Dukascopy Review 2026: Swiss Bank ECN Broker With MT5

Dukascopy Bank SA holds a full Swiss banking licence from FINMA (Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority). This places it under banking-level oversight — stricter capital requirements, mandatory fund segregation, and deposit protection up to CHF 100,000 through esisuisse, the Swiss deposit guarantee scheme. Very few retail forex brokers operate as licensed banks.

The Dukascopy Group operates through three regulated entities:

• Dukascopy Bank SA (Geneva, Switzerland) — FINMA-regulated Swiss bank. Founded in 2004 by Andre and Veronika Duka, who still own 99% of the company. Regulated capital of approximately CHF 40 million.
• Dukascopy Europe IBS AS (Riga, Latvia) — Licensed by Latvijas Banka (formerly FCMC) since 1997, registration No. 40003344762. EU clients are protected under the Investor Compensation Fund up to EUR 20,000. Subject to MiFID II, with leverage capped at 1:30 for retail clients.
• Dukascopy Japan K.K. (Tokyo, Japan) — Type-1 Financial Instruments Business licence No. 2408 from the Kanto Local Finance Bureau (JFSA). Leverage capped at 1:25 per Japanese regulation.

The Swiss entity offers leverage up to 1:200 (1:100 default, extendable on request), significantly higher than EU or Japanese limits. Weekend leverage drops to 1:50 by default. This regulatory structure means the broker you trade with — and the protections you receive — depend entirely on which entity holds your account.

Dukascopy offers three platform families, all connected directly to its SWFX (Swiss FX Marketplace) ECN:

• JForex 4 — The proprietary platform, built for advanced and algorithmic traders. Supports Java-based strategy development, historical tick data download, backtesting, and over 250 technical indicators. Available as desktop, web, and mobile applications. JForex accounts have the lowest commission rates.
• MetaTrader 4 (MT4) — Direct SWFX connection without third-party bridges. Supports Expert Advisors via MQL4. Available on Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.
• MetaTrader 5 (MT5) — Added in June 2024 with over 400 instruments. Supports MQL5 Expert Advisors, Depth of Market, economic calendar integration, and expanded timeframes. An additional fee of $5 per $1 million traded applies to MT4/MT5 accounts on top of the standard volume commission.

The minimum deposit differs by entity and platform: $100 for Dukascopy Europe (JForex), $1,000 for MT4/MT5 accounts, and $5,000 for Dukascopy Bank SA (JForex). FIX API access requires a $100,000 minimum deposit.

All platforms support market, limit, stop, trailing stop, OCO, and IFD order types. Hedging and scalping are allowed across all account types.

Dukascopy offers a broad instrument range across multiple asset classes:

• Forex: 60+ currency pairs including majors, minors, and exotics
• Stocks: 1,000+ global stock CFDs (Nvidia, Tesla, Swatch Group, etc.)
• Indices: 20+ global indices (S&P 500, IBEX 35, ASX 200)
• Commodities: Gold, silver, palladium, copper, oil (Brent and Crude), natural gas
• Cryptocurrencies: 18+ crypto CFDs (BTC, ETH, LTC and others)
• ETFs: 85+ including SPDR S&P 500, iShares Silver Trust, Vanguard REIT
• Bonds: German government bonds and other fixed-income instruments
• Binary Options: Available on 15+ currency pairs (not available in all jurisdictions)

The total count exceeds 1,200 instruments. In 2024-2025, Dukascopy expanded significantly by adding 303 cross-currency instruments to JForex and boosting MT5 to over 400 instruments with metals and crypto CFDs. Note that instrument availability varies between JForex and MT4/MT5 accounts — JForex generally offers the widest selection.

Dukascopy uses an ECN commission model where spreads and commissions are separate. Raw spreads on EUR/USD start from 0.1 pips, with typical spreads around 0.3 pips during liquid sessions.

The commission structure is volume-tiered and calculated per million USD traded:

• Forex: From $35 to as low as $5 per million USD, depending on net deposit, equity, or 30-day traded volume
• Commodities, indices, metals, crypto, bonds: From $52.50 to $7.50 per million USD
• MT4/MT5 surcharge: Additional $5 per million USD ($0.50 per standard lot) on top of JForex rates
• Swap-free surcharge: Additional $5 per million USD for forex, $7.50 for metals

The broker always applies the lowest commission rate across three criteria: net deposit size, account equity, or 30-day trading volume. For traders with multiple accounts, volumes and deposits are aggregated to determine the best rate.

At default rates, the all-in cost on EUR/USD is approximately 1 pip (0.3 pip spread + 0.7 pip equivalent commission). High-volume traders can reduce this significantly through the tiered discount structure. Commissions are recalculated daily at settlement.

Dukascopy's fee structure reflects its banking status — more comprehensive than typical retail brokers:

Inactivity/Maintenance Fee: No fee for the first 180 days. After that, accounts with no trades or currency exchanges for 180 consecutive days are charged up to CHF 100 per client (EUR 50 for Dukascopy Europe) per 180-day period. A dormancy fee of at least CHF 500 applies if the bank cannot contact the client for two months.

Withdrawal Fees:

• Bank wire: $19 (SHA) or $35 (OUR)
• Credit/debit card: EUR 1.50 + 2.5%
• Skrill/Neteller: EUR 1 or 2.5%
• Crypto (BTC/ETH/USDT): $30 flat
• SEPA transfers: EUR 2.30

Other Fees:

• Currency conversion: 0.05% to 1.00%
• Gold custody: 1.5% per annum on average gold balance
• Post-closure follow-up: CHF 50/month if funds remain 30 days after account closure
• Multi-currency account: EUR 1/month if holding fewer than 5 DUK+ tokens

Deposit Fees: Bank wire deposits are free. Card deposits range from 1.5% to 2.5%. These withdrawal and deposit fees are notably higher than many competitors, particularly for bank wires.

Dukascopy has multiple Trustpilot profiles with varying ratings:

• dukascopy.com: 2.9/5 from approximately 800 reviews — the main profile
• dukascopy.bank: 2.0/5 from 38 reviews

The review distribution is polarized: mostly 5-star and 1-star ratings with little in between. Positive reviews highlight the platform's ease of use and straightforward onboarding. Negative reviews consistently cite KYC difficulties during withdrawals or deposits, and difficulty reaching customer support.

This mixed reputation is a meaningful drawback for a Swiss bank. The regulatory safety is undeniable, but the customer experience — particularly around withdrawals and support responsiveness — falls short of what the banking brand implies. Traders who value responsive support should weigh this against the strong regulatory protections.