Step-by-Step Guide: How to buy an ETF with Saxo in 2025
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In early 2024, Saxo massively adapted their fees and became a very interesting broker for Swiss investors. Many investors are starting to use it. And I have started using it as my secondary broker.
This guide will show how to buy an ETF directly from the SaxoTraderGo interface. And we will also see how to deposit money into your account from this interface and even how to convert currencies if necessary. So, we will cover all the steps to make your first investment with Saxo!
By the end of the guide, you will know how to buy an ETF on Saxo!
Saxo interfaces
Start investing with a Swiss broker at incredible fees! Start trading with Saxo Bank and get 200 CHF in trading credits.
- Low currency conversion fee
- Swiss broker
Like most brokers, Saxo has multiple interfaces.
- SaxoTraderGo: This is the default web and mobile interface for most investors.
- SaxoTraderPro: This is the advanced desktop interface for active investors, with support for multiple monitors, for instance.
- SaxoInvestor: This is the newest web and mobile interface, suited for simple investors.
In theory, SaxoInvestor is the interface most suited for passive investors, but I have not been convinced by this interface. So, I am mostly using SaxoTraderGo. This article will then focus on this interface. If you are interested in the other interfaces, you can let me know in the comments below, and I will think about covering SaxoInvestor as well.
You can do everything you need from the SaxoTraderGo interface. It provides you with access to stocks, ETFs, bonds, options and more. And it gives you a lot of information about each stock and ETF, likely much more than you require.
For my investing, I only require a tiny portion of the features of this interface, and I try to ignore all the noise outside my operations.
In this article, we will see how to do the necessary basic operations with SaxoTraderGo for your Saxo account.
Transferring money to Saxo
Transferring money to Saxo is easy. You do not need to announce deposits in advance, you can simply send wire transfers to your account, and it will be taken into account. You also do not need to add a complex message to your wire transfer.
You can access the information from the transfer using the top right button Fund.
After having clicked on the Fund button, you will be presented with a QR code that you can simply scan with your favorite mobile bank to deposit money into your Saxo account. If you prefer, you can also click on Account Details and you will see all the bank information for your transfer. Using a QR code to transfer money is simple, since that is the standard way to pay bills in Switzerland. In most cases, a transfer from Neon to Saxo was done on the same day for me.
Converting currency
When you do a trade in a foreign currency, the currency will be automatically converted. For instance, if your base currency is CHF and you try to buy Microsoft shares in USD, Saxo will automatically convert from CHF to USD before buying the shares. This conversion has a price of 0.25%.
You can also do so some manual conversions. However, these are significantly more complicated. On top of being complicated, there are also some conditions. For instance, you cannot convert less than 1000 USD at once. Below that, the platform will simply prevent you from executing an order. And if you do an operation below 50’000 USD, you will pay extra fees that do not make it very worthwhile. However, after this threshold, it becomes interesting because the fee would be cheaper than the default currency conversion fee of 0.25%. For instance, a 50’000 USD purchase would only come at 0.18% fee.
However, this system is really only if you are here to trade Forex. It is not really meant to then use this as a currency for your operations. If you really want to keep your USD, you will need to create a subaccount in a different currency so that you can hold multiple currencies in your account.
If you really wish to do a forex trade, you can search for a currency pair (USDCHF) for instance, and then you will be presented with a window to configure your order. You can choose, for instance, the Quick Trade feature, which works well for simple investors, but you can also do standard market or limit orders.
Overall, it is not very practical to convert currency on Saxo. However, in most cases, you do not need to do so since the most efficient way for standard investors is to let Saxo do automated conversions for us.
Buy an ETF on Saxo
Once you have enough cash on your broker account, you can buy some shares of any ETF. In this example, we will use the VT (Vanguard Total World) ETF. If you already have some shares in your portfolio, you can simply click on the position, and then you will see the information about the share and be able to buy it. If you have not yet bought them before, you can use the search function on the top right. For instance, you can search VT:
The one you are looking for is the first one. On the subtitles, you can see the ticker (VT) and arcx which indicates NYSE ARCA (and the flag validates this as well). You can also see that this is an ETF, which is precisely what we want. Overall, I find that the search function works quite well. You can also search by name.
And it also works the same way if we search for a Swiss ETF:
Once you have found the share you are looking for, you can simply click on it, and you will be brought to the information view of the ETF.
On this view, you can find a lot of information about each ETF. It is not as complete as on some other brokers, but it is more than enough for simple investors. From there, you can then start trading by clicking on the Trade button on the top right.
From this view, you can then configure your order. In this example, I used a market order to buy 10 shares of VT. We can see that the trade fees are presented on the screen. And if you click on it, you will get the detailed information about the fees. You can use many order types, but the two common ones will be Limit and Market. I only use market orders. And if you select another order type, you can also select the duration, which is generally only useful if you are doing some bets on the market.
Once you place the order, you will need to confirm it.
As usual, you should make sure your order is correct and then click Confirm to place the order on the exchange. If you are doing a market order and if the market is open, the order will be instantly executed. When using a limit order, it will depend on your limit price and on the market.
If you then go into your transactions, you should find a list of all the transactions and their details.
In this example, we can see a 5000 CHF transaction to buy the CHSPI ETF. The total cost came down to 7.81 CHF and about half of this cost came from the Swiss stamp duty, which is due by each Swiss broker.
And finally, if you go into your portfolio, you will see the new position.
On this view, you can see the VT and CHSPI shares. You can also see how your shares are doing and how much they are worth. From this portfolio view, you can also click on any position, and then you will be able to trade it quickly. Once you have bought shares of each of your ETF in your portfolio, you will not need to search again and things will be simpler.
Overall, buying shares on Saxo is easy. I think some actions could be made more obvious on the interface, but apart from that, it is pretty good.
FAQ
How much does it cost to convert currency on Saxo?
Converting currency automatically on IB will cost you 0.25%, regardless of the amount. Doing a manual conversion through the Forex system can be cheaper, but only for very high amounts, and the fees depend on each currency pair.
Are the fees the same for each Saxo interface?
Yes. There are multiple ways to trade with Saxo, but the fees are the same for each of them.
Conclusion
Start investing with a Swiss broker at incredible fees! Start trading with Saxo Bank and get 200 CHF in trading credits.
- Low currency conversion fee
- Swiss broker
Overall, trading with Saxo is simple. The only thing that is not obvious is currency conversion, but since automated currency conversions are almost always cheaper, it is perfectly easy to do everything with automated currency conversions.
Currently, I am only using the SaxoTraderGo interface. I may try again the SaxoInvestor application because it is supposed to be even easier for passive investors like me. Please tell me if you want me to try other interfaces as well.
If you would like to learn more about Saxo, you should read my Saxo Review.
As usual, I should mention that I am only using Saxo as a secondary broker. My primary broker is Interactive Brokers, and it can be much cheaper than Saxo, especially for US shares. On the other hand, Saxo slightly easier to use than IB, especially for deposits.
What about you? What do you think of trading with Saxo?
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Hello Poor Swiss,
I started using Saxo since last summer as my secondary broker as well. Overall happy with the platform but I must say that they policy on the tax report or ludicrous. I have one ETF on my saxo portfolio and I need to pay 120 Fr to generate a tax report which is not even delivered before late March.
What are your thoughts on this?
Hi Stavros
Yes, I agree that the way they handle tax statements is completely stupid. The simple fact that it takes one month to generate a report than a computer should (hopefully…) does not make any sense for me. And it’s really not clear on the platofrm what happens with it.
The fact that we have to pay is also quite dumb, but kind of the standard for brokers in Switzerland :(
Is the tax report mandatory, or attaching an activityn satement to the tax declaration would be enough?
I don’t think it’s mandatory at all. I am using IBKR myself and never had a tax report. FOr Saxo, I generated a portfolio report and a dividend report for my taxes.
I’ve been doing it wrong then. I was converting CHF to USD and then buying VT. Somewhere I read that Saxo was charging negative interesr for trading in a currency that you did not actually have, hence I was doing the conversion myself before trading. Good to hear there is no need for that.
It’s not really wrong. The first thing I did with Saxo is the same as you. And then, I realized it was not necessary and it was more convenient to let Saxo do it automatically.
When using a swiss broker, why not use index funds instead of ETFs and not have to pay stamp duty?
Hi Joe
The main reason is that we have access to better ETFs than index funds.
For instance, we have access to US ETFs, but not US index funds.
I wish they could simply use index funds, directly from Vanguard, it would be simpler.
IIUC you should be qualified as “Professional account” to be able to buy US ETF, like VT
And according to https://www.home.saxo/accounts/pro to do so, you should meet at least two of the following criteria:
– Have a financial portfolio that exceeds USD 500,000
– Have traded (>=1 trade) in Qualifying Products of Significant Size every quarter for the past four consecutive quarters and have completed a total of 40 trades over the course of a year.
– Work, or have worked, in the financial sector for at least one year
Am I right?
Hi Kanstantsin,
You are both right and wrong :)
These conditions are right, but for EU investors, not for CH investors. In our case, the regulations related to these conditions do not apply to us, so we can still buy VT :)
Oh, I see,
Thanks for clarification, in this case it makes sense to try :)
thanks I meant why using it as “second” broker, why not buying VT with Saxo, you still prefer IB?
Oh, sorry, I did not get your question.
IB is still much cheaper to buy VT and yes, I still prefer IB. Saxo is here to provide diversity in case something happen to IB. And currently, I have split my shares: 85% VT at IB and 15% CHSPI at Saxo.
Well Saxo is OK as long as you trade in standard shares, funds or ETFs…
because if you want to invest in a share on Bern Exchange for example Haute Capital share, Saxo will charge 200 $ !
Indeed, my reviews are based from a perspective of an ETF investor (me!).
Does Saxo even support Bern Exchange? I don’t find it on the commissions list.
Hi Baptiste, any thought on why you keep Saxo only a second broker? is it just because of the fees per transaction?
Hi Gianluca
They have greatly improved their fees, are well-regulated in Switzerland, and provide me with access to all the ETFs I need.
I could have chosen Swissquote, but I think they are too expensive, and they do not offer me any features that Saxo does not have.