Charles Schwab vs Freedom24 — which broker is better?

Pros

• USD 0 commission on every online listed US stock and ETF order, with no share cap and no proprietary-fund restrictions
• thinkorswim desktop, web and mobile are included free — full options chains, thinkScript, backtesting and paperMoney simulation
• Options at USD 0.65 per contract, with the fee waived on buy-to-close orders at USD 0.05 or less
• Around 7,700 no-transaction-fee mutual funds in Mutual Fund OneSource, plus USD 0 new-issue Treasuries at auction
• 24/7 phone and chat support backed by close to 400 physical branches — an unusual combination for a discount broker
• SEC/FINRA-regulated with SIPC cover and an affiliated FDIC-insured bank; parent company SCHW is NYSE-listed and reports publicly
• Schwab Global Account gives online access to 12 foreign markets in local currency from the same login

Cons

• No spot cryptocurrency trading — only ETFs, futures and crypto-adjacent equities, which puts Schwab behind Fidelity and well behind Robinhood
• The default uninvested cash sweep pays close to nothing (0.01% at the time of writing); you have to manually move idle cash into a money market fund
• Transaction-fee mutual funds cost up to USD 49.95 per purchase, with a USD 74.95 ceiling for some fund families
• Margin rates sit near the top of the US market — roughly 11.8% below USD 25,000, versus mid-single digits at Robinhood
• Stock Slices fractional investing is limited to S&P 500 constituents, so it will not cover a small-cap or ADR watchlist
• Trading foreign stocks through a broker costs the greater of USD 100 or 0.75% of principal, which makes ad-hoc international orders expensive
• Currency conversion adds a percentage charge on top of the commission: 1% of principal per conversion below USD 100,000 in the Schwab Global Account, tapering to 0.2% from USD 1,000,000 — USD 100 on a USD 10,000 conversion. Except on small orders, the conversion charge is larger than the online commission. Outside the Global Account, Schwab's pricing guide allows a markup of up to 300 basis points (3%) on USD/foreign-currency conversions

Pros

• Smart tariff of EUR 2 per order plus EUR 0.02 per share works out at about 0.06% on a EUR 5,000 order of 50 shares
• US options at USD 0.65 per contract undercuts most European brokers and matches US discount pricing
• Roughly one million tradable instruments across 15 venues, including 145,000 bonds and Hong Kong listings
• No custody fee, no account-maintenance fee and no inactivity fee on either retail tariff
• D-account accrues daily interest on idle cash, benchmarked to EURIBOR in euros and SOFR in dollars
• Nasdaq-listed parent (FRHC) files audited accounts with the SEC — more disclosure than most private EU brokers offer
• Free demo terminal before funding, no minimum deposit, and account opening in under 15 minutes

Cons

• EUR 7 per bank withdrawal plus 0.65% (minimum EUR/USD 2) on card withdrawals — 1.4% of a EUR 500 payout
• No fractional shares, which rules out small monthly contributions into high-priced stocks
• Moving out is charged at EUR/USD 100 per outgoing securities transfer, and at 5% of the transferred value (minimum EUR/USD 100) where the holdings were delivered by MT599 within the previous six months — the single most expensive line in the schedule
• Client-facing regulation is CySEC (tier 2) with EUR 20,000 investor compensation, not a top-tier licence
• Settled a EUR 50,000 AML case with CySEC in July 2023, and the parent carries a speculative-grade S&P rating
• Per-share pricing turns expensive on big share counts: a 1,000-share order costs EUR 22 on the Smart plan