Saxo cuts trading and investing fees

Saxo Markets has cut the fees it charges clients when they trade. A move that Saxo says is designed to empower investors, allowing them to make more of their returns.

Commission reductions

The broker has introduced what it called “substantial price reductions” cutting commission charges on

• UK shares
• US stocks
• ETPs
• ETFs
• Futures
• Options

Saxo has made cuts across the board, but how much less you pay, to trade through the broker, will depend on which of Saxo’s three account tiers you are in.

For US equity trades the new commission rate for Classic Account holders will be 0.08%, with minimum ticket charges cut to $1.00 from the prior level of $5.00.

Platinum and VIP clients will now pay 0.05% and 0.03% in commission respectively.

UK stock trades for Classic Account holders will be charged at 0.08% and have a minimum ticket of £3.00, down from £8.00.

Platinum and VIP traders will once again pay commissions of 0.05% and 0.03% respectively.

Customer asset milestones

Saxo reached the 1.0 million client mark and notched up $100.00 billion of customer assets, during 2023.

It was also designated as a systematically important financial institution by regulators and received an investment grade/BBB rating from S&P Global Ratings.

Saxo’s founder and CEO Kim Fournais said of the fee reductions:

“Investors have increasing demands to the overall investment experience and the ability to trade across markets and products on award-winning multi-asset platforms has always been Saxo’s core pedigree.”

He added

With the lower prices and fees, it’s becoming even easier and more attractive to diversify across asset classes, which is critical to any healthy and profitable portfolio. Diversification is really the ‘only free lunch’ in investing”

Competitive price = better returns

Lower fees can help improve investment returns though those benefits mostly apply to long-term investment returns rather than short-term trading.

That said lower fees do reduce breakeven points and may help traders to move into profit sooner. And of course, scratching or cancelling a trade also becomes more cost-effective.

Typically when brokerages cut their commission charges they are hoping to make up for the shortfall in income, through an increase in trading volumes.

And Saxo is keen to emphasize that it’s now cheaper to deal in equities through its platform, than those of rivals Hargreaves Lansdown, AJ Bell and IG Group.

A recent update from CMC Markets, in which it raised full-year operating income forecasts by more than +10.00%, on heightened volatility and improving client demand. Suggests that we may have seen the bottom in retail trading activity.

Saxo no doubt hopes that its new, leaner rate card allows it to benefit from this new wave of retail trading enthusiasm.