Estably vs comdirect — which broker is better?

Pros

• Self-directed Xetra orders at 0.14% with a EUR 3.90 minimum and a EUR 99.00 cap — the lowest per-order minimum among the German-market Interactive Brokers intermediaries
• Eurex options and futures at EUR 2.00 per contract, Mini-DAX futures at EUR 1.00 and CME Micro E-minis at USD 1.25, with EUR 1.80 / USD 3.00 option pricing available through partner sign-ups
• FMA-licensed Liechtenstein asset manager, audited annually by Grant Thornton, participant in the EAS investor compensation system and a member of the VUVL association of independent asset managers
• Managed portfolios can be custodied at Baader Bank, Liechtensteinische Landesbank or St. Galler Kantonalbank — and the Baader route withholds German tax automatically, with a Verlustverrechnungstopf
• Access to more than 150 exchanges in 33 countries and over 1.2 million instruments through Interactive Brokers, with no custody or account fee on the self-directed side
• Unusually deep German-language options material — an options guide, the wheel strategy for beginners, margin requirement explainers and a full TWS/Client Portal handbook
• Personal adviser model with a Liechtenstein phone line and a 4.6 Trustpilot rating from more than 420 reviews

Cons

• The self-directed account withholds no Abgeltungsteuer — German clients must declare everything themselves through their annual tax return, exactly as at any Interactive Brokers intermediary
• EUR 5,000 minimum deposit on the brokerage account and EUR 20,000 on a managed mandate; the margin account additionally requires a minimum age of 21
• Discretionary management costs 1.19% per year plus 0.30% bank charges plus a performance fee whose percentage is not disclosed on the cost page — an odd gap on a page titled 'Transparente Kosten'
• Above roughly EUR 2,860 of order value CapTrader's 0.10% schedule beats Estably's 0.14%: a EUR 10,000 Xetra order costs EUR 14.00 here against EUR 10.00 there
• No Estably-branded trading app — the mobile experience is Interactive Brokers' Mobile Trader, and there is no proprietary web platform equivalent to LYNX+
• Residents of the US, Canada, Australia and Iran cannot open the self-directed account, and Estably's own research output is marketing-led rather than an independent analysis desk

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%