Saxo vs Swissquote Comparison – 2024

Top Reasons to Choose Saxo vs Swissquote

After testing the two brokers, I believe Saxo is the better option for platform tools and solutions, while Swissquote excels in high-frequency trading. I have summarized the top reasons for this in the table below:

Saxo: Snapshot

Saxo is a Danish investment bank established in 1992. It is licensed in multiple jurisdictions by Tier-1 regulators, attesting to its high trustworthiness. Saxo impresses with its versatile proprietary platform, which I found among the best in the industry. The bank offers an extensive range of instruments, with over 40,000 markets available, catering to the needs of traders and investors alike.

Saxo: Who is it for?

Saxo’s offerings are primarily geared towards wealthy investors looking to diversify their portfolios. It provides speculative trading and dividend-paying instruments, enabling traders to capitalize on various trading and investing opportunities.

What Makes Saxo Stand Out?

The standout feature of Saxo is its versatile proprietary platform, SaxoTraderGo, which also has a Pro version for seasoned professionals. The platform is highly customizable, offering clear and detailed charts that make examining price action both easy and enjoyable. Additionally, the inclusion of Saxo’s OpenAPI caters to algorithmic traders interested in high-precision trading.

Swissquote: Snapshot

Founded in 1996 and headquartered in Zurich, Swissquote is another industry veteran. It offers its clients access to millions of tradable and investing instruments across multiple markets. Swissquote’s proprietary CFXD platform is versatile and feature-rich, supporting advanced technical analysis and efficient order execution.

Swissquote: Who is it For?

I determined that Swissquote is particularly suited for intraday traders and scalpers. The broker provides lightning-fast execution speeds, which help mitigate the risk of negative slippage and allow for high-precision trading.

What Makes Swissquote Stand Out?

Siwssquote stands out with its remarkable order execution speeds, averaging around 9 milliseconds. This is made possible by the fact that Swissquote operates as a bank and has access to deep liquidity at the interbank level. Additionally, Swissquote provides a FIX API, enhancing its capabilities for low-latency trading.

Trust

Saxo vs Swissquote Trust and Regulation Comparison

Saxo is authorized by nine top-tier financial regulators, ensuring compliance with the industry’s strictest safety standards. The bank guarantees the segregation of client funds, offers negative balance protection, and provides client compensation schemes. Additionally, Saxo maintains a positive BBB rating according to Global S&P Ratings, further demonstrating its high stability and transparency.

Swissquote is a member of a major stock exchange – the SIX Swiss Exchange – with a market capitalization of CHF 3.65 billion. It holds licenses from seven Tier-1 regulators, including the FCA, FINMA, CySEC, and CSSF. Swissquote also adheres to all essential safety requirements, such as providing negative balance protection.

Fees

Saxo vs Swissquote Spreads, Fees, and Commissions Comparison

Saxo’s most accessible account type, in terms of its minimum deposit requirement (€2000), is the Classic account. It features floating spreads starting from 0.9 pips and a $6 round-turn commission per traded lot. This combination exceeds the industry average. On the other hand, there is an interest payable on all unused account balances starting from €10,000.

Swissquote’s Standard account offers commission-free trading with floating spreads starting from 1.4 pips. The trading fees can be characterized as average-to-high when compared to the broader industry. Additionally, Swissquote charges swap fees that are marginally higher than the industry average.

For more options, you can also check out our list of the best forex brokers with the lowest spreads and lowest swap fees.

Platforms and Tools

Saxo vs Swissquote Trading Platforms Comparison

Saxo has developed the excellent SaxoTraderGo and SaxoTraderPro proprietary platforms, which I consider among the best in the industry due to their intuitive and highly customizable designs. These platforms feature more than 100 analytical tools and chart configurations. Additionally, the broker integrates the seamless TradingView and Dynamic Trend.

Swissquote has invested heavily in the development of its proprietary CFXD platform. It features more than 150 analytical tools and configurations, which is sufficient for conducting advanced technical analysis. CFXD’s charts are powered by TradingView, ensuring a seamless experience. The platform also supports advanced order types, such as OCO orders.

Tradable Instruments

Saxo vs Swissquote Instruments Selection Comparison

Saxo offers over 40,000 trading and investing instruments. The broker strikes a fine balance between higher-yield/risk assets, such as share CFDs, indices, and cryptocurrencies, and lower-risk securities like bonds, ETFs, and mutual funds. Its clients can use this diversity to implement a wide variety of trading strategies and better manage their market exposure.

Swissquote shines in the instruments category, offering its clients access to over 1 million trading and investing instruments. Traders can choose from lower-risk securities, such as ETFs and bonds, as well as higher-yield/risk assets, like share CFDs and cryptocurrencies.

Customer Support

Saxo vs Swissquote Customer Support Comparison

Saxo’s customer support is surprisingly disappointing, given the bank’s excellent performance in other categories. There is no live chat option, phone support, or email form for general inquiries. The only source of information is the broker’s exhaustive FAQ section, which contains answers to most general types of questions.

Swissquote provides customer support through email and over the phone. Live chat is available for registered clients. Additionally, there is an intuitive chatbot that proves quite helpful for more general queries. For questions sent via email, one can expect a response from Swissquote within one business day. Overall, I find Swissquote’s customer support to be fairly reliable.

Research

Saxo vs Swissquote Research Tools Comparison

Saxo offers diverse and highly practical research content. Clients have access to a wide variety of market breakdowns, trading analyses, webinars, podcasts, and seminars. Additionally, actionable trading ideas from Autochartist, one of the most trusted market analysis providers in the industry, are incorporated directly into the SaxoTraderGo platform. This integration helps intraday traders make fast and well-informed decisions.

Swissquote’s research content is multifaceted, offering both beginners and seasoned traders a probing outlook into current market developments. Swissquote provides plenty of unconventional research materials developed in-house, such as its proprietary magazine and actionable trading signals from Autochartist. This diversity provides traders with a 360-degree overview of market trends and trading opportunities.

Deposits and Withdrawals

Saxo vs Swissquote Deposit and Withdrawal Methods Comparison

Saxo accepts payments via credit/debit cards and bank wire. However, e-wallets and crypto wallets are not available. The broker does not impose a handling fee for deposits and withdrawals, though third-party banking fees may apply. Deposits and withdrawals are processed fairly quickly, typically within the same business day.

Payments to and from Swissquote can be made via bank wire, credit card, or debit card. Deposits are free of charge; however, withdrawals incur a handling fee, which varies depending on the account’s base currency. Swissquote processes payment requests within one business day.

Account Types and Terms

Saxo vs Swissquote Account Types Comparison

Saxo provides three retail account types: Classic, Premium, and VIP, with minimum deposit requirements of €2,000, €200,000, and €1,000,000, respectively. All three feature the same pricing mechanism: a $6 round-turn commission and floating spreads starting from 0.7 pips. There is no Islamic account for swap-free trading.

Swissquote offers three retail account types, each designed to support high-frequency trading. The Standard account requires a relatively high minimum deposit of $1,000 but comes with many perks, such as free access to content from Autochartist. Traders are protected by Swissquote’s additional safety mechanisms, including a margin call at 100% and stop-out at 30%. The broker offers a choice of 10 base currencies, as well as swap-free trading options via its Islamic accounts.

Education

Saxo vs Swissquote Educational Content Comparison

Saxo’s educational materials are well-balanced and diverse. They comprise mostly educational articles and videos covering a wide range of topics – from the basics of technical and fundamental analysis to the intricacies of risk management and trading psychology. There are also multiple videos explaining how to use Saxo’s professional trading platforms.

Swissquote provides comprehensive educational materials primarily geared toward technical analysis. The content is diverse and available in multiple formats, including ebooks, courses, and articles that offer beginners balanced and highly informative insights into the ABCs of technical analysis. However, there is less emphasis on the intricacies of fundamental analysis or trading psychology.

Our Methodology

Since 2011, FX Empire has developed a detailed methodology for evaluating CFD brokers, involving over 250 variables across nine crucial categories. Our team of experts, with deep industry knowledge, conducts live testing and research by interacting with the brokers directly. We check regulations, open accounts, test spreads, account costs, platform functionality, instrument variety, customer support reliability, and the quality of research and educational content. This granular analysis helps us identify each broker’s strengths and weaknesses, keeping our comparisons current with market trends and ensuring our guides meet traders’ needs.

We strive to evaluate each broker objectively, considering how their offerings align with the diverse trading goals and preferences of our readers. Our focus is on providing a balanced overview of each broker’s strengths and weaknesses. This method ensures that our readers receive clear, insightful comparisons to aid in making well-informed trading decisions.

We employ a comprehensive rating system across nine key categories:

• Trust
• Fees
• Platforms and Tools
• Tradable Instruments
• Customer Support
• Research
• Deposits and Withdrawals
• Account Types and Terms
• Education

In each category, we conduct an in-depth analysis for both brokers, outlining features, advantages, and disadvantages and determining their suitability for different trader profiles. By blending insights from our extensive reviews with first-hand experiences and observations, we ensure each comparison is balanced, informative, and tailored to the trader’s unique needs. You can read more about our review process here.

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