flatex Review 2025

Is flatex regulated?

Yes, it isregulated by Germany's Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin).

Is flatex safe?

To be certain that a brokerage is safe, we highly advise that you check two facts:

• how you are protected if something goes wrong
• the background of the broker.

How you are protected

flatex provides its brokerage services under the entity flatexDEGIRO Bank AG. Through this German entity, all European clients are eligible for the same amount of investor protectionunder BaFin regulation.

flatex provides negative balance protection for forex spot trading, but only for retail clients from the European Union. Professional and non-EU clients are not covered with any negative balance protection.

Our brokerage experts put together a comprehensive guide on the safety profile of flatex.

Background

flatex was originally established in 1999 in Germany as PRE.IPO AG. It started offering brokerage services is 2006, when the company was renamed flatex.
flatex operates under its parent bank flatexDEGIRO Bank AG and as such, it is subject to tougher regulations than regular brokers. The bank's shares are listed on the Stuttgart Stock Exchange under the name flatexDEGIRO AG. This means that the broker has to publish financial statements regularly and transparently, which is a positive.
Having a banking license, being listed on a stock exchange, providing financial statements and being regulated by a top-tier authority are all great signs for flatex's safety.

DEGIRO acquisition

In December 2019, flatex AG acquired 100% of rival broker DEGIRO's shares, a huge acquisition deal in the sector. Currently the brokerages continue to operate separately, but with the acquisition flatex has provided a banking regulatory backbone to DEGIRO.

Find your safe broker

Account base currencies

At flatex, you can choose from the following 4 base currencies: EUR, USD, CHF, GBP.

This selection falls behind competing brokers. Both Comdirect and DEGIRO offer more base currencies.

Why does this matter? For two reasons. If you fund your trading account in the same currency as your bank account or you trade assets in the same currency as your trading account base currency, you won't have to pay a conversion fee.

A convenient way to save on currency conversion fees is by opening a multi-currency bank account at a digital bank. These usually offer bank accounts in several currencies with great currency exchange rates, as well as free or cheap international bank transfers. Opening an account only takes a few minutes on your phone.

Deposit fees and options

flatex charges no deposit fees.

However, you can only add funds to your account by bank transfer.

Here's all you need to know about minimum deposit requirements and depositing money at flatex.

A bank transfer can take several business days. You can only deposit money from accounts that are in your name.

flatex withdrawal fees and options

Withdrawals are also free of charge. However, similarly to deposits, you can only use bank transfer.

Read our guide containing all key info on available withdrawal methods and related fees at flatex.

You can only withdraw money to accounts in your name.

For us, it took 3 business days to withdraw our money via bank transfer.

How do you withdraw money from flatex?

1. Using 'Client Login', log in to your flatex account.
2. Click on 'Konto & Depot', and choose 'Überweisung' from the list.
3. Choose your account (Aktuelles Konto), the recipient (Empfänger) and the withdrawal amount (Beitrag).
4. Click 'Eingaben übernehmen' to send your request. You'll need to validate your request with flateXSecure.

Can you open an account?

Visit broker

It is not fully transparent residents of which countries are eligible to open an account at flatex. We believe that most European clients can open an account. On the other hand, for clients who are not a resident of Germany or Austria, the account opening process is much more complicated.
Also, we recommend opening an account only if you speak German on at least an intermediate level as the account opening process and most of the trading platforms are in German. Customer service is hit or miss, but in our most recent test, they spoke English well.

Read our separate article on how to get your account started with flatex.

What is the minimum deposit at flatex?

The required flatex minimum deposit is $0.

Account types

Based on ownership, you can choose from three account types:

1. individual
2. joint
3. corporate account

When you open an account at flatex, your account will be a cash and securities account by default.Afterward, you can activate the forex accounts separately if you want to trade these assets.

As an extra, you can become a VIP Club member if you executed 500+ trades or had an average account balance of €75,000 over the last 12 months. VIP Club members get benefits like no custody fee and exclusive invitations to flatex events.

How to open your account

If you are from Germany or Austria, the account opening process is fully digital and convenient via video identification.
Account opening for non-German/Austrian citizens is rather complicated. For us, it took more than 2 weeks and involved notarial work. After registering online we had to send our notarized documents to flatex via mail.
After we were verified, flatex sent us our login credentials and an iTANCard by mail. The iTANCard is a security card that contains codes needed for trade execution and logins.Using the flateXSecure app can replace the functions of the iTANCard, but it is safer if you have both available when needed.

Similarly to the web trading platform, we tested the flatex mobile trading platform, called "flatex next", which is for stock, ETF, bond and mutual fund trading.
The mobile trading platform is available only in German, which could be an inconvenience for non-german speakers.
flatex's mobile app is available on iOS and Android;we tested it on Android.

Look and feel

The flatex mobile trading platform is user-friendly and has a modern design. On the main page we can find different "recommendations" in various groups.

Login and security

flatex provides a safer, two-step login for its mobile platform.

You can log in using biometric authentication, which is a convenient feature.

Search functions

The search functions are good.

You just have to type in the name of the product you are looking for, similar to the web platform.
Clicking 'Alle Ergebnisse' (All results) will show you all related products ordered by type, e.g. shares, bonds, etc. The results will also tell you the stock exchange and currency of the product.

Placing orders

You can use the following order types on the mobile trading platform:

• Market
• Limit

There are also order time limits you can use:

• Good 'til time (GTT)
• Good 'til canceled (GTC)

Alerts and notifications

You cannot set alerts and notifications on the flatex mobile platform.

Our analysts personally tested flatex's mobile trading platform; read the flatex mobile app review for a detailed verdict on its performance and features.

Visit broker

You can choose from two desktop trading platforms, but neither is free:

1. flatex trader 2.0, which costs €15/month
2. TeleTrader WorkStation, which costs €39/month

The difference among the desktop platforms is that TeleTrader Workstation has more charting indicators as well as real-time and delayed data from overseas exchanges.
In our review, we tested flatex trader 2.0, which is available only in English.

Look and feel

flatex's own trading platform is complex and poorly designed. However, with complexity comes high customizability: for example, you can set your own templates.

Login and security

flatex provides a two-step login.

The login process is the same as for the web trading platform: it is easy to log in with only your user name and password, but later either your iTAN card or flateXSecure is needed.

Search functions

The search functions are OK.

The filter settings are great if you know which asset type or specific exchange you're looking for.
However, the most relevant results are not shown first: for example, if you search for Apple, the Swiss stock exchange appears first instead of the US NASDAQ.

Placing orders

flatex provides a wide range of order types on the desktop trading platform.

There are also order time limits you can use on the desktop platform:

• Fill or kill (FOK)
• Immediate or cancel (IOC)
• All or none (AON)

Alerts and notifications

You can set alerts and notifications on the desktop trading platform.

Portfolio and fee reports

flatex has unclear fee reports.

This is something we missed, as a clear fee report would go a long way toward helping to understand flatex's fee structure.

Visit broker

This selection falls behind competing brokers. Both Comdirect and DEGIRO offer more stock markets to trade on.

Stocks and ETFs

flatex's selection of stocks and ETFs is OK.

In addition to German exchanges, flatex provides access to multiple European and international stock markets.

On the US exchanges, you can also trade penny stocks.
You can also invest in savings plans at flatex, where you can buy and sell over 4,500 ETFs and funds without any trading fees, if you invest a fixed amount regularly.

Forex

flatex offers a great selection of tradeable currency pairs.

This selection is average compared to competing brokers.

Funds

flatex's mutual fund selection is relatively narrow.

This selection falls behind competing brokers. Both Comdirect and DEGIRO make more fund providers available.

Similar to ETFs, flatex also offers fund savings plans, where you can invest a fixed amount in funds regularly for favorable fees.

Bonds

There is no information about how many bonds can you trade at flatex, but both government and corporate bonds are available. Within government bonds, you can also buy bonds of smaller countries such as Paraguay and Hungary. All of these suggest that there is a wide range of bonds available.

This selection is average compared to competing brokers.

Cryptos

You can also invest in crypto ETNs at flatex, via its third-party partners: VanEck, Coinshares, WisdomTree, 21Shares.
There are a total of 32 crypto products available. Each partner offers Bitcoin products, as well as products based on altcoins like Soldana, Cardano, Ethereum, Polkadot, Ripple and Tezos. Some partners also offer index-based crypto basket products to invest in.

Social trading

flatex also provides a social trading service called Wikifolio.This is a third-party online platform where traders publish and manage their trading ideas. You can purchase these trading ideas through WebFiliale, the web trading platform.

Other assets

You can also trade special assets distributed by global flatex partners, which include investment banks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. These are categorized as 'Platin', 'Gold' or 'Silver' partners and their offerings include special leveraged products like warrants, turbos and certificates with favorable fees. The favorable fees apply only above a certain order volume.

Simply type the asset name or WKN/ISIN code in the search bar to find trade these products.

We recommend Flatex for investors and traders speaking German and focusing on European securities.

Below you can find links to all aspects of flatex in this comprehensive collection.

Lower fees, lower costs?

We detailed this in our flatex fees article.

What about the minimum deposit?

Our ultimate guide to the flatex minimum deposit is updated regularly.

How to start your flatex account?

Look no further than our evaluation of the flatex account opening.

How's their trading app?

Here's our expert view after checking the flatex trading app.

Is the quality of customer service satisfactory?

All you need to know about the flatex customer service.

Legit or scam?

Is flatex legit features all the key aspects you need to look at to see if a broker is safe and legit.

Free or premium? Or both?

A glance at actual costs and whether flatex is really free.

Is this broker good for beginners?

We checked it in Is flatex good for beginners.

Should you buy your silver bullets on flatex?

Research for silver bugs in the Silver buy on flatex guide

I want to trade options, are they available at flatex?

We explored the topic in Can you trade options on flatex?

What is the minimum account balance at flatex?

Check out the current account balance requirements at flatex in our What is the minimum account balance at flatex article.

Looking for commission and fees data for flatex?

We collected them in flatex commission and fees.

How do you withdraw money from flatex?

We tested it and collected the options and costs in How to withdraw money on flatex.