Swissquote

Swissquote is a broker who has been providing forex trading for many years. It is also known as Swissquote Bank because it is one of the most reliable banks in Switzerland at the same time. They serve more than 200,000 investors worldwide.

The best thing about Swissquote is its reliability. When we compare with other brokers, opening an account and trading at Swisquote is a little more costly, but many investors ignore this cost for reliability.

If you are reading this Swissquote review, you are probably doing research on the broker. What types of accounts are offered by Swissquote and what are its spreads? Is it advantageous to open an account with Swissquote? What are the deposit and withdrawal methods? You can find all these questions in this review!

Regulation & Client Protection

Swissquote is among the most trusted forex brokers. Via this section of Swissquote review, I’ll review all the details about all the different regulations and licenses held by Swissquote which in turn make the broker and its name one of the most trusted in the market. and the following information will prove that, so if you want to know more I’d recommend you to keep reading.

Many investors prefer Swissquote for this reason. However, I can say that the diversity of account types offered is more limited than the other brokers. But this does not prevent Swissquote from attracting investors.

Swissquote is regulated by six watchdogs in different countries around the world and this alone proves how reliable Swissquote is considered to be in the forex market. These six licenses are as follows:

• FINMA in Switzerland ( Swissquote Bank Ltd holds a banking licence issued by its supervisory authority the Swiss Federal Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) and is a member of the Swiss Bankers Association. The mother company, Swissquote Group Holding Ltd, is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (symbol: SQN))
• FCA in the UK ( Swissquote Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which means it is held to high ethical, security and transparency standards, so its customers can trade with complete peace of mind)
• DFSA in the UAE ( Swissquote MEA Ltd holds a category 3A licence from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) and offers multi-asset trading platforms, ex-pat accounts, e-Private Banking solutions and special services for institutional partners)
• SFC in Hong Kong ( Swissquote Asia Ltd is a licensed corporation under the supervision of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), from which it was granted a Type 3 licence (Leverage Foreign Exchange Trading))
• MFSA in Malta ( Swissquote Financial Services (Malta) Ltd is an investment services company under the supervision of the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) and was granted a category 4 license. The company covers various fund activities, traditional and alternative investments, precious metals and commodities.)
• MAS in Singapore (Swissquote Pte Ltd holds a Capital Markets Services license granted by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS))

All these regulators are highly reputable and have very strict rules.

For example; Swissquote also has FINMA’s banking license. Having this license requires some tough conditions. The minimum capital requirement is 10 million CHF for FINMA-licensed brokers. FINMA also offers further protection for investors and provides funding protection of up to CHF 100,000 for each client.

Similarly, FCA is a regulator with very strict rules. FCA-regulated brokers have to keep in their bank account at least €730,000 separately from clients’ fund accounts. These brokers are also members of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. FSCS also provides a guarantee of up to £50,000  for each client fund as an additional protection.

Account Types & Spreads Offered by Swissquote

This section of the Swissquote review is where I’ll be discussing details about the different account types that are offered in addition to the trading conditions that each account type is offering including the minimum deposit, spreads, leverages and more.

There are 4 account types offered within Swissquote which are broken down as follows:

The Standard account

The Swissquote minimum deposit that is offered for trade with the standard account is $1000. I have to that that this amount might seem a bit much for beginner traders since it is also more that the average amount of minimum deposit in the forex market which is $100.

The spreads that can be used on this account are ranging from 1.7 pips, where no commissions are added to the transactions made with the scope of this account type. You can also trade stocks with a minimum deposit of $20 towards the stocks within the standard account. The maximum leverage amount that is offered is 1:100 where you can get the chance to obtain expert advisors. Besides, you can have the ability to obtain a margin of 100% with a stop-out level reaching 30%. The minimum traded lot that can be used on the standard account is 0.01 from the standard lot meaning a mico lot is the minimum tradable amount.

The Premium account

The spreads range from 1.4 pips in the premium account as well as no commissions are being added too towards transactions made within the account. Forex and stocks are available for a trade where you can trade stocks with a minimum deposit of $15. The minimum traded a lot in the premium account is higher than that one found in the standard account to be equivalent to 0.1 of the standard lot meaning a mini lot is the least volume you can trade within the premium account. The maximum offered leverage here is 1:100 with the availability of expert advisors. Yet, the Swissquote minimum deposit in the premium account seems to be way higher than the standard account to be of a value of $10.000 which isn’t an easy start for an initial deposit on a forex account.

The Prime account

Here no commissions are added to the transactions taking place within the prime account and the spread range is 1.1 pips. The option to trade using stocks is also available with a minimum of $10. The maximum leverage offered on the prime account is 1:100 whereas you can expect a margin of 100% as well as a stop pout level of 30%. Expert advisors are allowed and the minimum traded lot volume is the standard lot representing 100.000 units. The Swissquote minimum deposit in the prime account might not be for everyone as it has a value of $50.000.

The professional account

The professional account is mainly directed towards professional clients aiming towards more customized account trading conditions and terms to match the different trading styles approached by the traders. So the spreads here for example are custom spreads meaning, you can choose the range of the spreads you want to trade with. The minimum deposit here is also volume-based, so depending on the volume you will be trading with, you will have a matching minimum deposit. The minimum traded volume along with the maximum offered leverage are all customizable in this account type and you can also have a 100% margin and 30% stop-out level with the allowance of expert advisors.

There is also an inactivity fee if you open an account and didn’t have any activity got sometime which is represented by 10 account currency units per month.

15 currencies are allowed for usage with Swissquote and they are presented as follows:

EUR, USD, JPY, GBP, CHF, CAD, AUD, TRY, PLN, SEK, NOK, SGD, XGD, HUF, and CZK.

There is an option for a demo account where it allows forex and trading beginners to test out their newly acquired knowledge and techniques in a risk-free environment. Besides also allows professional trades to test out new trading methods and plans without risking any real investments in the process.

Payment Methods at Swissquote

The deposit and withdrawal methods offered by Swissquote are very limited. The methods you can use to deposit and withdraw money are banking wire and credit/debit card ( Visa and Mastercard). E-wallet systems like Neteller, and Skrill, offered by many brokers, are unavailable. The minimum deposit amount using any of the 2 offered funding channels is $1000.

Wire transfer: used for both depositing and withdrawal and no fees are acquired in case of depositing yet while withdrawal there might be a fee based on the currency consult, in other words, the currency used to get a withdrawal. The processing time for the transactions via the bank wire transfer can be up to 1 working day.

Visa and Mastercard: For deposits using credit and debit cards there are no fees for the SEPA clients which is basically anywhere within the European Union. 1.9%third party fees for SEPA residents are deposit fees that might apply even though Swissquote claims to never charge any fees on deposits and covers all or part of the fees from your card issuer. No fees are applied for credit and debit card withdrawals and the processing time is instant with a maximum of 2 hours processing period on business days.

Swissquote Trading Instruments

There aren’t as many trading options and tools offered by Swissquote, yet this section from the Swissquote review id where I’ll explain to you the available markets you can add to your live account with Swissquote where I’ll provide you with different options for trading and hedging and risk distribution as well.

Forex: you can trade with majors, minors and exotics, with 80 currency pairs offered for a trade where you can get 1:100 as leverage also Micro, mini and standard lots are available for all platforms.

Precious metals: where you can trade Gold (XAU), Silver (XAG), Platinum (XPT) and Palladium (XPD) and add them to your trading portfolio. Precious metals represent a safe haven for traders in the forex market since they can be used for hedging and risk distribution as they can also trade without any actual ownership of the metal itself. They also offer insights into economic health and are often viewed as a sure trade during times of economic or political uncertainty.

CFDs: they represent A versatile instrument where you can trade spot, forward and synthetic contracts according to your strategies, you can also Scale up profits with leverage where your investments increase returns on capital (up to 1:50). You can also take long or short positions on stocks, indices, commodities and bonds.

CFDs at Swissquote are represented in stocks where you can trade in companies’ stocks from all over the world and take an upward or downward position.

You can also trade commodities within the CFDs category which includes 20 popular commodities (USOIL, UKOIL, NG, etc.)

Indices are also presented and the following indices are examples of the presented indices: US500, DE40, US100 and more. Bonds can be also used for trading and hedging while trading in government bonds from all over the world like USBDN, BUND, LGILT and more.

Trading Platforms

There are multiple trading platforms offered within Swissquote where you can choose from a variety of choices offered to allow you the smoothest trading with Swissquote. This area of the Swissquote review is dedicated to explaining in detail all the criteria of the available trading platform to allow you to make the best decision in choosing the best trading platform for you.

Advanced trader: it’s a simple interface to be used with a lot of potential. 50+ intelligent charting tools, 80+ technical indicators for the analytically-minded, and a Synchronised layout for multiple charts. Multiple Order Types are also a property of the advanced trader platform besides some DYI tools like dragging and dropping almost any component of the platform to a new configuration, Customising your charts, drawing tools and indicators and more customizing options.

FIX API: this trading platform is identified as The Financial Information eXchange (FIX) protocol which is an international standard for electronic trading developed to enable greater connectivity among market participants. Some of the advantages of the FIX API platform are high-speed connectivity and ultra-low latency, direct access to Swissquote’s deep liquidity pools and competitive pricing, and the ability to trade currency pairs, energies, metals, soft commodities indices and bonds.

Metatrader4: being the most used and most popular trading platform in the forex market, some of the features that contributed to the big name and popularity of the MT4 are as follows:

• Automated trading
• Analysis and charting
• Trading and orders
• Plug-ins
• Web and a mobile platform for any time anywhere kind of trading.
• Extensive analysis& charting suite
• Unrestricted automated trading capabilities
• Complimentary plug-ins for clients

Metratrader5: AKA the next-gen platform, since it was developed by the same developing company that formed and released MT4 into the forex market known as MetwQuotes. MT5 is characterized by more tools and instruments for greater flexibility even more than what was witnessed in MT4. Let me break down some of the features that can be found and sued within the MT5 trading platform.

• 80 built-in indicators
• Create your own indicator option
• Highly customizable charts with 21 timeframes
• 44 analytical objects
• Market Order
• Pending Orders
• Autochartist
• MetaTrader Master Edition
• Trading Central
• Web and mobile platforms for easier access

Conclusion

This Swissquote review has revealed much important information that I’m sure will take a big part in making your decision on whether or not to trade with such a broker.

The starters of Swissquote were pretty positive with many slices and all trusted and strong regulators. If anything is to be proven with such detailed information, it’s only to confirm the safety and trustworthiness that Swissquote has earned in the forex market.

Different account types with different as I’ve mentioned in the account types section through this Swissquote review, presenting the high minimum deposit that is offered almost across all account types might not be for all types of traders. Yet, the presence of a demo account has made it tolerable to deal with the high minimum deposit since the demo account proves a risk-free environment for trades whether they were beginners or experts in the market.

A leverage of 1:100 is allowed on all account types, besides the absence of commissions on reactions across all accounts.

The limited range of funding and withdrawal channels has made it a tough call for Swissquote since having options and multiple choices to vary with is a key for forex trading in the market.

Different trading platforms including the most known and used in the forex markets are MT4 and MT5 in addition to the advanced trader and FIX API. The variety of the available trading instruments that were mentioned in the dedicated area via this Swissquote review has made it clear that it would be a good choice to trade with Swissquote.

Let me know if you have any questions or any comments or if you felt like you want to share your trading experience with Swissquote, in the comments.