Saxo Bank

Saxo Bank takes retail FX trading to the next level, which in this case is wholesale. Besides offering three “private client” trading platforms, Saxo Bank also appeals to brokers, institutions, and other potential trading partners. For the individual investor, though, the question becomes: how well does Saxo Bank service its bread-and-butter client, the retail trader?

Trade Offerings at Saxo Bank

At Saxo, the retail trader is offered quite a lot. He is given a wide range of asset products-- including Forex, stocks, and futures--and two free demo accounts with which to test the platforms. But the trader must also be able to wend his way through a complex web of stipulations, conditions, and formulations to enjoy this cornucopia of investing. There is a lot of information to absorb, and different investors are treated differently.

In an update of our Saxo Bank review at the end of 2011 we were surprised to see that the company now offers binary options trading in addition to traditional currency trading. Although we didn’t test out this specific service, we have noted the popularity of binary options trading in recent months, and we suggest that this may be a good way for inexperienced traders to get their feet wet. On the other hand, new traders may have an easier time trading binary options with a designated binary options broker, so that they don’t get distracted by all of the unrelated Forex terminology.

Trading Platform

Three platforms accommodate three types of private traders. The Saxo MiniTrader account is for those who want to make a smaller investment and trade the most popular crosses. For them, accounts begin at $2,000 and go up to $25,000. For the confident, multi-tasking investor, the SaxoTrader account offers over 160 currency pairs and a variety of other tradeable assets. SaxoTrader accounts begin at $10,000. Finally, for the jet-setting trader on the go, Saxo offers a browser-based trading platform, the SaxoWebTrader, with mobile phone access to 50 Forex crosses.

The Saxo MiniTrader is a downloadable platform of approximately 8 MB. The registration for the demo is short and sweet. You provide your name, email address, telephone number, country of origin, and a password. They provide the user ID. The FX trading client downloads in a matter of minutes.

The full registration process, which is the same for the full SaxoTrader platform, is more involved. It includes a 20-page legal document and a 5-page client application requiring proof of identification and address plus a passport and financial disclosures detailing income, net worth, and risk capital. No funds are requested until your application is accepted.

Trading Conditions

While typical spreads are provided in a long list on the Web site and vary from .1 of a pip (XAG/USD) to 350 (USD/ZAR) pips, the spreads in the MiniTrader are for 16 Forex crosses and begin at 2 pips. Your initial $2,000 investment will soon swell with margin requirements. You will find your spreads and leverage numbers in your Account Summary under Trading Conditions. Spreads and margins are individually determined and change along with market conditions. The market conditions that lead to volatility and a change in your spreads and, ultimately, profits, are evaluated by the broker.

Those market conditions are available via live price quotes and news feeds you can call up on your trading desktop. Plenty of charts and graphs can be displayed and are customizable by time and number of coordinates. Some of the charts are not easy to read and live price quotes blink continuously and annoyingly.
Although you can change the view on your desktop, the screens are set as pop-ups. For neat freaks, especially in the chaotic world of Forex, this can take some getting used to. The Mini platform itself is very easy to navigate with pulldown menus and tabs. One such menu, under the “Tools” heading, shows the TradeMaker function. The TradeMaker is an automated trading agent. The user chooses from one of a given set of strategies and Saxo advises and executes against this strategy. This enables those who want to entrust Saxo experts to make their trades to do so.

Forex Education

To get up to speed on Saxo’s platform, a series of Quick Start tutorials are available. These assume that the user has some familiarity with the fundamentals of Forex. Still, the  tutorials include definitions of several common terms and their trade screen has buy/sell currency reminders so you are certain to make the right transaction. A general overview of the Forex market is available as well.
Besides Forex, other assets that may be traded under a MiniTrader account include CFDs, gold, and silver.

Saxo Bank also has an educational service called TradeMentor, which is featured directly on its top navigation. What we found interesting about this service is that it’s nearly entirely video-based, and that it has a very slow load time, so that we actually lost interest while we were waiting for the information to load. We would have appreciated if the video was supplemented with relevant text so that we could read the information for ourselves to determine if it was relevant, without having to sit through several tedious videos. 

SaxoTrader, the full trading client, allows for over 160 Forex crosses, options and stock trading, CFDs, and metals. The download size is approximately 22 MBs, about three times larger than the Mini client but much more robust. Besides the ability to trade a greater range of assets, the Forex trader has the ability to execute Stop/Loss orders, Limit Entry, and Spot forward orders. Sub accounts are also allowed.

The full platform has won numerous awards and is the flagship product of the Saxo Bank brokerage. A $10,000 initial investment is required to seed the account. As in the MiniTrader account, the SaxoTrader account offers variable spreads and margins for which you may consult your Account Summary. Remember, each cross has a different “commission” spread.

Final Thoughts

Headquartered in Denmark, Saxo Bank is regulated by the Danish government. This may account for all the conditions and detailed legal information a trader must plow through to use their platform. In addition, to the variety of pip spreads and margin calculations, there are low-value trade fees to cover administrative costs and seemingly endless miniformulae for other situations.

One complaint you sometimes hear from Saxo traders is that there may be some slippage, particularly on larger trades. As for customer service, it seems to play both ways. Some investors indicate that there is too much chat and advice provided. Others claim that the live chat is never answered and email response is slow. Overall, however, users seem to be pretty well satisfied based on various Saxo Bank reviews. If you are able to absorb a large volume of information—and many Forex investors seem to possess this talent—you could decidedly enjoy Saxo Bank’s platforms.