Swissquote for banking, currency changing and card

[Jmeery1]

I was looking to use Swissquote to hold USD and possibly other currencies.

Should I open an account with Swissquote in Switzerland or the Swissquote UK subsidiary to make sure I get a USD account in my name?

Should I open a Trading account or a Forex account or is it the same?

Does anyone use them for their multi-currency credit and/or debit cards? Apart from the 1.5% cash withdrawal fee (avoidable anyway) it sounds almost as good as Transferwise. Wondering if there is a catch.

My main concern is rhat the Trustpilot reviews of Swissquote are pretty negative, but the issues mainly relate to trading ripoffs, which I wouldn't really be doing much of anyway (just FX). Has anyone had issues with them?

Finally, are any of the broker alternatives that give you your own bank account in your own name, a better option than Swissquote primarily for banking and currency changing?

Thanks for any help- I've read bits and pieces in other threads, but was hoping to clarify some of these questions before being tortured by their diligence process.

 

[Suzy Emerald]

Swissquote is fine for holding money and expensive for trading. They offer free virtual mastercard. I would open the account in CH with them.

 

[JohnLocke]

How much in average are they more expensive compared to what other alternatives?

 

[Jmeery1]

It depends on the product you plan to trade.

Forex trades look like they charge 17 pips and less as you trade bigger sums. Compared to Interactive Brokers which goes as low as 0.1 pip. All that said, it is still way cheaper than Transferwise or Currencyfair.

For stocks, CFDs, index funds etc, the cost difference is even bigger, don't see why you wouldnt just use IB if you could.

It looks like their best use case is for the multiple currency bank accounts, the credit and debit cards and possibly forex for small amounts where you can't or can't be bothered using IB for some reason or another and aren't worried about paying a bit more.

 

[Davis123]

It depends on the product you plan to trade.

Forex trades look like they charge 17 pips and less as you trade bigger sums. Compared to Interactive Brokers which goes as low as 0.1 pip. All that said, it is still way cheaper than Transferwise or Currencyfair.

For stocks, CFDs, index funds etc, the cost difference is even bigger, don't see why you wouldnt just use IB if you could.

It looks like their best use case is for the multiple currency bank accounts, the credit and debit cards and possibly forex for small amounts where you can't or can't be bothered using IB for some reason or another and aren't worried about paying a bit more.

If you are trading Forex nothing beats IC markets Australia. Some pairs like EURUSD are just 0 most of the time but varying too. Best broker I think is IC markets Australia as I am a professional Forex trader

 

[JustAnotherNomad]

Does IC Markets give you an IBAN or how can you transfer funds from outside Australia?

With SwissQuote, is there a difference with which you branch you sign up with or do they assign you a branch automatically based on your country of residence?

 

[Davis123]

Does IC Markets give you an IBAN or how can you transfer funds from outside Australia?

With SwissQuote, is there a difference with which you branch you sign up with or do they assign you a branch automatically based on your country of residence?

Wire transfers, PayPal, all kinds of payments accepted except third party transfers, bitcoins also accepted. Please see their webpage for more instructions. Some countries not acceptable due to OECD laws and I think EU has reduced leverages in IC markets for their residents too. Talk about baby feeding, US or Canadian residents are not allowed to open up their accounts.

 

[Martin Everson]

Finally, are any of the broker alternatives that give you your own bank account in your own name, a better option than Swissquote primarily for banking and currency changing?

Yes you can try bank/broker Flatex.de. You can get USD/EUR/GBP IBAN in your name. But good to know some German or not so good. Otherwise internaxx.com which is now Swissquote Luxembourg . Even Saxobank but FX rates aint good.