Saxo Bank Review (2026):
Fees, platforms, and who it’s for
Fees verified September 2026 against official pricing pages — see our methodology
Saxo Bank is a Danish bank with 70,000 financial products and no custody fee on its French, Dutch or Belgian accounts. What you actually pay depends on which Saxo branch serves your country, which exchange you buy on, and how often you convert currency — so this review prices each branch separately.
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TL;DR
- French investors who want a free monthly ETF plan from PEPS’s 20-ETF list, outside a PEA.
- Dutch investors using AutoInvest on a EUR account, who can live with the monthly service fee.
- Small and mid-sized Euronext ETF orders: 0.08% with a €2 minimum undercuts IBKR Fixed below roughly €4,690.
- Investors who want bonds, options and futures alongside ETFs, from a Danish bank.
- 0.25% FX on every currency conversion, against 0.03% for IBKR automatic conversion.
- Exchange minimums on every order: €2 Euronext, €3 Xetra, €5 Frankfurt.
- Dutch service fee of 0.01% per month (max €40), only recovered as next-month trading credit.
- Fees, tier names and thresholds differ between the French, Dutch and Belgian branches.
- No local fee schedule for Germany or Spain; Italy is served by the separate BG Saxo.
What is Saxo Bank?
A Danish bank founded in Copenhagen in 1992, now serving over 1.5 million clients worldwide and majority-owned by the Swiss J. Safra Sarasin Group.
Saxo Bank A/S is a Danish credit institution supervised by the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (licence no. 1149). Saxo reports €133 billion in client assets (2026 data, from its French tariff brochure) and 70,000 financial products across the 50 main exchanges. In March 2026, J. Safra Sarasin Group completed its purchase of approximately 71% of Saxo Bank from Geely Financials Denmark A/S, Mandatum Group and other minority shareholders. Founder Kim Fournais kept approximately 28% and became Chairman of the Board.
Alongside the ETFs most European investors buy, Saxo offers individual shares, bonds, options and futures from one account. CFDs appear on the French fee schedule only, not on the Dutch or Belgian ones.
Saxo Bank fees: branch by branch
Saxo charges a percentage of each order with a minimum that depends on the exchange. There is no custody fee on French, Dutch or Belgian accounts, but the Dutch branch charges a monthly service fee instead.
Stocks and ETFs cost 0.08% on the entry tier, 0.05% on the middle tier and 0.03% on the top tier, subject to a minimum per exchange. On Euronext the minimum is €2, so a €1,000 ETF order costs €2 and a €10,000 order costs €8.
The Dutch branch also caps the Euronext commission at €150 per order on the entry tier and €75 on the two higher tiers. The French and Belgian schedules state no cap.
No custody fee in France, the Netherlands or Belgium. The French exception is unlisted securities held inside a PEA: 0.4% of plan value plus €25 per line per year.
Dutch accounts pay a service fee of 0.01% of portfolio value per month (excluding derivatives), capped at €40. It comes back the following month as trading credit valid for one month, so it only nets to zero if you trade that month. On €50,000 that is €5 a month.
| Exchange (stocks and ETFs) | Entry tier | Middle tier | Top tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Euronext (Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Lisbon) | 0.08% (min €2) | 0.05% (min €2) | 0.03% (min €2) |
| Deutsche Börse Xetra | 0.08% (min €3) | 0.05% (min €3) | 0.03% (min €3) |
| Deutsche Börse Frankfurt | 0.08% (min €5) | 0.05% (min €5) | 0.03% (min €5) |
| Borsa Italiana (Milan) | 0.08% (min €3) | 0.05% (min €3) | 0.03% (min €3) |
| London Stock Exchange | 0.08% (min £3) | 0.05% (min £3) | 0.03% (min £3) |
| Irish Stock Exchange | 0.12% (min €5) | 0.08% (min €5) | 0.05% (min €5) |
| NYSE / Nasdaq | 0.08% (min $1) | 0.05% (min $1) | 0.03% (min $1) |
Tier names: Classic / Platinum / VIP in France; Bronze / Silver / Gold in the Netherlands and Belgium. Percentages and minimums are identical across the three branches for the exchanges shown; the Netherlands also caps each order on Euronext and US exchanges. Sources: Saxo Banque Tarifs 2026 (from 5 May 2026), Saxo Nederland Tarieven Zelf Beleggen (July 2026), Saxo Belgium Tarieven Zelf Beleggen (from 1 October 2025). Verified September 2026.
| Fee | France | Netherlands | Belgium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Custody fee | €0 (except unlisted securities in a PEA) | €0 | €0 |
| Service fee | None stated | 0.01%/month, max €40, returned as one-month trading credit | None stated |
| FX conversion | 0.25% | 0.25% | 0.25% |
| Recurring ETF purchases | €0 (PEPS, 20 ETFs) | €0 (AutoInvest, selection, EUR accounts) | Not quoted |
| Phone order surcharge | €50 | €15 | €15 |
| Outgoing securities transfer | €50 per line | €25 per line | €75 per line |
| Account opening and closing | Free | Free | Free |
| Inactivity fee | None (listed as free) | Not on schedule | Not on schedule |
Sources: the three branch fee schedules named above. Verified September 2026. Confirm current rates on Saxo’s official pricing page for your country before opening.
In France, Saxo states no minimum deposit for Classic. Platinum starts at a €200,000 initial deposit and VIP at €850,000. Saxo France also runs Saxo Rewards: 120,000 points qualifies for Platinum and 500,000 for VIP, with €10,000 of stock or ETF trading earning 250 points, counted over the current and previous three months. Reaching Platinum by trading alone takes around €4.8 million of volume in that window, so for a buy-and-hold investor the deposit route is the realistic one.
In the Netherlands and Belgium, Silver starts at €200,000 and Gold at €1,000,000. We found no Saxo Rewards page for the Dutch or Belgian sites.
Only the top tier earns interest. In the Netherlands, Gold accounts earn the Saxo benchmark rate minus 1% on cash above €100,000, floored at 0%. In Belgium, credit interest applies to Gold accounts only, with nothing on the first €20,000. In France, interest is limited to VIP accounts outside a PEA, and Saxo publishes no current rate we can cite.
Saxo ETF savings plans: France and the Netherlands
Saxo prices recurring ETF buying differently in each branch. In France and the Netherlands scheduled purchases carry no commission; sell orders use the standard commission everywhere.
The Plan Épargne Programmé Saxo buys on the 5th of each month with no purchase commission, no monthly fee, no minimum deposit and no minimum or maximum monthly amount. It holds up to 10 instruments per sub-account and up to 10 sub-accounts. If your balance is short, the whole month’s purchase is skipped rather than partly executed.
The list has 20 ETFs: 14 Amundi, 5 iShares and 1 SPDR, with 15 listed on Euronext Paris and 5 on Xetra. PEPS is not available inside a PEA, even though six of the eligible funds carry “PEA” in their names.
Scheduled purchases cost €0, but only for a selection of funds and ETFs on the SaxoInvestor platform, and only on EUR-denominated accounts.
The catch is the service fee. Because AutoInvest purchases are free, there is no commission for the monthly service-fee credit to offset, and that credit expires after one month. An AutoInvest-only investor with €50,000 at Saxo pays about €5 a month that never comes back.
Saxo’s platforms: SaxoTrader and SaxoInvestor
Saxo runs two platforms, and every account gets both under one login. You can switch between them depending on what you are doing.
The advanced platform, on web, mobile and desktop. It carries the full product range, including margin and leveraged products, with detailed charting and analytics. The desktop app supports multi-screen layouts. OpenAPI and FIX API access is available for automated setups.
The simpler platform, on web and mobile, covering stocks, bonds, mutual funds and ETFs with a portfolio overview and basic charts. In the Netherlands it is also where AutoInvest runs.
You can log in to a funded Saxo account from TradingView’s own platform, using a free TradingView account, and trade stocks, single-stock CFDs, forex and futures there at the same costs as on Saxo’s platforms. Options are not supported through TradingView. There is no demo mode on the connection; TradingView’s paper trading is the substitute.
Regulation and deposit protection
All three branches operate under one Danish banking licence, so the protection mechanism is the same whether you are served from Paris, Amsterdam or Brussels.
Saxo Bank A/S is supervised by the Danish FSA. In June 2023 the Danish FSA designated it a Systemically Important Financial Institution (SIFI), a classification for institutions of particular importance to the national economy that comes with stricter capital requirements. The French branch, Saxo Banque, is additionally overseen by the ACPR and the AMF.
Cash is covered by the Danish deposit guarantee scheme, Garantiformuen, up to €100,000 per depositor across all accounts at Saxo, with payout within 7 business days of the scheme being activated. On a joint account the limit applies to each holder separately. French clients are paid through the French FGDR and Dutch clients through De Nederlandsche Bank, both acting on the Danish fund’s instructions.
Deposits, withdrawals and transfers
Moving cash in and out is free in France and Belgium. Moving securities out is where Saxo charges, and the price depends on the branch.
- France — card deposits, instant transfers and outgoing cash transfers are free.
- Belgium — incoming, internal and outgoing cash transfers are free; foreign-currency transfers may carry intermediary bank costs.
- Netherlands — the Dutch schedule we use does not price cash transfers; check with Saxo Nederland.
- France — €50 per line (€15 per line out of a PEA or PEA-PME, max €150).
- Netherlands — €25 per line.
- Belgium — €75 per line.
- Incoming and internal securities transfers are free in the Netherlands and Belgium.
Saxo Bank vs IBKR vs DEGIRO
The cheapest of the three depends on your exchange, order size and how much currency you convert. Here is how they line up on the same conditions.
| Feature | Saxo Bank (entry tier) | IBKR (Fixed) | DEGIRO |
|---|---|---|---|
| Euronext ETF order | 0.08% (min €2) | 0.05% (min €3) + €0.75 exchange fee | €3 (€2 + €1 handling) on most exchanges; €1 on Core Selection products |
| Xetra ETF order | 0.08% (min €3) | 0.05% (min €3) | Varies by country entity |
| Custody fee | None (FR, NL, BE) | None | None |
| Other holding charge | NL service fee 0.01%/month, max €40 | None | Connectivity fee €2.50 per exchange per year, max 0.25% of account value |
| FX conversion | 0.25% | 0.03% automatic; spot order from 0.002% (min USD 2) | 0.25% (AutoFX) |
| Recurring ETF purchases | €0 in FR (PEPS) and NL (AutoInvest) | Recurring Investments for shares; ETF eligibility not stated | No scheduled order type in its order execution policy |
| Legal form | Danish bank (SIFI) | Not a bank (IBKR’s own description) | Dutch branch of flatexDEGIRO Bank SE |
| Bonds, options, futures | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Sources: Saxo French, Dutch and Belgian fee schedules; IBKR European stock commissions and pricing pages; DEGIRO 2026 fee schedules and order execution policy. Verified September 2026. DEGIRO: Currency or external product and spread costs may apply.
On a Euronext ETF order, Saxo’s 0.08% with a €2 minimum beats IBKR Fixed’s €3 minimum plus the €0.75 Euronext ETF exchange fee on every order below roughly €4,690. A €2,500 order costs €2.00 at Saxo and €3.75 at IBKR. Above €4,690, IBKR is cheaper. On Xetra both charge €3 up to €3,750, and IBKR is cheaper above that. For monthly buyers in France or the Netherlands, Saxo’s €0 recurring purchases have no confirmed IBKR equivalent for ETFs.
Currency conversion goes the other way. IBKR’s automatic conversion costs 0.03% against Saxo’s 0.25%, so anyone regularly buying USD-listed assets from a euro account pays noticeably less at IBKR. See our IBKR vs Saxo Bank comparison.
DEGIRO is an execution-only broker. Its Core Selection covers all ETFs, ETCs and ETNs listed on Tradegate Exchange, over 1,000 products, at €1 per order in handling costs. Currency or external product and spread costs may apply. Neither broker charges custody, and both charge 0.25% on automatic FX. Saxo’s advantages are free recurring purchases in France and the Netherlands and a lower minimum on small Euronext orders outside Core Selection; DEGIRO’s connectivity fee and Saxo’s Dutch service fee are the holding charges to compare. See our DEGIRO vs Saxo Bank comparison.
Who Saxo Bank fits — and who it doesn’t
- French residents who want a free monthly ETF plan from PEPS’s 20-ETF list, held outside a PEA.
- Dutch residents using AutoInvest on a EUR account who have weighed the monthly service fee.
- Investors placing Euronext ETF orders below roughly €4,690, where Saxo undercuts IBKR Fixed.
- Investors who want bonds, options and futures from the same account as their ETFs.
- Anyone who wants their broker to be a Danish bank designated a SIFI.
- Regular buyers of USD-listed assets: 0.25% FX adds up against IBKR’s 0.03%.
- Xetra-focused buyers placing orders above €3,750, where IBKR Fixed is cheaper.
- Dutch buy-and-hold investors with large portfolios who rarely trade, since the service fee (up to €40 a month) goes unrecovered.
- Residents of Germany or Spain looking for local Saxo pricing, which does not exist.
- Anyone who expects to move securities out soon, especially from Belgium at €75 per line.
With no custody fee in France, the Netherlands or Belgium, Saxo is no longer a big-portfolio-only broker. Its costs come from exchange minimums, 0.25% FX and, in the Netherlands, the service fee. If you buy euro-listed ETFs in modest amounts, especially through PEPS or AutoInvest, Saxo is competitive. If you convert currency often or place large Xetra orders, IBKR costs less.
Check the current terms before you open an account
Saxo’s fees, tiers and savings plans differ by branch. Confirm the schedule for your country of residence, and compare it with IBKR on your own order size and currency needs. Investing involves risk of loss.
Go deeper
Frequently asked questions
Is Saxo Bank safe for European investors?
Saxo Bank A/S is a Danish credit institution supervised by the Danish FSA (licence no. 1149), and it was designated a Systemically Important Financial Institution in June 2023, which brings stricter capital requirements. Cash is covered by the Danish deposit guarantee scheme (Garantiformuen) up to €100,000 per depositor. The guarantee covers cash only: shares, ETFs and bonds are not covered, and no regulatory status protects you against investment losses.
What does Saxo Bank charge to trade ETFs?
The entry tier (Classic in France, Bronze in the Netherlands and Belgium) charges 0.08% of the order value with a minimum that depends on the exchange: €2 on Euronext, €3 on Xetra and €5 on Deutsche Börse Frankfurt. A €10,000 ETF order on Euronext costs €8. The Netherlands also caps the commission at €150 per Euronext order on the entry tier.
Does Saxo Bank charge a custody fee?
No, not on French, Dutch or Belgian accounts. The one French exception is unlisted securities held inside a PEA, charged 0.4% of plan value plus €25 per line per year. Dutch accounts instead pay a service fee of 0.01% of portfolio value per month, capped at €40, which is returned the following month as trading credit valid for one month.
Does Saxo Bank offer an ETF savings plan?
In France, the Plan Épargne Programmé Saxo (PEPS) buys from a list of 20 ETFs on the 5th of each month with no purchase commission, no monthly fee and no minimum amount, but it is not available inside a PEA. In the Netherlands, AutoInvest purchases cost €0 for a selection of funds and ETFs on SaxoInvestor, for EUR accounts only. We have not confirmed Belgian AutoInvest pricing against a Belgian document, so we do not quote it. Sell orders use the standard commission everywhere.
What is the minimum deposit for Saxo Bank?
Saxo France states no minimum deposit for the Classic tier. Platinum starts at a €200,000 initial deposit and VIP at €850,000 in France. In the Netherlands and Belgium, Silver starts at €200,000 and Gold at €1,000,000.
Can I reach a higher Saxo tier without the deposit threshold?
In France, yes, through Saxo Rewards points: 120,000 points qualifies for Platinum and 500,000 for VIP. Each €10,000 of stock or ETF trading earns 250 points, counted over the current and previous three months, so Platinum by trading alone takes around €4.8 million of volume in that window. We found no Saxo Rewards page for the Dutch or Belgian sites.
How does Saxo Bank compare to Interactive Brokers on cost?
It depends on the exchange and order size. On a Euronext ETF order Saxo charges 0.08% with a €2 minimum, while IBKR Fixed charges 0.05% with a €3 minimum plus a €0.75 exchange fee, so Saxo is cheaper below roughly €4,690 per order. On Xetra both charge €3 up to €3,750, above which IBKR is cheaper. IBKR is much cheaper on currency conversion: 0.03% against Saxo’s 0.25%.
Which platforms does Saxo Bank offer?
Two: SaxoTrader, the advanced platform for web, mobile and desktop with the full product range, and SaxoInvestor, a simpler web and mobile platform for stocks, bonds, mutual funds and ETFs. Every account gets both. You can also connect a funded Saxo account to TradingView to trade stocks, forex and futures, though options are not supported there.
What does it cost to transfer securities out of Saxo?
It depends on the branch: €50 per line in France, €25 per line in the Netherlands and €75 per line in Belgium. Cash transfers are free in France and Belgium.
Does Saxo Bank pay interest on cash?
Only on the top tier. In the Netherlands, Gold accounts earn the Saxo benchmark rate minus 1% on cash above €100,000, floored at 0%. In Belgium, credit interest applies to Gold accounts only, with no interest on the first €20,000. In France, interest is limited to VIP accounts outside a PEA, and Saxo publishes no current rate we can cite.
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Some of the links on this site are affiliate links, meaning we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you if you sign up through them. This does not affect our reviews or recommendations — we only feature products we genuinely believe are useful for investors. This site provides educational content only, not personalized investment advice. Investments can lose value and past performance does not guarantee future results. You are responsible for your own financial decisions and for confirming the tax and legal rules that apply in your country.