What are the best stock brokers in Switzerland in 2021? That will be the topic of this article.
Before writing this article, the following points should be made:
- This article will focus on good stock brokers available if you are living in Switzerland, rather than Swiss-online options.
- Expats should focus on portable and global options, rather than localised ones.
- Do it yourself (DIY) investing only works for a small number of people.
If you want to invest, don’t hesitate to contact me, email (advice@adamfayed.com) or use the WhatsApp function below.
Introduction
Choosing a broker is not that difficult, but it is a very important decision. You will probably be using it for years. You can always switch to a new broker, but it is not free and not that easy as you can imagine yourself. So it’s best to start right away with the right decision. Ideally, you will want to start with the best broker for your needs, so in this article we will try to introduce the best stock brokers in Switzerland.
The first thing you need to make sure is that you only trade with a trusted broker. You will entrust your investment to this broker. So, you need a broker with a good reputation and excellent security.
Basically, you have to ensure that your assets are kept separate from the legal entity broker. Thus, if the broker defaults on the default, you can still get your assets back through a secondary organization. This is what most brokers do.
The second thing you should check is if the broker gives you access to the exchanges you want. For example, if you want to trade Swiss stocks, you will have to access to the Swiss Stock Exchange (SWX).
Due to a poor set of laws, it is currently difficult to access exchange-traded funds (ETFs) from the US. Indeed, European investors are currently unable to invest in these funds. And only Interactive Brokers will offer Swiss investors access to these US ETFs. So, if you want to invest in these funds, your choices are too limited.
Finally, you need to look at prices. High brokerage fees are a major problem for most Swiss brokers. They are very expensive. As we will see later, there can be a huge difference in fees between brokers. Most people don’t realize this! When you compare brokers, you will see that the difference is too big to ignore!
Of these three criteria, the third requires the most research. Finding reliable and trustworthy brokers is not that difficult, but finding a cheap broker that gives you access to the exchanges you want isn’t always easy and fast. If you do your research correctly, you will immediately start using the best broker for your needs.
Trustworthy brokers in Switzerland
As mentioned earlier, there are many options. You can probably trade directly with your bank. But trading in Swiss banks is expensive. It would be very convenient to trade directly with your bank. Unfortunately, they are too expensive. Thus, you should not trade with your bank.
Swiss online brokers have a few more options:
- Corner Trader
- Saxo Bank
- Swissquote
This is already much more interesting than trading with your bank. But they are also expensive.
Finally, there are two more brokers but this time international, which are available in Switzerland:
- DEGIRO
- Interactive Brokers
These two brokers are the best options available for Switzerland citizens. They are significantly cheaper than all other options available in Switzerland. They may not be Swiss, but they offer all their services to Swiss investors, which makes them two of the best brokers.
To make sure that this is the case, we are going to compare the commissions of different brokers. We can also take into account the fact that you do not need to pay Swiss stamp duty with them.
About Swiss stamp tax
Switzerland has a tax called Swiss stamp duty (or Swiss stamp duty). This is also called the Swiss securities transfer tax. This is a federal tax.
This levies tax on every transfer of securities when a Swiss securities dealer is involved. For a Swiss securities dealer, tax means Swiss banks and Swiss brokers.
The amount of tax depends on the exchange:
- Swiss securities: total commission = 0.075%
- Foreign securities: total commission = 0.15%
The result of this is that by picking a non-Swiss broker, you will save money on Swiss stamp tax.
Because this is something which is charged both ways (meaning buy and sell) using a Switzerland- based broker, you actually lose 0.30% on your transactions.
Now let’s start reviewing the mentioned six brokers, that we found enough reliable and trustworthy to represent them to you.
Corner Trader
Corner Trader is a Swiss Forex broker operating in the financial markets since the early 1950s. The company only recently introduced its online services in 2012, but it is clear from the start that the company has a pretty good idea of what it takes to stay ahead of the Forex trading business.
Corner Trader is registered as a bank in the Swiss financial markets and is regulated by FINMA, Switzerland’s highest regulatory authority responsible for supervising the activities of financial brokers in the country.
CornerTrader as part of the Corner bank, which is regulated by one of Switzerland’s strictest regulatory bodies, FINMA, means that it fully complies with the requirements and necessary measures.
In fact, in order to work as a broker, any firm in Switzerland must obtain a banking license, which is quite difficult to obtain due to the very high requirements and numerous rules that apply to the general business model, right down to the ruling directors.
Corner Trader accounts
This company offers three different types of accounts, which are more than enough to choose from for many clients:
- Private trader
- Capital trader
- Pro trader
The minimum trade size in Forex is $ 5,000 for all accounts. On the other hand, there is no information on the minimum deposit for all types of accounts. However, there is a special requirement for opening a Capital trader account, which requires a minimum deposit of 75,000 Swiss francs or the equivalent. In addition, there is a 30-day demo account and a corporate account that is very easy to set up.
Trading instruments
The strategy can be any nuanced at the client’s request, as Corner Trader offers a wide range of trading products, including stocks, CFDs, futures and contract options, allowing you to trade Forex spot trades, Forex options – both conventional and binary – and Forex futures.
The offer also includes cryptocurrencies with Bitcoin and Ethereum trading with commissions starting at 0.07% for professional traders.
Forex trading filled with global reach, intuitive order tickets and a seamless blend of liquidity and prices without re-quotes, as well as a selection of competitive spreads of 0.2 pips for EURCHF and 0.4 for GBPUSD.
And also due to low margin requirements for multi-level foreign exchange margin, such as 1% for large companies, and special liquidity.
Banking opportunities
All funds can be sent to your accounts from the Corner Bank IBAN number, which you will receive after opening a Corner Trader account. The bank also offers TradersCard, which is linked to your trading account.
This allows you to instantly withdraw money from any ATM. Alternatively, you can contact your account manager to transfer money as soon as possible.
Saxo Bank
Saxo Bank is a fully licensed European bank and one of the most prominent players in the global brokerage industry.
As one of the most transparent and trusted banks and brokers in the world, it serves new traders as well as professional traders, institutions and hedge funds.
The broker focuses on the professional crowd with the best deals from a minimum deposit of € 50,000, but in their classic account, the minimum deposit is only € 500.
Trading with Saxo Bank gives you access to over 35,000 assets in eight categories and allows you to fully diversify your portfolio.
Customer funds are held in segregated accounts and Saxo Bank fully complies with all regulations.
Each regulator will have different requirements, and Saxo Bank fully satisfies them all. In addition, as this is a Danish bank, customer deposits are guaranteed by a Guarantee Fund of up to 100,000 euros. This only applies to retail customers – institutional customers are not covered.
Saxo Bank accounts
Saxo Bank offers three different account types for all retail traders, with a joint account option as well as a professional account option;
- Classical
- Platinium
- Professional
- ISA
- Trust
- VIP
They have a different pricing model, service approach, and add-on packages. Different minimum deposits are required and traders can climb to different levels depending on the frequency and volume of trades.
In addition, there are two specific UK account types available, as well as corporate account options and a trust fund account option for all global clients.
Saxo Bank trading fees
Saxo Bank has an average trading fee overall. Although the fee structure is different for different account types, it is transparent and you can easily calculate costs. We have analyzed the commission structure of the Classic account. Saxo Platinum and VIP Accounts have a better pricing structure.
Trading platforms
Saxo Bank offers its clients its own proprietary trading platform. It is available in two versions: SaxoTraderGO and SaxoTraderPRO.
Saxo Bank has gone to great lengths to provide its global traders with a state-of-the-art trading platform, also available to partners as a White Label solution. Forex traders who are accustomed to the MT4 or MT5 trading platforms offered by most forex brokers or are implementing EA based on this infrastructure will be disappointed as Saxo Bank does not support them.
Saxo is recommended, if you need high quality service and are willing to pay a slightly higher commission in return. If you want a great deal, you can find discount brokers there.
Swissquote
Swissquote is a Swiss investment bank founded in 1996. It has two main trading divisions: a Swiss division for trading stocks, funds, options and futures, and a UK company for CFD and forex trading.
Swissquote Bank Ltd is formally based in Switzerland and regulated by the Swiss Financial Markets Authority (FINMA), the country’s financial regulator.
The company has been building its reputation for some time and has been doing business as it is since 1996. It was listed on the Swiss exchange SIX in May 2000 and over the years has created a structure with highly regarded regulatory and regulatory requirements.
Swissquote Ltd is a subsidiary of Swissquote Bank and is based in London, where it is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Swissquotes accounts
Swissquote offers three main types of accounts:
- Standard
- Premium
- Prime
The minimum deposit is $ 1000 to open a trading account, and the standard account size is from that minimum to $ 25,000. Premium accounts are usually reserved for those with $ 25,000 to $ 100,000. Prime accounts are reserved for larger investors with over $ 100,000 to trade.
There are differences in spreads and margin requirements for different account holders and slightly different features and benefits will apply.
However, the minimum and maximum transaction sizes are the same for all account holders, and all account holders will find that they do not incur any additional withdrawal fees, allowing the account to become inactive or close the account.
Swissquote also offers a useful demo account with $ 100,000 virtual balance to experiment with. The demo account is very realistic and uses real-time market data and prices, but is only available for 30 days.
Swissquotes trading fees
Swissquote operates on a commission-free model for Standard, Premium and Prime accounts. As always when there are no commissions, the broker’s profits are taken from the spreads as stated above. At Swissquote, spreads vary, but will always depend on your account type.
Swissquote’s website is very transparent and displays up-to-date spreads for all of its offers, as well as other fees and important numbers such as night interest calculation, minimum trade size and leverage offered.
The minimum deposit to open an account is $ 1,000 and Swissquote usually does not charge any fees for deposits or withdrawals, although your bank or credit card company may well charge fees for these transactions. There is no inactivity fee.
Commissions and fees are subject to change, so always check current fees and trading policies before trading.
Trading instruments
This company offers a very interesting and varied range of tradable instruments, including nearly 80 currency pairs, about 20 commodity pairs, over 20 stock indices and several bonds, all available as CFDs.
Minor and exotic currency pairs are available, and commodity CFD pairs tend to be commonly traded assets like oil and gold. You can also trade warrants and derivatives, ETFs and bonds.
Some markets are only available to investors with a specific domicile and such privileges must be verified as part of the due diligence process upon admission.
DEGIRO
DEGIRO is a Dutch online discount broker. It is privately owned and was founded in 2008 by former employees of another brokerage company.
DEGIRO is regulated by top-level financial bodies such as the Netherlands Financial Markets Authority (AFM) and the Netherlands Central Bank (DNB). It is registered with the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce.
DEGIRO offers one of the lowest commissions on the market for all asset classes and is regulated by several top-tier regulators. Its web and mobile trading platforms are well designed and easy to use.
On the other hand, Forex trading is not available, training and research tools are limited, and credit / debit card deposit is not possible.
Degiro Trading Commissions
DEGIRO’s commissions for trading individual stocks in the UK, Europe and the US are significantly lower than most other major UK online brokers.
Although the costs of trading are so low, there is no significant basic research and educational content available. However, the frequent trader or investor looking for a no-frills option is likely to be attracted by DEGIRO’s very low fees.
Trading instruments
DEGIRO offers its clients access to a wide range of investments including stocks, funds, bonds and securities, ETFs, options and futures.
DEGIRO currently provides access to 30 international exchanges, providing either direct market access or Intelligent Order Routing (SOR) through Morgan Stanley. All 30 exchanges are located in Europe, North America, Asia and Oceania. DEGIRO currently only offers a general trading account.
Interactive Broker
Interactive Brokers was founded in 1978 and is one of the largest discount brokers in the United States.
The broker is regulated by several financial authorities around the world, including such leading ones as the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Interactive Brokers has some of the lowest trading fees in the market. It covers a wide variety of markets and products, as well as many great research tools.
However, this broker is mainly recommended for experienced traders, as the account opening process is complicated and the desktop trading platform is inconvenient for the user.
In addition, the inactivity fees are quite high and most users can only deposit and withdraw funds via bank transfer.
Interactive Brokers has long been a popular broker for advanced traders, but in 2019, the company launched a second tier of service – IBKR Lite – for more casual investors.
With IBKR Lite, you get unlimited free trades in stocks and ETFs listed on the US exchanges.
If you are interested in trading other investments, including options, futures, mutual funds, fixed income and more, you can do so on 135 exchanges in 33 countries with a Lite account, but the trading costs are the same as IBKR Pro investors pay.
As the name suggests, IBKR Pro is geared towards experienced traders. If this is you, then you will probably love the broker’s price of $ 0.005 per share ($ 1 minimum), the advanced trading platform, the unrivaled range of securities traded including foreign stocks, and ridiculously low margin rates.
Both service levels have a minimum account balance of $ 0 and offer fractional promotions. IBKR Lite does not charge account maintenance or inactivity fees. IBKR Pro charges an inactivity fee, although it can be circumvented if you trade relatively frequently.
Interactive Brokers trading fees
Interactive Brokers’ trading fees are low. This is beneficial if you frequently make a lot of trades.
You can choose between Interactive Brokers flat rate plan and tiered plan:
A fixed rate pricing plan usually charges a flat rate per contract or share. This fee covers all commissions and exchange fees.
With a tiered pricing plan, fees are charged based on your monthly trading volume. The more you trade, the lower the fees. However, additional exchange, regulation and clearing fees may apply.
From the end of 2019, US customers can also opt for a new pricing plan called IBKR LITE. With this service plan, they can trade US-listed stocks and ETFs with no commission, no inactivity fees.
Trading Platform
Casual traders who love IBKR Lite will find a client portal platform suitable for their trading needs. But IBKR Lite and IBKR Pro traders looking for something more powerful can now access Interactive Brokers’ Desktop Trader Workstation, considered one of the best trading platforms available for experienced traders.
The platform is fast and includes standard features such as real-time monitoring, alerts, watch lists, and a customizable account dashboard. The Option Strategy Lab allows you to create and send both simple and complex multi-pronged option orders and compare up to five option strategies simultaneously.
Other tools include a volatility lab, extended charts, heat maps of sector and stock symbol performance, paper trading, and a mutual fund replicator that helps users identify ETFs that mimic the performance of a selected mutual fund but offer lower fees.
Here were presented the best brokers both local and international, that you can use in Switzerland. All of them has a lot of advantages that will help you benefit from trading process.
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