Estably vs Swissquote — which broker is better?

Pros

• Self-directed Xetra orders at 0.14% with a EUR 3.90 minimum and a EUR 99.00 cap — the lowest per-order minimum among the German-market Interactive Brokers intermediaries
• Eurex options and futures at EUR 2.00 per contract, Mini-DAX futures at EUR 1.00 and CME Micro E-minis at USD 1.25, with EUR 1.80 / USD 3.00 option pricing available through partner sign-ups
• FMA-licensed Liechtenstein asset manager, audited annually by Grant Thornton, participant in the EAS investor compensation system and a member of the VUVL association of independent asset managers
• Managed portfolios can be custodied at Baader Bank, Liechtensteinische Landesbank or St. Galler Kantonalbank — and the Baader route withholds German tax automatically, with a Verlustverrechnungstopf
• Access to more than 150 exchanges in 33 countries and over 1.2 million instruments through Interactive Brokers, with no custody or account fee on the self-directed side
• Unusually deep German-language options material — an options guide, the wheel strategy for beginners, margin requirement explainers and a full TWS/Client Portal handbook
• Personal adviser model with a Liechtenstein phone line and a 4.6 Trustpilot rating from more than 420 reviews

Cons

• The self-directed account withholds no Abgeltungsteuer — German clients must declare everything themselves through their annual tax return, exactly as at any Interactive Brokers intermediary
• EUR 5,000 minimum deposit on the brokerage account and EUR 20,000 on a managed mandate; the margin account additionally requires a minimum age of 21
• Discretionary management costs 1.19% per year plus 0.30% bank charges plus a performance fee whose percentage is not disclosed on the cost page — an odd gap on a page titled 'Transparente Kosten'
• Above roughly EUR 2,860 of order value CapTrader's 0.10% schedule beats Estably's 0.14%: a EUR 10,000 Xetra order costs EUR 14.00 here against EUR 10.00 there
• No Estably-branded trading app — the mobile experience is Interactive Brokers' Mobile Trader, and there is no proprietary web platform equivalent to LYNX+
• Residents of the US, Canada, Australia and Iran cannot open the self-directed account, and Estably's own research output is marketing-led rather than an independent analysis desk

Pros

• FINMA-licensed Swiss bank listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (SQN) with published annual results — CHF 88.7 billion in client assets and around 750,000 accounts
• esisuisse depositor protection covers cash up to CHF 100,000, and custodied securities remain client property outside the bank's balance sheet
• Custody fee is capped at CHF 50 per quarter (CHF 200 a year) for private clients, so large portfolios pay a flat rather than percentage cost
• ETF Leaders pricing caps SIX-listed ETF commission at CHF 9 above CHF 1,000, regardless of order size
• Real cryptocurrency custody across 50-plus coins inside a regulated bank, with crypto custody included in the standard fee since 2025
• One login covers trading, Swiss banking, debit cards, payments, savings plans and pillar 3a retirement accounts
• Complimentary eTax statement for Swiss residents, which removes a genuine annual chore
• Four-language Swiss support including German, French, Italian and English, with local offices rather than an offshore call centre

Cons

• Commission is high by international standards — CHF 29 on a CHF 10,000 order and CHF 190 above CHF 50,000, where global discount brokers charge single digits
• Currency conversion costs 0.95% on major currencies, one of the most expensive markups among European brokers and the dominant cost for anyone buying US assets from a CHF or EUR balance
• A custody fee applies from the first franc — CHF 80 a year minimum plus 8.1% VAT — which is proportionally heavy on small portfolios
• Zero interest on cash balances across every currency and tier, at a time when several competitors pay a money-market rate
• Card deposits cost 1.9% in Switzerland and Europe, and SEPA withdrawals cost EUR 2
• The securities platform and the CFD/forex platform (CFXD) sit on separate logins, which fragments the experience for multi-product clients