Even on the financial markets, nothing comes for free: trading fees in various forms and amounts are incurred for every transaction. We will show you below which costs you need to be aware of and how you can reduce the charges.
The most important in a nutshell
- Trading fees include all costs incurred for buying and selling shares, ETFs, options, futures, etc.
- The amount, scale and time at which you have to pay may vary depending on the broker - but you will always have to pay sooner or later!
- You can reduce the trading fees with various tricks
Why are there fees for trading?
Whether you are a Equity portfolio with typical Aktien für Anfänger build up or Earn money with day tradingTrading fees are incurred for every stock exchange transaction. Together with the Trading taxes they quickly cause disillusionment among traders and reduce our profits.
Although we can reduce these burdens (in the case of the tax burden, for example, through a VvGmbH), but never completely avoid them. After all, such fees are a cornerstone of our economic system:
And of course trading venues, brokers and other financial service providers also want to make a profit.
Your broker and the exchange through which trading takes place perform a service for you and want to be remunerated accordingly. The trading fees are needed to cover technical infrastructure, system security, legal compliance, personnel costs, licenses and other expenses.
With high-quality providers such as CapTrader, there are additional costs for customer service and other service expenses. Further costs are incurred for additional services, for example a Short sale, . Another market participant lends you assets and would also like to be remunerated for them.
Fees have been charged since the early days of stock exchanges. However, the costs were originally much higher: securities were still actual papers that had to be stored securely. In the event of a sale, messengers were even sent on horseback to deliver the documents.
Then as now, only licensed brokers were authorized to conduct actual trading. Private individuals are prohibited from trading directly on the stock exchange without an intermediary, partly to ensure security and smooth operations.
CapTrader can do that:
CapTrader combines the lowest trading fees with the tax advantages of a foreign broker: you only pay taxes on your profits when you file your own tax return, giving you time to reinvest the capital you have gained during the year for a high return.
These costs are incurred by brokers and exchanges
If you have assets such as Stocks or Trade options, the executing broker and the trading venue are the two most important sources of trading costs. For products such as Warrants, Investment Fund, ETFs and the like, the publishers collect the lion's share of the fees.
In addition to the profit motive of all parties involved, it is above all the technical requirements that cause such expenses:
- Technical infrastructure: The basic infrastructure of servers and co. incurs high costs for acquisition, operation, maintenance and renewal.
- Avoiding latency: Not only with the High frequency trading fractions of a second matter! Waiting times must be minimized by special hardware to allow effective trading.
- Software requirements: Various trading software, real-time price data, signal services such as TraderFox and more have to be integrated. Highly paid experts are needed to meet the high software requirements.
- Security: The strictest security measures are required to protect trading and clients' assets. A very large proportion of trading fees is invested in cyber security.
Furthermore, a Plenty of official specifications be fulfilled. The financial market is a cornerstone of our society and is strictly regulated. In addition to technical requirements, this primarily concerns legal issues. Brokers must therefore employ various legal experts and other specialists, who in turn incur corresponding costs.
CapTrader can do that:
We swim against the tide! Instead of useless, pure AI chatbots and e-mail contact with weeks of waiting time, CapTrader offers you top-class, professional and multiple customer service. Our service team is available by phone to provide you with advice and assistance and consists of experienced traders who are very familiar with global stock market trading.
The most important trading fees at a glance
Although they are often generally summarized as trading fees, they are actually several cost items. Depending on the choice of broker, trading venue and product, they can vary in amount or not occur at all.
It is important to note that the Trading never completely free of charge even if some providers' marketing campaigns advertise it as such. The fees merely appear elsewhere (for example: "No trading fees!", but instead high spreads for every transaction).
The main types of trading fees are:
1. custody account management fee
This "Basic fee" was levied in the past for the mere existence of a securities account. It has already been completely out of fashion. Today, this cost item can only be found at some house and direct banks.
- Some providers still use the custody account management fee to ask inactive investors to pay (“no custody account management fee if at least X transactions are carried out per year”).
- Such brokers are suitable for long-term, passive strategies, such as betting on Shares with high dividends, conceivably unsuitable.
- Such a fee for a custody account is a clear warning signal. Its presence indicates an antiquated and/or very expensive provider.
Good to know:
A securities account management fee applies to a regular securities account / Wertschriftendepot as a "red flag", is still completely normal for many other offerings, such as asset management, and is not a warning signal.
2. order fees / fees per trade
Order fees or commissions are the most common trading fees that traders encounter today. They are one-off costs that are charged for all transactions.
This means that the amount is due both when buying and selling an asset. The concept of charging order fees only for purchases is much rarer.
Settlement is either in fixed amounts per order (in euros, dollars, pounds etc.), as a percentage of the order volume or a mixture of both. All models have their own advantages and disadvantages.
- Fixed fee: A fixed fee per order can be unattractive for active traders who execute many trades. However, those who stake very large sums benefit from fixed amounts compared to percentage fees.
- Percentage fees: If a percentage fee is charged, the financial burden increases with larger amounts of money. The number of trades, on the other hand, is irrelevant and favors active strategies such as Newstrading, Scalping or the Use of volatile shares for day trading.
In practice, there is often a mixture of both forms of settlement. This allows the broker to keep both the fixed costs and the percentage fee low and serve all types of traders and strategies.
3. spreads
As Spread refers to the Difference between purchase price ("ask") and sales price ("bid") of an asset. With strategies such as the Spread-Trading this difference is even exploited!
- The spread is determined by liquidity, i.e. supply and demand.
- Depending on the chosen trading venue, the liquidity and therefore the spread can vary greatly.
- It is worth comparing the conditions on different exchanges before trading.
- A broker with a large selection of trading venues is particularly useful, as you can find the exchange with the largest trading volume and the most favorable spread.
Good to know:
The broker passes on the spread of the trading center to the customer. However, they can also charge additional mark-ups! Many providers use this option as a hidden source of income at the expense of the trader.
Spreads are generally measured in “PIPs” (Percentage in Point). A PIP corresponds to the fourth decimal place. Spreads between 0.0 and 1.0 PIPs are generally considered acceptable. Higher spreads are unsuitable for active strategies, as additional costs are incurred for each transaction.
We recommend that you check any spread premiums carefully before you place a Open an account: High spreads are a popular way of enriching customers relatively unnoticed. If you notice large differences between bid and ask with a provider, this does not exactly speak for their honesty and dealings with customers!
4. rollover and overnight fees
If derivatives such as futures are held overnight, at weekends or on public holidays, additional costs may be incurred. Such surcharges can be found with almost all brokers, but may vary in amount.
They help to ensure that Future Trading and other forms of derivatives trading tend to form short-term strategies - otherwise these rollover costs quickly add up over longer holding periods and jeopardize your profits.
Interesting: If you have been through a Short sale If you take a short position, the overnight fees can be reversed. It is then theoretically even possible to make a profit simply by holding the derivatives.
5. software and platform fees
For the actual trade, the various brokers provide you with a Website, Trading App or a trading program that you can run from your computer. Today, there is almost always a mix of different options, with top-class providers offering several programs at the same time.
Trading fees may also be incurred here: Some of these software solutions are subject to a fee, and some brokers pass these costs directly on to their clients.
Other providers simply smell additional business and therefore charge additional fees, even if they do not have to pay any license fees themselves. Here, too, it is worth taking a closer look: If trading software is offered free of charge by the manufacturer but costs an additional fee from a broker, this does not exactly speak in favor of the provider!
6. premium models
Some providers rely on Alternative billing models and offer trading flat rates, premium memberships or additional services for a fee. In general, there is nothing wrong with such offers; however, we recommend that you always check the actual price-performance ratio, as very high fees are often charged for seemingly unique services.
7. real-time quotes
Especially for fast trading strategies, traders need accurate prices, which should reach them without delay if possible. This quite costly service is a standard feature of many brokers. Additional service for which a fee is charged.
The price varies from provider to provider and is usually paid monthly. These fees can be painful, especially for small amounts of capital.
Those who do not wish to bear these costs usually only receive the price data at longer intervals of 10, 30 or 60 seconds, for example. For long-term investments, for example in current Share trends or Value Aktien, these delayed data are completely sufficient.
At Scalping strategies and other fast trading methods, where fractions of a second are important, real-time quotes are required.
8. other trading fees
In addition to the trading fees mentioned above, there are also some Other cost itemswhich, however, do not affect all market participants. For example, a fee is payable if investors participate in the annual general meeting, such as the Porsche Annual General Meeting 2023, would like to participate. Also a Margin call The costs vary depending on the provider.
In addition, some service providers charge additional, often very curious surcharges. In individual cases, for example, there is a fee when capital is paid out of the custody account into a bank account. Other bizarre extra costs include surcharges for telephone support.
Reduce costs: How you can reduce the fees per trade
The most important question in connection with trading fees is, of course, how to most effectively reduce or avoid these costs. The bad news: Free trading is not possible, even if some providers make it seem that way.
Users pay in any case. If not directly through order fees and the like, then through hidden surcharges, poor spreads or too little choice, which makes effective trading impossible.
However, there are actually some ways to at least reduce expenditure:
1. Choose a broker with low trading fees
The most obvious and by far the best tip is to use a Choose a broker with low fees. The price differences between the individual providers can be enormous - especially for active traders who place a large number of positions. A price comparison is highly recommended here!
Attention!
When comparing brokers, you should always pay attention not only to the costs but also to the selection! If the desired instrument or trading venue etc. is not available, even the lowest trading fees are of no use.
2. Suitable position sizes
If your broker charges a fixed amount per trade, you should keep the number of transactions low. If you have sufficient capital, you can invest large positions and benefit from low costs. If, on the other hand, there is a percentage fee, the number of trades is unimportant and only the amount invested is decisive.
Choose the cost model/provider that suits your personal strategy. Traders who have a high trading volume (e.g. day trading, scalping, Swing trading strategies ...) are often better off with percentage fees, while occasional traders have advantages with fixed amounts.
CapTrader can do that:
At CapTrader, the trading fees are extremely low: you can trade US shares from as little as $ 0.01 per share (order minimum $ 2.00) and German shares from as little as 0.1 % of the order volume (order minimum €2.00), options from €2.00, futures from €1.00, ETFs from €2.00 and much more!
3. Achieve more returns
It may sound absurd, but higher profits are the best antidote to excessive fees! If your return increases or you invest more capital, the costs per trade quickly shrink in comparison.
For successful investors, getting into day trading could be rewarding. Already active traders benefit from tricks such as a Trading Journala refresher course in all things Money managementbetter protection through the Options trading or simply a change of strategy.
Conclusion: Trading fees are unavoidable, but the costs can be minimized
Anyone wishing to become active on the stock exchanges or in over-the-counter trading must commission a broker for all transactions and use a trading venue/stock exchange. In return, both institutions charge trading fees for their services. Which amounts are due and when depends on the provider, the product traded, the transaction amount and more.
Trading costs come in many different forms. Charging for each executed transaction is the most common variant, but surcharges on spreads, additional fees for software licenses and more are also possible.
The custody account management fee, a kind of basic fee for creating and operating a regular custody account, is fortunately almost extinct. Only a few hopelessly antiquated banks still charge them.
Order fees are of great importance today: These are fixed costs or percentage surcharges that are incurred for each transaction. If a provider charges a fixed amount per order, traders can also use large amounts at low cost. Percentage order fees, on the other hand, favor active traders who create many positions.
If you want to reduce your trading costs, the first thing you should do is choose the right broker: Compare selection, terms, tax benefits (German/non-German broker) and more before making a decision. It can be difficult to put the many different fee models into perspective, but the right decision will pay off in the long run!
