When you buy ETFs or shares through low-cost brokers like DEGIRO, you might have noticed something called Tradegate. It’s one of the exchanges where your trades are executed. Tradegate offers long opening hours, a wide range of products, and fast order execution. But it also works a bit differently from the traditional stock exchanges you may know, names like Xetra or Euronext.
These differences matter, especially if you care about how much your trades cost you. Even small differences in price or spread can add up over time and quietly eat into your returns.
In this article, we’ll explain what Tradegate actually is, how it works, and what you should know before trading (or ideally, investing) through it. You’ll learn when Tradegate can make sense, when it doesn’t, and how to keep your costs low and your investing simple.
What is Tradegate?
Tradegate Exchange is a German trading venue for shares, ETFs and other products. It’s known for its long opening hours:
- 07:30 to 22:00 (Berlin time) for shares, ETFs and funds
- 07:30 to 20:00 for bonds
Tradegate advertises competitive spreads, fast execution and free real-time prices. This means you can trade outside the usual hours of main exchanges such as Xetra or Euronext, and still see live quotes without paying data fees.
However, Tradegate is not the same as Xetra or Euronext. Those are regulated markets, the “classic” exchanges where most European trading happens and where prices are usually best during market hours. Tradegate operates more like a multilateral trading facility (MTF), a private marketplace that matches buyers and sellers under its own rules.
That distinction matters because it affects how prices are set. During quieter hours or when trading activity drops, spreads, the gap between buy and sell prices, tend to widen. Tradegate’s long hours are convenient, but wider spreads can mean higher costs for you.
Market makers: the engine behind Tradegate
To understand Tradegate, you first need to know what a market maker is.
A market maker constantly quotes two prices for a stock or ETF:
- the bid (what they’ll pay to buy), and
- the ask (what they’ll sell for).
The difference between the two is the spread.
Market makers keep the market liquid by always being ready to buy or sell, even when no one else is. But they’re not doing it out of goodwill,. they earn money from the spread. The wider it is, the more they make.
Since Tradegate relies heavily on market makers, your trading price can be less favourable, especially outside the main trading hours.
Tradegate is everywhere on DEGIRO
If you use DEGIRO, you’ve probably seen Tradegate more often lately. From October 2025, DEGIRO’s popular Core Selection, its list of low-cost ETFs, has become tied to trading on Tradegate.
To qualify for the cheap €1 trade, you now need to place your ETF orders through Tradegate. This change has made Tradegate a big topic among investors.
The good news: more ETFs and very low explicit fees. The fine print: when and how you trade now matters much more.
We’ll walk you through the trade-offs so you know when Tradegate can work in your favour, and when it might quietly cost you more.
How Tradegate affects your total cost
Your total trading cost isn’t just the visible broker fee. It includes:
- Explicit fees: what your broker charges.
- The spread: the hidden cost between the buy and sell prices.
Even if your broker charges only €1, paying a wider spread still costs you money.
Germany’s financial regulator, BaFin, looked into this in 2022. It compared execution quality on payment-for-order-flow (PFOF) venues like Tradegate with traditional exchanges such as Xetra.
BaFin found that:
- For small orders, prices on Tradegate could sometimes be slightly better.
- For larger orders, execution was often worse than on the main exchange, meaning you might save on fees but lose more through a wider spread or slippage.
Other regulators, such as those in the Netherlands and Spain, came to similar conclusions: PFOF trading tends to hurt investors. That’s why it will be banned across the EU in 2026.
Two key takeaways:
- Trade during main market hours. Spreads on Tradegate are tightest when the main exchange (like Xetra) is open, roughly 09:00–17:30 CET. After that, they widen.
- Watch your order size. For larger trades (around €2,000 or more), the low fee can be offset by worse execution. Compare quotes or split your orders during main hours.
Tradegate’s low fees and long hours are appealing, but that doesn’t automatically mean lower total costs. Timing and trade size matter.
You can’t transfer ETFs purchased on Tradegate
Watch out because ETFs bought through Tradegate can’t easily be transferred to another broker. Tradegate is not supported by most European brokers for inbound transfers. Currently, Interactive Brokers is the only major platform known to accept incoming transfers of Tradegate-traded securities.
If your new broker doesn’t support Tradegate, you’ll need to:
- Sell the ETF on DEGIRO, then
- Transfer the cash to your new broker before reinvesting.
This makes DEGIRO’s Tradegate setup great for cost savings, but less flexible if you ever plan to switch platforms.
Some tips for using Tradegate
If you ever buy ETFs through Tradegate, these four rules will help you avoid the most common (and costly) mistakes.
1. Trade only during the main session of the reference market
If an ETF’s main exchange is Xetra, aim to place your orders between 09:00 and 17:30. That’s when liquidity is best and prices are tight. Tradegate stays open until late in the evening, but once the reference market closes, spreads usually widen. That means you could end up paying more than you think.
2. Always use a limit order
Avoid market orders. They can “walk the book” and fill at worse prices when trading volumes are thin, especially outside Xetra’s hours. A limit order protects you by setting the maximum price you’re willing to pay (when buying) or the minimum you’ll accept (when selling).
3. Skip stop orders on Tradegate
Independent tests have shown that stop orders can trigger and execute poorly when the market is quiet. And honestly, if you’re a long-term investor following a buy-and-hold approach, you probably don’t need stop orders anyway.
4. Be cautious with larger trades (around €2,000 or more)
BaFin’s analysis suggests that while small trades can be competitive, larger orders often lose ground compared to the main exchanges once the effect of spreads and slippage is included. If you’re investing a larger amount in one go, compare prices across venues or split your order into smaller chunks during main hours. Otherwise, just use another broker.
So should you use Tradegate?
Tradegate can be useful. It offers long hours, quick execution, and access to many ETFs. If you’re a DIY investor using DEGIRO’s Core Selection, you’ll probably use Tradegate at some point whether you want to or not.
But it’s worth remembering what really matters. In the long run, your returns depend far more on how much you invest, how regularly you invest, and how long you stay invested than on which trading venue you pick. The tiny differences in execution or fees fade into the background once you adopt a consistent, long-term approach.
If you follow the golden rules, trade during main hours, use limit orders, and keep calm when prices move, you’ll avoid the common pitfalls.
Summary
Tradegate isn’t necessarily bad, it’s just different. It gives you flexibility and low explicit fees, but those benefits can be offset by wider spreads or poor timing.
If you’re careful with when and how you trade, you can use Tradegate without overpaying. Stick to main market hours, use limit orders, and avoid trading large amounts after hours.
But remember, trading venues and execution details matter far less than your long-term investing habits. Building wealth comes from consistency, patience and keeping costs low, not from chasing the perfect exchange.
If you’d rather invest without worrying about order types or trading windows, Curvo takes care of it all for you. You invest automatically in a globally diversified portfolio designed for long-term growth.