Trade Republic switched on a rebuilt execution stack on July 1, routing customer orders through an aggregated book spanning 30 exchanges and matching them against its own principal book, two days after Germany's carve-out from the EU's payment-for-order-flow ban expired on June 30.

The Berlin neobroker now charges a €1 settlement fee on the default "best price" order and €2 for a "Direct Price" order that lets clients pick a specific venue. Hecker framed the overhaul as "what democratising investing means to us."

What does the new execution model look like?

The firm says its algorithm compares real-time quotes across what it describes as all relevant liquid exchanges and fills each order at the best available price. Under the new setup, Trade Republic stands on the other side of the trade rather than passing the order to an exchange.

Two order types now sit on the platform:

• Best Price (default): €1 settlement fee, venue selected by the algorithm.
• Direct Price: €2 per trade, client selects venue from Xetra, Euronext, NYSE or Nasdaq.

The firm has not disclosed execution-quality statistics, venue attribution or the size of its principal inventory. Trade Republic reports more than 10 million customers and over €150 billion in assets, and reached a €12.5 billion valuation in a December secondary deal.

Why does the timing matter?

Germany was the only EU member state to use a temporary carve-out from the bloc's PFOF ban. That exemption expired on June 30. German brokers can no longer earn money by routing orders to market makers in exchange for rebates and must fund execution through explicit fees, spreads, subscriptions or in-house handling.

Trade Republic has said PFOF made up less than 30% of its revenue. The new model converts that revenue line into a per-trade fee on the default route. The firm has not disclosed whether it will continue to pay for order flow in jurisdictions where the practice remains permitted.

How are rivals handling the same squeeze?

Trade Republic is not the first broker to break from order-flow economics. Public.com dropped PFOF in 2021 after US scrutiny and began routing directly to exchanges, asking customers for optional tips instead. German rival Scalable Capital runs a €2.99 monthly subscription that absorbs the lost income without adding a per-trade charge.

The pressure now runs across borders. Trade Republic entered Poland in September 2025 with a 4.25% savings rate and flat trading fees, triggering a price war with Warsaw-listed XTB. CEO Omar Arnaout has said XTB will spend more on marketing in Germany this year than in its home market, the two firms now competing on each other's turf.

What does the Web Terminal signal about the strategy?

The browser-based platform offers charting, screeners, portfolio analytics and live market data at no extra cost. Trade Republic positions it as its first product for active investors rather than the buy-and-hold savers the app was built for, placing the firm on ground held by Interactive Brokers.

The terminal extends a run of expansion that has carried Trade Republic past savings plans into bonds, crypto, current accounts and private-market funds through tie-ups with Apollo and EQT. Hecker has described the arc as a move from brokerage into wealth management. The firm named Brad Pitt its global brand ambassador in May for its largest marketing campaign to date.

The next test for the in-house execution model will be how the principal book performs on volatile trading days and whether Trade Republic publishes order-routing data equivalent to a Rule 606 report.