HomeSwissquote Review

Swissquote Review 2023

Founded in 2000, Swissquote is a public limited company listed on the Swiss Stock Exchange. Exceeding its services beyond traditional banking, the firm now facilitates forex and CFD trading across multiple financial markets. The firm is widely known for its quality research resources and rich product portfolio. However, the company’s pricing seems slightly higher than average industry standards. Further, the company’s trading platforms are not the best either. In this piece, we review the broker in detail.  

Regulation and Security

Swissquote is an operating brand of Swiss Group Holdings. The group holds regulations from six tier-I and tier-II regulatory authorities;

  • United Kingdom: Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
  • Switzerland: Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA)
  • China: Securities Futures Commission (SFC)
  • Singapore: Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)
  • UAE: Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA)
  • Malta: Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA)

Swissquote is a reputable broker based on the safety steps it takes to secure its customers’ financial and sensitive information. For instance, it employs advanced web security procedures, including SSL encryption and two-factor authentication, to prevent intruders from accessing clients’ confidential data.

Negative Balance Protection

Swissquote employs an STP trade execution model based on a Non-Guaranteed stop-loss policy. Therefore, Swiss clients could incur more losses than their capital invested due to slippage issues that typically occur under highly volatile trading conditions. However, the company does offer negative balance protection in the selected regions, such as the UK.

Funds Segregation

In compliance with the solid regulatory setup, the company keeps clients’ funds in segregated bank accounts. Moreover, the firm also offers indemnity insurance of up to a specific limit depending upon the respective jurisdictions. For instance, the company provides deposit protection of up to CHF 100,000 to its Swiss clients if the bank becomes insolvent. Similarly, UK clients can seek compensation of up to GBP 85,000 amid the bank’s liquidation.

Is Swissquote available worldwide?

With its headquarter in Switzerland, the company operates through its regional offices worldwide, including Hong Kong, London, Dubai, Malta, and Zurich. The firm accepts clients from major parts of the world, excluding Iran, Iraq, Libya, Italy, Germany, France, Canada, and the USA. Being part of the Swiss Group Holding, the broker also owns the following other companies, affiliates, and key businesses:

  • Swissquote Financial Services (Malta) Limited
  • Swissquote Bank MEA Limited
  • Swissquote Bank SA
  • Swissquote Asia Limited

Supported Platforms

Swissquote provides access to proprietary trading apps and the industry’s renowned platforms – MT4/MT5, enabling clients to trade across all channels, such as Online, Desktop and Mobile. If the company’s custom-built trading platforms fall short for clients looking for a specialized trading platform, the entire MetaTrader platform family is available for enhanced trading exposure. Let’s quickly highlight some features accessible under each trading platform, or if you’re looking for more details, click here.

Online trading: Multi-asset trading on Swissquote’s in-house platform makes it easy for clients to reach their financial goals. Widgets on the platform allow users to design their customized workstations. Traders can use watchlists to keep tabs on their favourite stocks, while the trend radar helps them analyze underlying securities deeply. Traders will also like the addition of TradingView charts to Advanced Trader’s web-based edition. On the other hand, the MT4/MT5 platforms come with various tools for market analysis, charting options, and automated trading methods. For registered customers, the company also provides free plugins. Notably, there are 49 indicators in the desktop edition of Advanced Trader, although they aren’t as fluid as in the web version.

Desktop trading: Swissquote Advanced Trader platform is available for clients who wish to trade from the comfort of their desktops. While the platform supports multiple order types, It comes with 20+ built-in indicators and 15+ overlays thanks to the automatic pattern identification feature. Notably, the proprietary trading platform Advanced Trader needs a facelift to compete with well-designed platforms offered by other top-rated brokers. For example, when we tested Advanced Trader, we had to manually resize each of its different display modules because there was no automated resizing option. In short, the desktop version’s main highlights are the powerful charting tool, a wide range of order types, and the ability to trade FX options on 40+ currency pairs via RFQ.

Mobile trading: Swissquote’s Advanced Trader mobile app and the MT4/MT5 mobile versions are available for on-the-go forex traders. Besides being user-friendly, the Advance Trader intuitive app has good research capabilities and integrated educational information. It has six chart styles and 11 timeframes but no technical indicator. Moreover, the option for charts landscape orientation and zooming in/out feature is also missing. Therefore, clients might want to go for MetaTrader mobile-based versions instead.

MetaTrader and Swissquote’s Advanced Trader mobile apps come with integrated news feeds from top-tier sources like Dow Jones Newswire and an economic calendar, helping clients stay abreast of the market.

Account Types

To cater to the trading needs of individual traders, the company offers four account types; Prime, Premium, Elite and Professional.

While the company registers newbies under the standard account, Prime and Premium accounts are available to advanced-level traders. Professional clients can sign up for the Elite account at Swissquote. Please note that the account types can be different for other entities.

For example, Swissquote in Luxembourg only offers three types of accounts. All accounts come with four supported account base currencies, including GBP, USD, CHF, and EUR.

The services and features offered in each account type are almost identical, except for the minimum deposit requirements and commission charge policy which we will discuss in the relevant sections.

Signing Up

Swissquote’s signing-up process could take some time owing to stringent regulatory requirements. For instance, the broker first verifies your identity before allowing you to get started. The whole procedure needs you to complete four steps, including;

1) Provision of personal information

2) Completion of account’s profile

3) Submission of financial information

4) Accepting terms and conditions and waiting for the application’s approval.

Clients can use their National ID card, Driving License, or Passport for KYC verification. The company also needs you to submit a bank statement or a copy of your utility bill for address verification.

Trading Dashboard

As soon as you log in to your trading account, a sleekly designed, user-friendly interface welcomes you onboard. The company seems to have kept the dashboard as simple as possible. While the side navigation panel lists all the categories available to explore, the dashboard features the charting options for underlying securities on the right side. The upper navigation panel also has Marketquotes, Robo-advisory, and Support buttons.

There is an account setting option on the top right corner of the page. Clients can use it to configure their trading preferences, such as default leverage selection and account’s base currency. The setting menu allows clients to set their login credentials and upload an avatar. An option of enabling/disabling two-step authentication and setting up price alert notification is also accessible under the ‘My Account’ button. Notably, clients can always switch their accounts between demo and live versions using the Trading Account option. Overall, the appearance of the trading Swiss trading dashboard is satisfying. However, advanced professionals might still want more options.

Deposit and Withdrawals

Unlike other brokerage firms, Swissquote doesn’t offer multiple payment methods. While clients can deposit funds via debit cards, credit cards, and wire transfers, the company only processes withdrawals through bank transfers.

The minim deposit amounts seem pretty higher compared to other top-rated brokerage firms. The bank accepts a minimum deposit of $5000 or equivalent, while there is no upper limit for payments made via bank transfers.

All card payments are instantaneous, while wire transfers take a little longer to reflect in your account. The company generally process all payments within the same day. However, the delay could originate from the source bank or card issuer.

Instruments

Although the company offers a rich product portfolio, the list of offerings still doesn’t seem competitive, especially with the industry’s large brokerage firms. However, Swissquote is among the pioneers in introducing crypto derivatives trading. While there are 70+ currency pairs available for trade, the company offers a wide selection of CFD products across various financial markets, including stocks, indices, commodities, and precious metals.

Not to mention, the product list may vary depending upon your selected entity. For instance, crypto derivatives are not available to trade in the UK amid the FCA restrictions. Hence, confirming a specific instrument’s availability is worthwhile before signing up with Swissquote.

Commissions and Fees

Fees and commissions have always been of great significance when it comes to the selection of a broker. Swissquote pricing structure (trading & non-trading fees) appears a little expensive. For instance, the company’s initial deposit requirements are too high. Further, it also charges a withdrawal fee of up to CHF2 or equivalent within Switzerland. The company also charges an account inactivity fee of 10 units of the account’s base currency on accounts dormant for more than six consecutive months.

As far as trading cost is concerned, the company employs a variable spread and commission charging policy. For instance, the average spread on EUR/USD for commission-free Prime and Premium accounts stays around 1.8 pips. However, professional account holders must pay a commission depending on their traded volume. For instance, the company charges a commission of $5 per round trip per lot for a traded volume of $10K. All open positions also incur overnight charges of up to 2% depending upon your trade size and underlying financial instrument. 

Available Leverage

CFDs are leveraged products and involve borrowing funds from your broker to fill large orders with limited capital. Swissquote offers a leverage of up to 1:100. However, the maximum leverage available for clients residing in countries with profound regulatory oversight is 1:30 for currency pairs and 1:20 for trading stocks, commodities, indices and bonds. Please be aware of the risk involved in leverage trading. While leverage enhances your profit-making potential, it also magnifies the risk of loss. Therefore, you should proceed with extreme care when trading leveraged products.

Analysis and Education

The quality of Swissquote’s research and educational resources is far higher than the industry average. The Newsroom portion features a daily written article series called Morning News, as well as pieces on Themes Trading. There is a bi-monthly magazine featuring almost 80 pages of technology-rich information worldwide. The quantitative research team at Swissquote is also responsible for helping structure some of the company’s products, including the crypto ETF certificates. Traders can also access Trading Central content, including analyst commentary and chart pattern analysis.

On the other hand, dozens of instructional videos and webinars on its YouTube account are commendable. Further, there are ten e-Books available to download. Although the company takes every step to ensure a rich educational experience for its clients, we believe the addition of quizzes and the capability to track progress; and the provision of an option to filter by experience level would nail the company’s ranking in this category.

Customer Service

Swissquote seems highly concerned with ensuring clients’ facilitation. Besides providing an in-depth FAQs section, the company serves clients via email, phone and live chat to help them resolve their issues and concerns on a run-time basis. Clients can use the following details to connect with the company during office hours five days a week.

Switzerland:

Phone: 0848 25 88 88

From abroad:

Phone: +41 44 825 88 88

Fax: +41 44 825 88 89

email: roboadvisor@swissquote.ch

Reputation amongst Traders

Clients hold a mix of opinions about signing up with Swissquote. Although most clients appraise the company’s third-party integration features and platform’s useability, some traders disliked the lengthy account opening procedure and delayed withdrawal process. With 400+ customers’ feedback, the company secured an average rating of 3.0 at Trustpilot.

Can beginners trade with Swissquote?

Swissquote is well suited to newbies due to its easy-to-use trading interface and virtually funded demo accounts. However, the high minimum requirements could limit beginners with a low budget in getting started with Swissquote.

Summing Up

Swissquote is one of the most legitimate banking and brokerage firms available around. The company offers a wide range of products across multiple markets and provides access to both in-house and third-party trading platforms. While rich educational resources and flexible account types are the company’s strengths, the high minimum deposit and expensive pricing structure prevent it from being considered the industry’s top broker. Nevertheless, the robust regulatory framework makes the company a potential choice for clients with a low-risk tolerance profile.