Swissquote review

Our rating

Swissquote scores 7.7 out of 10 on our table. That figure is an average of six things we assess, and it hides the shape of the broker: its strongest area is regulation at 10.0, its weakest is education at 5.5. Whether that gap matters depends entirely on which of the six you were going to use.

Regulation and safety10.0/10

Swissquote lists its authorisations as FINMA; FCA (562170); CySEC (422/22); DFSA (F001438); MAS; SFC Hong Kong; MFSA. Those are tier-one authorisations, which is the strongest position a retail broker can be in - they carry leverage caps, client-money rules and, in several cases, a compensation scheme.

The licence that matters to you is the one held by the entity that opens your account, and at a multi-entity broker that is decided by your country of residence. Its registration can be checked directly on the FINMA authorised institutions register. It is a two-minute check and it is the only way to confirm that the firm taking your deposit is the firm named on the website.

Client money is held separately from the firm's own funds, with Swissquote Bank Ltd / regulated banking and custodian infrastructure - so that if the business fails, client balances are not part of what its creditors can reach. Negative balance protection applies to for eligible retail leveraged-trading clients, so a gap through your stop cannot leave you owing the broker money.

On compensation: swiss esisuisse deposit protection up to CHF 100,000; eligible EU CFD clients protected up to €20,000. That covers the broker failing, not your trades losing money - the two are frequently confused and only one of them is insured.

Swissquote does not accept clients from United States and jurisdictions subject to applicable sanctions or where Swissquote does not provide its services. Restriction lists move, so confirm your own country before you spend time on an application.

What it costs to trade6.3/10

Swissquote advertises spreads from 0.0 pips. Commission is €2.50 per side / €5 round turn, Elite, charged on top of the spread rather than instead of it - which is the normal arrangement on a raw account and the reason its quoted spread can be so low. Put the two together and a EUR/USD round turn works out at approx. 0.5 pips, Elite minimum, which is the figure worth comparing against other brokers.

An advertised minimum is the best price a broker has ever quoted, not the price you will get. On our record its measured average on EUR/USD is approx. 1.0 pip, Prime, and approx. 1.0 pip, Prime on GBP/USD. Spreads are variable, so they move with liquidity and widen around releases and the daily rollover.

Positions held overnight accrue a financing charge, which is irrelevant to a day trader and compounds for anyone holding for weeks. Currency conversion costs from 0.95% on Swiss banking accounts where your account and the instrument use different currencies - worth avoiding by funding in the currency you intend to trade.

Leave the account dormant and it costs you: 10 account-currency units/month on applicable international forex accounts. That is the charge most often missed when comparing brokers, and it matters disproportionately if you trade seasonally or infrequently.

Platforms and tools9.1/10

Swissquote runs CFXD, MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, TradingView. Both MetaTrader versions are available, which matters more than it sounds: an expert advisor written for MT4 will not run on MT5, so a trader arriving with existing software needs the specific version it was written for. TradingView integration means you can analyse and execute in the same window rather than charting in one tool and trading in another.

Automation is supported: yes. There is API access (Yes, REST/FIX and institutional API connectivity) for anyone connecting their own software. Copy trading is not offered.

Charting runs to 30+ MT4. Additional tools include TradingView, Autochartist, MetaTrader Master Edition. On mobile: both proprietary and third-party.

Markets, leverage and execution9.6/10

Swissquote covers Forex, Stocks, ETFs, Funds, Bonds, Options, Futures, CFDs, Cryptocurrencies, Structured Products, Precious Metals. That comes to 3,000,000+ instruments in total. On the currency side specifically it lists 130+ pairs. Breadth is worth less than depth in the markets you actually trade - a hundred instruments priced well beats a thousand you will never open.

Leverage is capped at 1:30, which is the retail limit under tier-one regulation - a protection rather than a restriction. Our record for this broker reads "1:30 retail", and the difference between those figures is the entity you are onboarded to rather than anything you can choose. Whatever the headline, the number that governs your position is the margin requirement on the specific instrument - it is always lower on shares and crypto than on major currency pairs.

Execution is bank / principal with aggregated liquidity and market routing, meaning the broker is the counterparty to your trade rather than routing it to an external venue. It is a legitimate and very common model, and it is worth knowing which one you are dealing with. Measured speed is 14ms. Its servers sit in LD4 London, which is what determines latency more than any software choice.

Order types available: market, limit, stop, stop-loss, take-profit, trailing stop. Stops and limits are table stakes; what separates platforms is whether the ones you rely on are there and how quickly they can be modified once a position is open.

Accounts

Account types run to standard, Premium, Prime, Elite, Professional, Corporate, Demo. The minimum deposit is $1,000. The smallest position it will take is 0.01 lots / 1,000 currency units, which is what actually governs how precisely you can size risk on a small account.

A demo account is available, which is the cheapest way to find out whether the platform suits you. Professional classification is available for clients who qualify, which lifts leverage caps and lowers the protections that come with retail status - a trade rather than an upgrade. Opening takes typically same day following digital verification.

Accounts can be denominated in 15 base currencies. Funding in the currency you trade removes a conversion charge from every position, which is a small saving repeated indefinitely.

Deposits and withdrawals

Deposits can be made by bank transfer, credit/debit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay and internal Swissquote account transfer. They clear in cards generally instant.

Withdrawals go out by bank transfer and internal Swissquote account transfer. Expect typically 1-3 business days. The minimum withdrawal is No general minimum. Check the withdrawal routes rather than the deposit ones. They are frequently not the same list, anti-money-laundering rules usually require funds to return the way they came, and the difference only becomes apparent at the point you want your money back.

Local payment methods include SEPA; Swiss bank transfer and jurisdiction-specific local banking methods - which matters more than it looks if you are outside the broker's home market, since an international wire is slow and expensive compared with a domestic transfer.

Support and education5.7/10

Support runs 24/5, which covers the trading week but not the weekend - relevant if you hold positions through it, and particularly if you trade crypto. You can reach them by phone, email, contact form, live chat. Live chat typically answers in under 5 minutes. Support is offered in multilingual.

Its education is substantial - webinars, ebooks, trading courses, videos, tutorials and forex education - which is the difference between a broker that will teach you and one that will simply take the deposit. Research output covers Extensive: Morning News, market analysis, technical/fundamental research, Trading Central, analyst commentary and investment themes.

The company behind the brand

The company behind the brand is Swissquote Bank Ltd, registered as CHE-106.274.193. It operates from Gland, Switzerland. It has been trading since 1996, which puts roughly 30 years and several market cycles behind it - including conditions that removed a good number of its contemporaries.

It sits within Swissquote Group Holding Ltd. The group is publicly listed, which means audited accounts and disclosure obligations a private broker does not carry - a genuine, if indirect, piece of reassurance. Headcount is in the 1,200+ range.

You may also see it under Swissquote; Swissquote Bank. Brands and legal entities rarely map one to one in this industry, and the name on the website is not always the name on the client agreement.