Swissquote Broker Review

Swissquote Group Holding company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Switzerland. Its subsidiaries are regulated in various jurisdictions by multiple authorities, including the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) the UK, the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), the Malta Financial Services Authority, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). Its parent company has a banking license, is listed on the Swiss stock exchange, and regularly discloses its financials.

Ugandan traders will be trading under the subsidiary, Swissquote Bank Ltd, authorised and regulated by the Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). A top-tier regulator, FINMA is an independent regulatory body with authority over Switzerland’s financial institutions, including banks, insurance companies, exchanges, and investment schemes. It also reports to the Swiss Federal Department of Finance and is headquartered in the capital city, Bern. 

Unfortunately, Swissquote does not specifically mention on its website the segregation of client capital and the offering of negative balance protection for traders. However, as per regulation, Swissquote complies with these requirements. FINMA also requires Swissquote to restrict the leverage it offers to traders, limiting it to 1:100.

Additionally, traders receive up to 100,000 CHF in investor protection per account should the company be liquidated.

Considering the high level of regulatory oversight, the fact that Swissquote is listed on the Swiss stock exchange, and the high level of investor protection, we deem Swissquote a safe and trustworthy broker for global traders. 

Swissquote’s account-opening process is fully digital, but clients may experience long waiting times.

Traders can open a trading account at Swissquote, but need to meet the following minimum deposit requirements:

• Standard Account: 1,000 USD
• Premium Account: 10,000 USD
• Prime Account: 50,000 USD
• Professional Account: You have to contact Swissquote to apply for this account

Swissquote offers both corporate and individual accounts, but we will focus on opening an individual account:

1. Click on the “open your account” button at the top of the page.
2. Traders will be directed to register an account and fill in their personal information (including name, marital status, address, and contact details).
3. The next step requires clients to fill in a client profile, including employment status and tax residency.
4. Clients are then required to fill in a form with their financial information, in addition to their preferred platform, and starting minimum deposit.
5. Once the application form has been completed, traders will be directed to authenticate the account. This requires confirming one’s identification via video or sending the documents to Swissquote by post.
6. Once this step is complete, traders will be able to start trading. We advise that you read Swissquote’s risk disclosure, customer agreement, and terms of business before you start trading.

Overall, the account-opening process is mostly digital, but traders may have to wait a while to confirm their identity. Additionally, unlike other brokers, Swissquote does not require traders to undergo an evaluation to assess their suitability for trading, which is an oversight on Swissquote’s part.

Swissquote offers trading on multiple instruments, including Forex, commodities, indices, bonds, options, and cryptocurrencies.

All trading costs are included in the variable spreads, which get wider or tighter depending on trade volume and market volatility.

The Standard Account has a minimum spread of 1.7 pips, significantly higher than the costs on other brokers’ entry-level accounts. Premium Account Holders still face a spread of 1.4 pips, while the Prime Account has a spread of 1.1 pips. Additionally, the minimum deposits on these accounts are significantly higher than those on similar brokers. By any measure, these trading costs represent an uncompetitive offer.

The trading costs on Swissquote’s Professional account are lower than the other accounts, but this requires very high trading volumes and high minimum deposits, making it inaccessible to most traders.

Swap Fees

Another important cost to consider is the swap rate charged on positions held overnight. Interest is paid (or received) for each night a position is held. Swissquote publishes the swap fees alongside each instrument on its website.

Swissquote offers four different live account options in addition to a demo account. The minimum deposits on these accounts are higher than other market maker brokers, but in line with what experienced or professional traders might expect to pay. 

Standard Account

The Standard Account is Swissquote’s entry-level account with a minimum deposit of 1000 USD. Spreads are wide, starting at 1.30 pips, minimum trade sizes are 0.01 lots, and no commissions are charged on trades. 

Premium Account

Swissquote’s most popular account, the Premium Account, requires a minimum deposit of 10,000 USD. It is a commission-free account with spreads starting at 1.4 pips, which is still wider than other similar brokers. The minimum trade size on this account is 0.1 lots.

Prime Account

Swissquote’s professional trading account, the Prime Account, has a minimum deposit of 50,000 USD, standard leverage up to 100:1, and spreads of 1.1 pips, which is still wider than the spreads on other brokers’ entry-level accounts. The minimum trade size on this account is 1 lot.

Professional Account

The Professional account is a fully customisable account option. The minimum deposit is adjusted depending on the volume traded. A commission of 5 USD round turn/lot is charged on trades. Custom spreads and pricing can be discussed with your account manager.

Demo Account

A free demo account is available on all three platforms, offering access to over 130 financial instruments with no obligation or risk. Traders receive up to 100,000 USD of virtual funds to practice trading strategies. Demo accounts are available for 30 days, which is unusual, as most other brokers have unlimited demo accounts.

Overall, compared to other similar brokers, Swissquote’s initial and ongoing costs are high. The minimum deposit on the entry-level account is higher than at other brokers and spreads are wider than average across all the account types. 

A well-regulated broker, Swissquote ensures that all Anti-Money Laundering rules and regulations are followed, and as such, all withdrawals are returned to the deposit source. Swissquote offers two funding methods, limited to bank wire transfer and credit card/ debit cards. Traders are not charged fees for deposits, but a withdrawal fee of 10 USD applies for online payments. Credit and debit cards are processed instantly or within two hours, and bank transfers are processed within one day. Withdrawals must be made from within the ePortal.

Swisquote offers a wide range of trading account currencies compared to other brokers but does not offer accounts denominated in UGX.

Swissquote offers trading in fifteen base currencies, including EUR, USD, JPY, GBP, CHF, CAD, AUD, TRY, PLN, SEK, NOK, SGD, XGD, HUF, and CZK.

However, Swissquote does not support accounts denominated in UGX, which means that Ugandans will have to pay conversion fees on all deposits and withdrawals. Conversion fees can make trading expensive, and affect profitability.

In this case, it is better for traders that trade in large volumes (more than 10 lots a month) to open an account denominated in USD at a digital currency bank, especially for trading on assets such as the EUR/USD. This is because when trading a USD quoted currency pair with another currency account, there will be a small conversion fee for every trade made.

Overall, Swissquote offers a broader range of base account currencies than most other brokers, but doesn’t offer accounts denominated in UGX.

Swissquote supports MT4, MT5, and the CXFD mobile trading apps for Android and iOS. 

MT4/MT5 Mobile Trading

Traders should be aware that there is some loss in functionality when compared to the desktop trading platforms, including reduced time frames and fewer charting options, but traders can close and modify existing orders, calculate profit and loss, and trade on the charts.

CXFD App

CXFD is available as a mobile application on Android and iOS. Main features include:

• Complex order types and customisable interface
• TradingView integration
• AutoChartist integration

Swissquote supports the MetaTrader Suite of platforms in addition to its proprietary platform, CXFD. The platforms are compatible with Swissquote’s excellent trading tools, including Autochartist, Trading View, and the Metatrader Master Edition. 

Metatrader 4

Since 2005, MT4 has been the industry standard platform for trading Forex and CFDs. Its intuitive interface and user-friendly environment provide essential tools and resources for successful online trading.

MT4 allows hedging, copy trading and access to various plugins. Features of the MT4 platform include automated trading and back–testing, as well as access to thousands of expert advisors. Traders can also create indicators or choose between 30 built-in indicators, over 2000 free custom indicators, and 700 paid indicators. Other features of Swissquote’s MT4 platform include:

• A built-in library of more than 50 indicators and tools to streamline the analysis process.
• An impressive array of analytical tools is available for each financial instrument in nine timeframes.
• Live price streaming on live accounts and demo accounts 128-bit encryption for secure trading
• Algorithmic trading allows any trading strategy to be formalised and implemented as an Expert Advisor
• Customisable alerts
• Access to MetaTrader market and MQL4 community

While MT4 offers great customisability, the platform feels outdated, and some features may be hard to find. In addition, only the basic orders, including Market, Limit, Stop, and Trailing Stop, are available.

Metatrader 5

Continuing its predecessor’s reputation, the MT5 platform provides traders everything they need to trade the financial markets. It incorporates all of the key features of MT4 and an optimised environment for algorithmic trading using Expert Advisors (EAs). As with MT4, the platform allows hedging and copy trading and access to tools such as Autochartist, MetaTrader Master Edition, and Trading Central. Other features of Swissquote’s MT5 platform include:

• 38+ preinstalled technical indicators
• 44 analytical charting tools
• 3 chart types
• 21 timeframes
• Additional pending order types
• Detachable charts
• Trailing stop
• Depth of Market
• An integrated Economic Calendar.

CFXD

CXFD supports conditioned orders and features advanced chart analysis tools and an economic calendar. Other features include 50+ intelligent charting tools, 80+ technical indicators, and a synchronised layout for multiple charts. 

CXFD offers a FIX API connection, and hedging on request, but it does not support EAs (Expert Advisors). It also does not support most of the plugins available on the Metatrader platforms. However, unlike the Metatrader platforms, those using Advanced Trader can access TradingView.

In addition to the traditional order types, traders can execute more complex orders that are not available on other platforms, including:

• Order Cancels Other (OCO) – This feature combines stop and limit orders. When one is executed, it automatically cancels the other.
• IF-DONE – A two-step order in which the second step cannot be executed until the conditions of the first are met.
• If – OCO – A variation on the IF-DONE order in which an OCO is placed after the order has been executed.

Overall, Swissquote ensures its clients’ competitive edge by maintaining three excellent trading platforms. Additionally, it offers a broad range of excellent trading tools that integrate seamlessly with MT4, MT5, and the Advanced Trader platforms.

Swissquote offers a range of premium trading tools, including Autochartist, Trading View, and FIX API. These tools help traders find trading opportunities by analysing the markets for patterns. FIX API is available for traders who deposit over 50,000 USD.

Autochartist

Autochartist is a powerful tool for traders who actively spend time looking for trading opportunities and technical trading patterns. Autochartist continuously scans the market looking for patterns and sends alerts based on three main technical analysis options: regular chart patterns, Fibonacci patterns, and Key levels.

Swissquote provides a step-by-step tutorial video that shows traders how to find and set trades using Autochartist.

TradingView

TradingView is free of charge for traders who open an account on the CFXD platform. It is an excellent tool for researching, charting and screening any instrument. Additional features of Swissquote’s TradingView tool include:

• 50+ intelligent charting tools
• 80+ technical indicators for the analytically-minded
• Synchronised layout for multiple charts 

FIX API

The Financial Information eXchange (FIX) protocol is an international standard for electronic trading to enable greater connectivity among market participants. It is for institutional partners looking to deliver competitive FX pricing to their customers and private traders with custom platforms looking for optimal connectivity. Data includes historical price quotes and other trading information, allowing traders to get real-time data from the markets to assist with trading decisions or as a part of algorithmic trading. To use the FIX API, traders must deposit at least 50,000 USD into their trading accounts.

Swissquote’s analysis materials are excellent compared to other brokers.

Swissquote is an execution-only broker. Execution-only means that they don’t offer advice on trading strategies.

However, the Research Section of the website issues market analysis and news on subjects that affect the currency market – including in-depth fundamental and technical analyses.

Swissquote offers quality market commentary on its website under the Newsroom section. It consists of Morning News and Themes Trading and includes daily research updated by a team of in-house analysts, a regular podcast, a magazine available to subscribers, and a blog. Swissquote also offers a Daily Market Brief and a Daily Market Outlook.

The education section at Swissquote consists of Courses, Webinars, Seminars, and a Trading Glossary. Although the webinars are available in multiple languages, the courses, videos and ebooks are only available in English.

The courses include 31 x 2-3 minute videos on the following topics:

• Introduction to Forex
• Introduction to CFDs
• Technical Analysis
• Fundamental Analysis
• Risk Management
• MetaTrader
• Advanced Trader

Webinars are available in English, French, German and Arabic and will help deepen your knowledge of specific markets, products, and advanced tools on the trading platforms.

Seminars are held regularly in various locations. They present an opportunity for traders worldwide to broaden their trading horizons and discuss strategies with the most renowned experts in the field. However, Swissquote has put these on hold for the time being.

Lastly, Swissquote provides a trading glossary explaining all the various trading terms.

Overall, Swissquote provides a solid education for traders starting in the forex trading space.

Customer support is available via phone, email, and chat.

Toll-free numbers for some countries are available for phone contact, and the service centre is opening during office hours from 9 am to 6 pm UK time. Support is offered in 6 languages.

For the purposes of this review, the live chat feature was rarely available, even during business hours. Additionally, the support agents were most unhelpful – providing one-word answers about topics such as regulation, leverage, and other topics. Overall, it was a very frustrating and disappointing experience. It is clear that Swissquote is not focused on providing a welcoming environment for beginner traders.