Trade Republic
Key Data
- Trading Name: Trade Republic
- Legal Entity: Trade Republic Bank Gmbh
- Activities: Bank/Neobroker
- Location: Berlin, Germany
- Regulations: regulated Bank Institute in Germany/BaFin
- Key People: Christian Hecker (Founder)/Thomas Pischke (Founder)/Marco Cancellieri (Founder)/Andreas Torner (Managing Director)/Gernot Mittendorfer (Managing Director)
Trade Republic, a European investment platform and bank, offers diverse investment options, including stocks, ETFs, bonds, derivatives, and cryptocurrencies. It operates under the regulation of Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) and the Deutsche Bundesbank, ensuring a high standard of financial compliance and security.
Originally established as Neon Trading in 2015 in Munich, Trade Republic was developed with the support of Comdirect Bank. Since then, the company has shifted its headquarters to Berlin, Germany, reflecting its growth and evolution in the European financial sector.
Trade Republic has garnered a substantial customer base, now serving millions of users and managing billions in assets across 17 European nations.
The platform processes transactions through LS Exchange and collaborates with renowned certificate providers such as HSBC Trinkaus, Citibank, Société Générale, and UBS. Trade Republic earns commissions from these financial partners for transactions carried out, adding a revenue stream to its business model.
Offering
The platform offers a wide range of investment options, including savings plans for ETFs, stocks, and crypto. Trade Republic also provides 4% interest on cash balances, which is calculated daily and paid out monthly. The platform is available on iOS and Android devices, and requires users to have a European mobile number and a SEPA bank account.
Trade Republic offers four different financial instruments: Stocks (9,000+), ETFs (2,000+), Bonds (500+), Cryptos (50+), and Derivatives (10,000+). All of these assets are traded in EUR
in 2024 Trade Republic has unveiled a Visa debit card with a unique twist: one percent cashback on expenditures directed into a user’s stock or ETF savings plan.
Fees
Trade Republic’s fees are transparent and there are no hidden costs. Users can buy stocks for as low as €1 and trade derivatives with premium partners such as Citi, HSBC, Société Générale, and UBS. The platform also allows users to hold crypto like Bitcoin or Ethereum around the clock, regulated in Germany.
Regulation
Yes, Trade Republic is regulated by the Federal Bank of Germany and the top-tier German regulator BaFin. This means that Trade Republic is a trusted platform with millions of customers and billions of assets under management across 17 European countries
Controversy
During the GameStop stock surge in January 2021, Trade Republic imposed a buying halt on selected stocks, citing an extreme market situation. The decision faced criticism and accusations of market manipulation. Politicians called for investigations, and the company later apologized. The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) found no evidence of market manipulation by Trade Republic after examining user complaints in March 2021.
Experienced Issues
Trade Republic has faced several criticisms and challenges:
- Customer Service Issues: Users have reported difficulties in reaching customer support, citing unresponsiveness and delays in addressing inquiries.(Computer Bild)
- Delayed Dividend Payments: There have been instances where customers experienced delays in receiving dividend payouts, leading to dissatisfaction among investors.(Börse Online)
- Technical Glitches: Some users have encountered technical problems, including issues with the app’s functionality and order execution, which have affected trading experiences. (Computer Bild)
- Regulatory Scrutiny: The German financial regulator, BaFin, has reportedly received numerous complaints about Trade Republic, prompting closer examination of the company’s operations.(Merkur)
- Marketing Practices: Trade Republic faced criticism from consumer protection agencies over certain marketing strategies, particularly concerning promotions linked to their credit card offerings.
People
- Christian Hecker (Founder)
- Thomas Pischke (founder)
- Marco Cancellieri (Founder)
- Andreas Torner (Managing Director)
- Gernot Mittendorfer (Managing Director)
Customer review
Trustpilot 3,9 Stars with 15.000+ Reviews
Forbes: 4,8 Stars
News
Trade Republic has unveiled a Visa debit card with a unique twist: one percent cashback on expenditures directed into a user’s stock or ETF savings plan. The move aims to eliminate barriers to entry for investors and positions Trade Republic as a competitor to traditional Neobanks. Founder Christian Hecker emphasizes a focus on investment, offering a four percent interest rate, fee-free accounts, and bonuses for ETF savings plans. The integration of investment and daily spending challenges conventional banking norms. Trade Republic’s growth, with four million customers and 35 billion euros in wealth, culminates in its first-ever profit after a challenging 2022.
Conclusion
We could not find anything negative around Trade Republic, all data as well as a Bafin license and a German bank license are available and also the customer ratings are positive therefore we rate them green
Deceptive Financial Institute Likely to Face Public Scandal as Hidden Truths Emerge
Trade Republic (or rather, Clown Republic) is essentially just a broker with an added banking license. This was precisely why I initially chose them. The concept seemed ideal: benefiting from the full ECB savings interest, easily investing in ETFs and stocks, and even making payments from the same account. Everything in one place, convenient!
Well… I fell for it.
Their entire system is designed to lure in novice investors. The so-called “in-depth” reviews on financial websites? Superficial and likely paid. They’re written for people who have no idea what an indicator is, don’t know what long or short means, and have never heard of TradingView or professional trading platforms. That’s exactly the target audience Trade Republic wants to attract.
They entice you with the full ECB interest and make you feel like you’re with a reliable European bank. But once you delve deeper into their “system,” you realize how incredibly limited and amateurish their platform is. The fact that they have “Trade” in their name is a joke in itself.
Why are they “app-only”? Probably because they couldn’t afford decent software developers. Their app is so poorly designed that I seriously think they hired a team from Fiverr. They try to mask this worthless, half-baked application behind marketing talk about “user-friendliness.”
And then this: a broker-bank that’s unreachable by phone? That should already be a gigantic red flag. Their email correspondence is a downright farce. A scam call center in India would come across as more reliable than the ‘customer service’ of these financial clowns.
But here’s the real scandal.
Due to a technical malfunction, I lost all my invested money in a derivative. When my sell order should have been executed as intended, my maximum loss should have been 21.5%. But instead, I ultimately lost 100% of my investment, in less than 24 hours, after adding an additional €500 to save my position.
My sell order simply wasn’t executed.
And the response I received?
14-11-2024 16:03 “Your order of DE000SY9KCY5 was canceled due to a temporary technical issue with one of our partners and then incorrectly executed by the partner. Our team has already processed the cancellation of the transactions. This includes the return of the shares or cash associated with the transaction.”
Read this again. This is nothing more than: “Oops, sorry, technical problem, tough luck.”
Instead of a calculated loss of max. €1,500~ of the €7,300~, I ultimately lost €7,816. Why? Because I tried to save my position and added another €500~ the next day. But thanks for the worthless shares, Clown Republic!
And now comes the most reprehensible part:
I already knew their customer service was disastrous. That’s why I included this request in my first email:
5-11-2024 21:23 “I urgently request the relevant log files and associated documentation from October 14 to 30.”
What do you think? Received nothing. No log files. No explanation. No responsibility. I sent a follow-up on 14-11-2024 17:22. To date? No response.
And I understand very well why.
Because if you’re committing financial fraud, you naturally don’t want to respond to this part of my email:
“Additionally, I once again request all relevant logs, communications, and technical reports that can provide clarity on the exact course of this transaction. If you think of dismissing this matter again with an inadequate or incomplete answer, I will take further steps with this information.”
Now let’s discuss the opaque contracts of Société Générale (SocGen) on Clown Republic’s so-called ‘trading’ platform. Or should we call it a gambling platform when it comes to derivatives? A platform devoid of indicators, presenting only a superficial area chart. Where you need to grab your calculator to set your Take-Profit (TP) or Stop-Loss (SL). And as if that’s not enough, here you can trade stocks with a leverage factor of 10, and even a factor of 15 for commodities. But beware: you must CHOOSE between a TP or an SL; setting both is not an option. Seriously, you might as well hire these clowns for your kid’s birthday party; it’s like watching a clown in a suit.
And we haven’t even touched on the number of steps required before you can place an order. Not to mention a market sell order, which you can only place after navigating through five or more screens to cancel your TP or SL limit order; otherwise, you can’t place it. You can place multiple SL or TP orders for a certain number of ‘shares’, but each additional one adds three or more extra screens to tap through to cancel them if you want to place another type of order. Hilarious, right? Very user-friendly, especially when trading derivatives (sarcasm).
All these factor instruments are offered by Société Générale (SocGen). They make good money on Clown Republic, as hundreds, if not thousands, of their factor instruments have been closed since October. These contracts are then replaced within a few days by the exact same contract, loaded with dubious euphemisms. That’s due to their ‘adjustment mechanism’, or the underlying price closure percentage, or as I call it, ‘theft percentage’. This ‘adjustment mechanism’ is explained in the contract in as many words, with little meaning, as vaguely as possible. Whoever wrote it must have taken a course in ‘how to write as poorly as possible’, or is well-paid to do so; one of the two. This is how they steal all your money invested in that derivative when the underlying price hits their ‘theft percentage’. If the underlying price drops 8.5% and you’ve invested in a call (long) contract with a ‘theft percentage’ of 8.5%, this instrument is closed at that percentage, and all your invested money is literally worth just a few cents.
This actually happened to me with a Tesla factor 10 derivative (ISIN: DE000SY9KC93). Tesla had dropped significantly after their robotaxi announcement in October 2024. I entered this trade with a small amount after Tesla had dropped about 6%. However, Tesla continued to drop and reached the ‘theft percentage’. I was around a 30% loss at that point and even tried to buy more ‘shares’. I had no idea what the ‘theft percentage’ actually meant at the time but initially trusted it was nothing special. It turned out that it was no longer possible to buy more shares in this instrument. I looked further and later saw that my investment in this had, without warning, become worth just a few cents. So, you’re not warned when they empty your account after the ‘theft percentage’ is reached, nor that the price is close to such a ridiculous ‘adjustment mechanism’.
Let me give you an even clearer example: the underlying price has dropped 8.49%. You invest 1 million in a long/call factor 10 derivative with a ‘theft percentage’ of 8.50% because you’re confident a retracement/reversal is coming. A second later, the price drops 0.01% and then shoots up! Great, you bought the bottom; it went exactly as you expected. But oh wait, why is the chart suddenly frozen? Because on TradingView, you see the price has already jumped up 1%! A few minutes later, you see that your 1 million is maybe worth a euro. The rest of the money is transferred by one of the clowns to SocGen, and I think they keep a nice percentage of it themselves. Sounds very legal.