LYNX vs comdirect — which broker is better?

Pros

• LYNX+ is a genuinely good browser platform, and having it alongside full Trader Workstation access means you can start simple and grow into the terminal
• No minimum deposit and no custody or account fee for individual and joint accounts
• Eurex options at EUR 2.00 per contract, Micro-DAX futures at EUR 0.99 and CME Micro E-minis at USD 2.50 — the derivatives schedule is competitive
• Börse LYNX is one of the strongest free German-language education and analysis libraries any broker publishes, with a substantial webinar programme
• German-language service desk on a free number Monday to Thursday until 20:00, rated 4.8 on Trustpilot from over 760 reviews
• Trading since 2006 through a Dutch AFM-authorised entity with a BaFin-supervised German branch, and access to 100-plus exchanges in over 30 countries
• Free outbound transfers if you leave, which is rarer in Germany than it should be

Cons

• The most expensive of the German Interactive Brokers introducing brokers on equities: 0.14% with a EUR 5.80 Xetra minimum and a USD 5.00 minimum on US shares, against CapTrader's EUR 4.00 and USD 2.00
• Currency conversion costs 0.005% with a EUR 5.00 minimum — two and a half times Interactive Brokers' own rate, and a permanent drag on any multi-currency portfolio
• No Abgeltungsteuer is withheld, so German investors must declare everything through Anlage KAP; and a German withholding-tax certificate costs EUR 30.00 per line on top
• Investor compensation is the Irish scheme's 90% of EUR 20,000 for EEA clients — thin next to the EUR 100,000 German deposit guarantee investors expect
• Business accounts pay a EUR 15.00 monthly minimum activity fee whenever commissions fall short of that amount
• The Stock Yield Enhancement Program hands LYNX a quarter of your securities-lending revenue, and there is no spot crypto despite the crypto-broker marketing

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%