By Albert Czajkowski, Editor and founder of ForexRev

Saxo Bank Review 2026: Commissions, Classic/Platinum/VIP Tiers and Safety

Saxo Bank A/S is a Danish investment bank operating for over 30 years, holding a banking licence since 2001 (licence no. 1149, supervised by the Danish FSA). Since June 2023 it has been designated a systemically important financial institution (SIFI) in Denmark. The group also holds a Swiss banking licence and financial licences in the UK, Singapore, Italy and Japan.

In short: Saxo is primarily a multi-asset investment account — stocks, ETFs and bonds from 50+ exchanges — rather than a typical forex broker. Pros: no account, custody or inactivity fees (EU offer), no minimum deposit and cash protection up to €100,000. Cons: a 0.25% FX conversion fee, forex spreads from 1 pip (EUR/USD) on Classic, and the best rates only from €200,000. We checked home.saxo on 25 October 2026.

1. Is Saxo Bank safe?

Yes. Saxo Bank A/S is a licensed credit institution supervised by the Danish FSA, and its SIFI status brings higher capital requirements and closer supervision. Cash is covered by the Danish deposit guarantee scheme up to €100,000; stocks and bonds remain client assets and should be returned even in insolvency — if they could not be, the fund covers losses up to €20,000.

Fines: on 22 January 2026 Saxo Bank A/S accepted an administrative fine of DKK 313 million (about €42 million) from the Danish FSA (Finanstilsynet) for breaches of the Danish Anti-Money Laundering Act — establishing the purpose of client relationships and ongoing monitoring of clients, including White Label clients, between January 2021 and May 2023 (Finanstilsynet announcement). On 29 October 2025 the court in Lyngby (Retten i Lyngby), in a case reported by Finanstilsynet on 28 March 2022, fined Saxo Bank A/S DKK 2 million (about €0.27 million) for incomplete and incorrect transaction reporting (Article 26 MiFIR) in 2018–2021 and the lack of controls over those reports; the judgment was not appealed and is final (Finanstilsynet announcement).

2. Account tiers and commissions

Saxo has three tiers. Classic has no minimum deposit; Platinum requires €200,000 funded within 30 days (or 120,000 points), VIP €1,000,000 (or 500,000 points). Sample commissions (EU pricing):

Saxo’s sample minimum EUR/USD spread (as of 5 Aug 2026) is 1 pip, GBP/USD 1.1 pips; initial margin from 3.33% (1:30). US-listed ETFs are for professional clients only.

3. Other fees

• No account, custody or inactivity fees on the EU offer (per home.saxo/pl-pl).
• Currency conversion: 0.25%; free multi-currency sub-accounts.
• Overnight financing on leveraged products (CFDs, forex).

4. Funding

• Fund by bank transfer; Saxo charges no fees for transfers to and from the account.
• No minimum for individual accounts; joint accounts from €50,000, corporate from €100,000.
• Tax reporting depends on your country — Saxo provides account statements and, for some countries, tax reports.

5. Platforms and products

• SaxoInvestor for simple investing and SaxoTrader (web, mobile, desktop) for the full range including leveraged products; you get both.
• 23,000+ stocks on 50 exchanges, 2,100+ ETFs, 5,200+ bonds, 250+ futures, 3,100+ listed options, 185+ FX pairs and mutual funds.

6. Pros, cons and verdict

7. Alternatives

• DEGIRO — low-cost stocks and ETFs.
• XTB — stocks, ETFs and CFDs.
• Dukascopy — ECN forex backed by a Swiss bank.

8. How to open a Saxo Bank account — step by step

1. Register on the Saxo Bank website — EU clients should be served by an EU company: Saxo Bank A/S (Copenhagen, Denmark), banking licence no. 1149 — Danish FSA. Check the company name in your client agreement before depositing.
2. Enter your personal details and complete the questionnaire. Before offering CFDs, an EU broker must assess your knowledge and experience (the MiFID II appropriateness test) and warn you if CFDs are not appropriate.
3. Verify your identity with a passport or ID card and a proof of address (e.g. a utility bill or bank statement), as required by anti-money-laundering rules.
4. Choose the account type and base currency. An account in the currency you deposit in saves conversion costs.
5. Fund the account — minimum deposit according to the broker: none (individual account). Deposits are accepted only from accounts or cards in your own name.
6. Install the platform (SaxoInvestor, SaxoTrader (web, mobile, desktop)) or log in via your browser. Practise on a demo account first, if the broker offers one.

9. What trading with Saxo Bank really costs

Below are the costs from the summary table above — taken from Saxo Bank’s website and documents when we updated this review:

• US stocks and ETFs: Classic 0.08% (min. $1), Platinum 0.05%, VIP 0.03%
• Forex (majors): Classic from 1 pip (EUR/USD), Platinum from 0.8 pips; 185+ pairs

How to work it out: on EUR/USD one pip on a 1-lot position (€100,000) is worth about $10, so a 1-pip spread costs about $10 when you open the trade. A commission quoted “per lot per side” is charged twice — on opening and on closing. Add overnight swaps for every night the position stays open and any currency conversion if your account currency differs from the instrument’s. On 0.1 lot all these amounts are ten times smaller.

Inactivity fee: none (EU offer, checked on the Polish site) — a break from investing costs nothing. Check the fee schedule from time to time, as the broker may change it.

10. Withdrawing money from Saxo Bank — how it works

You request a withdrawal in the client area. Under anti-money-laundering rules, funds usually go back via the method used to deposit (e.g. to the card up to the amount deposited by card) and only to an account or card in your own name. The first withdrawal may require full account verification, so upload your documents right after registering. Only free funds that are not used as margin can be withdrawn.

11. Saxo Bank compared with other brokers

For comparison, here is Saxo Bank next to other brokers whose reviews we updated in October 2026. Figures come from their summary tables — see the full reviews for details.

12. Leverage and client protection in the EU (ESMA)

As an EU investment firm, Saxo Bank applies the restrictions introduced by ESMA and adopted permanently by national regulators to retail clients:

• leverage up to 1:30 on major currency pairs, 1:20 on other pairs, gold and major indices, 1:10 on other commodities and indices, 1:5 on shares and 1:2 on crypto;
• margin close-out at 50% of required margin;
• negative balance protection — retail clients cannot lose more than they deposited;
• a ban on bonuses and trading incentives for retail CFD clients;
• a mandatory risk warning with the share of losing retail accounts — for Saxo Bank: 66% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

Higher leverage is only available to professional clients who meet the MiFID II criteria — at the cost of some protections, including negative balance protection.

13. Tax on profits from Saxo Bank

Tax treatment depends on your country of residence. Saxo Bank generally does not file tax returns for you, so keep the annual statement of trades from the client area. For Polish residents: profits from a foreign broker are reported in the PIT-38 return (19% tax), with foreign-currency amounts converted at the National Bank of Poland average rate from the business day before each trade.

14. Glossary: terms to know before opening a Saxo Bank account

• Spread — the difference between the buy and sell price, paid on every trade.
• Pip — the smallest typical price move of a currency pair (0.0001 for EUR/USD).
• Lot — the standard position size: 1 forex lot is 100,000 units of the base currency; 0.01 lot (micro lot) is 1,000.
• Commission — a fixed fee per trade, usually on raw-spread (ECN/Raw) accounts.
• Swap — the daily cost or credit for holding a position overnight, based on the interest-rate differential.
• Margin — the part of the position value set aside as collateral; at 1:30 leverage about 3.33% of the position.
• Margin call and stop out — a warning and automatic closing of positions when equity falls relative to required margin.
• Slippage — execution at a different price than requested, common around news releases and price gaps.

15. FAQ

Risk warning: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 66% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. Investing in stocks and ETFs also puts your capital at risk. This review is for information only and is not investment advice.

Some links on this page may be affiliate links — if you open an account through such a link, ForexRev may receive a commission. This does not affect the content or rating of the review.