CapTrader review: Why the broker is worth considering as a second securities account

CapTrader is one of the oldest German online brokers. And with its huge range of services and favourable terms, it can easily hold its own against its younger competitors!

Here you can find out how large the number of available products really is and why you should have experience in stock market trading at CapTrader. I will also explain exactly what costs you will incur and why a second securities account is a good choice.

91/100

Points

The CapTrader company portfolio for corporations with excellent service

Pay only 1.54% tax on stock and ETF profits instead of 26.275%

Exclusive accounting and tax solution Wave for the lowest tax advisory effort

REDEEM BONUS*

What exactly is CapTrader?

CapTrader has been active since 2011, making it probably the oldest online broker in Germany. At that time, the market for such services was still largely new and very small. It was not until years later that companies such as Trade Republic, Smartbroker and Scalable Capital ensured rapid growth in the sector.

The fact that this pioneer of online brokers is still successful today can be seen as a clear sign of quality. The Düsseldorf-based company has been offering its customers financial services on very favourable terms for over ten years now. It is therefore hardly surprising that user experiences are overwhelmingly positive!

Nevertheless, many readers may be encountering the name CapTrader for the first time here. The broker is relatively unknown among investors. One possible reason for this is that you need to have experience to invest! The company specifically targets advanced investors.

Newcomers are also welcome, but they may be overwhelmed by the extensive range of services and numerous options. The comprehensive knowledge portal with useful videos and regular webinars can help here. However, anyone looking to buy their first share would be better off registering with competitors such as Trade Republic. That doesn’t mean that complete newbies can’t get started with CapTrader – I consider it a perfect second account that even beginners can benefit from due to its enormous selection.

CapTrader attracts customers with a huge range of products

Users who have already had experience with CapTrader repeatedly rave about the huge range of products on offer. And rightly so: more than 1.2 million shares from 33 countries can be traded here on 150 different trading venues in 25 currencies!

This easily outshines all comparable brokers. Are you looking for unknown stocks from small companies at the end of the world? You’re very likely to find what you’re looking for with them! You can even purchase fractions of shares, allowing you to adjust your investment amount much more precisely. This makes even particularly expensive securities affordable.

They focus particularly on shares, but options, futures, forex, warrants, bonds and traditional funds are also available. Many of the products on offer are complex and require a certain amount of specialist knowledge before you can use them effectively. For example, you can trade futures on cryptocurrencies here – a risky asset class with high potential returns that is not suitable for beginners!

Of course, the popular ETFs can also be traded here, but they are not necessarily the broker’s strong point. You have to take a detour via the partner company ‘E-Base’. This gives you access to no less than 1,000 ETFs from all major providers such as Vanguard, Invesco, iShares and Co.

German support and numerous extras

They use software from Interactive Brokers as their technical basis – the largest brokerage platform in the USA and one of the most popular and established solutions worldwide. At the same time, they offer you a British team and British support!

They can be reached via chat, email and even telephone. I contacted customer service several times for this report and can say that my experience has been consistently positive!

While neo-brokers in particular often refer customers to FAQ pages that are of little help or fob them off with unintelligent chatbots, here there are ‘real’ people who deal with my concerns quickly.

I am not the only one who seems to have this excellent impression: a glance at websites such as Trustpilot quickly reveals that other users have also had positive experiences with CapTrader. Here, the exemplary support is also praised and the company is rated an outstanding 4.8 stars.

Different types of custody accounts

They also offer significantly more than their competitors in terms of account types. For most investors, the typical individual account is likely to be the right choice: here, you manage an account on your own, in your name. This is also the standard at other neo-brokers. But the offer doesn’t end there, as there are other options available!

A company deposit account is a special account that you can use for your own business. As such deposit accounts involve additional work for the operator, only a few brokers still offer this type of account. However, you are one of them.

With a joint account, you can open an account with a second person, for example your partner. Both partners can trade here.

A family account is also available. You can even register your children and enable them to gain their first financial experience. The various roles and authorisations make this form very interesting.

Managed accounts are a special type of securities account. Here, you can hire professional portfolio managers to make investments on your behalf, but the capital remains in your possession. This gives you access to the complex strategies of the professionals.

91/100

Points

The CapTrader company portfolio for corporations with excellent service

Pay only 1.54% tax on stock and ETF profits instead of 26.275%

Exclusive accounting and tax solution Wave for the lowest tax advisory effort

REDEEM BONUS*

More than just an app and website

As you would expect from an online broker, you can access your portfolio via a browser or the broker’s own app. Both interfaces offer you all functions in a clear format, which is particularly important given the large number of assets available.

But what sets CapTrader apart from its competitors are its additional offerings: every user receives free access to the Trader Workstation and Agenda Trader. Users normally have to dig deep into their pockets for these two trading programmes. They are clearly aimed at professional traders who, for example, want to automate large parts of their investment strategy.

I don’t currently need these tools for my buy-and-hold strategy, so my experience is limited to the ‘regular’ web and app interface. However, such professional programmes may be of interest to you.

CapTrader also offers you the opportunity to simulate your investments. With a simple click, you can switch your portfolio from ‘Live’ to “Paper” and execute transactions with ‘play money’. This is ideal for calculating costs and results through test purchases, for example. Of course, you can also use this method to gain your first experience with CapTrader.

Costs at CapTrader

Along with choosing a broker, trading costs are the most important factor. What good is the largest selection of shares and other securities if every transaction eats into our returns? With CapTrader, this risk should not exist.

As is customary with neo-brokers, there is no CapTrader fee for a regular securities account. However, costs are charged for trading shares, options and similar instruments, which depend heavily on the trading venue and the volume of your order.

Depending on the trading venue, you can buy or sell shares in Germany for as little as €2 per order! This means that they are not the cheapest online broker, but they certainly have no reason to shy away from the competition.

You can also trade directly in other European countries without having to worry about particularly high costs: you can get started here from as little as €4. Similar fee models await you in Canada, Mexico and Asia. They vary from trading venue to trading venue, but are extremely low compared to other brokers!

Unbeatable: you can even trade on the US stock exchanges from $2 per transaction! The cost model is also more than fair and only rises above the $2 minimum for huge sums. This means you would have to buy Apple shares worth over $32,000 before the transaction price climbs above the $2 mark.

In order to gain as much experience with CapTrader as possible, I naturally tried out some of these offers. Although I did not use all of the different products, the fees I was charged for all transactions involving ETFs, shares, etc. always corresponded exactly to the information provided by CapTrader.

My CapTrader experience: The total costs of two ETFs are in line with the terms and conditions.

91/100

Points

The CapTrader company portfolio for corporations with excellent service

Pay only 1.54% tax on stock and ETF profits instead of 26.275%

Exclusive accounting and tax solution Wave for the lowest tax advisory effort

REDEEM BONUS*

Fees for options, CFDs, futures and forex

As the range of products on offer is so extensive, it can be difficult to keep track of the costs. However, you can generally be sure that you are getting a fair price for all products.

This means that, just like with shares, options, ETFs and CFDs cost €2 each if you choose the cheapest trading venue. Futures are even available from as little as €1. Warrants and certificates, on the other hand, cost €6, while bonds cost €8.

Forex trading, i.e. trading in foreign currencies, is also particularly exciting. With forex trading, you can exchange any amount between different currencies and only have to pay a minimum fee of 3.75 euros. There is also a percentage fee, but as with shares, the amount is so low that it is very difficult to exceed the minimum: you would have to transfer more than €100,000 into another currency before your fee exceeds €3.75!

This makes them ideal for investing larger amounts of euros in crisis-proof Swiss francs, for example. Price speculation with volatile currencies is also possible, of course. In return for your fee, you will naturally receive the official interbank exchange rate, i.e. the best available rate, without any further deductions.

All conditions at a glance:

My CapTrader experience: the perfect secondary broker

I have been using CapTrader for quite some time now and consider the Düsseldorf-based company to be the ideal secondary broker: I take advantage of its extensive range of services to expand my portfolio with international shares and other investments. What’s more, I pay significantly lower fees than with comparable brokers!

‘Secondary broker’ is by no means meant to be derogatory! In my opinion, there is no reason not to use CapTrader as your primary broker and to handle all your investments here. For me personally, however, ETFs play the main role in my investment strategy. Although these are also available, they are not the focus at CapTrader and must be purchased through the provider E-Base. Therefore, I will continue to purchase my exchange-traded funds from the competition.

However, with 1.2 million securities, they are always there when I want to add more stocks. Thanks to the large number of trading venues, even ‘standard shares’ can often be purchased at significantly lower prices: different spreads and fees mean that buying directly abroad, for example, is usually much cheaper.

It is particularly exciting when it comes to small- or mid-cap stocks, i.e. the shares of small and medium-sized companies. For example, I use the broker to buy bonds from P2P companies. This allows me not only to invest my money directly in P2P loans, but also to benefit from the success of the entire industry and the companies involved!

My CapTrader experience with precisely these types of stocks shows that by purchasing them directly on their home exchange (for example, Riga, Latvia, where many P2P companies are based), I save more than 50% in fees compared to other brokers. That is, if they are even offered at all! Because such small stocks are usually nowhere to be found among competitors.

91/100

Points

The CapTrader company portfolio for corporations with excellent service

Pay only 1.54% tax on stock and ETF profits instead of 26.275%

Exclusive accounting and tax solution Wave for the lowest tax advisory effort

REDEEM BONUS*

Conclusion: Not free, but worth every penny!

Despite its very long history (for an online broker), it is a largely unknown provider. The Düsseldorf-based company does not target beginners and does not attract them with free offers, as Trade Republic, Smartbroker or Scalable Capital do.

Instead, experienced investors in particular will get their money’s worth here, as they will find everything an investor’s heart desires: they offer you a huge selection of over 1.2 million securities, funds, CFDs, ETFs and more! Here you can trade on over 150 trading venues in 33 countries.

Every purchase or sale incurs fees – a major difference to other online brokers, which often offer free services. This makes CapTrader more appealing to advanced investors who already have a little more capital at their disposal. CapTrader is extremely affordable, especially for larger sums, thanks to its low percentage fees!

This makes them one of the most interesting offerings out there and an ideal ‘second deposit’ for me. Because if, like me, you particularly enjoy investing in ETFs, you won’t want to miss out on other providers. But when it comes to shares and other securities, and you want to buy internationally and as cheaply as possible, there’s hardly any way around CapTrader!

My positive experiences with CapTrader are further enhanced by the excellent German support and numerous additional offers. For example, when you register, you receive free access to professional trading software and can choose from various types of securities accounts for your family or business. You will hardly find such extras with other neo-brokers!

In my opinion, this makes them the ‘insider tip’ among neo-brokers: a huge range of products, excellent service and fair prices make this German provider an important partner for building your wealth!

91/100

Points

The CapTrader company portfolio for corporations with excellent service

Pay only 1.54% tax on stock and ETF profits instead of 26.275%

Exclusive accounting and tax solution Wave for the lowest tax advisory effort

REDEEM BONUS*

FAQ – Frequently asked questions