Saxo Markets Customer Reviews, Expert Opinion, News & Interviews

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Saxo Markets is an excellent trading platform for retail traders and investors who want institutional grade pricing, robust execution and wide market coverage.
Richard Berry
Richard Berry
Good Money Guide Founder

Saxo Customer Reviews

3.6

73 Good Money Guide reviewers have given this provider an average rating of 3.6 out of 5 based on their genuine experience.

Excellent23%
Very good29%
Average33%
Poor12%
Terrible3%

Leave a review and tell us what you think of this company to help others make more informed financial decisions.

5/5

18th February 2023
GMG Awards Voter: [118247313173]

3/5

16th February 2023

Pros:

Good interface

Cons:

Currency conversion is too expensive

GMG Awards Voter: [118246153261]

4/5

16th February 2023

Pros:

Breadth of investments

GMG Awards Voter: [118245579694]

3/5

16th February 2023

Pros:

OTC products

Cons:

lower fee

GMG Awards Voter: [118245472386]

2/5

15th February 2023
GMG Awards Voter: [118245103264]

2/5

15th February 2023
GMG Awards Voter: [118244775338]

3/5

15th February 2023

Pros:

No favorite

Cons:

Support

GMG Awards Voter: [118244759601]

5/5

15th February 2023

Pros:

flexible charts

Cons:

enable trading automation

GMG Awards Voter: [118244758696]

5/5

15th February 2023

Pros:

Brilliant website

Cons:

Nothing

GMG Awards Voter: [118244754094]

5/5

15th February 2023

Pros:

Concise trade costing & variety of markets

Cons:

More companies in covered markets

GMG Awards Voter: [118244739577]

3/5

15th February 2023

Pros:

platform

Cons:

fees

GMG Awards Voter: [118244735507]

4/5

15th February 2023

Pros:

Breadth of investments available and platform

Cons:

single login for all accounts (ISA/SIPP/Trading)

GMG Awards Voter: [118244711201]

3/5

15th February 2023
GMG Awards Voter: [118244675953]

3/5

15th February 2023
GMG Awards Voter: [118244668934]

3/5

15th February 2023
GMG Awards Voter: [118244608352]

2/5

15th February 2023

Pros:

Nothing

Cons:

Simplyfy everything and make communication much easier

GMG Awards Voter: [118244596432]

4/5

15th February 2023

Pros:

Good research information

Cons:

Give a far better customer service experience

GMG Awards Voter: [118244559420]

3/5

14th February 2023

Pros:

Offer options calls

GMG Awards Voter: [118243707814]

4/5

14th February 2023

Pros:

Good choice of research tools

GMG Awards Voter: [118243693452]

5/5

9th February 2023

Pros:

Spreadbet and options trading

GMG Awards Voter: [118240370208]

65% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider

What’s in this guide?

Expert Saxo Review

Over the last 15 years I’ve traded with Saxo Markets as a retail client, I’ve been a competitor as a broker at Man Financial, and I’ve been an institutional customer when I had a white label of their trading platform when I was at Investors Intelligence. I’ve also interviewed two of the Saxo UK CEOs and been to their offices a few times, so I know a fair bit about them. In this review, I tell you what I think of Saxo from a trader’s perspective and what sort of client will get the most from their brokerage services.

Saxo Review
Good Money Guide Recommended 2024

Name: Saxo

Description: Saxo is one of the largest CFD brokers worldwide and provides direct market access to equities, bonds, forex, futures and options as well as being a major liquidity and infrastructure provider to wealth managers, banks and smaller brokers.
65% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider

Is Saxo Markets a good broker?

Yes, Saxo is a good choice for more sophisticated traders. The platform, analysis, and direct market access may be too complicated for beginners. But, for experienced traders its coverage, commissions and research are unrivalled.

Pros

  • Direct market access
  • Low commissions
  • Robust trading platform

Cons

  • Seen as a trading platform for professionals
  • Pricing
    (4.5)
  • Market Access
    (4.5)
  • Online Platform
    (5)
  • Customer Service
    (4.5)
  • Research & Analysis
    (4.5)
Overall
4.6

Our Saxo Ratings Explained

  • Pricing: Commissions have just been reduced further making Saxo one of the cheapest brokers
  • Market Access: Saxo offers a huge range of markets for both derivatives trading and physical investing
  • Platform & Apps: Saxo has an industry-leading robust workhorse of a platform
  • Customer Service: Experienced dealers for active larger customers
  • Research & Analysis: Some of the best opinions on the markets around.

The thing about trading is that it is completely misunderstood. People still think they can beat the market with little or no knowledge about how global macroeconomics or a company’s balance sheet works. Trading is no different to any other skill, hobby or career, it requires experience.

There are some great quotes in a book called Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, it’s a ripping yarn and was written 100 years ago, but some of the lines are still particularly relevant. One, for example, is, “If it takes 5 years to get a bachelor’s and master’s in a subject and 10,000 hours in other skills, why should it be different for stocks?”

I bring it up because when I interviewed the UK CEO of Saxo Markets, Charlie White-Thomson before writing this review, he said that was one of his favourite books on investing.

It’s true, trading is hard, you have to know what you are doing, study, learn, and develop. It’s not for everyone. People think it’s easy. It’s not, it’s very high risk.

If you are going to trade you have to understand it. What it is, why you’re doing it and what the risks are.

My point here is that there are many different trading platforms and brokers to choose from, and all cater to slightly different audiences. Some cater to absolute beginners, some are more focussed on FX, others on stocks, some on automated trading strategies, and some for people that just want to tap away during the day scalping the markets.

But Saxo Markets, in my view anyway, has always catered to the more experienced traders, ones who may have already spent five years cutting their teeth as a risk warning statistic.

Saxo were in fact one of the earliest brokers to offer multi-asset trading from a single platform with direct market access, which puts them at the most sophisticated end of the spectrum.

Saxo – Ideal For Experienced Traders

For more experienced traders Saxo Markets offers CFD trading with direct market access. This means that instead of trading at prices set by the broker (usually slightly widened from the underlying bid/offer) you trade at the price you see on the exchange. By trading DMA CFDs your orders are placed directly on the order book letting you work limits inside the best bid/offer, meaning if you don’t want to deal at the market you’ll get better pricing than anywhere else if filled. Because you are trading DMA, your commission is charged afterwards and not included in the spread. This type of trading is particularly suited to larger and more professional traders, which is Saxo Markets ideal customer.

Futures, Options & DMA

Saxo are also one of the few trading platforms in the UK that offer retail traders (private clients) access to futures and options. Again an indication that Saxo goes after and caters to more experienced customers, because trading futures is for higher value accounts. 

FTSE futures for example are traded on ICE, and 1 lot is valued at £10 per index point. So, if for example the FTSE is trading at 7723 (as they are today) the smallest trade you can put on gives you £77,230 of exposure to the 100 biggest companies in on the LSE. Which is an initial margin of £4,890.

Saxo Markets FTSE Futures

Other brokers like IG who (as well as looking after larger customers and funds) cater to smaller more inexperienced traders will let you trade the FTSE at 50p a point (£3,861.50 exposure).

Limiting Risk

Saxo are also quite risk averse for a margin trading business, as they do not offer excessive margins. Compared to Interactive Brokers (probably their closest competitor for product range and accounts types in the UK) their margin rates are quite high for CFDs as they don’t want their customer blowing up. Instead, as they’ve told me on many occasions, they are more interested in building long-term mutually beneficial and profitable relationships with their customers.

Saxo – Robust Trading Platform

As far as the trading platform is concerned, it’s excellent and well laid out. Markets are easy to find and you get the choice with each asset if you want to trade it as a future or CFD if it’s an index, commodity or currency pair. If you’re trading stocks you can either deal as a CFD or a physical equity for longer-term investing.

You can drag and drop instruments from watchlist to the charting screen, then bring up options boards, and product overviews which give you all the pertinent details and market depth with level-2 pricing. Some markets though (like FTSE futures) you need a subscription to see live exchange data.

Research & Analysis

In the research tab you get access to trading signals from Autochartist, which is probably worth taking with a pinch of salt because most platforms have this. But they are really well integrated into the platform where you can deal straight from the signal and add pre-determined stops and limits.

Saxo Markets trading signals

There is also a high selection of curated webinars, educational article and news feeds which you can filter by instrument, and an overview of which markets are trending by asset class. There’s no client sentiment though, but that’s to be expected because they have some very large accounts which would skew the data and hedgies are notoriously secretive about their positions.

Saxo – Our Conclusion

Overall, I’ve always enjoyed trading on the Saxo Market’s platform, but then I’ve been doing this for twenty years. For new traders, it might be a bit much, but if you want to get started with a platform you can continue to use as you become more experienced, you can also invest in ETFs, bonds and shares instead of trading. However, if you’ve got the experience and treat trading with the respect and dedication it deserves, then Saxo Markets could be the broker for you.

65% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider

Saxo – Good Money Guide Award Winners

In our 2023 awards, Saxo won ‘Best CFD Broker’, and ‘Best DMA & Professional Trading Account’. In 2022 Saxo also scooped ‘Best Bond Broker’. You can see Saxo collecting their award at our ceremony at Plasterers’ Hall in the City of London in the video below.

65% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider

Saxo Trading Platform Video Demo

In this video we live trade on the SaxoTraderGo platform. We buy some physical BP shares, then demonstrate hedging the position with put options and CFDs.

65% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider

Saxo Facts & Figures

Saxo Markets Total Markets
60,000+
➡️Forex Pairs190
➡️Commodities20+
➡️Indices29
➡️UK StocksOver 5,000
➡️US Stocks2,000+
➡️ETFsOver 6,400
Saxo Markets Key Info
👉Number Active Clients850,000
💰Minimum Deposit£1
❔Inactivity Fee
📅 Founded1992
ℹ️ Public Company
Saxo Markets Account Types
➡️CFD Trading✔️
➡️Forex Trading✔️
➡️Spread Betting
➡️DMA (Direct Market Access)✔️
➡️Futures Trading✔️
➡️Options Trading✔️
➡️Investing Account✔️
Saxo Markets Average Fees
➡️FTSE 1001
➡️DAX 301
➡️DJIA3
➡️NASDAQ1
➡️S&P 5000.5
➡️EURUSD0.7
➡️GBPUSD0.8
➡️USDJPY0.7
➡️Gold0.5
➡️Crude Oil0.3
➡️UK Stocks0.0005
➡️US Stocks$0.01 per share

65% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider

US Election

Saxo’s US election trading hub rolls-out commission-free US stocks

The launch of the Saxo US election trading hub also provides new clients access to commission-free trading of the most 100 popular US stocks. The hub also provides hand-picked investment shortlists for likely election scenarios. It also links to relevant US market news. The Saxo US election trading service has provided commission-free execution of …

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Saxo Markets Investing App

Is Saxo’s investing app good for longer term investors?

Yes, even though Saxo is traditionally a trading platform for short-term speculation on the markets going up or down. It is also an excellent choice for longer-term investors as Saxo is a very well-capitalised company, heavily regulated in the UK and all the regions they operates in, and has excellent customer service for small and

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General Investment Accounts

Is Saxo good for investing?

Yes, as well as being one of the best trading platforms, Saxo also have very good investment accounts for long-term investments. Saxo has recently introduced mutual funds for investors who want to quickly build a diversified portfolio. For income investors, you can access a huge range of retail and institutional-grade bonds. But, I would say

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Futures Brokers

Is Saxo good for futures trading?

Yes, Saxo is one of the best futures brokers we compare. I would say their major competitor for futures tradering is Interactive Brokers, which is much cheaper, but Saxo offers a better personal service. Smaller retail brokers like Plus 500 are moving into the futures trading industry (as opposed to CFDs) but that is only

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Forex Brokers

Is Saxo a good forex broker?

Yes, Saxo is excellent for forex trading, especially for sophisticated traders. I would say that if you are a small FX trader or just getting started you are better off with a broker like City Index or forex.com where you also get trading signals and post-trade analysis (which can “maybe” help improve your profitability). But,

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Stocks and shares ISA accounts

Does Saxo have an ISA and is it better than IBKR’s?

Yes, Saxo does have an ISA and it is better than Interactive Brokers’ ISA (for some things but not everything). For instance, Saxo’s ISA is cheap, but IBKR’s is free. But, Saxo has better customer service, which in my mind is very important. It’s a close call between IBKR and Saxo, but overall I’d say

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Saxo’s Trading App

Is Saxo’s trading app any good?

Is Saxo’s trading app any good? Yes, Saxo does have an app, and it is excellent, but compared to another institutional-grade platform like Interactive Brokers, it’s not quite as good. Saxo’s app is excellent for professional and institutional traders who want to trade DMA, and is essentially a mobile version of Saxo’s excellent TraderGo platform.

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Saxo Markets

Is Saxo good for CFD trading?

Saxo Markets won the “best CFD broker” in our 2023 and 2022 Awards as it offers the widest range of account types, market access and tradable assets. Overall, Saxo Markets is the best CFD trading platform suitable for traders with experience who need access to a wide range of markets and order types. When I

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Saxo Markets Review

Is Saxo good for DMA trading?

Yes, Saxo provides DMA access to a wide range, but they may not be the best broker for direct market access. I would say that Saxo is the best DMA CFD broker for trading equities for the majority of retail traders. But, if you are a very advanced trader Interactive Brokers offer more execution functionality

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Saxo Trading Demo

Is Saxo’s demo trading account any good?

Saxo  does have a demo version of its trading platform, but there are actually quite a few limitations and it is nowhere near as good as their industry-leading live account. So, I’ve tested the Saxo Trader GO demo and here I’ll highlight what I like and dislike about it. Saxo’s demo account lets you trade

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Indices

Is Saxo good for indices trading?

Yes, Saxo is one of the best indices brokers in our matrix as they offer DMA access to index futures, as well as OTC CFDs, and direct market access index options. If you are an investor rather than a trader you can buy index ETFs for longer-term exposure to all the stocks in major indices

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Commodities

Is Saxo a good commodities broker?

Saxo customers can trade a wide range of commodities as CFDs, futures, options, spot pairs or exchange-traded commodities (ETCs) with tight spreads, integrated Trade Signals, news feeds and innovative risk-management features. As a commodities broker Saxo offers one of the best trading platforms for retail and professional traders. For professional… To read this article, please

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Saxo Markets Review

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

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Saxo Markets Review

Saxo launches fund investing in the UK

Saxo is introducing dealing in mutual funds to its UK retail investors, who will now have the opportunity to invest in any of the thousands of funds that Saxo has selected, from leading money managers, such as Vanguard, Fidelity, BlackRock and JP Morgan. Saxo fund investing This new fund universe includes more than 500 equity

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Saxo Markets Review

Is Saxo a good options trading platform?

Yes, Saxo is one of the better value brokers for larger traders where you can trade stock options from USD 0.85, EUR 1 or GBP 1. Saxo Markets provides access to 1,200+ listed options from 23 exchanges worldwide, across equities, indices, interest rates, energy, and metals. Saxo options trading is one of the best things

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Saxo Markets

Is Saxo Markets regulated for forex trading in the UAE?

Yes, you can trade forex with Saxo in the UAE as they are regulated for FX CFDs and DMA currency futures trading. Saxo has a local forex trading office in Dubai and is regulated by the DFSA. What makes Saxo Markets one of the best forex trading platforms in the UAE is the ability to

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Saxo Markets

Is Saxo regulated for CFD trading in the UAE?

Yes, you can trade CFDs with Saxo in the UAE as they are regulated by the DFSA and have a physical office in Dubai. In fact, Saxo markets offer one of the best CFD trading platforms in Dubai for small and large customers on their robust SaxoTradeGo trading platform. the key advantage of trading CFDs

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Saxo Markets Review

Saxo Bank reduces minimum deposits to make account opening easier

Saxo Markets has reduced its minimum deposit requirements in more than 9 different markets. Traders in the UK, France, Singapore, Switzerland, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia and Australia, among others, will no longer be subject to a minimum deposit requirement when funding their accounts. Saxo Bank Markets removes minimum deposit Saxo may have removed its minimum deposit

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Saxo Markets

Is Saxo’s trading platform any good?

Is Saxo’s trading platform any good? Yes, I’ve been using Saxo’s online trading platform for around ten years now and it’s evolved nicely over the years. The core functionality remains consistently high-end, whilst the front end is given a facelift every few years. Whilst Saxo Markets does offer MT4, it’s own proprietary trading platform (SaxoTrade… To read

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Saxo iShares UK Property UCITS ETF (IPRP) 

Is Saxo good for share dealing?

Yes, you can deal shares directly on exchange with Saxo. In fact, Saxo is one of the best DMA brokers for trading shares inside the bid/offer price as you can place your orders directly on the order book. Saxo’s platform has share dealing on more than 50 stock exchanges around the world with 22,000 shares

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Saxo Markets Review

Saxo Bank receives a BBB investment grade rating from S&P

Danish-based broker Saxo Bank has received a coveted BBB credit rating from S&P. The bank which can trace its roots back more than 25 years, is also on the cusp of being recognised as a Systematically Important Financial Institution, or SIFI, in its home state, by the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority, the FSA. S&P BBB

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Saxo Markets Review

Saxo markets partners with Guotai Junan Securities in China

Saxo Bank has entered China via a strategic partnership with Guotai Junan Securities, one of the country’s largest investment banks and securities traders. The deal was structured by Saxo’s Singaporean division, Saxo Markets Singapore, which is run by CEO Adam Reynolds. Under the deal, Guotai Junan’s Chinese clients will gain access to Saxo’s global markets

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No dry January for Denmark’s Saxo Bank

Denmark’s Saxo Bank started the New Year on the front foot and had one of its best months over the last two years. Significant growth in margin trading The margin trading and multi-asset broker saw client activity levels grow by +21.0% month over month to $438.0 billion, a figure that eclipsed the previous high, posted

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Negative Interest Rates

Saxo introduces negative interest rates on certain larger balances

Danish CFD trading and investment house Saxo Capital markets announced it was to introduce negative interest rates on positive free equity balances in selected currencies from the April 1st and don’ts this wasn’t an early April fools. Negative interest rates have been a fact of life in parts of Europe for several years and in

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SaxoSelect

SaxoSelect: Saxo launches a range of seven funds managed by experts

Denmark’s Saxo bank has a history of innovation when it comes to the products and services it offers to its clients. This week Saxo Capital Markets has launched a series of managed portfolios which it calls SaxoSelect. There are seven funds to choose from and Saxo has collaborated with the likes of Morning Star, Nasdaq

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SaxoInvestor: Saxo goes mainstream and offers investment accounts

Saxo Bank, just announced it’s moving into the mainstream with SaxoInvestor. SaxoInvestor will focus on longer-term investment products like physical stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs and SaxoSelect portfolios. Saxo Bank (or Saxo Capital Markets as they are known in the UK) have been gradually expanding from the professional and institutional client base that it is

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Saxo’s Outrageous Predictions for 2018 #SAXOSTRATS

If anyone thought that 2017 was an outrageous year for shock announcements and results, there may be more to come in 2018. Prime broker Saxo, one of the leading Forex and DMA CFD broker, that caters to semi-professional and professional clients have released their “Outrageous Predictions for 2018”. It’s well worth a read if you

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Saxo increases currency conversion charges

In a note to clients Saxo Capital Markets one of the more professional CFD brokers has increased the charges for converting one currency to another. One erk about having an account with Saxo is that the account generally automatically does currency conversions to your base currency. So if you make a profit in USD it

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Saxo introduces Order Driven Execution

No doubt as part of the “best execution” policy brokers must now adhere to Saxo has introduced order driven execution. In a nutshell, this means that client trades could be crossed up with other Saxo customers as well as secondary markets. Order driven execution will go live on the 15th Nov for SaxotraderGo clients and

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Saxo Markets FAQ:

Yes, Saxo Markets does act as a market maker for OTC products like CFDs. But, Saxo Markets does not act as a market maker if you are dealing in exchange products like listed options, futures or DMA stocks and shares.

No. Saxo used to offer a spread betting service through a partnership with London Capital Group. However, Saxo announced back in 2015 that it would be shutting down it’s spread betting service.  Clients of Saxo Spread Betting migrated to deal with Capital Spreads directly.

The Saxo spread betting services was a white label of the London Capital Group platform, whose own brand is Capital Spreads.

The news came after there were significant changes at London Capital Group with a reported 75% staff turnover since Charles-Henri Sabet took the reigns and focusses on building the spread betting and forex broker back to profitability.

There is was also a significant amount more competition in the spread betting industry than in 2009 when Saxo launched the service.  Increased competition and a decline in active spread betting clients may lead to more consolidation in the sector.  This may include more white-label contracts being cancelled (like City Spreads, another LCG white label) or acquisitions (like City Index by Gain Capital or Cantor Index to Spreadex).

It is free to have an account with Saxo Markets. However, there are some monthly fees for accessing live data on certain markets. There is a custody fee for holding physical shares, but there is no inactivity fee if you don’t trade.

For a Classic account there is no minimum deposit, but for Platinum accounts the minimum deposit is £200,000 and for VIP accounts the minimum is £1,000,000.

Beginners may find Saxo Markets a bit complex as they are more suited to experienced traders. However, beginners can still open an account and invest in the stock market without trading derivatives.

No. There is no fee to withdraw funds. However, to avoid delays with requesting funds back make sure your account information is completely up to date as Saxo Markets will have to comply with AML regulations before returning money.

Yes, to switch from limit order to market order on Saxo Trader GO follow these steps:

  • Go to the “Orders” tab at the bottom of the trading screen.
  • Find the order you want to change
  • Click the three dots on the right-hand side that look like this “…”.
  • Select “change to market order”
  • Approve the change on the confirmation screen.

Your order will be executed at the currency market price and your limit cancelled.

65% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider

65% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider.
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