Understand any stock in simple English
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flatexDEGIRO is an online broker that lets everyday people buy and sell stocks, funds, and other investments for low fees through its apps and websites.
flatexDEGIRO is an online brokerage: a digital middleman that lets ordinary people buy and sell stocks, exchange-traded funds, and other investments without walking into a bank branch. It runs two main brands that serve slightly different customers. Flatex is the German-facing broker built for long-term, buy-and-hold investors, while Degiro — which the company acquired in 2019 — is a low-cost platform popular across much of Europe. Both do the same basic job: you open an account, transfer money in, and place trades yourself.
Here's the simple version of how an online broker makes money. It charges a small commission or flat fee each time a customer places an order, rather than the percentage-based fees traditional banks often charge. flatexDEGIRO's whole pitch is that these fees are low and the process is fast and self-service, which is why price-sensitive investors choose it over a full-service bank. Degiro, for instance, built its reputation on rock-bottom trading costs. The company also earns some money from things like securities lending and interest on customer cash, though trading commissions are the core engine. The business has real scale in Europe. By 2024 it reported more than 2.9 million customer accounts and was processing tens of millions of trades a year, making it one of the largest retail brokers on the continent. That scale matters because the broker business is a volume game: thin fees only add up to serious money when millions of customers trade regularly. Competition is fierce and comes from other discount brokers, from banks pushing into cheap digital trading, and increasingly from newer app-based platforms.
There are two clear things to understand about the risks. First, this is a cyclical business — when markets are calm or falling, people trade less and revenue can dip. Second, it has drawn regulatory attention. In 2023, German regulators ordered the company to fix problems in its IT systems and internal controls after outages and operational issues, which led to fines and a slowdown in customer growth. flatexDEGIRO has said it is investing to strengthen those systems. In short, it is a lean, high-volume toll booth on European retail investing — powerful when markets are busy and customers are joining, but exposed when trading cools or regulators push back.
Saved answer · last researched 26 Oct 2026