Swissquote vs IC Markets 2023

Swissquote has a trust score of 99, giving it a "Highly Trusted" trust label. Here's what each trust score label means:

• "Highly Trusted" (90-99) - These brokers are considered the most trustworthy firms in the industry. Simply put, we would not hesitate to open and fund an account with a Highly Trusted broker.
• "Trusted" (80-89) - These brokers are reliable and trustworthy. "Trusted" firms are a solid choice, and may simply hold fewer regulatory licences or feature different corporate structures than those brokers that have earned our top Trust Score rating.
• "Average Risk" (70-79) - Average Risk brokers are firms we generally consider to be safe, but that may warrant a closer inspection before you open and fund a live trading account. At the least, we always encourage traders to check the regulatory licenses for Average Risk firms to verify that they are regulated in their own country of residence.
• "High Risk" (60-69) - High-risk firms should be scrutinized and carefully reviewed before opening an account. These forex brokers are – in most cases – operating without credible regulatory licensing, and likely have a history of legal or financial issues. Before considering an account with a high-risk firm, we recommend checking our country guides for your country of residence to see if a more trusted broker is available.
• "Do Not Trust" (<59) - We do not recommend opening an account of any kind with a broker that earns a “Do Not Trust” rating.

IC Markets has a trust score of 86, giving it a "Trusted" trust label.

Swissquote is a highly-trusted broker, offering a significant range of markets from within its in-house platform suite. It's worth noting that Swissquote's pricing is more expensive than what you'd find with low-cost brokers, and its forex account offers far fewer markets – including on MetaTrader – than Swissquote's eTrading account for share dealing.

IC Markets' combination of low spreads and commissions, as well as its supportive execution policies that accomodate algorithmic traders make it our pick for the best MetaTrader broker. In addition, IC Markets recently bolstered its range of markets, sending the total available to over 3,000. It's worth noting, however, that its reserach and educational offerings still have lots of room to improve.

Tier-1 regulators go above and beyond by requiring additional capital requirements, checking in on brokers more frequently, and putting brokers through a tougher screening process. Swissquote is SFC Authorised (Hong Kong), MAS Authorised (Singapore), FINMA Authorised (Switzerland) and FCA Authorised (U.K.), while IC Markets is ASIC Authorised (Australia)., neither have IIROC Authorised (Canada), CBI Authorised (Ireland), FSA Authorised (Japan), FMA Authorised (New Zealand) and CFTC Registered (USA)

Tier-2 and tier-3 licenses are still important in evaluating the overall trustworthiness of forex brokers. As far as tier-2 licenses go, Swissquote is DFSA / Central Bank Authorised (UAE), while IC Markets is CySEC Authorised (Cyprus)., neither have CBRC Authorised (China), SEBI Authorised (India), ISA Authorised (Israel), CBR Authorised (Russia), FSCA Authorised (South Africa) and SEC Authorised (Thailand). When comparing tier-3 licenses Swissquote is none, while IC Markets is SCB Authorised (Bahamas)., neither have IFSC Authorised (Belize), BMA Authorised (Bermuda), FSC Authorised (British Virgin Islands), CIMA Authorised (Cayman Islands), FSC Authorised (Mauritius) and VFSC Authorised (Vanuatu).

For trading platforms Swissquote supports a Proprietary Platform and Desktop Platform (Windows), whereas IC Markets supports a Desktop Platform (Windows), cTrader and ZuluTrade., neither have DupliTrade

Both Swissquote and IC Markets offer the whole MetaTrader suite, which consists of both MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5. If you’re new to MetaTrader 4 here’s our educational guide on how to use MT4.

Swissquote requires a minimum deposit of $1000, while IC Markets requires a minimum deposit of $200. From our testing we found Swissquote offers spreads of N/A, while IC Markets offers spreads of 0.62 (August 2022). Both Swissquote and IC Markets offer Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw), Visa/Mastercard (Credit/Debit), PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw) and Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw) for deposits.

Both Swissquote and IC Markets allow you to trade Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs), Social Trading / Copy Trading, Metals, Energies, Agriculturals, ETF and U.S. Stocks (CFD)., neither have Spread Betting Looking at total tradeable symbols, Swissquote has 466, compared to 3583 from IC Markets.

Crypto trading is popular with forex traders. Most crypto assets are offered either as the underlying physical asset or as a CFD or other derivative — including spot forex contracts. In terms of trading physical cryptocurrency neither Swissquote nor IC Markets allow you to trade physical cryptocurrencies.

Both Swissquote and IC Markets offer a complete suite of research, providing traders with these tools: Autochartist, Daily Market Commentary, Stock Charts, Forex News (Top-Tier Sources), Trading Central (Recognia) and Social Trading / Copy Trading.

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