Swissquote Review 2019

Swissquote is a Swiss investment bank, established in 1996. It has two main arms: 

The Swiss arm for stocks, funds, options, and futures

The UK arm for CFDs, and FX

Formally, Swissquote Bank Ltd is based in Switzerland and regulated by FINMA, the Swiss financial regulator. This one offers stocks, funds, bonds, futures and options. The other, Swissquote Ltd is UK based, regulated by the FCA, the UK financial regulator, and offers CFDs and FX.

Swissquote is considered safe because Swissquote Bank Ltd has a banking license, it is listed on the Swiss stock exchange, and discloses detailed financials regularly.  

For clarity, we will call the Switzerland Swissquote for stocks "Swissquote (CH)", and the UK Swissquote for CFDs and FX "SwissquoteForex (UK)".

Recommended for affluent investors valuing safety and being ok with higher fees.

As a plus

Swissquote scores high on safety with being a listed Swiss broker having a banking license. You can access a lot of markets and products including bonds, and funds. Its account opening is fully digital

On the flip side

Swissquote's fees are high. Its trading platform is overcomplicated, and the better part of its research is not free.

Compare to other brokers

Swissquote review
Fees 2 stars

Swissquote has high trading fees and average non-trading fees. As a plus, there is no inactivity fee.

To get things rolling, let's go over some broker fee lingo. You need to keep an eye on trading fees, financing rates, and non-trading fees.

• Trading fees occur when you trade. This can be commissions and spreads.
• Financing rates or overnight rates are charged when you hold your leveraged positions for more than a day. Leveraged position means that you borrow money from the broker to trade.
• Non-trading fees are like withdrawal fee or inactivity fee.

We compare Swissquote fees with its peers, Saxo Bank and DEGIRO.

Let's start with the trading fees.

Trading fees

Swissquote trading fees are high. The mutual funds, the options and the futures trading fees are average, while the stock, ETF, bonds, and FX trading fees are high. We recommend Swissquote if you want to get a high-quality service and you are prone to pay a higher cost. If you want a bargain, there are discount brokers out there.

Swissquote's fee calculation is transparent. It has a volume based pricing. The higher the volume, the less fee you pay. Swissquote also offers a fixed rate plan too. You can pre-purchase X amount of trades for a flat price. In this review, we tested the standard, volume based fee structure.

Stock fees and ETF fees

Swissquote has high stock trading fees. It is far higher than some discount brokers, and it is even higher than discount brokers.

The stock trading fee calculation is volume based, transparent, and high. ETF fees are the same as ETF fees. We show you the trading fee terms for US, UK, Germany, Japan, and Hong Kong. You can find all other trading fees on Swissquote's pricing page.

Forex fees

Swissquote's forex trading fees are average.

You can trade forex both at Swissquote (CH) and SwissquoteForex (UK). They charge fees differently. SwissquoteForex is more competitive, so let's concentrate on that.

SwissquoteForex (UK) charges commissions. Different currency pairs have different commissions, with other words, markups.

Let's take an example. The EURUSD markup is 0.8 pip. This is added to the EURUSD's interbank ask (buying) price and substracted from the bid (selling) price. For the full markup list, visit Swissquote's site. 

Swissquote (CH) builds everything into the spread. The higher the trade volume, you can get discount on the spread.

Fund fees

Swissquote has low fund tarding fees.

The fee calculation formula is tier based. For the so called Prime Partners Swissquote charges $9 or €9 depending on the fund's currency. For all other fees, check Swissquote's fee page.

Bond fees

Swissquote bond fees are high compared to other brokers. It is less than Saxo's, but far more than Degiro's. 

Swissquote applies a minimum fee, and a quite high percentage fee. 

Options fees

Swissquote index option fees are low for both European options and US options.

Swissquote options fees are volume based, i.e. the number of contracts. 

Futures fees

German index futures trading fees are low.

The fee formula for index futures is the same as for index options. E.g. €1 per contract with a €5 minimum commission.

CFD fees

Swissquote offers CFDs through the UK SwissquoteForex. SwissquoteForex uses commissions, or with other words markups.

There are no individual stocks, just stock indices and commodities. Here are two stock index markups for your reference

• 0.5 for the S&P500 index
• 1.4 for the the Spot Germany 30.

You can find the fee table for the CFDs here.

Crypto fees

Swissquote offers CFDs on five cryptocurrencies against Euro and the US dollar. There is a bid ask spread, plus there is the commission fee, 1% up to CHF 10,000 trade volume. Between CHF 10,000 and 50,000 trade volume the fee is 0.75%, and above that the commission is 0.5%

Financing rates

When you trade on leverage, the financing rate can be a substantial amount of your fees. The financing rate at Swissquote is high.

Compare broker fees

Non-trading fees

Swissquote's non-trading fees are average.

There are no inactivity fee, account fee or deposit fee. At Swissquote (CH) there is a withdrawal fee, whereas at SwissquoteForex (UK) there is not withdrawal either. You can find the detailed withdrawal fees on Swissquote pricing page.

Swissquote review
Account opening 5 stars

Swissquote offers a fast, easy, and fully digital account opening. Also, there is no minimum account balance requirement.

Can you open an account?

Swissquote is a global broker. SwissquoteForex (UK) serves residents from ~150 countries, while Swissquote serves ~120 countries. This includes all European countries and most major non-European countries, e.g. Australia, Hong Kong, etc.

To check if your country is available, use the broker finder tool.

Minimum deposit

There is no minimum deposit. This is great if you want to invest smaller amounts.

Account types

Swissquote offers three account types. At the London-based Swissquote Ltd, you can open only a forex account, while at the Switzerland-based Swissquote Bank Ltd, you can open a forex or a trading account. The major differences between the account types are the tradable products, the trading platforms, and the investor protection amounts.

How to open your account

If you open your account at the Swiss entity, you can verify your identity by video. This is not available at the UK entity. 

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Swissquote review
Deposit and withdrawal 4 stars

The depsoit is fast and user-friendly. On the flip side, you can only withdraw by bank transfer.

Account base currencies

At Swissquote (CH) you have a multicurrency account. You have three accounts, CHF, EUR and USD as a default. It is not possible to have a base currency outside of these three.

Why does this matter? Because if you fund your account in the same currency as your bank account, currency conversion fees won't be charged.

Deposit fees and options

Siwssuoqte deposit fees are free of charge for bank transfers. For credit and debit card deposit fees are somewhere between 1.7% and 2% depending on your residency. 

Bank transfer and credit cards are both available both at Swissquote (CH) and SwissquoteForex (UK). 

Bank transfer arrives in 2-3 business days, and card deposits are instanty.

You can only deposit money from sources which are on your name.

Withdrawal fees and options

Swissquote withdrawal fees depend on where you trade at, which country you transfer to, and the currency. SwissquoteForex (UK) withdrawal is free of charge, while Swissquote (CH) charges €2 for Euro withdrawal and $10 for US dollar withdrawal. 

*SEPA or Single Euro Payment Area countries includes all EU and EFTA countries. 

Both the UK and the Swiss entity's clients can only use the bank transfers for withdrawal.

Swissquote quotes that they send your withdraw on the same day. We tested and it took 1 day.

You can only withdraw money to accounts on your name.

More funding and withdrawal info

Swissquote review
Web trading platform 3 stars

The Swissquote (CH) platform has a lot of functions, even too many. It can get complicated. SwissquoteForex (UK)' MetaTrader 4 is a well thought out platform.

Swissquote runs several trading platforms. So many, it is hard to follow.

If you are trading stocks you will use its own standard trading platform. They also have a newer "eTrading" which is for the same purpose.  

If you are trading with forex you have MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, or Swissquote's own AdvancedTrader. 

In this review, we concentrate on Swissquote's standard web trading platform and will mention the MetaTrader 4.

Swissquote's trading platform is available in English German and French. It can easily happen though that one subsection of the page suddenly changes to German, or that your news flow will be English, German and French news at the same time.

Look and feel

Swissquote's web platform design is okayish, you can find yourself around. It feels a bit clean and outdated, not stunning.

In some cases it is too much Swiss focused. E.g. Switzerland stock market is on the top of the menu, above US and Europe. It can be hard to get back to the previous menu. In a lot of cases, you go out from the platform when clicking around and need to log in again. This was annoying. 

The platform cannot be customized.

For FX, the Metatrader4 is a well tough out platform, concentrating on traders.

Login and security

As a default Swissquote applies a simple login, but you can set a more secure authentication with physical code card or have a mobile authentication. More info on Swissquote's 2-step identification here.

Search functions

The search function is far from clever. The results can get confusing.

For example typing oil will land you on a specific ETF. If you type "apple", you do not land on Apple Inc., but at the ticker for "APLE", a real estate trust.

If you type Japan, you get a lot of results and EWJ, the ticker for one of the largest Japanese ETFs will not be among the first 20 results.

Placing orders

The order panel is simple with only four order types:

• limit
• market
• stop
• stop limit

Order term can only be set by date.

If you are not familiar with the basic order types, read this overview.

For FX, there is a wide range of order types at MetaTrader4.

Alerts and notifications

You can set up alerts and as such make a watchlist. However, you can receive only email notifications when your trade gets executed, but not on your mobile.

For FX, on the Metatrader 4 alerts and notifications are available, and easy to set up.

Portfolio and fee reports

You can easily check your portfolio, but it is relatively hard to get a clear report on all the fees you paid. For example to make your asset statement you need to wait 30 minutes.

Visit web platform page

Swissquote review
Mobile trading platform 3 stars

Swissquote (CH) has a nice, but complicated trading app. SwissquoteForex (UK) uses MetaTrader's mobile platforms.

Swissquote operates a nice looking trading app. It is available both for iOS and Android. You can also access the web trading platform on a mobile view.

It has a lot of functionalities, probably a bit too much. It gets complicated. It has almost all the elements of the web platform, although we could not set up alerts.

MetaTrader 4 for forex is also similar to its web-based platform. It's really user-friendly and intuitive with a wide variety of order types and indicator tools.

Visit mobile platform page

Swissquote review
Desktop trading platform

Swissquote does not offer a dedicated desktop trading platform.

Swissquote review
Markets and products 4 stars

At Swissquote(CH) you can reach many markets and trade with a lot of different product types. At SwissquoteForex (UK) you can trade only Forex and some CFDs.

Swissquote(CH) offers a lot of different products. From stock markets to options you can find everything. Besides a lot of products, Swissquote also scores great on available markets. There are a lot of stock markets available, and Swissquote has an exceptionally broad mutual fund offering. Bond, Options, and Futures are ok.

At SwissquoteForex(UK) you can trade with Forex and some CFDs.

Stock and ETF

Swissquote offers access to 43 stock exchanges worldwide. This is a deep market offer, more than Saxo's or Degiro's although not as high as Interactive Broker's 74. Swissquote offers US penny stocks.

Beside stocks, you can trade with ETFs. This is not as deep as at other brokers.

Forex

SwissquoteForex (UK) provides 78 currency pairs, this is high, but not as high as at Saxo Bank. 

Fund

There is a very wide range of fund offering at Swissquote from ~340 fund service providers with ~13,000 mutual funds. This is the most we have seen among the brokers we reviewed.

Bond

Swissquote's bond offering is deep. It is far more than Saxo's or DeGiro's, but less than Interactive Broker's.

Options

The number of option markets are all right, less than Degiro's.

Futures

Swissquote offers access to few future markets.

CFD

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 77% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Swissquote offers CFDs through its UK entity. Beside FX, only commodity CFDs, including precious metals are available. The 20 commodity CFDs are all right, compared to Saxo Bank's. There are also a few stock index CFDs, but no individual stock CFDs.

Crypto

Swissquote offers five cryptos as CFDs. They are not leveraged CFDs, but 1:1 leverage. 

You can trade with:

• Bitcoin
• Bitcoin Cash
• Ether
• Litecoin
• Ripple

Cryptos are very much made appearant on the Swissquote platform. We bet you will not miss it.

Beside the Cryptos as CFDs, you can theoretically buy Bitcoin and Ether ETNs on the Swedish Nasdaq. As we searched for the ISIN, we could not find it on Swissquote's platform, even though "Scandinavian markets" are available.

Themes trading

Swissquote has an excellent special product, called themes trading. These are trades ideas based on a common theme, which can be quite funky. A few examples:

• African consumer
• China online
• BioTech Revolution

The underlying portfolio and the past performance of these products are well documented. We really liked themes trading.

Compare product portfolios

Swissquote review
Research 2 stars

Swissquote charges fees for some of its research services. There are a lot of different free ones, but they are basic and ad-hoc.

Swissquote's free research services are not the best in class, especially if you consider its non-competitive fees. Swissquote provides some subscription based research though. In this review, same as with other brokers, we concentrate only on the free services.

Swissquote research is available in English, German, and French. Some reports are available in Italian, Spanish, Czech, Russian, Arabic and Chinese too.

Recommendations

There are some reports and news commentars. These are ad hoc and you cannot search for a specific asset or a specific market. The recommendations can have a target price and can be based on either fundamental or technical analysis. There are also rankings for stocks, which are synthetesis of analyst recommendations.

Fundamental Data

There are limited amount of fundamental data available for free. You can see historical EPS, and company calendar.

Charting

The charting tool is good. You can save the chart on the charting tool. You have 18 technical indicators, which is not a lot compared to other brokers.

News feed

There is a good quality newsletter. 

The news flow is mixed language, hard to follow being German, English and French at the same time. You can filter, but it will not be saved, so you need to do it every time. There is no economic calendar, or we did not find it.

Other research tools you will enjoy

There is "Pulse", which is a Facebook wall like tool for traders. The discussion was mostly in French when we checked.

More research info

Swissquote review
Customer service 5 stars

Swissquote has phone, e-mail, and live chat support. When tested, the live chat could not answer complex questions. For example, how pricing is structured for forex transactions.

You can reach Swissquote customer service via

• telephone
• email
• live chat

The customer service is available in English, German, and French. Most likely some other major languages too, but not minor languages, like Hungarian.

We tested the customer service in all channels. It was fast and provided relevant answers to all of our questions.

It can get a bit confusing whether you speak with the Swiss or the UK office, and they cannot provide information on the other entity.

We missed the 24/7 availability.

Contact customer service

Swissquote review
Education 5 stars

Swissquote provides understandable and professional educational videos, webinars, and seminars.

Visit education page

Swissquote review
Safety

Swissquote is regulated by top-tier regulators, it is listed on the Swiss exchange, discloses its financial statements and has a banking license.

Swissquote is a Swiss broker established in 1996 serving clients from all over the globe. Is Swissquote safe? To be certain, it is best to check two things: how you protected if something goes south and what the background of the broker is.

How you are protected

Swissquote operates multiple legal entities. Most likely you will need one or both of:

• Swissquote Bank Ltd is based in Switzerland, regulated by FINMA, the Swiss financial regulator. If you are a client here, you get CHF 100,000 investor protection per account.
• Swissquote Ltd is based in the UK and regulated by FCA, the UK regulator. Clients are eligible for the £50,000 investor protection amount per account.

There is a Middle East subsidiary for residents in the Middle East, and there is an Asian arm too.

SwissquoteForex (UK) provides negative balance protection for FX and CFD trading. The negative balance protection on non FX/CFD leveraged positions, e.g. options is unclear for us. We guess you do not get one for non FX/CFD leveraged positions. Negative balance protection mean when you are losing and not closing your position your balance cannot go negative.

Background

Swissquote was established in 1996. The longer the track record of a broker, the more proof we have it had already managed previous financial crises. 23 years for Swissquote is already something.

Furthermore, Swissquote is listed on the Swiss stock exchange. Being listed means there is more scrutiny and transparency. E.g. Swissquote discloses its financial information regularly. Swissquote also has a Swiss banking license, as such, it is facing tougher regulation than brokers.

Being listed, having a bank license, being regulated by both FINMA and the FCA are all great signs for Swissquote's safety.

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Swissquote review
Bottom line

Swissquote has a rock solid background. It is Swiss, it is listed, it is a bank. It has two entities, one in the UK and one in Switzerland. If you open an account at the London-based entity, you can trade with forex and CFDs, while the Swiss entity gives you access to a wide range of asset classes from stocks to options.

Swissquote has an easy and fast account opening. We really liked its market and product coverage. There are lot of stocks, mutual funds, and a lot of different type of products from bonds to cryptos.

However, nothing comes for free. The trading fees are relatively high. 

All in all, Swissquote is a great provider. As there is no minimum deposit requirements and no inactivity fee, feel free to try it out.

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