Swiss Markets is a forex and CFDs broker that was launched in 2016 by BDSwiss Holdings Plc, which already had experience running online trading platforms, since 2012. The broker is authorised and licensed by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission to provide forex trading services to its clients. What is interesting with Swiss Markets is that they are exclusively a STP broker, which means they offer direct market placement of trades instead of them taking the other side of the trade and potentially profiting from the client’s loss. Swiss Markets uses MT4 as their main trading platform which is than available on range of devices. Leverage can reach 1:500 on forex assets while spreads will depend on the type of the account trader chooses. Slow customer support on live chat is definitely a drawback.
Account Features
Swiss markets offers several STP accounts which change their characteristics depending on the asset. Naturally, we cannot list all trading conditions for every asset, however, we will use forex as a basis for comparison, since this is what most people trade. SwissMarkets also offer a demo account, which is easy to create – just filling in some basic info and getting login data for the MT4 platform should not be a problem.
With SwissMarkets account types – the classic, Swiss1, Swiss8 and Swiss 5 the main differentiator is the commission, especially for the “Raw STP” accounts. Base currencies for forex are : USD, EUR, GBP, CHF, PLN, NOK, SEK, DKK.
Swiss Markets Classic STP
- minimum deposit $200 or equivalent
- up to 1:500 leverage
- spread from 0.9 pips
- max. 200 open positions
- no commission
Swiss Markets Raw STP – SWISS11
- from $200 deposit
- leverage up to 1:200
- spread from 0 pips
- 11 USD commission per lot per round turn
- max .200 open positions
- max 50 lots per position
Swiss Markets Raw STP – SWISS8
- from $2000 deposit
- leverage up to 1:200
- spread from 0 pips
- 8 USD commission per lot per round turn
- max. 200 open positions
- max 50 lots per position
Swiss Markets Raw STP – SWISS5
- from $10000 deposit
- leverage up to 1:200
- spread from 0 pips
- 5 USD commission per lot per round turn
- max. 200 open positions
- max 50 lots per position
- minimum trade volume is 1 lot
In short – high volume traders will know what they seek – lower spreads and specially lower commissions. Beginners can easily start with the Classic or SWISS11, even though we would recommend Classic account with spread if they are not planning to have big turnover since 11 USD commission per lot seems a bit high.
Trading Software & Assets
As we already mentioned in the intro to the Swiss Markets review, MetaTrader4 is their platform of choice. Read our article on how to use MetaTrader4 to get a better ide how this platform works. Most brokers offer either MetaTrader4 or MetaTrader5 which is similar, so there is not much to say other than this platform offers all the tools one needs to trade in a package that is meanwhile almost an industry standard.
SwissMarkets lets traders trade CFDs based on forex pairs, metals CFDs, energy CFDs, as well as commodities and indices CFDs. In total there are
- 78 forex currency pairs,
- 6 metal related instruments (4 metals – gold silver, platinum and palladium vs USD or EUR)
- 3 energy CFDs (USoil, Brent, Natural Gas)
- 7 commodities (copper, cocoa, cotton, orange jucie, sugar, coffee)
Support Information
Customer support is available through email, live chat and call back/phone. We have tried asking a question on live chat, however, in more than 30 minutes we have gotten no response or answer to our question. This is when we lost patience and closed the window. While this can always be a one time thing, it is not good to keep new traders waiting this long, or never actually replying. In case we receive an email from the help desk later, we will update this review accordingly.
Banking & Company Information
Swiss Markets offers a wide range of payment methods. We have listed the most widely used ones below. The minimum deposit is $200 or equivalent, depending on the base currency of the account and the method.
Swiss Markets Payment methods:
- Visa
- MasterCard
- Maestro
- Postepay
- giropay
- sofort
- EPS
- iDeal
- Przelewy24
- Skrill
- Neteller
Withdrawal methods:
- Visa
- MasterCard
- BankWire
- Skrill
- Neteller
Outside of the EU, Swiss Markets accept traders from many countries, some of the are:
Argentina, Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Jamaica, Kenya, South Korea, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Namibia, New Zealand, Oman, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Switzerland, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay and more