Swissquote Broker Review

Is Swissquote Safe?

Yes, Swissquote maintains regulation from some of the world’s best regulators, including the FCA, and is a safe broker for British traders to trade with.

FCA Regulation: Swissquote Group Holding company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Switzerland. UK residents will however be trading under the subsidiary, Swissquote Ltd which is authorised and regulated in the United Kingdom by the Financial Conduct Authority. As a top-tier regulator, this means that it is held to high ethical, security and transparency standards.

Safety features: 

• All client funds are segregated from Swissquote’s operating capital 
• Swissquote provides its clients with negative balance protection 
• In the event of the company being liquidated, traders receive up to 100,000 EUR in investor protection per account
• As required by the FCA, Swissquote restricts the leverage offered to traders, limiting it to 30:1.

Company Details:

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Swissquote Trading Instruments

Swissquotes offers one of the largest financial asset offerings in the world, with over 3,000,000 instruments on its books. However, the Forex and CFD division is more limited but still has a much larger range than most other brokers.

Complete List of Instruments:

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• Forex pairs: With over 80+ Forex pairs to trade, including majors, minors, and exotics, Swissquote’s offering is substantial compared to other brokers.
• Precious Metals: Swissquote offers a broad selection of metals compared to other brokers including precious metals, silver and gold crosses with both the EUR and USD as well as palladium and platinum futures. 
• Indices: Swissquote offers a broader range of indices compared to other brokers, allowing trading on European and American stock indices, as well as Japan’s.
• Stock CFDs: Swissquote offers stock CFDs from major exchanges, including those of the United States, Britain, Germany, France, and Switzerland.
• Commodities: Commodity futures available for trading include energies such as oil, natural gas, and heating oil. 
• Bonds: Swissquote offers CFD trading on the three most popular Bonds in the world – Gilts, Bunds, and the US T-Bonds. 

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

Accounts and Trading Fees

Swissquote offers four different accounts, which is slightly higher than average for the industry. The accounts are more suitable for professional traders.

Trading Fees: Swissquote’s trading fees are average compared to other brokers, but its minimum deposit requirements are high. 

The Premium and Prime Account’s trading costs are included in the spread, while the Elite and Professional accounts offer tighter spreads in exchange for a commission per lot. The minimum deposit on the Premium account starts at 1000 GBP, the Prime account at 5000 GBP and the Elite account at 10 000 GBP, making them more suitable for advanced traders. To open a Professional account, the minimum deposit is also 10 000 GBP, but traders will have to meet certain eligibility criteria to qualify.

Account Trading costs: 

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As you can see from the table above, The trading costs on the Elite and Professional Accounts are lower than those of the Premium and Prime but have much higher minimum deposit requirements. But by any measure, these trading costs represent an uncompetitive offer.   

Premium account: Swissquote’s Premium account has a minimum deposit of 1000 GBP and commences with spreads starting at 1.3 pips or 13 USD per standard lot,  which is higher than the costs on other brokers’ entry-level accounts

Prime Account: With a minimum deposit of 5 000 GBP, spreads starting at 1.0 pips  (EUR/USD) or 10 USD per lot, these trading fees are high, considering the minimum deposit requirement.

Elite Account: The Elite account requires a minimum deposit of 10 000 GBP, putting it out of the reach of most traders. Spreads start at 0.0 pips (EUR/USD), and a commission of 2.5 USD per lot per side is charged. Trading fees on this account are average compared to similar brokers in the industry. 

Professional Account: More experienced traders have the possibility to open a professional account, with leverage up to 400:1. Professional traders should be aware that they will forfeit some of the protections afforded to them by the FCA. To qualify for a professional account, traders must meet at least two of the following criteria:

• Have traded derivatives (CFDs, Forex, Spreadbets of Futures) of a significant size on an average frequency of 10 times per quarter over the last four quarters.
• Own a portfolio of cash and investments worth at least 500 000 GBP.
• Have worked for at least one year in the financial sector in a professional position that requires knowledge of derivatives trading.

Deposits and Withdrawals

Swissquote offers a limited number of payment methods compared to other brokers, but no commissions are charged for deposits or withdrawals. 

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. Because we were depositing GBP from our UK-based bank account into our GBP-based trading account, we weren’t charged any currency conversion fees.

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

See below for a complete list of payment options and withdrawal times.

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Swissquote’s Mobile Trading Platforms

We found that Swissquote’s mobile support is superior compared to other similar brokers. All the trading platforms supported by Swissquote are also available as mobile and tablet downloads – allowing traders to keep track of their open positions while on the move.

Advanced Trader App

Advanced Trader is Swissquote’s flagship mobile app. A well-designed trading app, Advanced Trader is more customisable than many other trading apps and comes with a range of advanced order types such as OCO, If Done and If Done/OCO. 

Advanced Trader App features: 

• 27 indicators: Including MACD, Stochastic and RSI
• 17 overlays: Including Bollinger Bands, Ichimoku and Parabolic SAR
• Integrated real-time news from Dow Jones & Swissquote
• In-app educational videos
• ePortal to manage accounts and make deposits and withdrawals

The Advanced Trader app integrates seamlessly with the desktop version and is available on all iOS and Android devices.

MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5

MT4 and MT5 are available for both Android and iOS through Swissquote. Although there is slightly limited functionality compared to the desktop versions of the platforms, with reduced timeframes and fewer charting options, traders will still have access to analytics with technical indicators, graphical objects, and a full set of trading orders.

Other Trading Platforms

Swissquote offers a great range of trading platforms, including MT4, MT5, and its own platform Advanced Trader powered by TradingView. 

Advanced Trader

Swissquote’s Advanced Trader platform was created in partnership with TradingView, the most powerful charting platform available to retail clients. Clients will have access to over 50 technical drawing tools, 80+ technical indicators, and a synchronised layout for multiple charts. 

Advanced Trader also provides complex order types like OCO in addition to the traditional order types that are not available on other platforms. It also offers a variety of DIY tools that let traders personalise their layout with customised charts, drawing tools and indicators.

The Advanced Trader platform syncs seamlessly with the Advanced Trader app, though the app has limited functionality compared to the desktop platform.

MT4 

The MetaTrader 4 Platform (MT4) is the world’s most popular online Forex trading terminal. It has a straightforward interface and is considered easy to use for novice and experienced traders.  It is also widely recognised for its fast execution speeds, range of charting tools, algorithmic trading, and customisability. However, only basic orders are available, such as Market, Limit, Stop, and Trailing Stop.

MT5 

MT5 is the newer version of MT4 and is also available at Swissquote. We recommend using MT5 if you are looking for a more powerful and faster trading platform for back-testing functionality for automated trading. Additionally, traders prefer MT5 for its depth of market display, additional technical indicators, and analytical tools.

Platform Overview:

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Broker

Platform Choice

Copy Trading

Platforms

Swissquote

4.5/ 5

Yes

MT4

MT5

AdvancedTrader

BDSwiss

4.5/ 5

Yes

MT4

MT5

BDSwiss WebTrader

Tickmill

4.5/ 5

Yes

MT4

MT5

How to open an account

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

All UK residents are eligible to open an account at Swissquote as long as they meet the following minimum deposit requirements:

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

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’s Research and Trading Tools

Swissquote offers an excellent range of trading tools compared to other similar brokers. Swissquote used to offer a great range of market analysis materials, but these are no longer available. 

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Broker

Autochartist

Trading Central

Trading View

Swissquote

Yes

Yes

No

BDSwiss

Yes

Yes

No

Tickmill

Yes

No

Yes

Swissquote offers a set of premium tools, including Autochartist, Metatrader Master Edition, and Trading Central. These tools help traders find trading opportunities by analysing the markets for patterns.

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.

Metatrader Master Edition

The ultimate evolution of the MT4/MT5 platform, MetaTrader Master Edition boasts 12 advanced tools and 15 new indicators. It provides a correlation matrix that helps traders manage portfolio risk, and stealth order functionality that allows traders to close all positions simultaneously. It also enables traders to access all activity on the trading account on a single terminal.

Trading Central

A third-party tool, Trading Central allows traders to build trading strategies from within the MT4 and MT5 platforms and identify opportunities in real-time. In combination with Trading Central’s Daily Market Report, it allows traders to make trading decisions based on expert analytics.  It displays forecasts, commentaries, and key levels, in addition to helping traders identify important changes in supply and demand lines to determine when to enter/exit the market. 

Swissquote’s Educational Material

Swissquote’s educational materials are adequate but not as good as the best brokers in this space. 

• Beginner Courses – Online courses specifically tailored for beginners, with 20+ videos over a total of 1,5 hours to help customers familiarise themself with the forex trading field.
• Webinars – Webinars are held by finance professionals to help deepen knowledge on specific markets, products or advanced tools on the platforms.
• Trading Glossary – A comprehensive list of terms and definitions related to financial markets to help customers understand the terminology used in trading.

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Broker

Beginner Course

Advanced Course

Swissquote

Yes

No

BDSwiss

Yes

Yes

Tickmill

Yes

Yes

Customer Service

We found that Swissquote’s customer service is average compared to other similar brokers.

Swissquoute offers support via telephone, email, and live chat. When contacting them via their live chat, there was a chat agent 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 (UK time) 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).

Regulation and Industry Recognition

Regulation: Swissquoute is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySec), the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) of Luxembourg, the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), the Securities and Futures Commission in Hong Kong (SFC), the Malta Financial Services Authority, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)

• Swissquote Bank Ltd – Switzerland is authorised by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA)
• Swissquote Ltd (London) is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, license: 562170.
• Swissquote MEA Ltd (Dubai) is authorised and regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) and possesses a Category 4 license.
• Swissquote Asia Ltd (Hong Kong) is licensed under the supervision of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and holds a type 3 license.
• Swissquote Financial Services (Malta) Ltd is under the Malta Financial Services Authority’s supervision and holds a category 4a license.
• Swissquote Pte. Ltd (Singapore) holds a Capital Markets Services license granted by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
• Swissquote Capital Markets Ltd is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySec)
• Swissquote Bank Europe SA is regulated by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) of Luxembourg.

Evaluation Method

We value transparency and openness in the way we review the partners. To bring transparency to the forefront, we have published our review process that includes a detailed breakdown of the Swissquote offering. Central to that process is the evaluation of the reliability of the broker, the platform offering of the broker and the trading conditions offered to clients, which are summarised in this review. Each one of these is graded, and an overall score is calculated and assigned to the broker.

Swissquote Risk Statement

Trading Forex is risky, and each broker is required to detail how risky the trading of Forex CFDs is to clients. Swissquote would like you to know that: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 79% 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.

Final Word

Swissquotes is a reputable broker in the Forex & CFD trading space with excellent regulation and a large range of Forex pairs. Targeting mainly professional traders, its minimum deposit requirements are high, but spreads are wider than the industry average. Swissquotes offers support for a wide range of platforms and premium tools, including Autochartist, Trading Central, and MetaTrader Master Tools. One drawback for beginner traders is the high minimum deposits and lack of research and educational materials, forcing traders to self-educate elsewhere. 

Editorial Team

 

Chris Cammack
Head of Content

Chris joined the company in 2019 after ten years experience in research, editorial and design for political and financial publications. His background has given him a deep knowledge of international financial markets and the geopolitics that affects them. Chris has a keen eye for editing and a voracious appetite for financial and political current affairs. He ensures that our content across all sites meets the standards of quality and transparency that our readers expect.

 

Alison Heyerdahl
Senior Financial Writer

Alison joined the team as a writer in 2021. She is the Senior Editor for FXScouts.  She has a medical degree with a focus on physiotherapy and a bachelor’s in psychology. However, her interest in forex trading and her love for writing led her to switch careers. She has a passion for Forex trading and over a decade of editorial experience researching Forex and the financial services industry, producing high-quality content. She hosts a weekly podcast, “Let’s Talk Forex,” alongside her colleague, Chris, and has produced over 100 Forex educational videos for the FXScouts YouTube channel. She also writes weekly technical analyses and has tested and reviewed over 100 Forex brokers.

 

Ida Hermansen
Financial Writer

Ida joined our team as a financial writer in 2023. She has a degree in Digital Marketing and a background in content writing and SEO. In addition to her marketing and writing skills, Ida also has an interest in cryptocurrencies and blockchain networks. Her interest in crypto trading led to a wider fascination with Forex technical analysis and price movement. She continues to develop her skills and knowledge in Forex trading and keeps a close eye on which Forex brokers offer the best trading environments for new traders.