Trade Republic Review 2026: Fees, Interest on Cash and Who It Suits

What Trade Republic is

Trade Republic is a Berlin-based broker that launched its app in 2019 and grew on a simple proposition: invest from a phone for a flat euro per order, or for nothing at all through regular savings plans. It is no longer a small fintech. It received a full German banking licence at the end of 2023, said in December 2025 that it had more than 10 million customers and over €150 billion in assets, and sold existing shares that month at a valuation of €12.5 billion. It now serves 18 European countries and has opened local branches to offer national bank details and local services, including France, Spain and Italy in January 2025, Austria and the Netherlands later that year, and Portugal in July 2026. It is not available to residents of the United Kingdom, Switzerland or the United States.

What it costs

• Shares, ETFs and bonds: €1 per order on the standard Best Price route, plus the spread and any third-party costs.
• Direct Price orders, introduced in July 2026: €2 per order, letting you choose one of 30 exchanges, including Xetra, Euronext, the NYSE and Nasdaq.
• Savings plans into shares and ETFs: no order fee, with a minimum per execution that is €1 in most countries but higher in some local price lists.
• Crypto: €1 per order, with most of the real cost sitting in the spread.
• Account and custody: no fees; the virtual card is free and a physical card carries a one-off charge.

The €1 fee is easy to understand but not the whole cost. Every purchase also pays a spread, the gap between the buying and selling price, and for less liquid shares, crypto or orders placed outside main trading hours that gap can cost more than the fee. Since the European Union’s transition period for payment for order flow ended on 30 June 2026, Trade Republic has routed orders through a Best Price system that searches several exchanges for the best available quote, and it obtained a licence in January 2026 to run its own trading venue. Proportion matters too. A monthly ETF savings plan costs close to nothing in explicit fees, while €1 on a single €50 order is 2% before the market moves. The cheapest way to use the service is the way it was designed: regular, automated investing rather than frequent small trades.

Interest on cash, and how your money is protected

Uninvested cash earns interest linked to the European Central Bank’s deposit rate. After the ECB raised that rate to 2.50% in September 2026, Trade Republic paid 2.50% in Germany with no cap, while in some countries, including Portugal, Spain and Italy, it has advertised 3% for newer customers up to a limit, set at €50,000 in Portugal. Rates and conditions change with the ECB and by country, so check your own country’s page. Where the cash sits matters. Customer money is spread across trust accounts at several partner banks and partly invested in money market funds, so deposit protection of up to €100,000 applies per depositor at each partner bank, while the money-market-fund portion is not a bank deposit at all. A German consumer organisation sued over how this was advertised, and the case was settled in July 2026 with Trade Republic agreeing to stop the statements. Shares and ETFs are held separately from the company’s own assets, so they are not available to its creditors if it fails; German investor compensation covers 90% of losses up to €20,000 only if securities go missing.

The app, the tools and tax

Trade Republic is built around its app, with a web version and, since July 2026, an advanced web terminal offering charting, screeners and live market data at no extra cost. The range covers shares, ETFs, bonds, crypto with a wallet and staking, warrants and other securitised derivatives, and private-market funds offered with partners since 2025, although there are no listed options or futures. A debit card pays 1% Saveback into investments on card spending, subject to conditions such as an active savings plan, and a round-up feature invests spare change. Tax handling depends on where you live. Trade Republic deducts German taxes automatically for German customers and has added local features elsewhere, including automatic tax handling in Austria and an Italian option in which the broker acts as tax withholding agent. In Portugal, interest paid into accounts with Portuguese bank details has 28% tax withheld, but customers should not assume dividends and gains are handled for them, and should check what annual statements cover before tax season.

Trade Republic’s pitch fits in one line — a euro an order, free monthly plans and interest on the cash in between. The trade-off is that you are the customer of an app, not of a full-service broker.

Where it falls short

Growth has strained service. Complaints rose sharply in 2025, an outage hit customers during the April 2025 tariff sell-off when many wanted to trade, and dividend payments were delayed in 2024. The company has since added round-the-clock phone and chat support and hired more than a thousand support staff, but it remains an app-first service in which a phone call is not where most problems get solved. The toolset suits long-term investors better than active traders, with no listed options or futures and fewer research resources than full-service brokers. Tax reporting outside Germany ranges from well integrated to do-it-yourself depending on the country, and nothing here is available to UK residents.

Who it suits

Trade Republic suits European investors who want to put money into ETFs or shares every month at minimal cost, keep cash earning interest in the same app, and rarely need to speak to anyone. It suits less well active traders who want options, futures or advanced order types, investors who need comprehensive tax reports in a country where the service offers few local features, and anyone outside its 18 countries. Under our published methodology it scores 4 out of 5 for Costs & Fees, 3 for Platform & Tools, 4 for Regulation & Trust, 3 for Asset Range and 3 for Account Access & Support. Fees, interest rates and features change frequently and vary by country, so confirm current terms on Trade Republic’s own site. This review is general education, not personal financial advice.

This article is educational and general in nature. It isn’t personalized investment, tax, or legal advice — always weigh your own circumstances, or talk to a licensed professional, before making financial decisions.

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