Saxo Capital Markets Review

Review

Saxo Bank, founded in 1992 and headquartered in Denmark, is one of the largest retail Forex brokers around and is one of the oldest ECNs available to both the retail client and institutional trader. They offer a mix of both ECN and market-maker execution models. This review focuses on Saxo Capital Markets, their Australian-domiciled brokerage offering. They offer an incredibly wide choice of tradable assets to their clients: over 35,000 instruments including over 180 spot Forex currency pairs, over 40 Forex options, 140 Forex forwards, over 1,200 listed options, over 9,000 CFDs (certificates for deposit), over 3,100 listed ETFs and ETNs, over 19,000 individual global stocks, all the major commodities, a wide selection of both government and corporate bonds, and 24 futures contracts.

Because Saxo Bank is a banking institution as well as a financial service provider, they are the most regulated Forex broker in the industry, being regulated branch by branch as follows:

Saxo Capital Markets UK Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (Firm reference number 551422).

Saxo Bank A/S Italy is registered by the Bank of Italy (Registration Number: 5720).

Saxo Bank A/S Czech Republic is registered by the Czech National Bank (Registration Number: 28949587).

Saxo Bank A/S Netherlands is registered by the Bank of the Netherlands (Registration Number: 34357130).

Saxo Capital Markets Pte. Ltd. Singapore is licensed as a Capital Market Services provider and an Exempt Financial Advisor and is supervised by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Co. (Registration Number: 200601141M).

Saxo Bank (Switzerland) Ltd. (UID-Register Number CHE-106.787.764) is a licensed bank regulated by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA.

Saxo Banque (France) SAS is licensed as a Credit Institution by the Bank of France (Registration Number: 483632501 R.C.S. Paris).

Saxo Bank A/S, DIFC Representative Office is licensed by the Dubai Financial Services Authority as a Representative Office (Registration number: CL2637).

Saxo Bank - Representative Office is licensed by the Central Bank of the U.A.E. as a Representative Office (Registration number: 2017/995/13).

Saxo Bank FX K.K. is licensed by the Japanese Financial Services Agency (Registration Number: 239).

Saxo Capital Markets Hong Kong Ltd. is registered by the Securities and Futures Commission in Hong Kong (Registration Number 1395901).

Saxo Privatbank A/S is licensed as a Bank by the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) (Registration Number: 9695).

Saxo Capital Markets (Australia) Pty. Ltd is registered by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) (Registration Number: 126 373 859).

Saxo Bank is the recipient of over 50 different awards.

Accounts

There are 3 trading accounts which may be opened in conjunction with any of the Saxo Capital Markets trading platforms, and any of them may be used to trade the full range of the incredible 35,000+ instruments offered across multiple asset classes. The minimum deposit required is relatively high: Australian $3,000. The Classic Account requires a minimum deposit of A$3,000. The Platinum Account requires a minimum deposit of A$50,000 and offers clients a personal relationship manager. The VIP Account requires a minimum deposit of A$1,000,000 and offers clients a dedicated sales manager as well as personal relationship manager.

Even if a client deposits in total less than A$50,000 they may be upgraded to Platinum Account status if it is justified by the client’s total trading volume.

The main differential between the account types is the cost of trading, which is no surprise – as a rule, the larger the deposit and trading volume, the better the trading conditions which may be obtained. To illustrate this regarding Saxo Capital Markets, let’s look at what is typically the most liquid of any Forex currency pair, EUR/USD. Spreads float, but Classic Account holders can typically trade it at a spread of 0.5 pips, while Platinum Account holders on average pay approximately 0.4 pips, and VIP Account holders 0.3 pips.  

Traders with any of these account types have access to all the Saxo Capital Markets trading products and platforms as well as to TradeMaker and TradeMentor.

Saxo Capital Markets offers a 20-day free demonstration of their platforms with a simulated USD 100,000 account to practice with, so new traders can try out market strategies and familiarize themselves with the trading platforms before they start trading for real.

U.S. residents may not open trading accounts with Saxo Capital Markets. 

Education

Saxo Capital Markets has a high-level and unique educational offering, which is far superior to the vast majority of what is offered by most retail Forex/CFD brokerages. It includes both professional analysis tools and technologies, as well as strategic commentary from Saxo’s professional team. The Education and Analysis section includes a selection of webinars, real-world workshops, plus a wide range of video and PDF guides covering how to trade, the assets themselves, and how to use the trading platforms. There are basic lessons on each of the different types of assets offered at Saxo Bank, such as Forex, stocks, bonds, CFDs and even futures. There are additional lessons on the use of the Saxo Trader platform where traders can download pdf videos on how to get started using Saxo Trader, how to read an account summary, how to place an order and ticket, and how to use a chart module.

Their innovative trading education program, TradeMentor, offers live assistance to traders when engaged in trading Forex, CFDs and more in the WebTrader platform. Lessons on chart reading and how to create a personal trading strategy are also provided by Saxo Bank’s professional traders and a series of webinars on many financial topics is offered to all account holders.

A unique tool at Saxo Bank is its TradeMaker where traders can execute Entry, Target and Stop price levels for trading ideas on major and minor currency crosses, index and commodity CFDs. Each idea is linked to a chart image and text displaying and explaining the idea and how to manage it. A pre-populated order ticket facilitates fast execution of the entry and related orders. TradeMaker uses ideas from a number of different providers.

VIP Pricing

It is worth taking another look at the pricing Saxo Capital Markets offer their VIP account holders. For Forex currency pairs, where no commissions are charged, only spreads, the three major currency pairs (EUR/USD, USD/JPY, and GBP/USD) are all typically offered at a very low 0.4 pips floating spread. AUD/USD usually has an even lower spread, at 0.3 pips, while Gold in U.S. Dollars tends to be priced with a spread of only 8 cents. These are exceptionally low spreads. Remember that although a deposit of A$1 million is required to automatically attain VIP account status, high-volume traders may qualify for the upgrade even at a lower total deposit.

Turning to major CFDs, the VIP pricing remains excellent. The spread on the S&P 500 Index is typically 0.4 points, while U.S. stocks can usually be purchased at a fee of 1 cent per share.

Customer Support

Headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, Saxo Capital Markets spans the entire globe with offices in more than 15 countries across Europe, Asia, Australia, South America and Africa. Through their local sales and service organization and global online presence, Saxo Bank serves clients in more than 180 countries, and their trading platforms are available in over 20 different languages.

Customer support is offered via phone and live chat 24 hours a day during Forex market hours and email support is also available.

Conclusion

As can be expected from a large banking institution, Saxo Capital Markets offers reliability and transparency in its Forex division and Forex traders should feel comfortable trading here. The website is user-friendly and much of the important information appears on the home page.

Saxo Capital Markets delivers access to competitive pricing with tight spreads and offers traders a platform with live streaming prices and with volume-based commissions, so the more you trade, the less cost you'll incur. Incredibly, there are over 35,000 tradable instruments to choose from, so choice and diversification across a very wide range of asset classes won’t be a problem.

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features

In terms of features, the stand-out strengths of Saxo Capital Markets’ offering are:

• An incredibly wide range of over 35,000 instruments from across all asset classes including over 180 spot Forex currency pairs, Forex options and forwards, listed options, CFDs (certificates for deposit), listed ETFs and ETNs, over 19,000 individual global stocks, all the major commodities, and a wide selection of both government and corporate bonds, plus some futures contracts.
• Volume-based pricing discounts are available.
• Regulated not only by a major industry center (Australia), but by almost every major regulatory regime worldwide due to Saxo’s size, reputation, and global presence as a major banking institution.
• Saxo Capital Markets is a well-established firm with an earned reputation to protect.
• Good spreads even for relatively small depositors, truly outstanding Forex pricing for larger clients.
• A choice between two state of the art proprietary trading platforms, with the advanced option including level 2 DOM.

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platforms

Saxo Capital Markets offers a choice between two trading platforms.

SaxotraderGO

This is the most common choice, as most clients find it most suitable for their needs. Easy to use, yet powerful, and able to access the full range of tradable assets offered by Saxo Capital Markets. The platform is web-based, so requires no downloading or installation of software with any associated bugs or glitches which such a process might cause. It can be used with any PC, Mac, tablet, or smartphone.

There are no platform fees. The platform includes powerful trading tools and access to expert research, as well as innovative risk-management features, most notably margin alerts, quick-close positions, and an account shield which acts a whole-account emergency stop loss.

The account dashboard is very easy on the eyes, including advanced returns breakdown and portfolio summary features.

SaxotraderPRO

This platform can be seen as a more advanced version of SaxotraderGO – offering several additional advanced features for advanced traders, who may need them. In addition to all the features described above concerning the SaxotraderGO trading platform, it includes most notably a Depth of Market Level 2 order flow book in real time, as well as live time and sales data pertaining to actual order executions. Algorithmic orders can be run through this platform allowing automated trading. This platform can be especially useful for options traders as option chains are available.

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