comdirect vs Nordnet — which broker is better?

Pros

• The broadest product range of the three German incumbents: shares, ETFs, funds, bonds, certificates, warrants, CFDs and direct Eurex options and futures in one depot
• Excellent platform stack — ProTrader for real-time multi-monitor trading, O&F-Trader with a margin simulator, CFD Trader with a free demo, plus a documented REST API and stock3, TraderFox and Quant4you integrations
• Cash sits behind Commerzbank AG: statutory EdB cover of EUR 100,000 plus the voluntary BdB Einlagensicherungsfonds protecting private individuals up to EUR 3 million, with direct ECB supervision as a significant institution
• Custody is now free for depots opened from 15 July 2026, and the second depot has always been free
• Cheap Eurex derivatives pricing: EUR 1.50 per single-stock option contract and EUR 1.50 for the MicroDAX future, each with a EUR 9.90 execution minimum
• Fully tax-simple for German residents — automatic Abgeltungsteuer withholding, Freistellungsauftrag, loss-offset pots and free annual tax certificates
• A EUR 1.00 Pure Depot exists for investors who only need gettex and savings plans, and a 15% Viel-Trader discount rewards 125+ trades per half-year

Cons

• Standard commissions are among the highest in the market: EUR 4.90 plus 0.25% of order value, minimum EUR 9.90 and maximum EUR 59.90, plus a EUR 2.50 venue fee — roughly four times what flatex charges on a EUR 10,000 order
• Savings plans cost 1.50% of the amount invested per execution. On a EUR 500 monthly ETF plan that is EUR 7.50 a month, or EUR 90 a year, where Consorsbank and flatex both charge zero
• Customer service is the standout failure: 1.4 out of 5 on Trustpilot across 4,117 reviews, dominated by complaints about extremely long telephone hold times and unhelpful responses, despite the advertised 24/7 desk
• The advertised EUR 3.90 per trade applies only to new depot customers for 36 months, after which the full tariff returns — the headline number is not the price you end up paying
• The cheap Pure Depot is heavily restricted: gettex only, no off-exchange trading, no derivatives, no IPOs, no ProTrader, no securities credit, no joint or second depot
• No spot cryptocurrency and no wallet — exposure is limited to crypto certificates and ETNs, and foreign trades settle at Commerzbank reference rates rather than a published percentage markup; comdirect's own cost disclosure estimates the conversion at 1%

Pros

• Commission from 0.25% with a SEK 1 minimum on Nordic orders up to SEK 15,600 — small monthly share purchases are genuinely viable
• New customers start in the 'Kom igång' class with commission-free Nasdaq Stockholm trading (up to 500 share transactions a year) and fund fees refunded
• Nordnet Bank AB holds a Swedish banking licence under Finansinspektionen, and parent Nordnet AB (publ) is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm as SAVE
• Two separate protection layers: the Swedish deposit guarantee on cash and the Swedish investor compensation scheme on securities
• Broad for a domestic broker — shares, ETFs, mutual funds with no dealing charge, options, futures, warrants, certificates and bonds
• No custody fee, no platform fee, no inactivity fee and no minimum deposit
• Nordnet reports to the Nordic tax authorities and the ISK wrapper removes per-trade capital gains declarations entirely
• Scale that is easy to verify: 2.5 million customers, SEK 1,374 billion of savings capital and 17.6 million trades in a single quarter

Cons

• Residents of Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland only — there is no route in from Germany, Austria, Switzerland or the rest of the EU
• Automatic currency exchange costs 0.25%, and the 0.075% route needs a free currency account — open to everyone only on an ordinary aktie- och fonddepå, restricted to private banking and active trading clients on an ISK or KF, and never available on fund orders
• Commission classes step by order size, and the Nordic minimum jumps from SEK 1 to SEK 39 at SEK 15,600 — though a SEK 15,000 order already costs SEK 37.50 at 0.25%, so the real step at the boundary is small
• Support is weekday office hours only, in Nordic languages plus English; there is no 24/5 desk and Trustpilot sentiment is markedly weaker than app-store sentiment
• The Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Finnish price lists have different structures and different numbers, which makes cross-border comparison genuinely confusing
• No fractional shares on ordinary orders, no demo account, no spot forex and no CFDs — active traders will find the toolkit thinner than a specialist platform