Fineco vs comdirect — which broker is better?

Pros

• FinecoBank is an Italian bank directly supervised by the ECB as a significant institution, listed on Euronext Milan (FBK), with a CET1 ratio of 23.18% at 30 June 2026
• Conto Fineco Trading: no monthly fee and 0.19% per order with a EUR 2.95 minimum and EUR 19 maximum on Italian, German and US shares and ETFs
• Zero purchase commission on more than 700 selected ETFs from Fineco AM, Xtrackers, Amundi and iShares, in single orders and in Replay plans
• Regime amministrato: Fineco calculates and pays the tax on capital gains for Italian tax residents
• A very broad range in one account: shares on 26 markets, more than 4,000 bonds, BOT auctions, funds, ETFs, certificates, IDEM, EUREX and CME futures and options, and CFDs
• No custody fee, no inactivity fee and no minimum deposit; SEPA and instant SEPA transfers are free, and Fineco charges nothing for securities transfers
• Multicurrency service with 20 foreign currencies on One, Classic and Max, so trades in USD or GBP can settle without conversion
• FinecoX browser platform at no extra cost, with a multibook of up to 6 books at 10 levels, one-click orders and Excel DDE export

Cons

• Aimed at Italian residents: the service and documents are in Italian, UK operations ceased after Brexit, and accounts for non-residents can only be finalised at a Fineco Center in Italy, not online
• On One, Classic and Max an occasional investor pays EUR 19 per Italian order (USD 12.95 in the US) once the two-month entry price ends, unless monthly commissions reach EUR 100 or the holder is under 30
• Currency conversion carries a spread of 0.0033 points on EUR/USD, about 0.3%, and the Conto Fineco Trading has no Multicurrency, so every foreign trade is converted
• Fineco One and the Conto Fineco Trading come with e-mail support only for most clients; phone support needs Classic (EUR 3.95 a month unless EUR 50,000 of assets) or Max
• Replay ETF plans cost EUR 2.95 per instalment for one ETF outside the promotion, which is steep for small monthly amounts
• No real crypto coins, and we found no fractional shares or demo account; by Fineco's own disclosure, 65.44% of retail CFD accounts lose money

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%