Crypto trading: Investors can trade cryptocurrencies with the neo brokers Justtrade and, more recently, with Trade Republic. Justtrade is currently expanding the range. From Brigitte Watermann
The neobroker Justtrade was the first local online broker to start crypto trading last autumn – and has just significantly expanded its range. As the second online broker, Trade Republic started crypto trading at the end of April. BÖRSE ONLINE answers the most important questions about the two crypto offerings.
Which cryptocurrencies can private investors trade with the brokers?
In June Justtrade expanded its range to include the highly sought-after stocks EOS, Chainlink and Stellar. In addition, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, XRP and Bitcoin Cash can be traded there. Trade Republic is initially offering four cryptos – all of the latter except for XRP. “We only accept cryptocurrencies that meet certain quality criteria,” says Michael B. Bußhaus, managing director and co-founder of Justtrade. “The fun currency Dogecoin, which is suspected of price manipulation, will therefore not exist with us.” Its quality criteria include, among other things, market capitalization, tradability on at least two stock exchanges and the type of custody options. Both brokers want to further expand their crypto offer.
How does crypto trading work with the two online brokers?
With both, cryptos and securities can de facto be traded from a depot, you don’t need a separate wallet for this. This makes crypto trading easier and more convenient for investors who are approaching the topic. “Our customers have the choice between cryptos and conventional asset classes such as stocks, certificates, etc. They can therefore benefit from both worlds and have a broad portfolio. Around 60 percent of our customers have already activated crypto trading,” said Bußhaus. Trading is possible around the clock with both providers, with Justtrade via browser application on the desktop computer as well as in the app. At Trade Republic, trading is purely app-based.
What types of orders are possible?
At Trade Republic, crypto transactions are always executed as a market order, i.e. at the next available price. This can be a disadvantage in the case of strong price fluctuations. At Justtrade, the quote request procedure is used; In other words, before placing an order, customers find out the rate at which their order will be processed.
What does crypto trading cost?
Trading with Justtrade is free of charge, customers have to factor in the spread between buying and selling the cryptos. The minimum order volume is 50 euros. Trade Republic customers pay a flat fee of one euro for each transaction plus the spread.
Where are the cryptocurrencies acquired via the brokers stored for the customers – and can cryptos be delivered there?
No, it is not possible to deliver and deliver crypto values with either provider. At Justtrade, custody takes place at the von der Heydt bank in Munich. The cryptos acquired by Trade Republic customers are stored by BitGo Deutschland GmbH. The direct bank Fidor has been offering crypto trading to private investors since 2013. However, it does not allow shares or other securities trading.
How is crypto trading going there?
The main differences lie in the custody of the crypto assets and in the trading options. Fidor Bank cooperates with the marketplace bitcoin.de and the crypto exchange Kraken and provides the euro payment infrastructure via which private customers of Fidor can then trade cryptos on the trading venues. The acquired crypto values are either kept at the trading center or customers can use private wallets. Fidor customers can view the Kraken wallet via the Fidor website.
All cryptocurrencies that are traded on the marketplaces can be purchased by Fidor customers. You can also act there with stop-loss orders or combined orders. For very speculative natures, leveraged orders or shorts are also possible on Kraken. With bitcoin.de, Fidor enables so-called express trading for faster processing of crypto trades, almost in real time. For express trading, Fidor charges 0.1 percent per trade, plus the fees from bitcoin.de. When trading on Kraken, customers pay the trading venue fees. “The majority of our retail customers trade in cryptocurrencies,” says Vladimir Tomic, Head of B2B at Fidor.