Swissquote

Regulatory Overview: Founded in 1996, Swissquote is a global banking and brokerage group regulated by several financial authorities, including:

• The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) – Swissquote Bank Ltd, a licensed Swiss bank. 
• The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of the UK – Swissquote Ltd (FRN 562170). 
• The Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) of Luxembourg – Swissquote Bank Europe S.A. (full banking licence under ECB oversight). 
• The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) – Swissquote MEA Ltd (Category 3A licence). 
• The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) – Swissquote Pte. Ltd. (Capital Markets Services licensee). 
• The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong – Swissquote Asia Ltd (Licence No. AZV127). 

Client Protection Measures: Swissquote implements several measures to enhance client security:

• Segregation & Safeguarding of Client Assets: As a regulated bank/broker, Swissquote must safeguard client money and assets under applicable client-asset and banking rules across its licensed entities. The group is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange, supporting transparency and audited reporting.
• Negative Balance Protection (CFDs): Available for retail clients where required by local rules (e.g., UK/EU). Availability may vary by entity and client classification. 
• Deposit Guarantee Schemes (banking entities): In Switzerland, eligible deposits are protected by esisuisse up to CHF 100,000 per client, per bank; in Luxembourg, eligible deposits at Swissquote Bank Europe S.A. are protected by the FGDL up to EUR 100,000 per depositor. 

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

Eligible traders can open an account at Swissquote as long as they meet the following minimum deposit requirements:

• Premium Account: 1 000 USD
• Prime Account: 5 000 USD
• Elite Account: 10 000 USD

Swissquote offers both corporate and individual accounts. For the purposes of this review, we will outline the process for opening an individual account:

1. From the Swissquote homepage, you will have to click on the ‘Open Your Account’ button, where you will be directed to register an account with a name, email address, telephone number, and country of residence.  
2. Swissquoute’s registration form requires traders to fill in their personal details, including their physical address, date of birth, and ID number. 
3. Next, traders must fill in their financial details, employment status, and trading knowledge.  
4. Traders will then have to choose their preferred trading platform (Advanced Trader, MT4 or MT5), and choose their account type and account currency.  

Verification usually takes less than 24 hours, and Swissquote will need the following:

• Proof of Identification – Swissquote accepts all government-issued identification documents such as Passports, national ID cards, driving licenses, or other government-issued IDs. 
• Proof of Address – Proof of residence/address document must be issued in the name of the account holder within the last 6 months and must contain a trader’s full name, current residential address, issue date, and issuing authority. 

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

Swissquote offers an average range of tradable assets compared to other brokers but a wider range of currency pairs.

As you can see from the table below, 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 Swissquotes’ 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.

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

Swissquotes’ 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.

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.

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. 

Accepted Deposit Currencies: Swissquote allows traders to choose between nine base currencies, including GBP, EUR, USD, CHF, PLN, HUF, CZK, AUD and JPY. 

Funding Methods: Swissquote funding method options consist of bank transfers or credit cards (Visa/Mastercard).

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.  

Swissquotes 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.

The research section of the website issues market analysis and news on subjects that affect the currency market, including in-depth fundamental and technical analysis.  

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

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, Swissquotes provides a trading glossary explaining all the various trading terms.

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

Swissquote offers support via telephone, email, and live chat. When contacting them via live chat, a chat agent was available immediately. However, the answering time for our questions was a bit slow, but nevertheless correct and polite.

Swissquote offers general phone support 08:00 – 18:00 (GMT) from Monday to Friday, and FX Trading Desk support exclusively for customers placing FX orders 24 hours a day (Sunday 23.00 – Friday 23.00).