Online Trading

Swissquote Review

4.3/5

Swissquote Group was founded in Switzerland in 1996, and it has since established itself as one of the most highly trusted and well-known brokers in the world. The company has earned a coveted listing on the Swiss stock exchange (SIX:SQN) and over 330,000 client accounts across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. As a prestigious legacy broker authorized by multiple tier-1 regulators including Switzerland’s own Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) and the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Swissquote traders are among the most protected. They’re also some of the most successful and can take advantage of advanced charting tools, a wide range of base currencies on forex, and CFDs on stock indices, commodities and bonds, and more inside the MT4 or MT5.

With a higher-than-average minimum deposit on its lowest account, Swissquote is also a broker for those who are willing to gain greater exposure to financial markets. However, the impressive breadth of Swissquote’s platform ensures that traders are educated well and given the best tools for the job. It also means it’s important for traders to distinguish between the services, instruments, and trading conditions offered between Swissquote’s London-based, EU-branded platform and its Switzerland-based banking ecosystem. Traders in the UK and EU who want to trade forex and CFDs most cost-effectively will prefer the former. The broker’s other Swiss entity offers forex and CFDs as well, alongside a wider range of underlying instruments, higher leverage, funds held in Swiss banks, and a dealing-desk execution model.

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Swissquote Pros & Cons
Pros
  • Many platform types including Autochartist enables members to avail of more market opportunities
  • Swiss accounts get the benefit of funds held in Swiss Tier 1 bank accounts with an IBAN for seamless international trading
  • Zero-commission and from 0.0 spreads accounts options are cost-effective for trading
  • Various plugins help imbue traders with new functionality for order types, charting, technical analysis and indicators
  • Great educational resources are a relief for newbies
Cons
  • Spreads are a bit higher on average in Swiss accounts than in EU accounts
  • Large yet somewhat confusing array of services might throw beginners a curve ball
  • High minimum deposit amounts even on the lowest account type
Who Is Swissquote Recommended For?

Swissquote’s range of services can be suitably recommended for nearly any trader, regardless of experience level. Traders are able to support complex trading strategies in riskier trading conditions if they like, but also stay in the shallow end with Expert Advisors, low leverage, and basic trading tutorial videos in regular markets such as forex or shares. The one barrier to entry is Swissquote’s higher-than-average minimum deposit, which costs €1,000 for the Premium account (EU) or $1,000 for the Standard account (Bank). Forex traders in the EU will also prefer Swissquote for its low spreads and zero commission accounts, even if they’re unable to access the wider variety of markets and instruments on the Swiss platform. Those who would like their deposits and funds to be held in a Swiss bank account and have access to a wider range of financial services and instruments are ideal candidates for the broker’s Swiss accounts.

Regulated By
  • Dubai Financial Services Authority (United Arab Emirates)
  • Financial Market Supervisory Authority (Switzerland)
  • Malta Financial Services Authority (Malta)
  • The Securities and Futures Commission (Hong Kong)
  • Financial Conduct Authority (UK) - For EU Traders
Top Swissquote Features

Competitive Spreads and Flexible Orders: Swissquote offers competitive spreads on all account types, and for EU forex traders with the Elite account (or Professional traders) there are options to pay from 0.0 pips. There are zero commissions on the two lowest EU accounts, and on all Swiss forex accounts. In general, the spreads are lower on EU accounts. Order sizes for all instruments are very flexible as well.

Deep Tier 1 Liquidity: Swiss accounts benefit from the deep liquidity of a Tier 1 network of banks, while the EU and UK entity uses this entity (Swissquote Bank) as a liquidity provider. It’s also supported by a larger network of regional non-bank liquidity providers. This ensures quicker and more accurate execution pricing and helps with strategy analysis and benchmarking.

Expert Advisors and Autochartist: Through the MT4 platform traders can copy trade using the Expert Advisor service, which lists traders who log their performance and trading habits for others to copy with one click, even high-frequency traders. Additionally, they can formulate their own strategies with greater depth, via the Autochartist tool.

Swiss Account with IBAN: Swiss forex and CFD trading accounts, and trading accounts for investing in underlying stocks and other assets keep funds in an ultra-secured, insured Swiss bank account with an International Banking Number. The Switzerland banking system is one of the world’s most sheltered and connected, which is a relief for traders with security in mind.

Deposit Protection: Thanks to regulation by both the FCA and FINMA, eligible traders with either a UK or a Swiss Swissquote account have their funds covered. The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority requires accounts under its authority to be covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme up to £50,000 while the Swiss accounts are bound by the Agreement by Swiss Banks and Securities Dealers on Deposit Insurance for up to CHF100,000.

Range of Platforms and Plugins: Mostly for the Swiss traders, extra platforms available via plugin including Themes Trading (for trends and sectors trading), the proprietary eTrading Platform, and access to third-party investing services via the FIX API are an enormous advantage. For both jurisdictions, however, there are the Advanced Trader platform, both the MT4 and MT5, MetaTrader Master Edition, and Autochartist.

Swissquote Overview
  • Type of Broker Agency & Principle
  • Regulation & Licensing Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), Malta Financial Services Authority, The Securities and Futures Commission (Hong Kong), Dubai Financial Services Authority (UAE)
  • Assets Offered Currencies, CFDs, Shares/stocks (Only for Swiss and UAE residents), Commodities, Precious Metals, Bonds
  • Platforms Available Advanced Trader, MT4, MT5
  • Mobile Compatibility iOS , Android
  • Payment Types Accepted Credit/debit card, Bank wire transfer, Union Pay
Trading and Investment Tools Trading Platforms
  • Advanced Trader Web By Swissquote Bank Ltd
  • Advanced Trader Mobile By Swissquote Bank Ltd
  • Advanced Trader By Swissquote Bank Ltd
  • MetaTrader4 By MetaQuotes Software Corp.
  • MetaTrader 4 Android By MetaQuotes Software Corp.
  • MetaTrader 4 iOS By MetaQuotes Software Corp.
  • Metatrader 5 By MetaQuotes Software Corp.
  • MetaTrader 5 Mobile By MetaQuotes Software Corp.
  • One Click Trading: Yes
  • Trade off Charts: Yes
  • Email Alerts: Yes
  • Mobile Alerts: Yes
  • Stop Order: Yes
  • Market Order: Yes
  • Trailing Stop Order: Yes
  • OCO Orders: Yes
  • Limit Order: Yes
  • 24hr Trading: Yes
  • Charting Package: Yes
  • Streaming News Feed: Yes
Swissquote Compliance & Regulation

Swissquote is strictly regulated and maintains a close relationship with its supervisory financial entities the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority and Switzerland’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority. These are some of the strictest about data transparency, price accuracy, marketing and advertising honesty, fund protection and segregation, and more. Accordingly, Swissquote is no exception on any account, and moreover protects traders’ funds with a Swiss and a UK investor compensation scheme in the event the company enters bankruptcy proceedings. Swissquote forex and CFD traders can operate without worry over but their own ability to distinguish and capitalize on market opportunities. Additionally, Swissquote is registered with several other regulatory bodies across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific.

Fees & Commissions
  • Rollover Fee: Yes
  • Margin Interest: No
Swissquote Pricing

The fees and other charges you’ll encounter largely on Swissquote stem from the spread, which vary primarily between the Swiss accounts and EU accounts and then between each account tier. All Swiss forex accounts have zero commissions, for example, but then charge a higher spread than the equivalent EU account. For EU accounts, the first two accounts with a €1,000 and €5,000 deposit minimum have no commissions and small spreads, and one can opt to deposit at least €10,000 to get the Elite account with €2.5 commissions and spreads from 0.0 pips. There is no maintenance fee, and competitive deposit and withdrawal fees that vary via payment type.

Service Details
  • Supported Languages: Arabic, Chinese, Czech, English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish
  • Customer Service By: Phone, Chat, Email
  • Customer Service Hours: 8:00 to 22:00 CET, Monday to Friday
  • Email Response Time: Immediate
  • Telephone Orders: Yes
  • Personal Account Manager: Yes
Swissquote Reliability & Security

Swissquote can arguably be considered one of the most reliable brokers in the industry, and this is a product of its decades in the marketplace and wider variety of financial entities and services than most standalone brokers. High liquidity and the most professional, transparent trading conditions are a must for Swissquote due to clientele who expect more from the venerable name in Swiss banking. With dual regulation by two of the most scrupulous authorities in the world (and others), plus an investor protection scheme for both sides of its trading audience (EU and Rest of World), Swissquote is highly trustworthy.

Swissquote User Experience

There are a variety of platforms available for Swissquote traders who want to expose their capital in different ways. Signing up for Swissquote to gain access to these services is easy, and only requires that you complete your client profile, verification of your banking information, and then a review from a Swissquote KYC agent. After funding your account, you can access the Advanced Trader directly in your browser.

The platform looks much like MT4 and MT5, but gives you a fully customizable platform that lets you set up automatic pattern detection and other unique features. You’ll see instruments on the left, indicators framing the top of the chart, and order information underneath. The MT4 and MT5 will be familiar to anyone, and offer a connection to the Expert Advisors panel, enabling copy-trades that mirror other EAs on the MT4 network.

It’s worth mentioning extra tools such as Autochartist, which has a few new tools which don’t require getting used to, just offer new information such as risk metrics and the identification of chart patterns, and more. For questions or issues with any of these tools, customer service is a crucial part of the Swissquote experience. Swissquote offers live chat, which is very nice, but also an email and phone which are live from Sunday 11pm to Friday 11pm CET.

Final Thoughts on Swissquote

As a Swiss bank and brokerage, Swissquote maintains a highly trusted reputation in all the world’s financial circles and provides traders and investors with an impressive selection of products and services. All are protected in equal manner with advanced technology and investor compensation rules, but EU traders under ESMA won’t have access to the majority of banking and underlying investing services and are instead relegated to forex and CFD trading, though at better prices than most. There are many platforms to trade with in all jurisdictions, and while they offer a range of different advantages, most traders will only need the MetaTrader 4. At the end of the day, those who desire to trade from a Swiss bank and use brokerage services offering access to more markets should go for Swissquote’s CH accounts. Forex and CFD traders will prefer the broker’s EU accounts which have tighter spreads.

Trading Platform Screenshots
  • Swissquote offers many platform types to EU traders including the Advanced Trader, MT4 and MT5, and even more for CH traders.
  • Swissquote’s live chat features offers a direct way to get answers in real-time from an agent.
  • Swissquote offers three account types to EU and CH traders, plus a Professional account as well with varying spreads and commissions levels.
  • Autochartist is available to Swissquote traders in EU or CH and offers advanced charting and indicators.
Contact Info
laptop Website: www.swissquote.com, www.swissquote.eu
laptop Email: fx@swissquote.com
call Telephone: +41 22 999 94 11
print Fax: +41 44 825 88 89
location_on Company Address:
Chemin de la Créteaux 33 (Headquarters) 1196 Gland, Switzerland
Swissquote FAQs

Q: Is my money held in a Swiss bank account if I’m trading on the EU and UK platforms?

A: No, only when you’re on the Swiss version of Swissquote is your money held in Swiss accounts, but traders elsewhere still have their funds segregated in Tier 1 banks.

Q: What’s the maximum leverage on Swissquote?

A: For EU and UK traders the maximum leverage is according to ESMA standards at 1:30, but Professional traders can enjoy leverage up to 1:100.

Q: Are my deposits covered by an insurance scheme?

A: Yes, for both EU and UK traders’ deposits are covered by either regulator’s mandatory investor compensation scheme (50,000GBP or 100,000CHF).

Q: Can I transfer securities I hold to my Swissquote account?

A: You’ll need a CH Swissquote account if you hold the underlying security, but a transfer can be accomplished with a special request or by filling out a transfer order form.

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