Broker to Trading

Dukascopy Bank SA is a Swiss based regulated bank which provides trading on MT4 and JForex 3 in a range of markets with no restrictions on trading styles to retail and institutional clients. Scalpers and news traders are welcome. It operates the Swiss FX Marketplace liquidity pool, providing ECN trading in return for a commission charge.

Dukascopy Bank SA allows equal access to and use of liquidity at equal prices (and the same price feed) to all clients. This means that retail clients receive the same prices as institutional clients. There are difference in commission charges and overnight charges, depending on factors such as traded volume. As a no dealing desk provider, it does not intervene in orders.

Awards

Dukascopy won the Best Global Professional Trading Platform at the 2016 China (Shenzhen) Forex Expo and the Best Forex Bank at 2016 Forex Stars.

Cryptocurrency CFDs Weekend Trading

Dukascopy Bank SA offers trading in Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Stellar, EOS, Uniswap, Polygon, Cardano, Chainlink, Dashcoin, TRON, Aave, Maker, Compound, Enjin, Yearn Finance and Basic Attention Token CFDs. These markets may be traded at weekends as well as on weekdays.

Bitcoin account funding

Clients can fund their account and withdraw funds from their account in Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETC) or Tether (USDT). BTC, ETC or USDT sent to an account is converted into USD, thus the base currency of a Bitcoin or Ether funded account is USD.

Agricultural Commodities

Duksacopy Bank SA offers trading in Soft Commodity CFDs, namely Coffee, Cotton, Orange Juice, Cocoa, Soybean and Sugar.

A key feature of Dukascopy Bank

It offers ECN trading to all clients with the same prices, irrespective of account size.

MT4 trading

Dukascopy Bank now provide MT4. It offers Forex, Indices, Energy, Metals, Soft Commodities and Bonds CFDs. Leverage for MT4 is up to 100:1. Expert Advisors are allowed, thus letting the trader trade automated trading strategies, complementing automated trading available on JForex.

Visual JForex - Drag and drop strategy building

Visual JForex is an automated trading strategy which lets the trader build online trading robots using drag and drop, rather than coding. The trader if they wish can also generate JForex strategy code this way as well.

Deposit protection

Client's deposit are protected up to CHF100,000, under the 'esisuisse' deposit insurance scheme.

Minimum deposit

The minimum deposit is $1000, except for Swiss residents, where it is $100. There is no maximum deposit.

Account currencies

Accounts can be in currencies or Gold, namely USD, GBP, CHF, EUR, AUD, CAD, CZK, DKK, HKD, HUF, ILS, JPY, MXN, NOK, NZD, PLN, RON, RUB, CNH, SEK, SGD, TRY, XAU (i.e. Gold) and ZAR (this is a relatively large number, compared with other brokers).

Markets To Trade

Dukascopy Bank offers trading in Forex, Metals, Energies, Indices, Cryptocurrencies, Soft Commodities, Bonds, ETFs and Stocks, with 500+ available.

Minimum trade size

For Forex, the minimum Forex trade size is 1000 units of the primary currency (micro lots), 50 units (ounces) for Silver, 1 unit (ounce) for Gold, 1 contract for Indices and Stocks CFDs, 20 contracts for Copper and 10 contracts for Gas, 0.2 for Bitcoin, 1 for Ether and 1 contract for other commodities. There is no preset maximum order size, but this may be limited by market conditions, such as liquidity, margin and exposure.

Maximum instrument exposure

The maximum net exposure for each currency pair in a trading account is limited to 25 million of the primary currency for most pairs. Maximum exposure for other instruments except Stocks varies depends on the instrument. However it is possible to request an increase. For Stocks, the maximum exposure is $100,000 or equivalent. But it is possible to request an increase to $250,000, which will result in a decrease in leverage (to 1:2 from 1:10). As leverage can be increased on request for Stocks up to 1:20, this will result in a decrease in maximum exposure to $50,000.

Leverage

The default maximum leverage for Forex is 1:100, but can be set to 1:200 on request.

ECN trading conditions

Dukascopy offers ECN liquidity by providing access to the Swiss Foreign Exchange Marketplace which is a pool of liquidity for hedge funds, banks, institutions and pro traders, operated by Dukascopy Bank. Dukascopy Bank does act as the counterparty to the customer's trades. This is because Dukascopy Bank sends orders to the Interbank market, in its own name for its own requirements. So Dukascopy Bank hedges clients trades. Dukascopy Bank says that it cannot thus guarantee that no conflict of interest takes place, but it says that the nature of the trading environment and other protections reduce this risk.

Traders can also act as a liquidity provider, placing bids and offers to the marketplace, thus avoiding the bid/ask spread, if they are matched. If a trader limits the amount of slippage, orders may be rejected.

Account opening

Accounts can be normally be opened by completing an online application form and providing verification. Clients who provide video verification can normally open the account on the same day. After the account is funded, the trader receives their login details. Dukascopy Bank.

Platform

Dukascopy provides MT4 and JForex 3. JForex has a relatively large number of indicators, over 200 and supports automated as well as manual trading and has full market depth. Time frames are from tick to 1 month. As well as time based intervals, it also allows for price based intervals, including Range, Renko, Line Break, Kagi, Point & Figure and Tick Bars. JForex 3 has a visually attractive sleek design.

JForex supports automated trading and allows trading strategies to be developed and tested in the JAVA programming language. The JForex API is available to all clients, the FIX API is available to clients with account sizes over $100,000. The platform provides messages about such events as a upcoming webinar, with links to join it.

As well as a desktop download, Dukascopy Bank provides JForex Web 3 (a web trading platform) and JForex 3 apps, for mobile and tablet use.

Spreads and leverage

• Spreads are variable. The minimum EUR/USD spread is 0.1 (average 0.2), the minimum spread for UK100 is 1, the minimum spread for Gold is 0.10 and the minimum spread for US Crude Oil is 0.02.
• For higher volume traders, spreads will tend to be higher, but Dukascopy can offer to all traders 100 million GBP and 200 million USD with effective spreads of 4-5 pips.

Commissions

• The platform automatically charges a commission for trades, depending on the volume traded, the initial deposit and equity in the account. The traded volume is the volume of executed trades over the past 30 days.
• For Forex commissions range from $35 per million USD per side, to $10 per million USD traded per side.
• For other markets except Stocks, commissions range from $52.5 per million USD per side, to $15 per million USD per side.
• Commissions are also charged for Stocks from 0.2 cents for US Stocks and from 0.1% of trade value for other markets.
• By clicking on 'Commission Policy' under the 'Account' tab on JForex, the trader can see the commissions table and where they currently are (and what they need to do, to get a lower commission charge).

Islamic accounts

Swap-free account are available, which incur an additional commission of USD 5 per 1 million USD for currencies and USD 7.5 per 1 million USD for other markets.

Funding

Deposits can be made by wire transfer (including SEPA EUR transfers) and debit and credit cards, Skrill, Neteller and bank guarantee. Bank guarantee is for deposits from USD 100,000. Dukascopy does not charge a fee for deposits, but its partner bank does (1.2% for transactions in GBP and EUR, 2% for transactions in USD).

Regulation

Dukascopy Bank SA is based in Geneva in Switzerland and is regulated by the Swiss Financial Supervisory Authority (FINMA) as a bank and a securities dealer. Its address is: Dukascopy Bank SA, Route de Pre-Bois 20, ICC, Entrance H, 1215 Geneva, Switzerland.

Summary

Dukascopy Bank SA offers access to traders to pools of liquidity. It does not restrict trading styles, and provides the same prices to all clients (whether retail or institutional). Dukascopy Bank charges a variable competitive commission on its instruments to access its ECN and offers JForex 3 and MT4. For a provider of ECN trading, it has a relatively large number of markets available to trade.

Pluses and minuses

• Dukascopy Bank provides equal access to prices
• It operates its Marketplace of liquidity
• FX commission charges are very competitive and range from $3.5 per 100,000 to $1 per 100,000
• Dukascopy Bank offers JForex 3
• JForex 3 is an advanced platform which can support both manual and automated trading and is optomised for ECN trading
• JForex 3 has a wide range of technical indicators available
• MT4 is now available as well, but with less markets
• Dukascopy Bank offers Forex leverage up to 1:200
• Scalping and news trading are allowed
• No trading styles are restricted
• Weekend Cryptocurrency CFD trading is available
• Dukascopy Bank offers Stocks CFD trading
• Over 500 total instruments in total are offered