Broker poll 2018 - results and placements

The election for Broker of the Year 2018 is over. A total of over 33,000 traders voted for their favourite broker from 1 to 30 March 2018.

In the main category Online Broker of the Year 2018 comdirect regained the title from last year's winner Consorsbank, while Degiro was able to defend its 3rd place from 2017.

The next places go to onvista bank, flatex, S Broker and DKB.

Although Consorsbank lost this important title, the broker from Nuremberg was able to win the title in two categories in which it had been in second place in 2017: Daytrade Broker of the Year 2018 and Futures Broker of the Year 2018.

Among the daytrade brokers, second place went to Degiro (last year's winner) and third place to ViTrade. They were followed by flatex, Tickmill and Directa.

There was also an exchange of the first two positions among the futures brokers. Behind Consorsbank, the first from 2017, WH SelfInvest, came in second place and the Berlin broker Lynx in third place ahead of Banx and Degiro.

In the category Forex Broker of the Year GKFX was able to defend its title relatively clearly. However, the tableau behind them was completely new compared to last year: ActivTrades came second and JFD Brokers third. FXCM, Tickmill and Pepperstone, among others, follow in the other places.

IG also managed to retain its title in the CFD Broker of the Year defend. However, with only a very narrow margin ahead of Admiral Markets and CMC Markets. ActivTrades, Consorsbank and WH SelfInvest follow in fourth to sixth place.

For the first time since 2015, onvista bank was able to win again - the Frankfurt-based bank was awarded first place in the category of Funds & Certificates Broker of the Year 2018 First ahead of flatex and S Broker.

What is interesting about the results of this year's broker poll (which has taken place every year since 2001 at www.brokerwahl.de) is how positive the traders' feedback is overall across all brokers.

To the question "Are you satisfied with the order handling?" 33,007 traders answered yes (99.2%) and only 260 answered no (0.8%).

This is an extremely high approval rate for the IT systems of the brokers - some traditional branch banks, which are still using old technology, can only dream of this.

When asked about the customer service, 60.8% were very satisfied, overall even 93.8% rated the service positively - only 6.2% found the customer support negative or tending towards negative.

70% of the voters found the training offer (webinars, trainings, videos etc.) positive, 28% found the offer expandable and only 2% did not find it good.

The feedback on order fees was also surprisingly good. Only 3.6% felt that the trading fees were too high. In contrast, 48.6% considered the fees normal and 47.9% even favourable!

And this despite the fact that trading fees have not declined as strongly in recent years as they did in the 2000s (see Order Fees Index). In this assessment, customers probably compare the brokers' order fees with those of the normal house bank - and here the brokers are of course much more favourably positioned.

The statements made by the traders carry even more weight when you consider that 68.1% have been trading for 3 or more years, so they know the market well.

13.2% of the participants in the broker selection are day traders and a total of 65.2% of the traders trade at least once a month.

The traders' view of which criteria are particularly important when choosing the right broker is also exciting.

Order fees (83.7%) are in first place, followed by custody account management costs (70.7%), trading offer (49.4%), trading platforms (43.4%), mobile trading (33.4%), freetrade promotions (26.4%) and the broker's training offer (23.3%).

When asked about their interest in financial topics and products, it is not surprising that the topic of shares came in first place. It was followed by funds and ETFs with 59.3% and interest rates with 26.3%. The latter value, however, probably has more to do with the current low interest rate level and will also lead to more interest if interest rates rise. This is followed by commodities, bonds, retirement provision, CFDs, technical analysis, futures & options, cryptocurrencies, certificates and foreign exchange trading with values between 15 and 25%.

Unfortunately, however, the topic of trading and brokerage still seems to be an almost purely male domain. Only 11.5% of the voting traders were women and 88.5% men. So there is actually still a lot of growth potential for brokers here. However, against this background, the question must be allowed as to whether a different communication strategy is not needed for this. It is obvious that the topic of investment is equally important for women and men. It remains to be seen what the result of the 2019 broker election will look like...

The complete winner lists of the 6 categories Online Broker, Daytrade Broker, Funds & Certificates Broker, Futures Broker, CFD Broker and Forex Broker can be found here:

Broker Election 2018 Results