. Read more in our article on individual stocks as an investment.

Opening a securities account: step by step

How do you open a securities account? The process is similar at all online providers and – including identity verification via video or photo ID – often takes only 15 to 30 minutes. Depending on the provider, it takes a few hours to a few days until the account is fully activated.

1. Choose a provider and apply for a securities account online. You need a valid ID card or residence permit, your German tax identification number and a current account as a reference account.
2. Confirm your identity, usually via video ID or photo ID on your smartphone. At branch banks such as Sparkasse or Volksbank, you can alternatively do this the classic way at the counter.
3. You receive login credentials and a dedicated IBAN for the settlement account. You will find this IBAN in your online account, for instance under “Deposit” or “Transfer”.
4. Transfer money from your current account to the settlement account. The credit usually arrives on the same or the next banking day; not all providers support instant transfers on the receiving side.
5. Set up an exemption order (Freistellungsauftrag – see the tax section), so that capital income up to the saver’s allowance of €1,000 per person remains tax-free.
6. Search for a security – by company name, WKN or ISIN – and buy the desired number of shares. Execution takes only fractions of a second for liquid stocks, and the securities are then held in your account.

One peculiarity to finish: the share is not registered in your name in the share register (exception: registered shares). The broker holds the securities in collective safe custody and of course knows exactly which shares belong to you. Legally, the securities are your property and protected under the German Custody Act (Depotgesetz) even if the provider goes bankrupt – more on this in the security section.

What does a securities account cost? The four types of costs

Is a securities account free of charge? Account maintenance itself is – at neobrokers and most direct banks. Nevertheless, no account is completely free, because costs arise in four places:

• Account maintenance fee: €0 at Trade Republic, Scalable Capital (basic model), ING, DKB and finanzen.net Zero. Branch banks such as Sparkasse, Volksbank, Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank or Postbank, by contrast, often charge €20 to €60 per year, partly depending on the account value. comdirect charges €1.95 per month if the account is inactive for a longer period and no current account exists.
• Order fee: Charged on every purchase and sale – from €0 to €1 at a neobroker, via roughly €10 to €70 at direct banks, up to about 1% of the order volume at branch banks. This is the biggest and most important cost difference.
• Trading venue charges: Depending on the trading venue (Xetra, Tradegate, gettex, LS Exchange, regional exchanges, foreign exchanges), fees of €0 to several euros are added. Neobrokers avoid these by connecting only a single off-exchange trading venue.
• Spread: The difference between the buying and selling price. It never appears as a fee on any statement, but it costs real money – especially at “zero-euro brokers”. We dedicate the next section to it.

Sample calculation: You buy shares for €2,000. At the neobroker you pay a €1 order fee (0.05%). At a direct bank charging “€4.90 + 0.25%” it is €9.90 (0.5%). At a branch bank with a 1% commission and a €25 minimum fee you pay €25 – 1.25% of your investment is gone at purchase alone, and again when you sell. Order fees thus act like a return haircut that weighs more heavily the smaller the order.

By the way, the costs of a private securities account are not tax-deductible in Germany: account and order fees are deemed covered by the saver’s allowance. Only the incidental acquisition costs (the order fee at purchase) later reduce the taxable capital gain.

The spread: the fee that isn’t one – explained correctly

Hardly any term is explained as poorly in brokerage guides as the spread. It is not a hidden surcharge that the broker secretly adds after you click “Buy”. The spread is the bid-ask spread: the gap between the price at which you could sell a share right now (bid price) and the price at which you can buy it (ask price). The ask price is always somewhat above the bid price.

Example: A share is quoted at a bid price of €99.80 and an ask price of €100.20. The spread is €0.40, or 0.4%. If you buy and immediately sell again, you lose those €0.40 per share – plus order fees. The “share price” typically displayed is usually the last traded price or the midpoint between bid and ask. That is why the actual purchase price in the order preview looks slightly higher than the price shown a moment earlier: you are now seeing the ask price, not the midpoint. That is no trick, but it is a real cost factor.

What determines the size of the spread

• Liquidity of the security: For heavily traded stocks such as Siemens, Apple or SAP, the spread is often only 0.02 to 0.1%. For small caps, exotic foreign stocks or thinly traded bonds it can be 1% and more.
• Trading venue: Off-exchange venues such as gettex or LS Exchange, through which neobrokers trade, track the reference market Xetra. During Xetra trading hours, their spreads are contractually usually about as tight as there. Without a reference market, the market makers quote wider spreads as a precaution.
• Time of day: Xetra trades on exchange days from 9:00 to 17:30, the US exchanges from 15:30 to 22:00 Central European Time. For US stocks, spreads are therefore tightest between 15:30 and 17:30, when both markets are open. Early in the morning, in the evening and on weekends the spreads widen considerably – trading is conveniently possible then, but more expensive.

Practical consequence: trade liquid blue chips during Xetra core hours if possible, and US stocks ideally in the afternoon between 15:30 and 17:30. And do not mistrust “zero-euro fees” on principle, but always factor the spread in mentally: a spread that is 0.3% wider costs €9 on a €3,000 order – more than many an order fee. With a limit order instead of a market order, you also set the maximum purchase price yourself and protect yourself against outliers in illiquid securities.

Neobroker or full-service bank: where is the best place to open your account?

Neobrokers are young, mostly app-only account providers such as Trade Republic, Scalable Capital or finanzen.net Zero. They score with very low fees and fast account opening, but typically limit themselves to a single trading venue and a leaner product range. Full-service and direct banks (ING, comdirect, Consorsbank, DKB, 1822direkt) offer more trading venues, more security types, joint accounts and telephone support – at higher order costs.

Our assessment: for smartphone-savvy investors planning many small orders, the established neobrokers are the first choice – an inexpensive securities account for beginners. For six-figure portfolios, larger individual orders, or if prompt telephone support matters to you, a large direct bank has more going for it. The worry that a neobroker could go bankrupt is not a safety problem thanks to the separation of securities and bank assets (see below), but it can be a convenience problem: in an insolvency or takeover, access to the account may stall temporarily.

Securities account comparison: providers, costs, conditions

The following tables compare the providers we consider most relevant. Important for context: many online comparisons and every self-proclaimed “test winner” focus on ETF savings-plan conditions. Here, we are concerned with the direct purchase of individual stocks – savings plans are free or very cheap almost everywhere by now and hardly serve to differentiate anymore. All figures without guarantee, as of July 2026; the providers’ price lists are authoritative.

Neobrokers compared

Trade Republic pays variable interest on settlement-account balances at the level of the ECB deposit rate. That is nice when money sits around briefly, but should not be the deciding factor. Also note: depending on which partner bank holds your settlement account, the German, Irish or French deposit insurance scheme applies. The BIC in the app profile reveals the respective institution. For accounts with a Baader Bank settlement account (Scalable, Zero), users occasionally report deposits and withdrawals taking several days.

Direct and full-service banks compared

The incumbents’ reaction to the neobrokers is remarkable: since autumn 2025, comdirect has offered a purely app-based second model, the “Pure” account, at €1 per order. The lines between the categories are thus blurring more and more – to investors’ advantage.

Sparkasse, Volksbank, Deutsche Bank & co.: the branch-bank account

Many investors first ask their main bank about a securities account – search queries like “Sparkasse securities account costs” or “Deutsche Bank securities account” are among the most common on the topic. The honest answer: an account directly with the local Sparkasse, Volksbank, Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, Postbank or Targobank is almost always the most expensive option. Typical are order commissions of around 1% of the market value with minimum fees of €20 to €60 plus an annual maintenance fee – the exact conditions vary considerably from institution to institution.

Sample calculation: a €3,000 order costs €30 at a 1% commission, plus perhaps €30 in annual account fees. At the neobroker, the same order costs €1 with €0 account fees. If you are a satisfied Sparkasse customer and still want to stay in the Sparkasse universe, you are better off opening the securities account with the Sparkassen group’s central online broker, S Broker – its conditions (approx. €4.99 + 0.25%) roughly match direct-bank levels, and the selection of stocks and trading venues is large. The same logic applies to cooperative banks: prefer the central online offerings over the classic Volksbank branch account.

What fee differences add up to over time

A simple calculation shows how the cost differences accumulate: you buy individual stocks for €500 every month for ten years, i.e. 120 orders. At the neobroker (€1 per order) you pay €120 in total. At the direct bank (at least €9.90 per order) around €1,188. At the branch bank (€25 minimum commission plus €30 annual account fee) around €3,300 – money that is not invested and earns no return.

Conversely, with few large orders the advantage shrinks. If you buy twice a year for €20,000 each, you pay €60 annually at DKB, €2 at the neobroker – measured against the €40,000 order volume, a difference of just 0.15%. At that point, selection, service and tax convenience may tip the scales.

Range of securities and trading venues

The second big difference between account providers is the range on offer. Roughly speaking: the more traditional the provider, the larger the universe.

• Stock universe: Providers with many trading venues such as Smartbroker+, S Broker, Flatex or comdirect offer access to 14,000 to over 40,000 stocks. Neobrokers are below that with roughly 8,000 to 10,000 tradable stocks. For the big blue chips from the US and Europe this makes no difference – but anyone looking for Japanese small caps, minor Canadian resource stocks or specific foreign listings will sometimes come up empty at a neobroker. Before opening an account, check via the search function or a provider inquiry whether your desired securities are tradable.
• Types of securities: Actively managed equity funds are not available at Trade Republic, and bonds are missing or only tradable to a limited extent at some neobrokers. Full-service banks offer the complete spectrum including funds with discounts on the front-end load, bonds and warrants.
• Foreign exchanges: Trading directly on the NYSE, in London or Paris is possible at comdirect, Consorsbank or S Broker – at significantly higher fees. Neobrokers trade US stocks as euro quotes on the German trading venue instead, which is usually sufficient for private investors and saves currency-conversion fees.

Which stocks belong in the account in the first place is the more important question than the provider. Our articles 40+ high-return stocks with return triangles and Stock picking: how we select attractive stocks offer inspiration.

Taxes: how much work does which account create?

When it comes to taxes, account providers differ more than many comparisons show – less in the amount of tax than in the workload left with you.

German providers: flat-rate withholding tax runs automatically

All German account providers – from neobroker to Sparkasse – automatically remit the German flat-rate capital gains tax (Abgeltungsteuer) on price gains and dividends (25% plus solidarity surcharge, church tax where applicable) to the tax office. The legal basis is Section 20 of the German Income Tax Act. You then generally no longer need to declare capital income in your tax return; the KAP annex is only worthwhile in special cases, for instance if your personal tax rate is below 25% or losses are to be offset across several accounts.

The exemption order (Freistellungsauftrag) is important: it keeps capital income tax-free up to the saver’s allowance of €1,000 per person (€2,000 for jointly assessed couples). You can distribute the amount freely across several accounts – but the sum of all exemption orders must not exceed the allowance. Set it up right when opening the account; otherwise you will only recover overpaid tax later via the tax return. German providers also automatically maintain loss-offset pots and issue an annual tax certificate.

Foreign brokers: cheap, but the tax return is on you

International brokers such as Interactive Brokers are sometimes even cheaper on trading fees and offer a huge investment universe. The catch: they do not remit German withholding tax. You must declare all gains, losses and dividends yourself in the KAP annex of your tax return – a considerable chore with many trades and currency conversions. For beginners and medium-sized portfolios, the convenience of German providers prevails; foreign brokers make more sense for large, actively managed portfolios. The same applies if you open a securities account abroad, say in Switzerland or Liechtenstein: perfectly legal, but the tax work is yours, and Swiss banks’ custody fees are usually unattractively high for Germans.

Foreign withholding tax: where the wheat is separated from the chaff

On dividends from foreign stocks, the source country withholds its own tax before the money reaches you. Under the double-taxation treaties, generally up to 15% of this can be credited against your German tax – anything withheld beyond that must be reclaimed from the foreign tax authorities. And this is exactly where account providers differ considerably. The German Federal Central Tax Office provides an overview of the treaties and refund forms.

Example France: advance relief saves real money

France is the most important problem case, because attractive names such as LVMH, Hermès, L’Oréal and Schneider Electric are listed there. Since 2018, German private investors have actually been entitled to a reduced withholding rate of just 12.8%. However, many custodian banks cannot prove to the French paying agents that a German private investor is behind the account – in which case France withholds 25 to 30%, of which only 12.8 percentage points are credited against your German tax. You would have to reclaim the difference via a French-language refund application; this is considered so tedious that many investors simply skip it and write off the lost return.

Sample calculation with a €1,000 gross dividend from LVMH: without any measures, France withholds e.g. €280. In Germany, 12.8% (€128) is credited, you additionally pay around €122 flat-rate tax plus solidarity surcharge – and €152 sit in France until you reclaim them. With so-called advance relief (certificate of residence, form 5000-DE, confirmed by your tax office, valid for three years), France withholds only 12.8% from the outset, and taxation overall works like for a German stock. With €1,000 of dividends per year, that is a difference of around €150 – per year.

Rule of thumb: anyone planning to hold French or Canadian dividend stocks long-term should also choose the account provider based on whether it actively supports advance relief or withholding-tax reduction.

This is exactly where some providers score: DKB and comdirect support the advance-relief procedure for France for a low two-digit fee, as does S Broker; DKB also helps with Canadian securities. At Trade Republic, French withholding tax has at times been settled directly at 12.8% via a French custodian – but the provider does not offer a classic advance-relief procedure, and you should check the dividend statements case by case. For a portfolio deliberately containing French luxury and dividend stocks, DKB is therefore a proven choice, also as a second account. One small extra item for France: when buying large French stocks, the French financial transaction tax of currently 0.4% of the purchase value applies as well – regardless of the broker.

Opening a securities account for children

Can I open a securities account for my child? Yes – a so-called junior or children’s account runs in the name of the minor child but is opened and managed by the legal guardians (usually both parents together). It is offered by most direct banks (ING, comdirect, Consorsbank, DKB), by Sparkassen and Volksbanken, and now also by neobrokers: a children’s account at Trade Republic or Scalable Capital has been possible since 2025.

Three points you should know before setting up a securities account for children:

• The money belongs to the child. Deposits are gifts; at 18, the child gains full control. Parents may only manage the account in the child’s interest and must not raid it for their own purposes. If you want to keep control, save in your own account instead and transfer later – gifting the securities account in whole or in part at a time of your choosing.
• Attractive for tax purposes: The child has its own saver’s allowance of €1,000 and its own basic personal allowance. With a non-assessment certificate from the tax office, several thousand euros of capital income per year remain tax-free. But mind the income limits of free family health insurance and – in later student years – the BAföG asset limits.
• Gift tax: Per parent, €400,000 can be transferred tax-free every ten years, from grandparents to grandchildren €200,000 – relevant for an account for grandchildren or godchildren. The allowances are set out in Section 16 of the German Inheritance Tax Act.

The compound-interest effect shows why starting early pays off: €100 per month from birth grows to around €43,000 by the 18th birthday at a 7% annual return – on deposits of just €21,600. More on long-term returns across asset classes in Shares or real estate: ideally both.

Transferring, switching or closing a securities account

Account transfer and switching providers

Transferring a securities account is fundamentally simple: fill in the switching service at the new provider, and the rest runs between the banks. Within Germany, the transfer is free of charge for private customers – the Federal Court of Justice ruled so back in 2004 – and the tax-relevant acquisition data (your purchase prices) migrate automatically. Still, expect two to six weeks, in individual cases longer; during the transfer you cannot trade the affected positions. Some brokers even pay switching bonuses.

It gets more laborious if you transfer a securities account abroad or move from an international broker to Germany: acquisition data is then often not transmitted automatically, so the new bank applies substitute flat values or you must provide evidence – extra work for the tax return. Some investors therefore sell everything before such a switch and repurchase in the new account; however, that triggers a taxable event on the accrued gains.

A transfer to another person – for instance if you transfer the securities account to your children – counts as a gift for tax purposes; the bank reports the transaction to the tax office. Within the allowances mentioned above it remains tax-free, and the acquisition data passes to the recipient.

Closing the account

Closing a securities account is unspectacular: sell all positions (gains are taxed in the process), transfer the remaining balance to your current account, cancel the account – with most providers possible informally online and free of charge. Alternatively, transfer the holdings untaxed to another account of your own and only then close.

Inheritance and usufruct

On death, the account passes to the heirs; the bank requires a certificate of inheritance or an opened will. For inheritance tax on a securities account, the same allowances apply as for gifts (spouses €500,000, children €400,000, grandchildren €200,000); valuation is at the market price on the date of death. Those wishing to transfer larger portfolios during their lifetime while keeping the income can agree a usufruct on the securities account: the substance then already belongs to the children, while dividends continue to flow to the donors – and the capitalised value of the usufruct also reduces the gift-tax value. This belongs in the hands of a tax advisor.

How safe is a securities account?

What happens to the securities account if the bank goes bankrupt? The distinction between the two accounts helps here:

• Securities in the account: Stocks and ETFs are your property, not assets of the bank. They are held separately, and under the Custody Act you have a right to their release – the bank’s insolvency administrator and creditors cannot touch them. Deposit insurance is not even needed for this. The realistic residual risk of a broker failure is not losing the shares, but access potentially being blocked for weeks or months until everything is wound up.
• Cash on the settlement account: This is an ordinary bank deposit and protected by statutory deposit insurance up to €100,000 per customer and bank. Details are explained by BaFin; the legal basis is the German Deposit Guarantee Act. With neobrokers, it is worth checking in which country the account-holding partner bank is based and which protection scheme therefore applies.

Special cases: companies, lombard loans, emigrating, Bürgergeld

Securities account for a GmbH and other companies

Companies can hold securities accounts too – you open a securities account for a GmbH as a corporate account with direct banks, full-service banks or specialised brokers; the lean neobrokers mostly do not offer corporate accounts or only to a limited extent. For tax purposes, dividends and capital gains at the level of a corporation are partly privileged, but the details are complex and a matter for a tax advisor. You will find related topics around asset-managing companies in our investment blog.

Borrowing against the account – also as a building block of real-estate financing

Many providers grant a securities-backed (lombard) loan: you pledge your securities account and receive a credit line, typically 30 to 70% of the account value (lending value), depending on how volatile the holdings are. If the account value drops sharply, margin calls loom – a loan against the securities account is therefore not for the cautious. More interesting is the account as proof of assets: as a substitute for equity or additional collateral for a property loan, banks certainly accept a securities portfolio, usually with a significant haircut on the market value. That way, a property can be financed without selling the portfolio and paying tax on the gains. How such a financing is structured is shown on our real-estate financing page.

Emigrating and exit tax

If you emigrate with an account, you can generally keep it; some brokers, however, terminate customers residing outside the EU. Tax-wise, the German exit tax is relevant: it classically covers stakes of 1% or more in corporations, and since 2025, under certain conditions, also larger investment-fund and ETF holdings (from €500,000 acquisition cost per fund). Normal, broadly diversified private stock portfolios are as a rule not affected – before moving abroad, the topic still belongs on the checklist for a professional consultation.

Bürgergeld and the securities account

A securities account counts as realisable assets for Germany’s Bürgergeld benefit. In the first year of receipt (waiting period), assets up to €40,000 for the first person of the household remain untouched, thereafter €15,000 per person. Account values beyond that must in principle be used up before benefits flow.

Practise first: demo accounts, virtual portfolios and tools

If you are still unsure, you do not have to commit real money right away. A model portfolio or demo securities account – for instance at financial portals or as a virtual portfolio inside the broker apps – simulates purchases and sales with fictitious money. That is useful for getting to know the order screen, limits and your own nerves. Two caveats: spreads and execution reality are only approximated, and with play money the psychological pressure is missing.

For managing real accounts, the broker app itself is enough for beginners; anyone wanting to track performance across several accounts uses portfolio software or simply an Excel template for the securities account with purchase prices, quantities and dividends. A simple return calculator (compound-interest formula) suffices to estimate savings goals. And for inspiration: the published holdings of famous investors – such as the stock portfolio of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, visible via mandatory filings – are good as stimulation, but not as a shopping list; we describe our own approach to stock selection in the article Selecting individual stocks via the return triangle.

A final word on comparison portals such as Check24: they provide a quick overview of conditions but primarily list providers with commission agreements. Additionally, take a look at the providers’ own price lists – and at the criteria in this article that go beyond the mere order fee: spread and trading venue, security selection, withholding-tax service and tax convenience. You will find further fundamentals and strategy articles about stocks in our stocks blog.