Saxo Capital Markets review.
Saxo offer a very wide range of instruments which is part of their appeal to larger more sophisticated traders. Their minimum costs may also put off smaller retail clients.
Account type: Forex, CFD’s, shares, Options
Markets: Forex, Equity exchanges, commodities, Stocks, ETF’s, Options and Futures
Category : Market Maker with Direct market Access
Founded: 1992
Status : All can trade although special rates for professional traders.
Regulation: UK FCA, Danish FCA, ASIS, SCMA
Smallest position on forex: 0.01 of a standard contract (fixed min commission)
Open an account: www.saxo.com
About Saxo
Saxo markets is well respected in the forex trading world. They are one of the largest brokers by volume which may give you some comfort and are regulated by a number of more stringent authorities. That is one of the key reasons they are on our list.
They are pretty much a one stop shop for trading offering a wide range of asset classes, their biggest omission is that they do not cover crypto currencies but that may not bother many traders.
Because of their minimum forex commission fee, they may not be for everybody, in fact if you are only looking to open a modest account initially they might be better avoided. For frequent larger traders they offer a tiered reduction in fees and spreads and may make more sense, although if you are only trading forex and indexes there are better alternatives listed.
The Platform
Saxo have gone to town on their platform but it takes some practice to get used to it. There are a few minor niggles in terms of how closed positions are shown and maybe how you can close all the open forex positions at one go.
Niggles aside it is a pretty comprehensive tool which allows traders to open positions and maintain them when exclusively viewing the charts. Their more basic web version may suit some traders, but if you want to have a multiple monitor display then this maybe for you. It is completely customisable as each aspect can un-dock from the main page.
They have a choice of news services to follow plus you can access their trading analysis. Their senior market analysts are pretty good with thought provoking content.
The range of asset classes that can be traded on here may suit some more rounded traders, with physical stocks, options etc all available if you wanted them all in one place. If you are more interested in trading costs though you might look elsewhere.
Saxo do not have an MT4/MT5 option.
The Charts
The charting package is reasonably comprehensive in terms of indicators. Having checked out some of the more common indicators such as pivots, these can be set at different time frames.
The fact that you can trade off the charts can be beneficial giving you the ability to see exactly where the orders are placed relative to the price action. You are able to adjust the orders etc on the charts as well just by dragging it to your chosen level. You can choose whether you see the lines from the positions across the chart or not which is probably a good thing as charts can become too cluttered.
As with so many charting packages the time for the bars is not set to GMT although you can set the indicators such as pivots to calculate form midnight.
Key Data
Spreads*
- EUR/USD 0.2
- GBP/USD 0.8
- USD/JPY 0.3
- AUD/USD 0.3
- USD/CAD 0.7
- AUD/CAD 1.2
- GBP/JPY 1.4
*Average daily spread based on one month trading provided by SAXO
Saxo have a minimum commission rate of $3 per 100,000 each way. This equates to a 0.06 spread or more on smaller trades. Note it is a minimum so whether you trade 0.01 or a full contract you will be charged the $3 each way.
Opening an account
As with all brokers you will just need to provide proof of address and identity to open an account.
Risk Warning
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 72% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs, FX or any of our other products work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. Losses can exceed deposits on some products.
You can read more about risk by clicking here. We strongly recommend that you fully understand the risk in trading before opening an account with any broker.