DADAT Slashes Fees by 33%: How Austria’s Brokerage Price War is Reshaping the Discount Market

DADAT just fired a shot across the bow of Austria’s brokerage industry, cutting depot fees by a third and slashing trading costs. The move, effective December 1, 2025, isn’t happening in a vacuum, it’s a direct counterpunch to Trade Republic’s disruptive April 2025 entry and Flatex’s October elimination of dividend fees. The question isn’t whether this will hurt competitors. It’s how many will bleed out before the race to the bottom finds its floor.

The Numbers: What Actually Changed

Let’s cut through the marketing fluff and look at the hard data from DADAT’s new fee schedule:

Depotgebühr: Dropped from 0.09% to 0.06% annually, a 33% reduction that sounds impressive until you do the math. On a €20,000 portfolio, that’s a whopping savings of €6 per year. On a €200,000 portfolio, €60. The minimum fee remains €3.48 per position, which means for smaller holdings under €5,800, nothing changes.

Order Costs: The real story is in trading fees. Gettex trades now cap at €9.90 instead of €12.90 (a €3 savings on larger orders). But the Baader Bank OTC trades saw the base fee cut from €3.90 to €1.90, a 51% reduction that actually matters for regular traders.

Sparplan Minimum: Reduced from €20 to €10 per execution. For the “set it and forget it” crowd, this is genuinely useful. For everyone else, it’s a rounding error.

New Customer Perk: Extended fee-free depot period through December 31, 2030. That’s five years of zero depot fees, which is substantial.

The typical reaction from existing customers has been underwhelming. Many have pointed out that once Flatex dropped its dividend fees, DADAT’s value proposition evaporated for buy-and-hold investors who rarely trade. The sentiment on Austrian finance forums has been clear: this is a defensive move, not an innovative one.

The Competitive Trigger: Why This is Happening Now

Trade Republic’s April 2025 launch in Austria changed the game. Their €1 trades and slick mobile-first approach forced everyone to reconsider their pricing. Flatex responded in October by eliminating dividend fees entirely, a move that cost them revenue but retained customers.

DADAT’s December response is slower, more measured, and arguably too late. The fee reduction puts them at 0.06% versus Flatex’s 0.00% depot fee. The math is brutal: on a €100,000 portfolio, DADAT costs €60 annually. Flatex costs €0.

For high-net-worth individuals or serious buy-and-hold investors, that’s not a difficult choice. As one experienced investor noted, “Für mich als buy-and-hold haben’s den Markt schon gewonnen”, meaning Flatex has already won the market for long-term investors.

Flatex comparison — Flatex’s zero depot fee structure has set the benchmark that DADAT is struggling to match

The psychology is fascinating. Austrian investors, traditionally conservative and bank-loyal, are now price-shopping like never before. The concept of “steuereinfach” (tax-simple) execution, which DADAT and Flatex both offer, has become table stakes rather than a premium feature.

The Infrastructure Reality: Why “Free” Isn’t Really Free

Here’s where it gets technically interesting. Many investors complain that depot fees based on portfolio value are unfair, arguing it costs the broker nothing extra whether you have €20k or €200k in the same two ETFs. But that’s misunderstanding the back-end infrastructure.

Brokers are themselves customers of clearing and custody providers like OeKB, Clearstream, or Euroclear. These institutions charge brokers based on volume. So when your portfolio grows, your broker’s costs with their custodian also grow. It’s not a 1:1 correlation, but it’s not zero either.

A Raiffeisen employee who works in securities services confirmed this: brokers pay custody fees based on volume, which gives larger brokers negotiating power for better rates. This creates a flywheel effect, big brokers get better rates, can charge customers less, attract more customers, and get even better rates.

This is why the consolidation is inevitable. Small brokers can’t compete on price because their unit economics don’t work at scale.

The Real Cost: What Discount Brokers Aren’t Telling You

While everyone celebrates falling fees, experienced investors are asking tougher questions:

Service Quality: Trade Republic’s €1 trades come with a cost, reportedly poor support and occasional errors. DADAT and Flatex maintain better service levels because they still generate some fee revenue.
Hidden Revenue Streams: “Free” brokers make money through payment for order flow, securities lending, and interest on cash balances. The question is whether these practices align with investor interests.
Product Selection: The cheapest brokers often have limited offerings. DADAT’s Baader Bank connection gives access to OTC trading that pure-play discount brokers don’t match.
Long-term Viability: As one investor calculated, if you’re a buy-and-hold investor making two ETF purchases per year, order fees are almost irrelevant. Depot fees matter. Service quality matters. Platform reliability matters.

The controversy is whether this price war is healthy competition or a race to the bottom that will leave investors worse off when brokers cut corners on security, service, and system reliability.

The Market Positioning: Who’s Winning What Segment

Looking at the competitive landscape as of December 2025:

Trade Republic: Dominating the mobile-first, frequent-trader segment. €1 trades, slick UX, but growing pains with support.
Flatex: Winning the buy-and-hold crowd with zero depot fees and tax simplicity. Over 300,000 customers in Austria alone.
DADAT: Trying to occupy the middle ground, better service than Trade Republic, but can’t match Flatex’s zero-fee structure for existing customers. Their extended new customer offer (free until 2030) is clearly aimed at stealing market share.
Traditional Banks: Erste Bank, Bank Austria, and Raiffeisen are losing ground rapidly. Their fee structures look medieval by comparison, often €20+ per trade plus percentage-based depot fees.

The real battle is for the next 100,000 customers who are still with traditional banks but are aware of cheaper options. DADAT’s move is clearly aimed at this segment, conservative enough to want an Austrian bank, but price-sensitive enough to be tempted.

The Investor’s Dilemma: What Should You Actually Do?

If you’re an Austrian investor reading this, here’s the practical breakdown:

For Buy-and-Hold ETF Investors: Flatex still wins. Zero depot fees trump everything if you’re making 2-4 trades per year. The €3.48 minimum at DADAT would cost you €6.96 annually for two positions versus €0 at Flatex.
For Active Traders: Trade Republic’s €1 trades are unbeatable for frequency. But if you value OTC access or need occasional phone support, DADAT’s improved Baader Bank rates (€1.90 base vs €3.90 before) make them competitive for larger trades.
For Traditional Bank Customers: DADAT’s new customer offer (free until 2030) creates a five-year window to test the waters at zero cost. That’s genuinely attractive for the risk-averse.
For High-Net-Worth: The math changes above €200k. At €500k, DADAT costs €300/year. Still peanuts relative to portfolio value, but the principle bothers wealthy investors. Many are moving to Interactive Brokers for true global access despite the lack of steuereinfach service.

The Hidden Winner: Baader Bank

What’s often missed is that DADAT’s relationship with Baader Bank is the real story. Baader provides the custodian and clearing infrastructure, and their fees were also cut. This suggests Baader is aggressively competing to be the infrastructure provider of choice for Austrian brokers.

If Baader wins this infrastructure war, they could become the AWS of Austrian brokerage, powering multiple front-end brands while capturing value at the infrastructure layer. That’s a much more interesting business than competing on retail fees.

The Endgame: Where This is Heading

The research from Austrian finance forums shows a clear sentiment: investors expect fees to hit zero across the board within 2-3 years. The belief is that brokers will make money on cash interest, premium services, and cross-selling banking products.

DADAT’s move is defensive. They had to respond or bleed customers to Flatex and Trade Republic. But it’s not decisive, the 0.06% fee still gives Flatex a clear advantage.

The question now is: who can afford to go to zero? Flatex can because they’re owned by a larger German group and have scale. Trade Republic can because they’re venture-funded and playing a long-term market share game. DADAT, as a smaller player, may not be able to sustain zero fees profitably.

This creates a potential acquisition scenario. If DADAT can’t compete on price long-term, they become a takeover target for a larger bank wanting a ready-made brokerage platform.

What This Means for the Austrian Market

The intensifying price competition has several non-obvious implications:

Consolidation is Coming: Austria doesn’t need 15+ brokerage providers. We’ll likely see 3-4 winners and a long tail of niche players.
Service Degradation Risk: As fees hit zero, brokers must find other revenue. Some will cut service quality. Others will push riskier products. Investors need to be vigilant.
Regulatory Attention: The Finanzamt and FMA may eventually scrutinize how “free” brokers are actually making money, particularly around payment for order flow and securities lending.
Banking Disruption: Traditional Austrian banks are losing their most profitable customers, affluent, digitally savvy investors who previously accepted high fees for perceived safety. This threatens the entire business model of retail banking.

Actionable Next Steps

If you’re currently with a traditional Austrian bank, this price war is your opportunity. Here’s what to do:

Calculate Your True Costs: Pull your last annual statement. Add up depot fees, order fees, and any dividend charges. You might be paying €200-500 annually without realizing it.
Test Drive: Open a Flatex account for buy-and-hold positions. Keep your existing account active during the transition. There’s no rush to close anything.
For New Money: Direct all new investments to the cheaper platform. Let your existing positions sit if selling would trigger taxes.
Watch for Promotions: DADAT’s extended free period for new customers through 2030 is genuinely attractive. If you’re nervous about switching entirely, this gives you five years of cost-free testing.
Monitor Service: Price isn’t everything. If a platform has outages, poor support, or tax reporting issues, the savings evaporate quickly. Check recent reviews before committing.

The bottom line: DADAT’s 33% fee cut is newsworthy, but it doesn’t change the fundamental competitive dynamic. Flatex has set the expectation at zero depot fees. Trade Republic has set trade execution at €1. Anything above that is now a tough sell.

For investors, this is a golden age of cheap access to markets. But remember: when you’re not paying for the product, you are the product. Stay alert to how these brokers monetize your business, and don’t let the fee savings blind you to service quality and platform reliability.

The real winners won’t be decided by who has the lowest fees today, but by who can sustainably deliver reliable service at scale while building a business model that doesn’t require sacrificing investor interests for profitability.

Choose wisely.