Opening a Trade Republic account in 2026 takes most people under 15 minutes, start to finish, on a smartphone. Trade Republic is a Berlin-based neobroker that has held a full banking licence from the European Central Bank since December 2023, which means it is supervised by Germany's BaFin and the Bundesbank — the same regulatory regime that applies to a traditional bank, not the lighter e-money licence used by some app-based competitors. If you are still weighing brokers, it can help to compare it against an alternative like Scalable Capital before you commit.
This guide walks you through the exact steps to open and verify an account, what you need on hand, and the current fee and regulatory situation you should understand before you fund it.
Before You Start: What You Need
Gather these items so you are not interrupted mid-flow:
- A smartphone (iOS or Android) — the account is opened in the app, not on desktop.
- A valid government photo ID (passport or national ID card).
- Your tax identification number (in Germany, the Steuer-Identifikationsnummer).
- A bank account in your name for the reference/funding transfer.
- An EU/EEA residential address in a country where Trade Republic operates — it serves roughly 17 EU markets, with Poland added in 2025 (date approximate; check the app for the current country list).
You must be at least 18. Verification is done digitally, so a working front-facing camera and good lighting help the process pass on the first attempt.
Step 1: Download the App and Register
Download the Trade Republic app from the Apple App Store or Google Play. Open it and tap to create a new account. You will enter your email address, choose a secure password, and set up a PIN that you will use to confirm actions inside the app.
Trade Republic is app-first by design. The whole onboarding is built around one core workflow: set up an account, automate a savings plan, and leave it alone. Account fees, custody fees, and inactivity fees are not charged.
Step 2: Enter Your Personal Details
Next, provide your personal information:
- Full legal name as it appears on your ID.
- Date and place of birth.
- Residential address.
- Nationality and country of tax residence.
- Your tax identification number.
Accuracy matters here. A common cause of later friction — and a frequent complaint in user reviews — is a mismatch between the name on your account and the name on your funding bank account. Enter everything exactly as it appears on your official documents.
Step 3: Verify Your Identity
Trade Republic verifies identity digitally, typically through a photo/video identification flow inside the app. You will:
- Photograph the front and back of your ID document.
- Complete a short liveness check (following on-screen prompts with your camera).
- Confirm the details extracted from your document.
Most verifications complete within minutes. If the automated check cannot read your document clearly, you may be asked to repeat the capture in better light. Keep your ID flat, avoid glare, and make sure all four corners are visible.
Note: Trade Republic holds a full banking licence, so the identity checks follow standard German anti-money-laundering requirements. This is normal and applies to any regulated bank account.
Step 4: Set Up Your Account and IBAN
Once verified, your securities account and a personal IBAN are activated. The IBAN lets you transfer money in, hold uninvested cash, and use the associated debit card and Saveback features if you opt into them.
The debit card is worth a quick look during setup. Saveback gives back a percentage of qualifying card spending into a savings plan of your choice, effectively recycling everyday purchases into your investments. The card draws directly on your IBAN balance rather than on credit, so there is no separate credit application. Neither the card nor Saveback is mandatory — you can run the account purely for ETF investing and ignore them entirely.
Trade Republic pays variable interest on uninvested cash tied to the ECB deposit facility rate; as of mid-2026 this stood at approximately 2.00% (check the app for the current figure, as it changes with ECB policy decisions). Cash deposits are covered by the German deposit guarantee scheme up to €100,000; balances swept into money market funds are segregated but not covered by deposit insurance, so it is worth understanding which pot your cash sits in.
| Where your cash sits | Protection |
|---|---|
| Cash held on your IBAN | German deposit guarantee scheme, up to €100,000 |
| Cash swept into money market funds | Segregated assets, but not covered by deposit insurance |
| Securities you buy (ETFs, stocks) | Held in segregated custody, your property |
Step 5: Fund Your Account
Transfer money from your reference bank account to your new Trade Republic IBAN. Use SEPA transfer; the funds typically arrive within one to two business days. You can also set up a standing order if you plan to invest regularly.
Important: send the transfer from an account in your own name to avoid the name-mismatch rejections noted earlier.
Step 6: Place Your First Order or Savings Plan
With funds available you can:
- Buy a single position. A flat €1 third-party settlement fee applies per stock, ETF, bond, or derivative trade, regardless of order size.
- Set up an ETF savings plan. Savings-plan executions are free, starting from €1 per month, and support fractional shares. Trade Republic offers a broad UCITS ETF catalogue covering major indices such as MSCI World, S&P 500, and FTSE All-World.
For most beginners building a long-term portfolio, the automated savings plan is the simplest route: pick an ETF, set a monthly amount, and let it run. For current ETF savings-plan conditions and any sign-up promotions, see the Trade Republic page on CouponsVault before you finalise your setup.
German Tax Setup: The Freistellungsauftrag
If you are tax-resident in Germany, set up a Freistellungsauftrag (exemption order) inside the app. This lets Trade Republic apply your annual Sparerpauschbetrag — the tax-free allowance on investment income (1,000 euros for singles, 2,000 euros for jointly assessed couples) — before withholding the Kapitalertragsteuer. Without it, tax is withheld from the first euro of gains or interest and you would need to reclaim it via your tax return. You can usually find this under the tax or settings section of the app.
A few practical points: the allowance is shared across all your banks and brokers, so if you also hold accounts elsewhere you split the total €1,000/€2,000 across providers — you cannot claim the full amount at each one. You can adjust the figure you assign to Trade Republic at any time during the year. Married couples who file jointly need to set up a joint Freistellungsauftrag to use the doubled allowance. Because Trade Republic acts as a German paying agent, it also handles the Kapitalertragsteuer, solidarity surcharge, and (where applicable) church tax automatically, which spares most German residents from declaring these gains separately — though you should still keep your annual tax statement from the app for your records.
Fees and the 2026 PFOF Ban: What to Know
Here is the Trade Republic fee schedule at a glance, followed by the regulatory facts that matter for 2026.
| Action | Cost |
|---|---|
| Single trade (stock, ETF, bond, derivative) | €1 flat third-party settlement fee |
| ETF savings plan execution | Free (from €1/month) |
| Account fee | €0 |
| Custody fee | €0 |
| Inactivity fee | €0 |
Trade Republic's order execution has run through Lang & Schwarz Exchange under a payment-for-order-flow (PFOF) model, where the broker receives a rebate for routing orders. The EU has adopted a broad ban on PFOF. Germany used a temporary exemption — notified to ESMA in March 2024 — which expires on 30 June 2026, after which PFOF is no longer permitted for German clients.
Two documented developments are relevant to anyone opening an account now:
- BaFin MTF licence (January 2026): A Trade Republic subsidiary obtained a BaFin licence to operate a multilateral trading facility (MTF), giving the company the option to internalise more of its trading infrastructure after the PFOF phase-out. As of early 2026, how fully it activates this venue is still being rolled out.
- Company statements on pricing: Trade Republic has stated that PFOF accounts for less than 30% of its revenue, according to the company's own disclosures. The company has communicated that the €1 third-party settlement fee will remain in place and that savings plans stay free, with the MTF venue and interest income on deposits as the planned replacements for PFOF revenue.
ESMA and several national regulators (including in the Netherlands and Spain) have publicly studied PFOF and raised concerns that PFOF venues can deliver worse execution prices for retail investors. For a passive savings-plan investor making small, regular ETF purchases, the practical day-to-day impact of the execution venue is minimal; for active traders placing large or less-liquid orders, the bid-ask spread on a single venue is worth watching. Competing neobrokers such as those listed on the Scalable Capital page operate their own execution venues, so comparing spreads is reasonable if you trade actively.
Quick Recap
- Download the app and register with email, password, and PIN.
- Enter personal details and your tax ID exactly as on your documents.
- Verify your identity via the in-app document and liveness check.
- Activate your account and IBAN.
- Fund via SEPA transfer from an account in your own name.
- Place a €1 trade or set up a free ETF savings plan.
- German residents: file a Freistellungsauftrag.
For current promotions and any sign-up conditions, check the Trade Republic offers page before you complete setup.
Conditions: Fees, interest rates, product availability, and regulatory details can change and vary by country and over time; figures marked as variable may differ when you read this. Always confirm current terms in the app or on Trade Republic's official site before acting. This article is informational and not financial or tax advice.
Affiliate Disclosure: CouponsVault may earn a commission if you open an account or make a purchase through links on this page, at no extra cost to you. This does not influence the facts presented.