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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

This comparison is not the result of any commercial agreement. 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% up to €100,000/monthNot chargedNot how the platform works€1CMVM and KNF€20,100
Trade Republic€0€1.00 settlement feeExecuted at no cost€1Bank licensed in GermanyUp to €100,000 per depositor

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% up to €100,000/month
Fixed cost per order
Not charged
Savings plans
Not how the platform works
Minimum amount
€1
Supervision
CMVM and 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 and no 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
  • Charges €10 a month in maintenance if the account goes 365 days without a trade and 90 without a deposit
Visit official site →Data verified 29 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 settlement fee
Savings plans
Executed at no cost
Minimum amount
€1
Supervision
Bank licensed in Germany
Protection
Up to €100,000 per depositor

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 29 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
  5. 5.XTB, Tabela de Taxas e Comissões de 29 de junho de 2026: taxa mensal de manutenção de conta e as duas condições que a desencadeiam · XTB, S.A. Sucursal em Portugal · retrieved 29 Aug 2026