Safety first
Dukascopy review
Who regulates Dukascopy, under which licence, and what that means for your money.
Last checked
Dukascopy offers some protection if it fails and not all of it, which is the ordinary offshore trade-off: you gain leverage and lose the safety net. Regulated by FINMA (Switzerland); Bank of Latvia supervision for Dukascopy Europe; JFSA Type-1 Financial Instruments Business Operator for Dukascopy Japan, offering JForex, MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5.
Our rating
- Regulation9.9
- Costs7.7
- Platforms9.3
- Markets8.8
- Support5.7
- Education4.8
One rating, identical across our sites - only the way it is shown changes. It averages six assessments: regulation, trading costs, platforms, markets, support and education.
Regulation and safety
- 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
The licence is what decides where your money sits and who is obliged to do something about it.
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.
The company behind the brand
- 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
What it costs to trade
- 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 the last thing to weigh here, and never the thing that should decide it.
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.
Platforms and tools
- 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.
Markets and execution
- 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.
Accounts
- 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
Deposits and withdrawals
- 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
Support and education
- Support hours
- 24/5 trading support
- Contact channels
- Live chat, email, phone, platform support chat
- Languages
- Multilingual
- Telephone
- +41 22 799 48 48
- 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
Information is regularly updated. Last compiled from Dukascopy's own website on 26 August 2026.
Questions people ask about Dukascopy
What happens to my money if Dukascopy goes bust?
Dukascopy sits behind 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. A scheme covers eligible clients of the entity that holds the licence, so the entity you were onboarded to decides whether it covers you.
Which bank actually holds client money at Dukascopy?
Dukascopy holds client money with Dukascopy Bank SA / regulated banking infrastructure, in accounts kept separate from the firm's own. Almost no comparison site publishes this, and it is the thing that decides how quickly you would see your money again if the broker failed.
Can I lose more than I deposit with Dukascopy?
Dukascopy provides negative balance protection, recorded as yes for eligible European retail clients. So it exists and it does not reach every client, and which entity you were onboarded to decides whether it reaches you.