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Calculadora Capital

XTB vs Trade Republic

5 min readReviewed By Thorben Rasmus IdelReviewed by Nahar Geva

Both advertise “zero commission”, so the commission settles nothing. What separates them is the fixed cost per order, and the fact that only one of them is a bank.

Independent: we earn no commission on any product listed on this page. The ranking follows only the criteria below.

Which to choose, depending on your case

  • Choose XTB if…

    XTB logo

    XTB

    You place one-off orders, especially small ones. XTB’s fee schedule carries no fixed per-order cost, so buying €200 costs nothing; at Trade Republic the €1 settlement fee is 0.5% of that investment. It is also the only one of the two supervised by the CMVM, so you can confirm its status in the Portuguese regulator’s register, and investor protection is set at €20,100.

  • Choose Trade Republic if…

    Trade Republic

    You invest regularly and want your idle cash to earn something. Savings plans execute at no cost, which sidesteps the settlement fee entirely, and on a €5,000 investment that euro is 0.02%. It holds a banking licence: uninvested cash is covered by a deposit guarantee up to €100,000 per depositor and earns 3% gross for new clients, up to €50,000.

How we ranked these

We receive no commission from either platform. We verified every figure in each platform’s own documentation, never in comparison sites, and compared them against these criteria:

  • The real cost of an order: the advertised commission plus any fixed fee added to every trade.
  • The effect of order size: a fixed per-order cost penalises small purchases and fades on large ones.
  • The cost of investing regularly: whether automatic savings plans carry a cost of their own.
  • What happens to uninvested cash: whether it earns interest and whether it is deposit-guaranteed.
  • Supervision and investor protection: which regulator oversees the firm, which scheme applies, up to what amount.
  • Fee-schedule transparency: whether the full price list is public or only reachable inside the app.

Side-by-side comparison

Comparison of the reviewed products
ProductStock and ETF commissionFixed cost per orderSavings plansMinimum amountSupervisionProtection
XTB logoXTB0 % até 100 000 €/mêsNão cobradoNão é o modelo da plataforma1 €CMVM e KNF20 100 €
Trade Republic0 €1,00 € de liquidaçãoExecutados sem custo1 €Banco licenciado na AlemanhaAté 100 000 € por depositante

Each option in detail

XTB logo

XTB

XTB S.A.

Supervised by the CMVM and the KNF (Poland)

Best for: One-off orders, especially small ones, and investors who value CMVM supervision and a complete public fee schedule.

Stock and ETF commission
0 % até 100 000 €/mês
Fixed cost per order
Não cobrado
Savings plans
Não é o modelo da plataforma
Minimum amount
1 €
Supervision
CMVM e KNF
Protection
20 100 €

Strengths

  • No commission on stocks and ETFs up to €100,000 of monthly volume, and no fixed per-order fee in the schedule
  • Supervised by the CMVM: status verifiable in the Portuguese regulator’s public register
  • Invest from €1, with no opening, maintenance or withdrawal fees
  • The full fee schedule is public, so costs can be checked before opening an account

Weaknesses

  • No banking licence: uninvested cash is not covered by a deposit guarantee
  • FX conversion at 0.5%, which bites on assets denominated in another currency
  • Above €100,000/month of volume it charges 0.2% per trade, with a €10 minimum
  • Investor protection stops at €20,100, far below the €100,000 of a deposit guarantee
Visit official site →Data verified 13 Aug 2026

Trade Republic

Trade Republic Bank GmbH

Bank licensed in Germany · serves Portugal under the European passport

Best for: Investors putting small amounts in regularly through savings plans, who want idle cash to earn interest and be deposit-guaranteed.

Stock and ETF commission
0 €
Fixed cost per order
1,00 € de liquidação
Savings plans
Executados sem custo
Minimum amount
1 €
Supervision
Banco licenciado na Alemanha
Protection
Até 100 000 € por depositante

Strengths

  • Holds a banking licence, not merely a brokerage authorisation
  • Savings-plan execution and receiving dividends are free
  • Pays interest on uninvested cash: 3% gross for new clients, up to €50,000
  • Partner-bank deposits covered by deposit guarantee up to €100,000 per depositor

Weaknesses

  • “Zero commission” is not zero cost: every order pays a €1.00 settlement fee, and a Direct Price order costs €2
  • That fixed euro is 1% of a €100 purchase, so it penalises small one-off orders
  • The complete price list is only available inside the app
  • Not supervised by the CMVM: primary supervision and the protection scheme are the home country’s
  • The 3% rate is a new-client acquisition offer, not a permanent one
Visit official site →Data verified 12 Aug 2026

Decided? Run the numbers on your own case:

Calculate your capital gains →

Frequently asked questions

Which is cheaper, XTB or Trade Republic?
It depends on how you invest, not on the commission, which is zero at both. On a one-off €200 purchase, XTB charges nothing and Trade Republic charges €1.00 in settlement, that is 0.5% of the amount. On a €5,000 purchase, the same euro is just 0.02%. And if you always invest through the same automatic savings plan, Trade Republic executes it free, so the settlement fee does not apply at all. Small one-off orders favour XTB; regular plan-based investing favours Trade Republic.
If commission is zero, why does Trade Republic charge €1?
Because commission and total cost are not the same thing. Trade Republic charges no commission of its own, but adds a €1.00 settlement fee to every order, and a Direct Price order costs €2. It is a fixed cost, so its weight depends entirely on the amount: the smaller the purchase, the larger the percentage. The platform also states that the complete price list is only reachable inside the app, so there may be costs the public panel does not show.
Is my money protected the same way at both?
No, and it is the most important difference between them. Trade Republic holds a banking licence, so uninvested cash is covered by a deposit guarantee up to €100,000 per depositor. XTB is not a bank: investor protection applies, set at €20,100. In both cases the securities you buy are yours and are segregated from the firm’s own assets, and neither scheme is Portuguese.
Do I have to declare both on my Portuguese tax return?
Yes. Both are foreign firms: they withhold no Portuguese tax, realised capital gains go in Anexo J of the return and a foreign account must be flagged. The reporting responsibility is entirely yours, whichever platform you choose.

Sources

  1. 1.XTB: conta e taxas (comissões, limite de volume, conversão cambial, mínimo, proteção) · XTB · retrieved 13 Aug 2026
  2. 2.Trade Republic: sistema de preços (comissão à ordem, taxa de liquidação, planos de poupança) · Trade Republic · retrieved 12 Aug 2026
  3. 3.Trade Republic: juros sobre o saldo não investido · Trade Republic · retrieved 13 Aug 2026
  4. 4.Registo de intermediários financeiros autorizados · CMVM (Comissão do Mercado de Valores Mobiliários) · retrieved 13 Aug 2026