Here Are the 10 Pros and Cons:

Saxo Bank Fact sheet

Safety is the number one topic to consider when it comes to choosing the right broker. Saxo Bank is a highly trusted broker among both institutional and retail traders. The broker puts emphasis on professionalism and safety. Each client’s funds are kept in segregated accounts, which is a big deal as some brokers mix accounts and this segregation makes funds more easily accessible. 

Saxo Bank takes safety very seriously. Top-tier financial institutions highly regulate this broker.

Where there is money to be made, a lot of financial traps and schemes can be found. Every professional trader values a broker that is trustworthy and strictly regulated. 

Saxo Bank definitely has a lot to show when it comes to safety. The company abides by EU financial regulations and is supervised by the Danish FSA. 

Among the other regulatory bodies that have licensed Saxo Bank are agencies such as:

• UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) 
• Italian Market Authority 
• Czech National Bank
• The Bank of Netherlands
• Monetary Authority of Singapore
• Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA
• French ACPR and AMF
• Central Bank of the UAE
• Japanese Financial Services Agency
• Securities and Futures Commission in Hong Kong
• Australian Securities and Exchange Commission(ASIC)
• Dutch Central Bank

Regulatory authorities keep an eye on brokers to make sure investors are safe from fraud and inconveniences. Choosing a highly regulated broker can save you money, energy, and time.

Policies that Saxo Bank follows

Saxo Bank utilizes negative balance protection. Meaning that if your account balance gets close to zero, the broker will close all of the active positions you hold. This is done to avoid a situation where traders could end up with a negative balance and become indebted to the broker. It is especially important for beginner traders as volatility increases during news announcements and rapid moves in price can be surprising for most.

In addition, Saxo Bank is a part of the compensation fund. The compensation fund works like financial insurance for investors.

There are over 60 000 trading instruments available for investors to trade. Resulting in more chances of finding what works best for the trader and their preferred strategy. It’s not a secret that every market has its own characteristics. Many traders that fail in FX trading become consistently profitable in trading ETFs or stocks. Giving the opportunity to choose the right market is a great advantage Saxo Bank provides to its clients.

It should be noted that providing a huge number of assets to choose from might be damaging for novice traders, as they might get distracted and go from market to market making losses and not learning anything. Markets might be different but trading psychology is the same. Every trader needs to manage their emotions when using and developing a trading system. If you don’t have a profitable trading system and you’re blaming the markets for your bad results, changing to a different market is not going to fix your problems.

Forex trading on Saxo Bank

Forex trading is very popular among traders. With Saxo Bank platforms, you can access more than 190 currency pairs. 

Saxo Bank’s initial Forex margin rates start at 3.33% for major FX pairs including EUR/JPY, USD/CAD, EUR/USD, and USD/JPY. A margin rate is an interest rate applied when an investor is trading using a margin. Margin rates are different for each broker.

Spreads start from 0.6 pips. Spreads are the difference between buying and selling price of an asset and pip measures the smallest whole unit price move on the markets.

In addition, Saxo Bank’s trading platforms SaxoTraderGo and SaxoTraderPro provide 50+ technical indicators and built-in tools for trading signals, making trading more informative and simple.

Saxo Bank offers up to 50:1 leverage, which protects investors from taking very high risks in highly volatile markets. Low leverage protects traders from taking huge losses, but it also prevents you from getting high rewards in a short period of time. 50:1 leverage simply means that with every dollar, you have the power to control 50 dollars using “borrowed” money. 

Stock trading on Saxo Bank

Stock trading is very popular among traders as stocks provide opportunities for both short-term speculators and long-term investors. As you may know, stocks and currencies move very differently. Potentially Stock prices can go up without a ceiling and can go down as low as 0. Currencies, on the other hand, are backed by people and countries and their prices are measured relative to each other. Therefore, currencies usually move in a range.

Stock trading is attractive for day traders, swing traders, and mutual and pension funds as well. It’s important to note that these markets are not risk-free and you should be well-prepared before considering investing.

Saxo Bank offers access to more than 22 000 stocks across core and emerging markets. The list of markets includes Hong Kong, New York, London, and 50 more. 

Commissions start from $1 on US stocks. The fees decrease as account types go from Classic to VIP.

Cryptocurrency trading on Saxo Bank

Cryptocurrencies have become very popular recently. Many people believe that they are the future of money and are eager to catch the opportunity of getting involved with them. For others, cryptocurrencies are just a financial bubble waiting to burst. Either way, you can still make money on the bearish and bullish markets. 

With Saxo Bank, you can trade more than 9 cryptocurrencies. Saxo Bank offers crypto FX pairs for both short-term speculators and long-term investors. You can trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other well-known coins against major currencies. This gives you an advantage, as you don’t need to exchange between currencies when cashing out.

Furthermore, while trading crypto CFDs you don’t have to worry about crypto wallets and keeping your coins away from hackers. 

One more thing to consider is liquidity. Trading actual coins might be more expensive than trading crypto CFDs as many more orders are placed in the CFD market. When liquidity is decreased in the markets, the distance between bid and ask prices increases.

Indices trading on Saxo Bank

Indices follow the performance of certain companies traded in the stock market. For instance: the US30 or Dow Jones Industrial Average Index is a price-weighted index of 30 top US companies.

With a Saxo Bank trading account, you can trade Index CFDs such as US30, US500, UK100, US TECH 100, GER 40, AUS 200, and HK50. Trading CFDs gives you an opportunity to profit from price movements without actually owning the assets you trade. 

It’s important to note that the indices show the health of the economy as they follow the performance of main companies. Even if you are planning to only trade currencies, the falling price of UK100 might indicate the weakness of the British economy and change your opinions on the future value of GBP

Commodities trading on Saxo Bank

Commodities are raw materials that can be mined or grown. 

Saxo Bank offers:

• Spot Metals(Gold against 12 currencies)
• Commodity CFDs(20 commodity CFDs)
• Futures
• Options
• Exchange-traded commodities (trade Individual commodities, sub-sector, or an entire commodity sector).
• Stocks (oil firms and mining companies)

Leverage goes up to 5:1, and the trading fees vary between Classic and VIP account types. In general, trading fees are reasonable, considering the high level of security Saxo Bank is providing to its clients.

Brokers create different account types in order to offer better services to their clients. Based on your trading style and funding capability you can choose between 3 types of trading accounts with Saxo Bank.

Unfortunately, the broker does not offer a Muslim account type. Muslim accounts are also known as swap-free accounts and they don’t charge clients interest in order to stay in line with the Quran’s teachings.

Classic account

The minimum initial deposit for opening the Classic account is EUR 2 000, which is high for many traders, but the larger the deposit, the easier it is to manage risks.

The classic account comes with 24/5 technical and account support. The leverage differs for each asset class.

The Classic account is the starter account and the fees and conditions improve as you go from Classic to Platinum and on to VIP.

Platinum and VIP accounts

The minimum initial deposit for a Platinum account is EUR 200 000. The account type offers 30% lower fees compared to the Classic account. Moreover, you might get a local-language customer support agent to assist you if need be.

The minimum initial deposit for opening the VIP account is EUR 1 000 000. The account comes with the local-language personal relationship manager, 1:1 SaxoStrats access, and exclusive event invitations. 

It should be noted that you can upgrade your Classic account to Platinum and the Platinum account to VIP by trading and collecting points, thus getting better prices and services.

The broker rewards loyalty by giving away points to its clients every time they place an order. Points vary between asset classes and the higher the volume, the higher the number of points.

For example, you’ll get 250 points for trading Stocks/ETFs/ETN with a volume of EUR 10 000.

In order to upgrade your Classic account to Platinum, you’ll need to collect 120 000 points. To reach a VIP account, 500 000 points are required.

Getting started on Saxo Bank - Main steps

Saxo Bank offers an extremely attractive number of assets. Unfortunately, there is no live chat option, so if you are considering opening an account with the broker, keep reading our review as we walk you through the whole process.

Step 1: Open an account

Go ahead and click Open account in the top right corner of Saxo Bank’s web page.

Step 2: It’s time for providing personal information

You will be required to provide your personal information such as your name, email address, city of birth, occupation, income level, etc. The information collected makes the identification of their clients easier and helps increase security. Personal information helps the broker offer services that are in line with the customer’s demands. 

Step 3: Upload documents

In order to verify your identity, you need to provide the broker with a photo of your ID, driving license, or something similar. The bank also requires your selfie.

The final document is the proof of residency. You can use a utility bill or something similar that clearly indicates your address.

Step 4: Time to download the platform and fund your account

You can choose between SaxoTraderGo and SaxoTraderPro. The Pro platform is for professional traders with lots of screens.

The broker does not accept cheque payments and payments before the account is opened. There are a number of ways you can fund your account:

Local SGD deposits, via:

• FAST(SGD)
• PayNow(SGD)
• MEPS(SGD)

Other methods/currencies:

• TT wire transfer (major currencies)
• Onshore interbank transfer (Malaysian Ringgit)
• Card payments (debit/credit)
• HSBC account holders

Step 5: Start trading

We’ve reached the most important part. Before you place a live order, you should already have profitable trading systems in place and the only obstacle should be your emotions. Demo trading will help you develop a strategy and get familiar with the platform, however, demo trading can never prepare you for controlling yourself from overtrading, greed, fear, and frustration. 

Sometimes the best trade is the one you don’t make. You should only place an order when market conditions allow you to do so. Many traders feel like they are wasting time when they’re not in an open position. A good trader is like a tiger, lying in wait and being ready to pounce when the right opportunity comes along.

The fees and commissions vary depending on the account type. The Classic account charges the highest fees. The VIP account has the lowest fees and commissions.

In general, prices are reasonable if we take into account that the broker offers a huge amount of assets and asset classes and the safety level is extremely high due to the number of strict regulators under which the company is operating.

In order to better understand the difference between Saxo Bank and other brokerage firms, let’s compare their stats.

Saxo Bank fees compared to Interactive Brokers fees

*Inactivity fee was eliminated by IB in 2021, it used to be $20/m

Saxo Bank fees compared to eToro fees

Saxo Bank fees compared to IG fees

Saxo Bank fees compared to XM fees

Saxo Bank fees compared to AvaTrade fees

Saxo Bank fees compared to Capital.com fees

Sophisticated trading platforms can increase the chances of investing successfully. As a trader, you will spend a lot of time watching your screen and you want the platform to be intuitive and user-friendly. Saxo Bank offers two award-winning platforms to its clients. 

SaxoTraderGo

With SaxoTraderGo you get access to stocks, ETFs, bonds, FX pairs, managed portfolios, options, futures, and other leveraged products.

The platform is made for professional and novice traders and supports a one-screen interface. You can also drag charts and pages to second or more screens.

The platform is packed with tools for technical and fundamental analysis. You can conduct a comprehensive account overview and performance analysis, access options chains, and charts.

Access through mobile and desktop devices.

SaxoTraderPro

SaxoTraderPro is made for professionals. You can fully customize charts on six screens, Trade using algorithms, and access all of the asset classes offered by Saxo Bank. 

It’s worth mentioning that for scalpers, SaxoTraderPro offers one-click trading, options chains, and chartings packages. 

Access through PC and MAC.

Mobile trading apps are important for many traders, as they keep us in touch with the markets all the time. Saxo Bank’s mobile app offers a user-friendly interface and all of the necessary features to manage your trades. 

It’s important to note that, in general, mobile trading is not helpful when it comes to conducting technical and fundamental analysis as you need to digest a large amount of information, and the bigger the screen, the better. 

Trading is risky. A trader that doesn’t take time to research and educate himself increases the risk of failure dramatically. 

Saxo Bank provides platform video guides, trading introduction courses, and risk management rules to its clients. 

Risk management is essential when it comes to trading your system. Saxo Bank has built-in risk management tools on its trading platform SaxoTraderGO. You can find the video tutorials on how to use the tools on the company’s website. 

Education never stops as market conditions change over time and you’ll need to research and create better strategies to cope with the changing environment. 

Saxo Bank offers 24/5 technical and account customer support to its clients. However, only VIP customers get a local-speaking personal relationships manager. 

The company does not offer a live chat option which is a drawback as live chat is very handy for novice traders that need help setting up their accounts or depositing funds.

In case you need to contact the team, there’s an email and call option. The company supports clients in more than 180 countries from offices in major financial centers.

After a detailed review of Saxo Bank, we can conclude that the company is highly regulated by many reputable financial institutions which makes it a trustworthy option. 

Saxo Bank sets a very high standard when it comes to offering asset classes. Offering 60 000+ instruments with optimized liquidity and reasonable prices. 

The broker is mainly aimed at professional traders and offers dedicated platforms. In addition, the initial deposit required to start is EUR 2 000 and fees decrease as you upgrade your account.