Dukascopy review

Spread from

0.0 pips

EUR/USD spread

Approx. 0.2 pips

GBP/USD spread

Approx. 0.5 pips

Commission

From approx. $1.75 per side / $3.50 round turn, volume and equity dependent

All-in cost, EUR/USD

Approx. 0.55 pips at lowest commission tier

Spread type

Variable

Overnight swap

Both: overnight rollover charged/credited; swap-free accounts available

Inactivity fee

Up to $100 annually where applicable

Deposit fee

Bank transfer free; cards 1.5%-2.5%; Skrill 2.5%; Neteller €1 or 2.5%; crypto free

Withdrawal fee

Method-dependent; e.g. €2.30 SEPA, $19 USD bank transfer, cards €1.50 + 2.5%, crypto $30

Currency conversion

Approx. 0.5%

Cost is where brokers in the same regulatory bracket actually differ.

A quoted spread from 0.0 pips is a raw-spread figure, which almost always means a separate commission per lot. Compare the two together - a "zero spread" account with a high commission can cost more than a wider spread with none.

Quoted spreads are best-case figures on the most liquid pair, in normal conditions. What you actually pay widens around news and at the session open.

Dukascopy lists a minimum deposit of $100. Treat it as the cost of opening an account, not the cost of trading one - position sizing on a small balance is what tends to cause damage.

Markets

Forex, Cryptocurrencies, Indices, Stocks, Bonds, Energy, Commodities, ETFs

Currency pairs

60+

Total instruments

25,000+

Crypto CFDs

Yes

Maximum leverage

1:100

Execution model

ECN / agency via SWFX Swiss FX Marketplace

Execution speed

Approx. 100ms

Order types

Market, limit, stop, stop-limit, stop-loss, take-profit, trailing stop, bid/offer orders

Servers

Geneva with global financial-market connectivity

Leverage up to 1:100 is available on this entity. High leverage does not increase your expected return - it increases position size for the same deposit, and shortens the move needed to close you out.

Dukascopy covers forex, cryptocurrencies, indices, stocks, bonds, energy, commodities, etfs. A wider range matters less than depth in the instruments you actually trade.

Funding options: bank transfer, visa/mastercard, apple pay, skrill, neteller, bitcoin, ethereum, tether. Check withdrawal routes as well as deposit ones - they are often not the same, and the difference only becomes apparent when you try to take money out.

Platforms

JForex, MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5

Own platform

Yes, JForex

Mobile app

Both proprietary and third-party

Browser trading

Yes

Automated trading

Yes; JForex automated strategies and MT4/MT5 Expert Advisors

Copy trading

Yes, JForex strategy/copy functionality

Indicators

250+ JForex indicators; 50+ MT4 tools/indicators; MT5 indicators and custom tools

Third-party tools

MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5

API access

Yes, JForex API and FIX API

MetaTrader 4 remains the most widely supported platform for expert advisors. If you rely on an existing EA, this is usually the deciding factor.

MetaTrader 5 handles more asset classes and order types than MT4, but expert advisors are not compatible between the two - an MT4 EA will not run on it.

Regulated by

FINMA (Switzerland); Bank of Latvia supervision for Dukascopy Europe; JFSA Type-1 Financial Instruments Business Operator for Dukascopy Japan

Regulator tier

Tier 1

Register entry

FINMA authorised banks and securities firms register

Client money segregated

Yes

Held at

Dukascopy Bank SA / regulated banking infrastructure

Negative balance protection

Yes for eligible European retail clients

Compensation scheme

Swiss deposit insurance up to CHF 100,000 for eligible deposits; Latvian investor compensation up to 90% of eligible losses capped at €20,000 for Dukascopy Europe clients

Audited by

KPMG

Not available to

United States, Canada, Belgium, Israel, Russia, Belarus and other sanctioned/restricted jurisdictions or countries where services cannot legally be offered

Across a hundred brokers, the licence is what separates the field fastest.

Dukascopy holds a tier-one authorisation from FINMA. That matters more than any headline spread: it determines your leverage cap, whether losses can exceed your deposit, and what happens to your money if the firm fails.

FINMA supervises Swiss banks and securities firms, with capital requirements considerably higher than most brokerage regimes.

Client money is held separately from the firm's own money, at Dukascopy Bank SA / regulated banking infrastructure. That separation is what makes your balance recoverable if the company fails, rather than part of the pool its creditors divide up.

Negative balance protection applies, so a losing position cannot take the account below zero and leave you owing the broker money.

Covered by Swiss deposit insurance up to CHF 100,000 for eligible deposits; Latvian investor compensation up to 90% of eligible losses capped at €20,000 for Dukascopy Europe clients, which pays eligible clients up to its limit if the firm fails owing client money.

Minimum deposit

$100

Account types

JForex, MT4, MT5, MCA, Corporate, Swap-Free, Demo

Account currencies

USD, EUR, GBP, CHF, AUD, CAD, CZK, DKK, HKD, HUF, ILS, JPY, MXN, NOK, NZD, PLN, RON, CNH, SEK, SGD, TRY, XAU, ZAR

Islamic account

Yes, swap-free

Demo account

Yes

Professional account

Yes

Minimum trade size

0.01 lots on MT4/MT5; smaller unit-based sizing available through JForex

Time to open

Approximately 15 minutes for video identification

Dukascopy runs 7 account types. More choice is not automatically better: the tightest headline spread almost always sits on the account that also charges a commission, so the comparison that matters is the two added together.

Base currencies: USD, EUR, GBP, CHF, AUD, CAD, CZK, DKK, HKD, HUF, ILS, JPY, MXN, NOK, NZD, PLN, RON, CNH, SEK, SGD, TRY, XAU, ZAR. Holding the account in the currency you fund it with avoids a conversion charge on every deposit and withdrawal - a cost that never shows up in a spread comparison.

The smallest position is 0.01 lots on MT4/MT5; smaller unit-based sizing available through JForex. For anyone starting carefully this matters more than the minimum deposit, because it sets the least you can put at risk on a single trade.

A demo account is available. Worth using for the platform rather than the results: fills are simulated, so it tells you how the software behaves but very little about execution.

Deposit methods

Bank transfer, Visa/Mastercard, Apple Pay, Skrill, Neteller, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether

Withdrawal methods

Bank transfer, Visa/Mastercard, Skrill, Neteller, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether

Deposit time

Cards/e-wallets generally instant; crypto after blockchain confirmation; bank transfer typically 1-3 business days

Withdrawal time

Typically same day processing; bank/card settlement may take 1-5 business days

Minimum withdrawal

No general minimum

Local payment methods

SEPA; SIX/Swiss bank transfers and international bank transfer networks

Withdrawals are stated at Typically same day processing; bank/card settlement may take 1-5 business days, against Cards/e-wallets generally instant; crypto after blockchain confirmation; bank transfer typically 1-3 business days for deposits. A gap between the two is normal and not in itself a warning sign - identity checks are a legal obligation, not obstruction. What is worth noticing is a withdrawal that keeps meeting new conditions after those checks are done.

Withdrawal routes: bank transfer, visa/mastercard, skrill, neteller, bitcoin, ethereum, tether. Money is usually returned by the route it arrived on, so the deposit method you pick is in effect the withdrawal method you are picking too.

The minimum withdrawal is No general minimum - relevant if you intend to fund the account lightly, since it sets the smallest amount you can take out at a time.

Support hours

24/5 trading support

Contact channels

Live chat, email, phone, platform support chat

Languages

Multilingual

Telephone

+41 22 799 48 48

Email

support@dukascopy.com

Live chat response

Typically under 2 minutes

Education

Extensive: webinars, platform tutorials, trading articles, videos, seminars and educational resources

Research

Extensive: Dukascopy TV, market news, technical analysis, sentiment tools, market forecasts and research

Support runs 24/5 trading support. Round-the-clock cover matters more than it sounds: a position held over a weekend or through an unexpected halt is exactly when you need somebody to answer.

Reachable by live chat, email, phone, platform support chat. A published telephone number is the one channel that is hard to fake and hard to ignore, so whether there is one says more than the number of channels does.

Languages: Multilingual. Being able to raise a complaint in your own language is worth more than it appears, because complaints are where precision matters most.

Education: extensive: webinars, platform tutorials, trading articles, videos, seminars and educational resources. Treat broker-published material as an introduction rather than as advice - it is produced by a firm whose revenue rises when you trade more.

Legal entity

Dukascopy Bank SA

Company number

CHE-112.137.593

Headquarters

Geneva, Switzerland

Founded

2004

Publicly listed

No

Parent company

Independent

Employees

300+

Also trades as

Dukascopy; Dukascopy Bank; SWFX

Dukascopy has been trading for around 22 years, through at least one full market cycle. Longevity guarantees nothing on its own, but a firm that came through 2008 and 2015 has been tested in a way a recent entrant has not.

The contracting entity is Dukascopy Bank SA. This is the company you would actually have a relationship with, and it is worth checking that it is the same one named on the licence you are relying on: large brokers commonly operate several, and they are not equally protected.

Part of Independent. A parent adds resources, but the protections that apply to you are the ones attached to the entity that holds your account, not to the group.