Saxo Capital Markets and IG are both market makers that offer $0 commission accounts and tight spreads for its 90+ currency pairs. but are otherwise quite different. Read our comparison for Saxo Capital Markets vs IG and see why they are different and which broker is better for you.
Updated: 07/06/2021
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Saxo offers 3 different types of trading account. The classic account has a minimum deposit requirement of AUD$3000. This account will be the focus of our comparison review. Saxo offers two other accounts, are Platinum and VIP. These accounts have a minimum deposit requirement of at least $50,000 which we consider being too high for the average trader.
IG also offers several accounts however we will only focus on the Standard Account. The professional account, like the Saxo Markets Platinum and VIP, has minimum entry requirements to be eligible. To be qualified as a professional, you need net assets of $2.5 million or gross income of at least AUD$250,000. The IG Standard account does not have a minimum deposit requirement. You will still need to have minimum available funds to cover margin requirements.
Above is a comparison of Saxo Markets, IG and commission-free accounts that other brokers offer. As one can see, Saxo Markets offer the tightest spreads in this collection of online brokers. So if you are after a ‘market maker’ style broker with the tightest possible spreads, then Saxo Markets might be for you.
Both brokers can offer low volumes because they use a combination of order-driven and quote driven market. In the order-driven market, you can place the amount you are willing to buy or sell your currency pairs at. These orders will be on the books until another trader places an order to sell or buy at the same rate. This is different from a quote driven where the market maker provides their quote for a short period and you are free to accept or reject the quote.
The main benefit of the order-driven market is the transparency it offers from traders are visible to you however sometimes it can be difficult to complete your order if there is not enough liquidity in the order-driven market. Quote driven will likely mean there is a dealing desk in the process, while the order-driven market has no dealing desk.
Saxo Markets Classic Account
Saxo Capital Markets Classic Account
IG Personal Account
Saxo Markets offers slightly tighter spreads so might be the best option if you’re looking for the tightest spreads. Saxo Markets, however, do have a high minimum deposit if you wish to open an account with them. IG, on the other hand, offer very similar spreads to Saxo but don’t have the same minimum deposit and also offer a greater choice of risk management tools.
Saxo Markets and IG are both multi-regulated, meaning the leverage you’ll be able to trade with is dependent on the subsidiary you are trading with.
For example, if you are trading forex with either brokers Australian (ASIC) or European regulated entities such as the UK (FCA) or Switzerland (FINMA), the maximum leverage available will be capped at 30:1.
Elsewhere, both these brokers offer very low leverage levels by online broking industry standards. The highest leverage available is available via IG’s Dubai subsidiary, where the leverage of 50:1 is permitted by the DFSA.
To be more accurate, both Saxo Capital Markets and IG offer margin rate rather than leverage. These are essentially the same thing, but the margin is expressed as %. This % essentially defines the minimum capital you require to have in your account in order to open your position.
Low leverage can both good and bad. Low ability to take on debt can help protect you against excessive loss however it can mean you will miss opportunities to make worthwhile gains for your investments. Forex movements tend to be only marginal, so larger leverage can be valuable in achieving significant profits.
We always prefer brokers that offer larger leverage. The most important aspect is the understand the risks when trading with leverage and use this capital responsibly. This means using leverage when you have done your research and have confidence your investments will lead to favourable returns.
Both brokers offer ‘ordinary’ margin (leverage) with IG slightly superior.
Saxo Markets’ major point of difference is that they have built their trading platforms from the ground up. So confident are Saxo Markets that their platforms are a quality product that they don’t offer platforms many other brokers offer such as MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 or cTrader. This confidence can be demonstrated with the numerous awards it has won, including ADVFN platform award for best trading platform. Traders have a choice of two different platforms, these are SaxoTraderGO and SaxoTraderPRO. Both platforms are available to Classic account users.
SaxoTraderGo is a web-based platform built to HTML5 standards and is the platform most traders use. The platform allows for smooth trading across multiple devices across desktops, laptops, mobiles and tablets. With this platform, you can trade across all the asset classes Saxo Markets offer, which means over 35,000 instruments. The platform is highly customisable, which means charts, live feeds, news features, watch lists and sentiment indicators can be set to suit your needs. The user interface can also be tailored to your preferences. This means you can set the interface to show as many technical indicators, reporting metrics and charting tools that you may desire.
SaxoTraderGo offers the following
This platform can be used by all traders however is designed mostly for traders who want to achieve more with the platform. SaxoTraderPro gives traders the ability to set up 6 screens at once while trading. Unlike SaxoTraderGO, this platform is not web-based but instead needs to be downloaded on to Mac and Windows or added as an App for mobile and tablet devices as it is built for desktop.
Some main features include:
Like Saxo Markets, IG has its own platform, but they take things further. As they offer a choice of 6 different platforms.
The main platforms to note are:
Saxo Capital Markets platform is actually one of the best ‘ self-made’ platforms in the industry, and we highly recommend it. IG also offers an excellent proprietary platform that is just as good as SaxoTrader. The main issue with proprietary platforms is that it limits your future ability to change providers. We, therefore, recommend a broker that offers MT4 or MT5 such as Pepperstone.
Saxo Capital Markets doesn’t offer any ‘guaranteed’ style risk management tools such as guaranteed stop loss and guaranteed minimum balance protection. Instead, they focus mostly on convention risk management tools such as stop-loss order, take profit order, etc. That said, Saxo Capital Markets does have a few useful unique risk management features. These include:
IG Markets in addition to the standard risk management tools also offer 2 notable risk management tools these are
IG offer better risk management tools than Saxo Capital Market. Saxo Capital Markets does offer some unique risk management tools no other brokers offer. If you have experience in trading, then you may not see the need to pay premiums for the risk management tools IG offer, so Saxo Markets may offer some benefits over IG if this is the case. Inexperienced trade may prefer IG.
This broker offers an extensive range of derivatives across multiple asset classes. Here you can find some 35,000 instruments across 8 different asset classes.
When it comes to CFDs, Saxo Capital Markets offer the following:
IG, like Saxo, also offers a very extensive range of CFDs.
In addition to above, IG also offers ETFs/ETPs, IPOs Interest Rates and Bonds.
Purchasing shares with Saxo appears to be slightly cheaper. When purchasing Australia shares, issuer sponsored shares are $6.99 vs $8 for IG. IG does not offer CHESS share option. While Saxo CHESS shares are more, we believe they are worth considering, as they will help reduce administrative hassles when buying and selling shares.
Both brokers extensive CFDs and both should adequately cover all your trading needs. When it comes to shares, Saxo offers both Issuers and Chess sponsored shares, unlike IG, which only offers ‘Issuers sponsored’ shares which may present a reason to choose Saxo Capital Markets.
While Saxo Markets may occasionally have a rebate rewards program, they do not have any ongoing programs. As a trader, it may be tempting to choose a broker that rewards you for signing on with them however the reality is the expense has to be paid somewhere. This will usually be in the form of trading credits, which is a sign the broker is trying to tie you to them by forcing you to trade unused credit. Saxo already offers very decent spreads, so this can be interpreted as a sign that they offer a great product at a great price and therefore don’t need to go out of their way to further entice you to stay with them.
Saxo Capital Markets does have a refer a friend program.
Saxo Capital Markets will reward you with $350 if you refer a friend that deposits up to AUD 100,000 when they sign up for an account and commence trading.
IG Markets, unlike Saxo Markets, have multiple bonus offers. These include the following:
For each friend, you refer that opens an account and places at least 5 trades you will receive 1 credit. 1 credit will give you USD $100 trading credit while 5 credits will give you USD $1000 trading credits.
IG has a rebate program. The rebate program rewards you with more credits the more you trade each month.
If you are a member or intend to be a member of the QANTAS frequent flyer program, then IG will reward you with frequent flyer points when you trade.
IG offers more options when it comes to bonus offer so we recommend IG for this category.
Saxo Markets customer support is somewhat unusual in that they do not offer a live chat service. Live chat is a standard offering from nearly all online brokers. Saxo Capital Markets however do offer phone and email support throughout the standard trading week (i.e. Monday to Friday).
Saxo Capital Markets provides an extensive customer support section where you can find just about all the answers you may be looking for. This includes answers to frequently asked questions and the ability to browse by topic.
Saxo Markets provide extensive research and education for its clients. Many of these features are integrated into their platform. Saxo Capital Markets a specialist in-house team of experts providing good research and education content.
The following research is available and can be in the form of article, videos or chart analysis.
Trading education includes video courses and webinars.
Saxo Capital Markets provides a free 20-day demo account which comes with $100,000 of virtual money. You can practice with either SaxoTraderGo or SaxoTraderPro platforms.
IG customer support is more extensive than Saxo Markets. Support is available every day of the week, though hours are limited on Saturdays. You can reach out to IG support via Live chat, phone, email and even Twitter. They also have a forum where you can ask questions to the IG community.
IG offers a demo account, which gives you access to $20,000 of virtual funds. It is important to be aware that IG demo accounts do not include slippage and do not reject your positions if size or price is insufficient, which are important considerations when trading in the real world.
Both brokers offer great customer support and service tools. IG customer support not only are available more hours but provide more mediums to contact them so we recommend IG. We also believe the IG education and research tools are superior.
Saxo Markets only offer 3 ways to find your account. These are Visa and MasterCard for debit and credit transfer, bank transfer and personal cheque. Saxo Capital Markets does not charge to deposit or withdraw however there is a USD 100,000 daily limit and 30 day USD 160,000 limit. It is interesting to note that Saxo Markets do not offer any eWallet options such as PayPal, BPay and the like.
IG allows the following deposit methods. Visa, MasterCard, PayPal and BPay in addition to the usual Bank Transfer. There is a 1% fee for Visa credit card and PayPal transactions and 0.5% MasterCard credit card transactions. The fee is 1.5% for non-AUD transactions. There is a minimum $450 deposit for card transactions.
There is a limit of AUD 35,000 you can withdraw to your card.
Saxo Capital Markets provides limited funding options however do not have fees or minimum deposits. So it comes down to if you prefer to use cards or e-wallets for funding.
Both Saxo Bank and IG offer their own proprietary trading platforms with thousands of financial markets available for trading. However, unlike Saxo Bank, IG clients can have access to third-party platforms like MetaTrader 4, ProRealTime and a specialized DMA trading platform. Due to the diverse choice of trading platforms, IG comes ahead of Saxo Bank.
Overall, Saxo Bank offers lower spreads than IG. While the average EUR/USD spread is 0.6 pips with both brokerage trading firms, on average Saxo Bank’s spreads are 0.2 pips lower than IG’s spreads. For a full review of Saxo Bank’s strengths and weaknesses please visit Saxo Capital Markets 2021 Review.
Yes, Saxo Bank allows scalping and welcomes all types of trading strategies. The minimum deposit to open an account with Saxo Bank is USD 3,000 or equivalent in the account base currency.
Justin Grossbard has been investing for the past 20 years and writing for the past 10. He co-founded Compare Forex Brokers in 2014 after working with the foreign exchange trading industry for several years. He also founded a number of FinTech and digital startups including Innovate Online and SMS Comparison. Justin holds a Masters Degree and an Honours in Commerce from Monash University. He and his wife Paula live in Melbourne, Australia with his son and Siberian cat. In his spare time, he watches Australian Rules Football and invests on global markets.
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