Trade Republic

Trade Republic Bank GmbH is a German online broker in Berlin. Shares, bonds, derivatives and cryptocurrencies can be traded on a mobile app. In January 2024, Trade Republic said it had four million customers in 17 markets, including 2.5 million in Germany. According to co-founder Christian Hecker, Trade Republic is the "largest broker in Europe" and manages assets of around 35 billion euros.

History
Trade Republic was founded in Munich in 2015 under the name Neon Trading in the startup incubator of Comdirect Bank. The company's founders are philosopher Christian Hecker, physicist Thomas Pischke and computer scientist Marco Cancellieri. In 2017, Düsseldorf-based Sino AG invested in the startup and acquired the majority of the company's shares. In 2019 and 2020, venture capitalists Creandum, Project A Ventures, Accel Partners and Founders Fund invested over 60 million euros in Trade Republic; Sino sold shares and was henceforth no longer the majority owner.

Securities trading via app was offered in Germany for a closed user group starting in February 2019 and without user restrictions starting in May 2019. As of April 2020, Trade Republic had 150,000 users. More than one-third of customers had "never bought a stock or invested in an ETF before" according to Trade Republic. Users were "on average in their mid-30s" and "male".

Trade Republic began offering its services in Austria in November 2020, as well as in France and Spain in 2021. By the end of 2020, the company reportedly had 600,000 customers with four billion euros in assets under management. Eighty percent of users would have set up an equity or ETF savings plan. As part of GameStop's 2021 stock surge, Trade Republic imposed a stop-buy on select stocks, including GameStop's stock, on the afternoon of January 28, 2021. The broker cited the "extreme situation in the market" and investor protection as reasons for the decision. Over 4,000 complaints were later filed at Federal Financial Supervisory Authority over this decision.

In May 2021, another financing round of $900 million was announced at a valuation of $5 billion. In June 2022 Trade Republic raised another 250 million. In June 2022, Trade Republic proceed with layoffs due to an overgrowth of their work force and tightening business conditions.

Trade Republic has been offering trading in fractional shares of securities since October 2022. Customers can purchase individual shares in stocks and ETFs for as little as one euro.

The broker began paying interest on cash deposits in January 2023. Trade Republic received a full banking license at the end of 2023. In 2024, the company launched its own payment card. Since it is a German bank, it is supervised by the BaFin and the money is deposited in an omnibus trust accounts with one of the following banks: Deutsche Bank AG, J.P. Morgan SE, HSBC Continental Europe S.A. and Citibank Europe plc.