Dukascopy Review

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Dukascopy Bank is a licensed bank and online broker with an electronic platform that is very intuitive and easy to understand, even for beginners. They provide you with a great selection of over 500+ financial instruments for trading and investing with very competitive conditions including tight spreads, low commissions and quick execution speeds. You can take advantage of some excellent trading tools and market insights to help you with your research and analysis so that you can find viable opportunities and make informed decisions. Dukascopy is considered one of the most reliable and secure brokers, primarily because they are a regulated bank and have won numerous awards for their services over the years. I think they can be a good choice of broker for beginners who are looking to learn and trade at the same time, as well as professionals who are looking for an institutional trading environment. They have managed accounts for those of you who are looking for a hands-off approach and FIX API solutions for professionals who are running the most demanding of trading strategies.

Summary

Founded in 2004, Dukascopy is an online Swiss bank and trading broker, with its headquarters located in Geneva, Switzerland. They provide internet based and mobile trading services (with focus on foreign exchange, bullion, CFD and binaries), banking and other financial services through leading proprietary technological solutions. The company has been founded on 2 November 2004 in Geneva by Andre and Veronika Duka, Swiss nationals residing in Geneva who still own 99% of the company. They have other global offices located in Tokyo, Riga and Hong Kong.

The broker has a great variety of asset classes for you to choose from including forex, indices, stocks, ETFs, options, bonds, commodities and cryptocurrencies. The platforms available are sophisticated, yet user friendly and include comprehensive trader tools for in-depth market analysis. All trading strategies are permitted which includes scalping, hedging and automated trading using robot software.

The broker delivers direct market access (DMA) with low spreads and instant execution speeds. Dukascopy states that it does not in any way manipulate prices or trade executions. The Dukascopy bank offers ECN liquidity to client orders. The bank is connected to other world banks where large orders are instantly hedged within the network. Thus, millions can be traded within seconds. I really like this setup as it means you can get your trades executed at the best available prices at all time. This can be important for those of you who are planning on day trading. The broker can save you on costs over the long term by providing you with superior pricing and relatively low fees.

The broker also offers numerous high-quality trading tools, training resources and daily analysis by in-house analysts. Dukascopy has also won plenty of awards over the years because of the outstanding brokerage and banking services that they provide. I have had an account with them for many years and have never had any issues. I actually found the conditions to be very good for using my automated scalping systems, so much so that I even coded them especially for the brokers JForex platform.

In addition to industry leading trading conditions, Dukascopy Bank offers extremely competitive conditions for currency exchange on current accounts, provides e-banking facilities, credit cards and an increasing range of banking products. I like the convenience of how you can do everything under the one umbrella, it just makes the process feel a whole lot smoother from my experience.

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Regulation

When it comes to choosing a broker, regulation is one of the first things that I look for. This is because a I would always prefer to use a regulated broker as they must follow strict rules and proceedures that have been put in place to protect investors. I am pleased to say that Dukascopy is licensed as a bank and a broker. They are regulated by what I would conisder top-tier regulators and therefore I have no problem trusting them for my dayt trading activites.

• Dukascopy Bank is regulated by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) both as a bank and a securities firm
• Dukascopy Japan K.K. is a Type-1 licensed broker located in Tokyo, Japan, regulated by the Financial Services Agency of Japan (JFSA)
• Dukascopy Europe IBS AS is an EU licensed investment brokerage company based in Riga, Latvia, regulated by the Financial and Capital Market Commission of Latvia (FCMC)

Investors’ deposits are protected by esisuisse; a deposit insurance scheme for Swiss banks. If for whatever reason the bank becomes insolvent, eligible clients’ funds are insured for up to CHF 100,000. Dukascopy is a member of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) which is an organisation that promotes high standards and integrity in the derivatives market. It is also a member of the Swiss Bankers association. These reputable organisations add to the credibility and reliability of the brand. All Dukascopy’s financial records are audited by KPMG; a reputable international auditing firm. The banking auditor verifies that Dukascopy Bank complies with the Swiss laws and other applicable regulation on an individual basis and group level. Transparency is the Bank/broker’s philosophy and investors’ funds are in safe hands.

Countries

Clients who are residents of some countries including the United States, Belgium, Israel and Canada are not allowed to register for Dukascopy services. If you find that they do not accept clients from your country for any reason, please feel free to browse our broker reviews for an alternative option.

Platforms

Dukascopy Group mainly provides online and mobile trading services through the SWFX – Swiss FX Marketplace, the Dukascopy’s ECN proprietary technological solution and registered trademark. The SWFX provides online and mobile Forex, precious metals and CFD trading facilities. Currently, the SWFX is connected through FIX API to over 20 major banks offering a unique pool of ECN spot forex liquidity available for traders, banks, hedge funds and other institutions. This allows Dukascopy Bank to offer its clients unrivalled order execution and price feed quality in addition to very low spreads.

The SWFX automatically executes orders of market participants on a Straight Through Processing basis. In this ECN environment, both buy-side and sell-side participants interact on an equal footing. Dukascopy Bank has no dealing desk and makes no requote, all trades are executed automatically on its ECN, whatever their size.

JForex Trading Platform

This is an advanced platform developed by Dukascopy and one of the best trading platforms that I have had the pleasure of using. The Dukascopy trading platform (JForex) provides plenty of tools for traders’ analysis and for risk management as well as access to the Swiss Forex Marketplace (SWFX) with control over the order execution. You can See the history of the best BID/ASK price movement. Build any charts – including Renko, Kagi or Line break, with fully customizable settings. This becomes even more important for automated strategies testing. One unique feature that I really like is that you can enable the maximum slippage option to set the limit of the possible worse price for market or stop type orders. Set it to zero to eliminate worse executions completely. This can be especially useful for those strategies that rely on small pip movements. It supports real-time Level 2 price quotes with up to 10 levels on each side. This granularity helps the traders determine the magnitude of buy and sell orders at different prices. It shows where the most orders are concentrated.

JForex Platform

Using this powerful and sophisticated platform, clients may trade billions of dollars in a secure “one-click” trading environment. Support is provided on a 24/5 basis. In case of need, clients may pass orders over the phone which is not something I see too often nowadays. The JForex platform was built with the JAVA programming language and is available on Windows, MAC and Linux computers. It also has a web version and mobile version which we will take a close look at below. I personally prefer the desktop platform as it has complete functionality and is ideal for conducting complex chart analysis and running my automated trading systems that require the best possible pricing.

JForex Desktop Platform Features

• User-friendly platform with customisable interface
• Lots of built-in trading tools for conducting chart analysis
• Supports both manual and automated trading
• Wide range of trading orders: Market, Limit, Stop, Pending, etc
• Renko, Range bars, Point Figure and Line break charts
• Over 250 technical indicators and drawing tools
• Account management options including account funding
• News and calculators are available on the platform
• Economic calendar is accessible from the platform
• Hedging, scalping and automated trading allowed
• Available in over 12 languages

JForex Web Version

The major advantage of the web version is that it runs on all operating systems and requires no downloads. Also, it is always the latest version of the software that needs no updates. JForex website is best supported on modern browsers such as Google Chrome, Safari and Opera. It maintains most of the features of the desktop version except automated trading and the ‘net position’ mode.

JForex Web Platform

I think this platform can be useful for those of you who may not have your own device available and need quick access to your account. With the cloud storage, you can open your trading platform on any computer with the layout and chart templates synchronized. From there you can easily monitor your exposure by assets, instruments or positions.

JForex Web Platform Features

• Optimized for quick access
• Manual and chart trading
• 68 indicators and chart studies
• Automated trading on Strategy Server
• Live market news and calendars
• Workspace saving on JCloud
• Low technical requirements
• Multi-language interface

JForex Mobile Trader

The JForex trader is available for iOS and Android devices. To try this app you need a Dukascopy Bank demo trading account which can be opened directly from the App. It has most of the features of the desktop version of the platform. With this powerful trading app, you can monitor the price of all assets and enter, modify or close trade positions. Clients can also perform their fundamental or technical analysis – all in one place.

JForex App

JForex App Features

• Live connection to servers, currency quotes and charts
• Order management and risk management features
• Wide range of trading orders (including stop / limit / bid offer )
• Forex market news and economic calendar which are important for fundamental analysis
• Access to Dukascopy TV to learn whilst on the go
• Access to trading reports to monitor positions
• Push notifications to keep track of markets

MetaTrader 4 (MT4)

The MT4 platform has become a standard among brokers and traders as well. This is because of its popularity, numerous extensions and simplicity. This is my platform of choice which I have used since I began trading online and have never felt the need to switch to anything else. It does everything that I need it to and more. The platform is easy to navigate and can be customised to be as complex or simplistic as you need it to be. I use it for analysing charts using a combination of indicators and drawing tools. I also find it to be excellent for running automated strategies. One of the key things to consider when choosing a platform, is how widely available it is. One of the main advantages of MetaTrader, is that you can find it through many brokers. This means that you may not need to learn a new platform from scratch, should you switch providers down the line.

MT4 Platform

Dukascopy MT4 is available for desktop, web and mobile. I use the desktop version for analysing the markets and automated trading. The web platform is great for when you need to access your account from any device and it is always up to date. The MT4 app is ideal for following your positions and the latest market news from the comfort of your mobile device. I think MT4 could be a good place to start for beginners. It is free to use and there are demo accounts to trial the platform before making a commitment.

MT4 Features

• Allows clients to automate their strategies using Expert Advisors (EAs)
• Customisable market watch window, interface, charts and templates
• 30 inbuilt technical indicators which can be extended through plugin apps
• Live quotes on the market watch and charts
• One-click trading and trading from charts
• Technical analysis using multiple chart types on up to 9 timeframes
• Multiple order types including instant, pending, stop and limit
• MetaEditor for developing EAs, indicators and scripts in the MQL programming language
• Get price alert notifications via the platform, SMS and email.

Tools

The platforms that the broker provides you with should have more than enough tools to meet the demands of most traders. Not to mention, you can get a practically endless number of add-ons to improve the platforms functionality. You can even use the built-in programming interfaces to develop your own tools or hire a freelancer to do it for you if you don’t have the skills. That being said, there are also some additional standalone solutions available through Dukascopy which can help to open up your trading possibilities.

JForex API

The JForex Application interface (API) is designed for developing software applications for the JForex platform using Java programming language. The API client library can be linked to customer systems. It communicates directly with Dukascopy Bank trade servers over secure and authenticated Internet sessions. It is not necessary to run JForex platform at the same time, but the platform can be used to monitor in real-time any actions taken by a customer’s system. This can be a great solution for those of you who are running strategies that require the best possible pricing at all time. I think it is good that Dukascopy enables the average retail trader to get access to institutional trading conditions.

FIX API

For professional market participants Dukascopy Bank offers the possibility of API integration. The Dukascopy Bank API is based on FIX4.4 protocol. The API is used to receive real-time data feed, submit orders, set / modify / cancel orders, and receive automated notifications of trading activities. With a FIX API connection, users will still be able to use the standard Dukascopy Bank trading platforms with its basic functionality. However, the position calculation method (net/global position mode) applied to FIX API accounts is different.

JForex FIX API

Technical Analysis

The broker gives you really insightful daily market analysis on different assets. It uses the price action of the selected instrument to try and accurately predict the next price movement. Technical indicators are also used to analyse the charts of the instruments for pending setups. The analysis is courtesy of Dukascopy Bank SA which can give you expert analysis at your fingertips. I think this can be a good way to help inspire trade ideas although I would be sure to confirm any potential signals with my own form of market analysis.

Fundamental Analysis

This section gives trading information based on major economic releases and financial news. I think it is always better to combine multiple forms of analysis to draw a more accurate conclusion of what may be happening in the markets. Therefore, it is good to see the broker gives you fundamental analysis in addition to the already very insightful technical analysis. When you combine the both, it can help to make more informed trading decisions.

Trading Ideas

This gives clients ideas of which instruments to look out for based on its history, technical analysis or other relevant information. It is regularly updated on the website usually more than once per day. If you are not sure what to trade and need to be pointed into the right direction, you may find the trade ideas very useful. I had a look through and was made aware of some potential market moves that I may have otherwise overlooked.

SWFX Sentiment Index

This shows the ratio of the long and short positions opened by traders. The most popular assets are represented on the Sentiment Index. Sentiment analysis is often used as part of a contrarian trading strategy. I feel like this is a very under rated form of market analysis and wish more brokers would provide this data. I think it can only be beneficial to see what other traders are doing as the sentiment can help to gauge in which direction the market may be heading.

Forex Calculators

These calculators help a trader determine rollover charges, commissions on trades and estimated profits or losses. This is an important tool to help a trader make a calculated risk before embarking on trades. If you are in a rush or just not very good at maths, these calculators can be a quick and easy way to help plan your trades.

FX Market Signals

The trading signals are updated frequently on selected currency pairs. The signals are based on support/resistance levels, figure level, intraday level and sharp moves. This is yet another way in which the broker provides you with tools to inspire possible trade ideas. If you are looking for some guidance with your trading, I think there is more than enough market insight and analysis available free of charge via Dukascopy. It certainly is one of the many areas in which the broker excels.

Economic Calendar

This is a calendar that shows the time for economic events that have impact in the market. These events happen from different countries around the world. You can conveniently filter the economic calendar by impact, country, and currency or you can perform a search. This makes sure that you only get the news which is relevant to you, I like how you can see the data of the economic events and their impact right on the chart in the JForex platform. I always like to check the news before taking any decision as it can have a big impact on the price of an asset.

Education

Dukascopy Bank provides a wide range of free financial information and other attractive resources through its website, Dukascopy TV online television, Freeserv products and its active online Dukascopy community counting over 130’000 members. The members of Dukascopy Community may exchange in several languages on trading experiences, market views, trading strategies, may win prizes in various contests and freely communicate through advanced and secure chat and video conference systems developed and supported by Dukascopy Bank. The Dukascopy TV video updates are automatic, high quality and cover a range of different trading topics. It can be installed as a widget on a website or blog.

The wiki section of the Dukascopy website contains some really helpful training articles and tutorial videos. The training covers forex and CFD trading, managed accounts, development of platform tools as well as training videos and more. Webinars are available every week day via the broker’s YouTube channel. They primarily focus on the daily market movers and expected price action. I think it is great to see the broker show support for educating traders as it shows that they care about them being able to make informed decisions. I had a look through some of the content and it is not dissimilar to the type of stuff you can find being sold for hundreds if not thousands elsewhere.

Markets

Dukascopy offers a fantastic range of over 500+ trading instruments from 8 asset classes on its platforms. There are approximately 60 currency pairs, 11 commodities, 19 indices, 3 bonds, over 520 stock CFDs, 43 ETFs and 2 cryptocurrencies. I was really impressed with the diversity and feel there is more than enough for everyone to create a diversified portfolio. Whatever you interest, there is something for everyone to trade. Even if you only plan on focusing on one asset class at the moment, it can be comforting to know that you have options available to you should you wish to branch out in the future. If you are looking for even more instruments, Swissquote have thousands and I would consider them a close competitor to Dukascopy.

Accounts

Dukascopy have a generous range of trading account which have been designed to cater to the different needs of traders. We all have different trading styles and preferences, so it is nice to see there is an option depending on what matters most to you. The following individual accounts are available to choose from:

Forex ECN Account

The minimum opening balance is $100 for only Dukascopy Europe clients. But for Dukascopy Bank SA, it is $1,000. This account is for the JForex trading platform. The maximum leverage is 1:200 and the spread for the EUR/USD starts from as low as 0.1 pips. All spreads are variable and the account is available in 24 currencies. Commissions are charged depending on the trading platform, trading volume and the assets traded. I found this account to have the best conditions overall, provided you don’t mind using the brokers own platform, which is excellent.

Forex MT4 Account

This is the account designed for trading forex and CFDs on the MT4 platform. The base currency can be in USD, EUR, GBP, CHF or PLN. This can be beneficial as it means you won’t have to pay a conversion fee if you are using an account in your own currency. The maximum leverage is 1:100. There is an additional commission of $1 per lot that is charged for using the MT4 platform which means that it can work out more expensive if you are an active trader. However, the overall costs are still very competitive and up there with the best brokers.

Binary Options Account

This account is for digital option traders. No commissions are charged. Binary options also called digital options or fixed-return options (FRO) are a simple way to trade price fluctuations in a wide range of financial markets. Binary options have different profits, costs, risks, liquidity structure and investment processes than the traditional (vanilla) options. Entering in binary options is speculative and involves the risk of losing your entire investment. You should only trade money you can afford to lose entirely.

Demo Accounts

Demo accounts are provided at zero risks with a virtual balance of up to $1 million. The demo account is available on all platforms. Unfortunately, demo accounts expire after 14 days which I find quite annoying. I have used many Dukascopy demo accounts in the past as I was trying to test my automated strategies but never felt like they gave me enough time to do so. A couple of weeks is nowhere near long enough to judge performance in my opinion. I think they could improve by offering non-expiring JForex demo accounts. None the less, they are a great way to practice your trading strategies and familiarise yourself with the platform. You can also open another demo account when the current account expires should you wish.

Dukascopy LP PAMM Accounts

These are accounts managed by Dukascopy bank. The minimum investment capital is $1,000 and Dukascopy charge no performance or management fees. Investors’ funds automatically act as liquidity providers on the Swiss Forex Marketplace (SWFX) and earn from the spread. I think managed accounts can be a good way for those who do not have the time or knowledge to trade the markets by themselves. However, I actually prefer to maintain control over my trading activity as I feel this can be the best way to learn from mistakes and improve as a trader in the long run. It should be noted that past account performance is by no means a guarantee of future performance.

PAMM Accounts

These are accounts managed by other traders. An investor chooses a manager who trades on his behalf while managing multiple accounts. Dukascopy provides all the necessary technological tools for clients to find managers, allocate funds to them and receive daily reports. The broker also provides all the tools needed by the manager. There is decent selection of different strategies to choose from with different styles and risk preferences. However, I did notice some significant drawdown on some of the systems which suggests they may be using potentially dangerous martingale or grid systems. Just make sure you know what it is you are looking for and do your own due diligence. It should again be noted that past account performance is by no means a guarantee of future performance.

Dukascopy PAMM Account

Support

The multilingual customer support team operates from the different offices. The support team can be reached via telephone, email and web chat. ‘Call back’ request form, ‘Send us a message’ form and ‘Report an issue’ form is all available on the website and can be used to reach the support team with your specific request. There is a brilliant support forum which contains a lot of information on trading strategies, client discussions and automated trading educational resources. I have received some really helpful answer from questions that I had related to using JForex for automated trading. The forum is a great feature that I haven’t seen from many other brokers and certainly something else that helps set Dukascopy apart from a crowded industry.

Funding

You can choose from a nice variety of payment options for deposits and withdrawals. There is something for everyone, including digital wallets which I find to be the most convenient way for me to move funds around between my trading accounts. I like how they support quick and easy funding as this is important if there is some market news that I want to try and capitalise on. In this instance, I wouldn’t want to sit around for days waiting for a bank transfer to clear. That being said, let’s take a look at some of the available options.

Bank Wire Transfers

Transfers between Dukascopy accounts are free. Deposits to trading accounts through bank wire transfer are free. But international withdrawals are charged $50 per withdrawal.

Bitcoin

This method can be used for both deposits and withdrawals. The base currency must be in USD.

Bank Guarantees

Being a bank, Dukascopy accepts bank guarantees for deposits beginning with $100,000.

Credit/Debit Cards

All major credit/debit cards are accepted for deposits and withdrawals. Card deposits are charged at 2% while withdrawals are charged €1.5 + 2.5%. Dukascopy bank cards are free for both deposits and withdrawals.

E-wallets

The acceptable payments are Skrill and Neteller. Skrill deposits and withdrawals are charged at 2.5%. Neteller deposits or withdrawals of $40 and below attract a fee of €1 while above $40 is charged at 2.5%.

Conclusion

Dukascopy is a bank and a broker that offers a range of excellent trading and investing services over the internet. You can get access to the SWFX where your orders are executed at the best rates with tight spreads, low fees and minimal slippage. I like how Dukascopy is regulated as a broker and as a bank in Switzerland, Japan and Latvia. They have all financial records audited which gives me the utmost confidence that I can trust them with my funds.

The award winning JForex trading platform is powerful and replete with superb tools that can help with complex market analysis and research to find trading opportunities and make informed decisions. They also provide the popular and user-friendly MetaTrader platform which is ideal for quick and easy access to the markets for self-directed and automated trading. Both platforms are available for desktop and mobile trading, whilst the broker has no restrictions on trading strategies.

Dukascopy has a very generous selection of over 500+ tradable assets across multiple asset classes, so you can trade what you want, when you want. Being a bank, payments are accepted in over 20 base currencies and there are flexible funding options for everyone.

The broker also supports beginners with lots of training resources in form of articles, videos and webinars. Market news and analysis is presented daily which can be a great way to find opportunities. There are managed accounts for money managers and investors who want to take a hands-off approach.

Overall, I think Dukascopy is a top-class broker for anyone who want to access to market with industry leading trading conditions in a regulated environment. The account signup process is not the quickest but there are free demo accounts if you want to give them a try before making a financial commitment.

$100

Dukascopy is a licensed bank and online broker that provides a great selection of over 500+ trading instruments on user-friendly platforms along with all of the trading tools, analysis and research that you need to find trading signals and make informed decisions.

Between 74-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

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