Saturday, December 25, 2021
Looking for a partner
Your money is looking for a home
By Benjamin Feingold
The same applies to the stock market: The profit lies in purchasing. The right broker and smart investing are important. Investors should look carefully when choosing a partner.
When Manfred Krug touted the T-share as a “people’s share” from 1996 and lured many Germans to the stock exchange at the end of the 1990s, the path to get there was still comparatively difficult. Branch banks are now obsolete, and online brokers with modern user interfaces and very low fees are changing the entire industry. It doesn’t have to be as wild as in the USA with individual stocks driven up by private investors. But everyone can participate in stock trading – from risky to conservative.
In order to win new customers, brokers have to come up with ever more favorable conditions, provide better tools and offer more service. But even if the fierce competition is positive, you should look carefully when choosing a broker. Those who invest a lot of money in advertising increase their awareness, but they are not necessarily the first choice.
Trade Republic has received a lot of attention thanks to its media campaigns and has recently been offering the option of placing trades via desktop in addition to the app. Similar to other neo brokers, however, there is only one exclusive trading venue partner available. What sets providers like Trade Republic apart from ordinary banks and direct banks are their extremely low fees.
Robomarkets is pursuing a new approach with its flat rate for buying shares. Anyone who trades individual stocks several times a day can be in good hands here. A complete package is offered by the domestic providers of smart brokers. Investors have access to all German stock exchanges and electronic trading venues. Internationally, the offer is quite interesting: In theory, 24-hour trading is possible with a connection to 25 stock exchanges abroad such as Canada, Japan and Australia. The product range is complete, and not only traders are addressed. The Berliners are particularly strong in savings plans and have taken the price leadership with a good range of investment funds, ETF, ETC and share savings plans.
Duel in football
Finances.net is known initially as an information portal. With the Munich Stock Exchange Gettex, an electronic trading platform that has been very reliable in recent years is available to its broker offshoot. In any case, this is exemplary for the development on the broker market. Ever new smaller providers are fighting for customers and attacking the market leaders ING, Comdirect or Consorsbank, who were once established. Flatex is also noticeably struggling, because compared to the smart broker, for example, there is a little lack of innovations.
Many traders are already familiar with Etoro among international brokers and should attract even more attention in the coming year. Via Spac, the company is aiming for an IPO and with an estimated market capitalization of ten billion euros, it could weigh around five times that of its Kulmbach competitor Flatex. On the social trading platform, newbies can easily copy the strategies of successful traders. In addition, you can conveniently trade almost all major crypto currencies. A curiosity on the side: As the main sponsor of Borussia Mönchengladbach, Flatex duels every weekend on the advertising spaces of the Bundesliga with eToro, which in turn roll out perimeter advertising across almost the entire league. One thing will remain forever in marketing – King Football reaches the most potential customers. But money doesn’t score goals, neither in the league nor figuratively in the depot. You have to have skill.
Benjamin Feingold operates the stock exchange portal Feingold Research.
This post does not constitute a recommendation by a provider or a recommendation to buy or sell individual shares or other financial products. No liability is assumed for the correctness of the data.