There is no "best broker." There's only the broker that fits what you actually do with your money. Someone running a monthly ETF Sparplan and someone copying traders and dabbling in crypto have almost opposite needs. This lesson walks through four brokers a German or EU investor will keep running into, and what each is genuinely good and bad at — using the fee mechanics from Lesson 1.
Before the comparison, one honest disclosure: Nordsight is built around eToro, so we know it best. That doesn't make it the right tool for everyone, and this lesson isn't a sales pitch. The goal is that you finish able to say "given how I invest, brokers strong at that are X and Y" — and check the current numbers yourself before you commit.
Two things matter more than headline fees for an EU investor, and they came up in Lesson 1: currency (an account denominated in USD costs you FX every time you move EUR in or out, and on dividends) and tax handling(a German broker that files your Abgeltungsteuer automatically saves you real annual effort). Keep both in mind as you read the cards.
eToro
Costs:the account has historically been USD-based (EUR / local-currency accounts have been rolling out for eligible EU clients — verify current options), so where your funding currency differs from the account or asset currency you carry an FX conversion cost; there's also a flat withdrawal fee per cashout, plus spreads on some assets.
Suits: beginners who value copy + variety over squeezing out the last basis point.
The catch:it's a weaker fit as a pure, cheap, automated ETF-savings tool. A USD-based account plus a per-withdrawal fee work against the small, regular, EUR-in/EUR-out pattern of a Sparplan (less so if you use a EUR account where available, but dedicated Sparplan brokers still tend to be cheaper for that one job).
DEGIRO
Costs: low per-trade fees, a curated list of selected ETFs that can be very cheap to buy, and small connectivity/handling fees on some exchanges. Read its fee schedule carefully.
Suits:cost-sensitive buy-and-hold investors who want cheap access to a wide menu and don't need hand-holding.
The catch:the interface is plain and there's little guidance. German tax handling historically needed more attention than a fully German broker, so check the current setup for your residence.
Trade Republic
Costs: very low — typically a tiny flat fee per order, and Sparplan executions on eligible ETFs are often free. EUR account, German tax handled for you.
Suits:anyone whose plan is "put €X into the same ETFs every month and leave it alone." The tax simplicity is a genuine advantage in Germany.
The catch:the instrument universe is narrower and it runs through a limited set of trading venues. If you want obscure foreign stocks or lots of asset classes, you'll feel the limits.
Interactive Brokers (IBKR)
Costs:very low commissions and tight FX, but the pricing and platform are built for people who know what they're doing. Some account types have activity expectations.
Suits: advanced investors and larger or multi-currency portfolios where low FX and fees compound into real money.
The catch: the interface is complex and intimidating for a beginner, and you generally handle your own tax reporting in Germany rather than getting it filed automatically.
The one variable that decides it: your behaviour
Notice that the comparison above doesn't crown a winner. It can't, because the answer flips depending on what you do. The same investor can be over- or under-served by the same broker depending only on their habits. Map your behaviour to the strength, not the brand to the hype.
- 1Name your dominant activityIs the bulk of your money going into a steady monthly ETF Sparplan? Into copying portfolios and dabbling across crypto and stocks? Into actively picking global single names? Be honest about where most euros actually flow, not what sounds impressive.
- 2Match it to a strength, not a logoAutomated cheap EUR ETF saving leans toward brokers strong at that, like Trade Republic or DEGIRO. Copy-trading plus broad multi-asset dabbling leans toward eToro. Low-cost global, multi-currency, advanced trading leans toward IBKR.
- 3Price the friction for YOUR patternRun Lesson 1's fee math on your real cadence. A flat withdrawal fee barely matters if you cash out twice a year, but it bites if you move money monthly. FX on a USD account is trivial on a one-off, painful on every Sparplan execution.
- 4Don't over-optimise the centsFor a small portfolio, the difference between two cheap brokers over a year can be a few euros. Tax simplicity, an interface you'll actually keep using, and not abandoning the plan matter far more than shaving the last basis point.
Where eToro fits, honestly
Since this course lives inside a tool built around eToro, here's the straight version. eToro's real strengths are copy-trading, crypto access, fractional shares, and having many asset classes in one place with a beginner-friendly feel. If those are what you want, it's a strong fit.
If instead your whole plan is a cheap, automated, EUR-denominated ETF Sparplan that you never touch, the USD base currency and per-withdrawal fee make eToro a worse fit than a German Sparplan-first broker — and we'd rather you know that than learn it the expensive way. Plenty of people sensibly use a low-cost Sparplan broker for the boring core and a separate account for the things eToro is good at. There's no rule that says you pick exactly one.
Check yourself
- 1.An EU investor whose entire plan is a cheap, automated monthly ETF Sparplan in EUR is most likely best served by which kind of broker?
- 2.Why does eToro's USD account currency matter specifically for a German investor running a monthly ETF Sparplan?
- 3.An investor holds single stocks across the US, Japan, and Europe, rebalances often, and keeps cash in several currencies. Which broker profile fits best, and what's the trade-off?
- 4.What's the most reliable way to decide which broker is right for you?