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Neobrokers have one disadvantage, and that is the selection of shares and ETFs that investors can buy through these platforms. While the most popular shares are almost always included, investors are often disappointed when searching for less popular securities, especially in terms of price. That is why we are looking at why a second account at Captrader can be particularly worthwhile for such cases.
In brief:
- What are the disadvantages of most neo-brokers in Germany?
- Why do investors sometimes pay more than expected when using neobrokers?
- And how can investors get the best prices when buying or selling less popular securities?
Many neo-brokers, but often with a limited range
Neobrokers such as Scalable Capital or Trade Republic often offer their customers €0 costs, but as a rule this only applies to a limited selection. Investors should therefore not expect to have no costs while enjoying a full range of services – this calculation does not add up.
In addition, the choice of trading venues is very limited with the usual neobrokers. For example, investors at Scalable Capital can only trade on gettex or Xetra.
Trade Republic customers can even choose to trade on just one off-exchange venue, the L&S Exchange.
Investors who now want to buy REITs, for example, i.e. real estate investment trusts or, in German, a real estate investment company from America, are usually not well advised by the usual neo-brokers. And as a result, investors may miss out on attractive opportunities, such as the Healthpeak Properties share, which owns over 150 American healthcare properties and currently offers a dividend yield of 4.4%. The market capitalization amounts to $14.54 billion.
Equity Trading in Germany Compared to the NYSE
On its home exchange in New York, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Healthpeak Properties shares are naturally traded very frequently. Significantly more than in Germany. On average, the trading volume for these shares is 4 million in just one day, giving investors attractive prices for buying and selling.
Now let’s look at the same share on the exchange of a classic neobroker in Germany. In this case, on the L&S Exchange from Trade Republic. As can be seen in the following figure, there is hardly any trading volume. In addition, only 2 trades were processed on Monday, January 16, 2023 – over €50 and €900. So almost nothing.
Let’s take a look at the number of units. Here, too, we see a very limited offer of 301 units. Investors can sell these at a price of €24.80 or buy them at a price of €25. Thus, a maximum of €7,525 can be bought or €7,464.80 sold via the L&S Exchange. The difference between these two amounts – the spread – is quite high at €60.20. This is how L&S Exchange and, in this case, Trade Republic make their money. So much for the “€0 costs”.
Now we might think that Xetra, as the largest trading center in Germany, would be a better option for trading Healthpeak Properties shares. But even a quick glance at this trading center makes it clear that this is not the case.
While the trading volume on the L&S Exchange was very small, but at least displayed, it is not even visible on Xetra. This is an indication that the Healthpeak Properties share is also hardly traded on Xetra.
With larger values like Apple, the volume is quite visible.
How can investors now put their money to more profitable use?
For investors who want to invest more than a few hundred euros in the somewhat more unusual shares, it is worth taking a look at Captrader.
On the platform, they can also trade non-typical securities directly in the USA at record low prices, with a minimum fee of just $2. Investors who buy more than 200 shares then pay just 1 cent for each additional share – a very attractive offer.
If we now compare Captrader with other providers, we see that in terms of US trading, no other broker comes close to Captrader in terms of price with a fixed fee of $2 (=€1.85).
But Captrader’s fees are consistently low for global trading in other countries as well, as the following examples show.
US ETF trading
In addition to securities, investors on Captrader also have the exciting opportunity to trade US ETFs that are otherwise not available in Europe. To do this, prospective investors must complete a self-disclosure questionnaire stating that they either have an account with over €500,000 in volume or are an active trader with experience in the financial sector. For the latter, a normal banking apprenticeship is usually sufficient.
This way, investors can now also include only in America-approved ETFs in their portfolio, starting at a fee of $2 and 1 cent for more than 200 ETF shares. However, in this case, investors must also pay tax on everything independently.
There is no automatic payment of taxes when trading US ETFs on Captrader. So with great opportunities comes great responsibility for investors. However, for some, US ETFs can most likely be an interesting addition to their portfolio.
Neobrokers have been enjoying great popularity for some time, especially in Germany. They often offer investors popular securities and ETFs at attractive prices. However, many neobrokers quickly reach their limits when it comes to investors who also want to invest in less popular shares or ETFs.
This is because the trading volume for less common securities in Germany is so low in most cases that prices are often very unattractive.
With Captrader, investors have the opportunity to invest directly in the home country of the respective security at low fees and thus get the best prices. That’s definitely worth a try.
Aleks Bleck is the face of Northern Finance and was already a shareholder, lender and ETF investor at the age of 18. His focus is on P2P loans and passive ETFs. Aleks founded Northern Finance in 2017 while studying business administration in Lu00fcneburg.
He built up the YouTube channel alongside his main job in investment and corporate banking before finally focusing full-time on Northern Finance.
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