EXANTE

I have had an account at Exante for many years and have witnessed its rapid growth as a business. It has taken a lot of market share from Saxo Bank and Interactive Brokers as it is similar in that it is a comprehensive brokerage with access to global stocks, bonds, futures, options, FX, ETFs, cryptocurrencies and hedge funds but it has the advantage of cutting edge technology. Nearly half of its 400 employees are IT staff and its proprietary platform is the jewel in its crown.

The Exante Support desk is open 24/7 and usually respond in minutes to my queries. The platform, website are available in many languages and the staff are very international speaking many languages to match your preference. The company now offers accounts in four different legal entities so you can find the best match for your needs (regulatory, client classification and capital protection) and deposits and withdrawals are very fast, one or two days max. I have never had any problems with my deposits or withdrawals.

Recently, I learnt that Exante has opened a sister cryptocurrency brokerage which is very useful if you want to use your cryptocurrencies and switch them to FIAT and then invest them in the traditional markets or vice versa as the FIAT to crypto to FIAT route is protected within the Exante corporate structure. Given that I already had an approved account at Exante, I was able to open an account at Gozo with one click.

On the negative side, the minimum investment is higher than many other brokerages as it is €10 000 / $11 500 or £10 000 although it is possible to deposit in many different currencies which is helpful. Leverage is low which might turn off some people. The spreads and fees vary depending on the instrument and are much better for some instruments than for others so you probably should download their demo platform to see how competitive their rates are for the instruments that you tend to trade before opening an account.