Deutsche Börse (Frankfurt Stock Exchange)
Germany’s dominant exchange and the operator of Xetra, the fully electronic platform on which the great majority of German equity turnover is executed. Deutsche Börse is a vertically integrated group spanning cash equities, the Eurex derivatives market and Clearstream post-trade settlement, which is unusual among major exchange operators.
- Location
- Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Trading currency
- Euro (EUR)
- Trading hours
- 09:00 to 17:30 CET on Xetra, Monday to Friday
- Trading days
- Monday to Friday, excluding Xetra holidays
- Time zone
- Central European Time (UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer)
- Market capitalisation
- Approximately USD 2.5 trillion (2025)
- Listed companies
- Approximately 450 in the regulated market, with several hundred more in the open market (2025)
- Settlement
- T+2 through Clearstream Banking Frankfurt, with Eurex Clearing as central counterparty.
Top performing companies today
Ranked by the current session’s percentage move, strongest first, from the companies this platform covers on this venue.
Retrieving current-day prices for the companies covered on this venue…
What trades here
Major indices
- DAX 40
- MDAX
- TecDAX
- SDAX
Major listed companies
- SAP
- Siemens
- Allianz
- Deutsche Telekom
- Mercedes-Benz Group
- BASF
Major sectors
- Industrials and engineering
- Automotive
- Chemicals
- Software
- Insurance
How the market works
Market structure
Xetra is the fully electronic order book on which most German equity turnover executes, alongside a smaller floor-based specialist market in Frankfurt. Issuers sit in the EU-regulated market (Prime and General Standard) or in the exchange-regulated open market (Scale), with sharply different disclosure obligations.
Trading mechanisms
An opening auction at 09:00, continuous trading with an intraday auction around 13:00, and a closing auction at 17:30. Volatility interruptions pause a line and reopen it by auction when the price moves outside a defined corridor.
Listing requirements
Prime Standard requires an approved prospectus, at least three years of existence, a minimum expected market value of €1.25 million, a free float of at least 25%, quarterly reporting in English and an analyst conference. General Standard applies the EU minimum; Scale is exchange-regulated with a capital-markets partner.
Settlement
T+2 through Clearstream Banking Frankfurt, with Eurex Clearing as central counterparty.
Regulatory authority
Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFin).
How to invest in this market
What it takes to open an account and deal on FSE, separated by where you live — the two answers are rarely the same, and on some markets they are not even the same process.
Domestic investors
Residents of Germany
German residents open a securities account (Depot) with a bank or broker. Domestic brokers withhold tax at source, which makes German equity investing administratively simple for residents.
- A Depot with a BaFin-supervised bank or investment firm.
- Identity verification and a tax identification number (Steuer-ID).
- A Freistellungsauftrag lodged with your broker so the annual saver's allowance is applied before tax is withheld.
- Tax: a 25% flat withholding (Abgeltungsteuer) plus solidarity surcharge and, where applicable, church tax is deducted at source on dividends and realised gains.
Foreign investors
Open to foreign investors
Open. German shares are widely available through international brokers, and the withholding position is the main thing to plan for.
- A broker offering Xetra access.
- Passport and proof of address; a certificate of tax residence to support a treaty claim.
- Tax: 25% withholding plus solidarity surcharge on dividends (an effective 26.375%), typically reduced to 15% under treaty. Relief is obtained by reclaim from the Bundeszentralamt für Steuern, which is a paperwork exercise rather than an automatic one.
- Germany does not generally tax non-residents on capital gains from portfolio holdings in listed shares.
Foreign ownership limits
No general limit. The Foreign Trade and Payments Ordinance allows review of acquisitions above defined thresholds in critical infrastructure and defence-related sectors.
Currency considerations
Quoted and settled in euro.
Regulated routes to an account
Licensed intermediaries and official exchange platforms, listed to show the regulated routes into this market. This is not a recommendation and not an exhaustive list — check any firm against the regulator’s register before opening an account.
Verify before you act
Why this market matters
Why investors follow it
The DAX is the standard read on Europe’s largest economy and on global industrial and automotive demand. German exporters are highly sensitive to world trade conditions, so the index often turns before broader European measures.
Interesting facts
- The DAX was historically a total-return index, including reinvested dividends, which makes long-run comparisons with price-only indices misleading unless adjusted.
- It was expanded from 30 to 40 constituents in 2021, partly in response to governance concerns after a major listed-company failure.
- The group owns both the Eurex derivatives exchange and the Clearstream settlement business, covering the full trade lifecycle.
Official sources