Saxo Bank

jkplay

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I noticed that there is no thread for discussing Saxo Bank on this forum. Has anyone had any experience in dealing with them? If so what are your thoughts?

This is what I think.

IMHO their spreads are too wide (3 Point FTSE, 7 Point Dow, 5 point CABLE), margin requirements too great (10% on indices since the August volatility!) and their platform is too unreliable and slow. Also for the DMA CFD's you need to pay a monthly subscription fee to the relevant exchanges while ig markets give this for free. Saxo's overnight financing is LIBOR plus 3, which is edging on the more expensive side.

There is a 10 Basis point mark up on the Equity CFD's and that isn't DMA. IG's DMA is 10 and CMC is 8 basis points for non DMA.

One good thing is the ability to use stocks and bonds as collateral for speculative trading, which I imagine would appeal to people with a mix of long term views and short term. Also 160 fx pairs is very impressive, despite the fact that the spreads are very variable around news and wide for the rest of the time.

Also you find that if you do less than 1/2 a lot on the major FX pairs (£50,000 on cable for example, roughly £2.50 a point) you will get a $10 fee to cover administration. Now this wouldn't bother most people who trade heavily and have a sizable amount of risk capital but for a newbie over £2.50 per point is alot of risk and can be a very easy way to loose money.

Your fund's arn't segregated either but if you hold less than 40,000 euro's then you are protects by the Danish FSA.

They do however offer trailing stops and have a very good in house analyst team. They also give you UBS, BARCAP and Commonwealth bank of Australia FX analysis for free which is a good perk. Also you can see you entry points and pending orders on the charts which is handy, although you can't drag them up and down on the graph into new positions like GFT.

In short - Very expensive compared to competition, nice platform and range of fx pairs, lots of instruments on their platform but don't like the lack of fund segregation, the sizable and variable spreads plus the fact Saxotrader 2 seems very unreliable and freezes and crashes more than others I have used. Also im not sure if I would trust the Danish FSA as I would the english. They have had their authorization passported into the UK but they are still supervised by their home regulator.

Personally as a Spreadbetter I don't see any reason to switch to their services as they are very expensive, the platform is unreliable, the margin requirements would't allow me to diversify as much as I would like too and of course it's not tax free.

Im sticking to spreadbetting for now and when I need to upgrade it's straight to Interactive Brokers.

Any thoughts?

JK
 
no thoughts?

I take it you all think there's no reason to trade with them either?

JK
 
no thoughts?

I take it you all think there's no reason to trade with them either?

JK

I couldn't. Everything they could do, Interactive Brokers could do better and (much) cheaper. Except CFDs, but they're not my thing. I quite liked the platform, but wouldn't pay a premium for it.
 
hm...yeap they are expansive as hell, the most...and i am still one of their custom....:(

i dont like the spread either and comision is way 2 big....

but that i could take all...i dont like for example their limited stop loss,...at forex, which is aprox 80 pips, and if u win, u cant lock the profit since u didnt win for 90 pips, that i still hate, and i aint never gona do the forex again, if not futures futures or as a hedge...i hope they are reading that, because i tried to convince them over chat,...still they play stupidness...;)

yes the platforma freezes, but not when there is a big volatility like evrywhere else, but sometimes, when u win,..they freezs it, then u have to restart and book profit, since thats one of their tactics...lol....i still do not whish to change broker, untill there is one which covers more clients then this one,..and as of near future, thats whats not going to happen,...well if u trade big money their expensivness diminish quickly....for small amounts better to open somewhere else. me thinks.
 
You may find few interesting reviews and ratings about Saxo Bank by Googling the serch phrase "Saxo Bank reviews" - without quotetion marks
 
yeh and this is the most shocking (from forex *******s)

http://www.forex*******s.com/public/review/www.saxobank.com

From:
fxid10t, us
Rating:
SCAM
Date of Post:
2007-04-18
Review:
Avoid Saxobank like the plague...I found this on forexnews.com earlier today:
From: Knights
I thought this bank/broker was a serious one but it badly screws you. Today alone I made a profit of $30K on a long GPDUSD position. Soon after I received a shocking email from a saxo bank representative called Erdal saying that THEY ARE CHANGING MY TRADES!!!!!! !!! I EARNED THIS PROFIT FAIR AND SQUARE (IN SPITE OF ALL THE SAXO SLIPPAGE AND REQUOTES) AND NOW SAXO BANK IS SIMPLY WIPING OUT MY PROFITS, AND IS IN ADDITION THREATENING ME OF I DON`T KNOW WHAT...THIS IS THE BIGGEST SCAM IN THE WORLD.

Here`s the email I received from them:
"Dear xxxx,
We have changed your trades on GBPJPY and GBPUSD as these trades were speculative and done after an announcement. We see speculative trades after announcements as illegal and would advise you to stop this behavior immediately. Otherwise we would need to take further action.
Best regards,
Erdal

Med Venlig Hilsen | Yours Sincerely
Erdal Erbas | Associate - Institutional Sales Trading Saxo Bank A/S | Smakkedalen 2 | DK-2820 Gentofte Company phone: +45 39 77 40 00 | Direct phone: +45-3977 6019 | Fax number: +45 39 77 42 00”


JK
 
When Yen was at 150-155 EUR/jpy,...i want it to Play options,...u know what they were disabled,..u couldnt use them,...until it was 158-163...that was the bigest bul**** i have ever seen...But on the other hand,...they are still number 1...if u can provide me, with someone else which is better then them,..and i mean, the software, the online staff, the nice calls,...the money fast withdrawing,...let me know,...otherwise,...broker complaints,... get over them...
 
..they are still number 1...if u can provide me, with someone else which is better then them,..and i mean, the software, the online staff, the nice calls,...the money fast withdrawing,...let me know,...otherwise,...broker complaints,... get over them...

They are nowhere near number one. If you are in the UK and don't trade massive volume then spreadbetting is the method of choice. DMA CFD's are the next one up. I have accounts with various firms and the order i would place them in is:

IG Index/IG Markets (No monthly subscription to DMA unlike Saxo)
Interactive Brokers
CMC Markets
Capital Spreads
GFT
Saxo Bank

Saxo's software is nice but nothing special, I think CMC have the best software and Saxo's is unreliable and freezes all the time.

Don't get me wrong they arn't a bucket shop or the worst guys in the world, there is a reason they got to the size they are!I just think they are far too expensive and don't really see what I would be paying for?

JK
 
Presumably they are a bucket shop in FX or the situation quoted in Post 7 would not have occured?

Well thats a third party quote so I can't really comment on how true that email is. If it is true then I guess your right! On reflection I would be very surprised if that situation did occur but on the other hand can't imagine why someone would go through the trouble of forging an email in such a malicious way.

JK
 
They are nowhere near number one. If you are in the UK and don't trade massive volume then spreadbetting is the method of choice. DMA CFD's are the next one up. I have accounts with various firms and the order i would place them in is:

IG Index/IG Markets (No monthly subscription to DMA unlike Saxo)
Interactive Brokers
CMC Markets
Capital Spreads
GFT
Saxo Bank

Saxo's software is nice but nothing special, I think CMC have the best software and Saxo's is unreliable and freezes all the time.

Don't get me wrong they arn't a bucket shop or the worst guys in the world, there is a reason they got to the size they are!I just think they are far too expensive and don't really see what I would be paying for?

JK

Ofcourse they are expansive,...do u think Armani, Kenzo, D&G are cheap?!...No they are not,...and will never be,..even if we wont them to be,...i have excepted that as a major fact...when there will be some broker more expansive then them, i will probably switch it.(interesting that here we got only armani, and then a bunch of nonames...)..for forex, am already considering opening a mini acount at GMT, just for fun,...since at saxo (i cant), i will use it, only when ill hedge the investment in non margin stocks in other currency then euro,...and i have to check spreadbeating since saxo doesnt offer spreadbetting for Cfds....but for ALL other things i think they are way ahead.
 
Ofcourse they are expansive,...do u think Armani, Kenzo, D&G are cheap?!...No they are not,...and will never be,..even if we wont them to be,...i have excepted that as a major fact...when there will be some broker more expansive then them, i will probably switch it

Right.... So you are comparing trading with Saxo Bank to buying armani clothes. When you buy Armani you buy a brand and very good quality gear.

I think a more accurate comparison would be spending £100 on Hi-Tec trainers.....

Your are wasting a load of money on something when you can get BETTER for CHEAPER.

Their sales guys obviously did a good job on you because you seem very loyal, despite your bad experiences. If I where you id give interactive brokers or IG Markets a call. Don't be falled by the name bank in their title. Interactive Brokers represent over 20% of all options market making and have a market cap of over $6 Billion (if I remember correctly)... About 5 times the size of Saxo. CMC and IG are both bigger and better and if you want to trade stocks get a barclays or selftrade account.

You sound like an fx trader so check out FXCM, the biggest in america and much bigger than Saxo in the fx market.

JK
 
Why is speculating after an announcement illegal?

BTW I could never use Saxo Bank. All my sports car owning friends would take the pee.
 
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Right.... So you are comparing trading with Saxo Bank to buying armani clothes. When you buy Armani you buy a brand and very good quality gear.

I think a more accurate comparison would be spending £100 on Hi-Tec trainers.....

Your are wasting a load of money on something when you can get BETTER for CHEAPER.

Their sales guys obviously did a good job on you because you seem very loyal, despite your bad experiences. If I where you id give interactive brokers or IG Markets a call. Don't be falled by the name bank in their title. Interactive Brokers represent over 20% of all options market making and have a market cap of over $6 Billion (if I remember correctly)... About 5 times the size of Saxo. CMC and IG are both bigger and better and if you want to trade stocks get a barclays or selftrade account.

You sound like an fx trader so check out FXCM, the biggest in america and much bigger than Saxo in the fx market.

JK

Well i am from Europe, so UK and USA brokers DEMAND TO MUCH things, for opening account, their software is not USER FRIENDLY as saxos,...And they DO NOT EVEN LOOK LIKE ARMANY,...no, seriously,...i will open some forex account elsewhere since i cant trade jpy croses without a limited 80pips SL (after i take a trade, if before i can...),...BUT BIGGER DOESNT MEAN BETTER...listen i aint gona fight u here,...but they make me SO LAUGH sometimes,...that even for that reason i couldnt and WILL NOT CHANGE it,...i use to hate thos cat mesages, and stupid analises,...but now they make me really HAPPY,...POOR NEWBBIES....
 
I find SaxoBank software really inconvenient when working with charts. Looks nice, but irritating when trying to put something on a chart - a line, or a piece of text. It takes so much time to drop a copule of notes in there. Indicators cannot be changed/reprogrammed. Quotes cannot be downloaded!!! Annoying chat window. The platform indeed freezes at times. Too many clicks required to set up an order, to cancel it, to change. For a long time SaxoBank platform has been refusing to work behind firewall (their staff constantly was advising me to change firewal settings, put something in "friendly" list etc..). But the platform is somewhat big, with a lot of tools, etc... I don't use them but perhaps someone else does. In addition high actual transaction costs (wide spreads, slippage on FX, their "bucketshop-ness"). Their reps however insist that they have an award for best fills - makes me laugh indeed :LOL:

CMC platform is much worse even. I don't know why people say otherwise. Totally user-unfriendly!
 
I will ...o...i will,...should i say here that i will turn 250usd account into 1b...and with Saxos help,...they offer the most sofisticated platforma for technical analises,...thos which was rated number 1, didnt even had MAs to check....lol...listen this is the last my reply,...evrybody should use the broker which suit their style of trading,..and this one, still fits my own...
 
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