Swissquote is the largest bank in Switzerland, which also provides forex and CFD trading to its clients. How good are the conditions it offers and does it seriously compete with other brokers? The answers to these questions and much more will be in this Swissquote review.
Content
Review of trading conditions on Swissquote
| Official site | https://en.swissquote.com |
| Year of foundation | 1996 |
| Regulated by | Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) |
| Trading instruments | 187+ assets Forex (78+), Forex Options (45+), Cryptocurrencies (12+), CFDs (52+) on metals, stock indices, commodities and bonds. |
| Spreads and commissions | Above average floating spreads EUR/USD – from 1.7 pips (Standart account) More about Swissquote spreads |
| Most popular | Swissquote in Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, UAE (Dubai), Cyprus, Hong Kong, Austria, Germany |
| Provision of services in the US, UK, Canada, European Economic Area | The European Economic Area and UK The US and Canada. |
| Min. trade size | 0.01 (MT) 1’000 (Advanced Trader) |
| Leverage | From 1:1 to 1:100 (Forex) From 1:1 to 1:50 (CFD) |
| Account types | Standard, Premium, Prime, Professional |
| Minimum deposit | $ 1000 |
| Minimum withdrawal | |
| Deposit & withdrawal methods | 3 methods: credit cards, bank transfers. |
| Payment Fees | Until 31.12.2020, third-party fees will not be charged. Usual fees: 2.2% in CHF/EUR/GBP, 2.5% in USD. |
| Trading hours | 24/5 24/7 (For crypto) |
| Trading platforms | MT4, MT5, Advanced Trader |
| Mobile App | |
| Demo | |
| Copy Trading | |
| AT/Robots | |
| Bonus | |
| Affiliate program |
For Switzerland, the official website has the address https://swissquote.ch, for the rest of the countries https://swissquote.com. Login is possible only after registration with identity verification.
Regulation and safety
In fact, the Swissquote Group is the benchmark for reliability and safety. This statement is supported by several factors.
Firstly, Swissquote Group Holding Ltd was founded in 1996 and is Switzerland’s leading provider of online financial and trading services. Swissquote operates a regulated bank and has been listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange since 2000. The company strives to show the most transparent and fair conditions for its clients.
Secondly, Swissquote has 4 tier-1 and 2 tier-2 regulators. Swissquote is authorized and regulated by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Swiss Financial Markets Supervisory Authority (FINMA), the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA)
This allows the bank to provide trading services in most countries of the world, including Europe and the UK. These regulators provide strong oversight of financial activities and prevent any attempts to fraud. As a consequence, Swissquote is a low-risk, high-trust broker.
Swissquote Forex and CFD trading
Now to the review of Forex and CFD trading with Swissquote bank.
As a broker, the company offers over 130 assets for Forex and CFD trading. Of course, in terms of the number and variety of assets, Swissquot is inferior to many leading brokers.
The broker has excellent rates of order opening and slippage / requotes. The average position opening speed is 10 ms, 77% of trades are executed without slippage and only 11% of trades with negative slippage. Own network of Tier 1 banks and regional non-bank liquidity providers enables Swissquote to provide a consistent liquidity pool across all them FX & CFD instruments.
Unlike other brokers, Swissquote’s maximum leverage is 1: 100. This is done to reduce the risk of capital loss. However, some traders prefer large leverage to maximize profit potential. Professional traders can increase the leverage up to 1:400.
Trading with Swissquote bank is possible on Metatrader (MT4 and MT5) or the proprietary Advanced Trader terminal. The Advanced Trader platform is most suitable for experts, and Metatrader is the classic choice for all traders. There are differences between them in some trading conditions.
| MetaTrader | Advanced Trader | |
|---|---|---|
| Min. lot size | 0.01 | 1’000 |
| Execution of orders | Market or Instant | Spot or Market best |
| Stop Out | 30% | 0.3-2.25% |
The broker provides a free demo account that you can open after a short registration. On a demo account, you will clearly see all assets, spreads and commissions. Identity verification is required to open a real account.
Spreads, swaps and fees
Spreads, swaps and commissions are one of the important factors for competition in this industry. Therefore, their review requires special attention.
Primarily, Swissquote has no commissions on trades and no hidden fees. This once again confirms its reputation as an honest and transparent broker. The broker charges only a fee of 10 units of the account currency per month for inactivity (after 6 or more months of inactivity).
Broker swaps can be positive or negative for long and short orders. Swaps are very low for currency pairs and metals. But for CFDs for indices, commodities and bonds, they can be quite high, or they are completely absent.
Swissquote spreads are highly dependent on the type of account and trading instrument.
| Standard | Premium | Prime | Professional | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum deposit (in USD) | 1,000 | 10,000 | 50,000 | Volume based |
For the Swissquote standard account type, the spreads for all trading instruments are higher than the average for forex brokers. They average 1.7-3.2 pips for major currency pairs with normal liquidity. For CFDs on other assets, they are high.
For the Swissquote premium account, the currency pair spreads are average among forex brokers. They are about 0.2-0.3 pips lower for Forex compared to the standard account type. Spreads are also average for some CFD assets.
Below average spreads are available to Swissquote clients with a prime account. However, a high deposit of $ 50,000 is required to get a prime account.
The lowest spreads are possible on professional accounts. A professional account type can be obtained with large trading volumes.
Stock market and crypto trading on Swissquote
The bank offers a lot of services. In addition to standard banking and forex trading, on Swissquote you can trade the stock market and crypto. These services are available in the eTrading and Crypto-Assets sections.
On the eTrading platform, you can safely trade 3 million products on 60 stock exchanges. The platform interface is quite complex, especially for beginners. It can be learned with a platform tutorial and a free demo account.
The table shows a review of the main differences between Swissquote Forex/CFD and trading on the stock exchanges.
| Forex/CFD | Stock Market | |
|---|---|---|
| Trading platform | MT4, MT5, Advanced Trader | eTrading |
| Trading instruments | Forex (78+), Forex Options (45+), CFDs (52+) on metals, stock indices, commodities and bonds | About 3 million products: shares, warrants & derivatives, options & dutures, funds, ETFs, Indices, Forex, commodities, bonds, cryptocurrencies |
| Leverage | 1:50 – 1:100 | |
| Fees | Spread from 1.7 pips | 9-250 CHF/USD/EUR or 0.25-1.5% depending on the stock exchange and transactions value |
Firstly, due to the lack of regulation in the field of transactions with cryptocurrency, it is necessary to choose the most reliable brokers or specialized exchanges. And the reliability of this bank has already been mentioned, it is trustworthy.
Secondly, Swissquote does not charge huge fees for crypto trading. The fee is 0.5%-1% depending on the transaction amount.
For a cryptocurrency wallet, there is a $ 10 withdrawal fee. When depositing from $ 500, there is no commission, otherwise it is also $ 10.
Pros and Cons
Pros
Highest reliability. Swissquote is a publicly traded company, operates a bank and is licensed by 4 tier-1 regulators.Fast order opening and no slippage / requotes.
The ability to trade on the stock market over 3 million instruments – Stocks, bonds, indices, futures, options, etc.
Good for trading cryptoassets.
Relatively medium spreads and low swaps on the Prime account.
Free and unlimited demo account
Good selection of trading platforms (MT4, MT5, Advanced Trader) and mobile applications
Cons
Large minimum deposit ($ 1000)Above average spreads and swaps on standard and premium accounts
Few methods to deposit and withdraw funds
Few assets for forex and CFD trading
Conclusion
Swissquote provides a high standard of safety and reliability. It is an honest and well-known brand all over the world.
Swissquote review shows broker has above average spreads and the maximum leverage is only 1:100 (1:400 for professionals). In this he competes poorly with the leading forex brokers. But the clear advantages are low swaps (can be positive and negative) and fast opening of positions with almost complete absence of requotes/slippages. Therefore, Swissquote is great for long-term forex trading. Especially for investors with large deposits, as it reduces the spread.
As a CFD broker, it practically does not compete with others due to the small selection of assets and high spreads.
But the online bank has other offers for customers as well. Swissquote is well suited for trading stock markets and cryptocurrencies. The bank offers a huge selection of 3 million instruments on 60 stock markets and acceptable commissions (Section eTrading). And high reliability is an extremely important factor when trading physical cryptocurrency (Section Crypto Assets).
Accepted countries
The bank is legal in most countries of the world. It is the most popular among European countries.
Swissquote broker accepts traders from Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, UAE (Dubai), Cyprus, Hong Kong, Austria, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, Croatia, France, Malaysia, Greece, Czech Republic, Ireland and 100+ more countries.
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