Hello hello!
Hello, hello!
Swissquote – does the name ring a bell?
If you follow my YouTube channel, you know I often talk about Swissquote when discussing financial investments to grow your wealth. And for good reason: it’s a bank that lets you manage your money via a web and mobile application. A renowned Swiss bank that’s rapidly expanding!
But Swissquote is much more than that. In this article, I’ll introduce you to the many services this platform offers.
3-2-1, here we gooooo!
Let’s start at the beginning: the 3rd pillar
If you’ve browsed my blog and channel, you know I emphasize building wealth to live comfortably throughout your life and ensure a peaceful retirement. Having an overview of your finances and a 3rd Pillar are, in my opinion, the first things a person should do to secure a good retirement, even before investing in stocks or other securities. But if you follow my blog or channel, you also know that I prefer 3rd Pillars invested in financial securities.
And that’s precisely what Swissquote offers with its new 3a Easy solution—a simple solution that delivers returns. If you choose the savings option, you’ll benefit from an interest rate of up to 1% with no fees. If you choose the investment option, you can select from three strategies carefully crafted by experts based on your risk profile: balanced with 55% in stocks, dynamic with 75% in stocks, and ambitious with 97% in stocks. By choosing these strategies, you’ll incur a fee of 0.6%, but these fees may decrease. The minimum deposit amount is 100 CHF, and the minimum amount to reinvest is also 100 CHF. You can calculate the potential returns directly on the Swissquote website and see different scenarios based on the strategy you choose, the amounts invested, and your personal information. Activating it couldn’t be easier. Simply open an account with Swissquote (using my super code MKT_MONEYMDAM), add a new account, select 3a Easy, choose the strategy based on your objectives and risk profile, and watch your wealth grow.
Also, please note that you can open multiple 3a easy accounts.
Invest Easy solution to delegate everything
Once you’ve opened a 3rd Pillar, you can focus on your first investments. While I enjoy selecting and analyzing the stocks, ETFs, and cryptos in which I invest, it’s time-consuming and not something everyone is interested in. Swissquote understands that.
For those who want to invest but don’t have the time or desire to spend hours on it, Swissquote offers the Invest Easy product. A simple investment and savings solution for those seeking hassle-free investing. Just choose from predefined strategies based on your risk tolerance. The main advantage is that you can choose between three investment strategies predefined by professionals, without any hassle, and enjoy returns, allowing you to watch your wealth grow again, instead of seeing it eroded by inflation by leaving it sitting in a standard bank account.
With the cautious strategy, 58% of the amount invested is in bonds, 27% in equities, 10% in property and 5% in commodities.
With the balanced strategy, 50% of the amount invested is in equities, 35% in bonds, 10% in property and 5% in commodities.
With the ambitious strategy, 75% of the amount is invested in equities, 15% in bonds, 5% in real estate, 5% in commodities and 1% in crypto.
With the bold strategy, 95% of the amount is invested in equities and 5% in crypto.
This is a good way to invest in crypto if you are scared to invest on your own 😉
The costs and fees are explained transparently on the Swissquote website.
Another great move by Swissquote is that you can make projections of how much you could have in 10 years, based on your chosen strategy, the amount of your initial deposit, the amount of recurring transfers since DCA is always the best strategy 😉 and the frequency of recurring transfers, e.g. weekly, monthly or annually.
Debit card with cashback
Another service is the Swissquote debit card. I’m mentioning it because it’s quite a revolution.
While the physical bright card has fees, the virtual card, called the light card, does not. However, the physical card is free for the first six months. Depending on when you read this article, my code MKT_MONEYMADAM may entitle you to a year’s free use of this card, so to find out, write to me below the article. Normally, after the first six free months, you will have to pay CHF 6.90/month for the physical card. They recently launched the Elite card, at CHF 39/month, the benefits of which we will see later.
These cards allow you to pay in 13 different currencies without transaction fees. And in addition to currencies, you can also use your cryptocurrencies for payments. Although this is not a solution I personally use – as I prefer to keep my cryptocurrencies and see their value increase rather than use them to make purchases – it is still good to know.
Additionally, all three cards are compatible with Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay digital wallets, yet another advantage for those who like to pay with these methods. All three cards allow you to make free domestic payments and use E-Bill and Twint. However, only the physical Bright and Elite cards allow you to make free SEPA payments and withdraw cash free of charge from ATMs in Switzerland.
Among other benefits of these debit cards are the cashback in trading credit with each use, whether with the physical or virtual card. However, the physical card offers a higher cashback percentage than the virtual card. For payments in foreign currencies, you’ll get 0.5% cashback with the Bright card and 0.25% with the Light card. And if you pay in cryptocurrencies, you’ll get 1% with the Bright card and 0.5% with the Light card.
Note that Swissquote allows you to have shared accounts. At the time of writing this article, only one physical card is offered per account. So, if a couple shares an account, one person could use the physical card and the other the digital card, and thus problems would be resolved.
Now that we’ve covered the banking side of things, I’ll explain the advantages of Swissquote for investing.
Using my code MKT_MONEYMADAM when opening your account and making a first deposit of 1,000 CHF on the platform to invest, save, or spend with the Swissquote card, you’ll receive a trading credit of 100 CHF.
Platform to invest in traditional assets
Investing to grow your money is great, but investing in companies aligned with your values is even better. You may want to invest in securities that meet ESG criteria—environmental, social, and governance. Instead of having to search and analyze each security on your own, Swissquote has done the work for us and offers investments that meet ESG criteria, which you can explore on the Inspiration page.
Here’s how to proceed:
1) Choose the topics that interest you, such as gender equality, human rights or any other theme that matches your investor profile.
2) Note down the sectors that do not suit you or are contrary to your principles so that you can exclude them, such as fossil fuels, animal testing, weapons, alcohol, etc. Then, using these ESG filters, you can find ideas for responsible investments.
Super convenient, right?
If you want to go beyond the Invest Easy solution and invest in securities such as ETFs, here’s how to do it! To do so, click on Market & Quotes at the top of the page to access the trading platform. You will find ETFs under Markets – Products – ETF/ETP.
Otherwise, you will find a search bar at the top right. You can search for your ETF or any other financial asset by name, symbol or ISIN. If you would like to see the process on video, please refer to my Swissquote Guide on my YouTube channel.
For today’s example, we are going to buy the Vanguard Total World Stock ETF. To avoid high conversion fees, we will first exchange our CHF for US dollars. To do this, go to Markets, then Forex, and then Converter. Select CHF at the top and the desired currency, in our case USD. To exchange currencies, simply click on “Trade.”
A little tip: exchange rates are usually more favorable on Fridays.
Once the money is converted, we can buy our ETFs. On our e-trading account, search for the ETF by its name, symbol, or ISIN number, which you can easily find on Google by typing Vanguard Total World Stock ISIN. A dropdown menu with a list of financial products will appear. Click on it. Then click on the orange “Trade” button.
On the trading screen, you will see a summary of information including the symbol, name, percentage change for the day, ISIN code, stock exchange, last price, bid and ask prices, with the best bid volume and best ask volume. You will also see the price change for the day.
Since we want to buy, under transaction, we will select the BUY option. We are going to buy one unit, so under quantity, we enter 1. If you want to buy a financial security only once or place orders yourself after doing your own investment analysis, you will need to choose the Limit order. Basically, you know the price at which you want to buy your ETF, and you place an order at a price lower than the current market price. Your order will be executed if the price of the asset falls to your desired price, so you will have to wait. If you choose a Market order, you will buy at the current price and will not have to wait. In my opinion, stop and stop limit orders are not relevant for buying. On the other hand, the recurring order type is an excellent option for buying an asset on a recurring basis, doing what is known as DCA (dollar cost averaging), smoothing out your entry price and not worrying about the question of ‘when to buy’. You will need to choose the frequency (weekly, fortnightly or monthly) and the start date. And there you have it, now you know how to set up a recurring investment on Swissquote 😉
To continue with the Limit order, we’ll enter the price at which we want to buy. As long as the ETF remains above this price, we won’t purchase it. We’ll also enter the date until which we’re willing to wait for our order to be executed. Be aware that if we reach this date and the ETF’s price has never dropped to your desired level, the order will be canceled. So, if you really want the ETF regardless of the price, you can choose the Market order instead. Under “Account,” we’ll select the USD account since we will have made the currency exchange beforehand. At the bottom right, you’ll see the estimated amount. Note that when you place a market order on the Swissquote platform, there’s a 10% margin to prevent the price from spiking up or down depending on the direction of your transaction.
Click on “Prepare order”. To place the order, click on “Place order”. You will see a summary of what you have just placed on the stock market.
You can find this order in the “Orders” section of your account. As long as the status hasn’t been executed, you can cancel the order. Once the status is “Executed,” it means you’ll own the financial asset in question—in our example, the Vanguard ETF. It’s the same process for buying stocks. I actually explained the process of buying stocks in this YouTube video where I introduced Swissquote, which I highly recommend you watch.
To invest in cryptocurrencies
Now, here’s how to buy cryptocurrencies on Swissquote. First, you’ll need to go to your eTrading account. You can access it by clicking on Markets & Quotes in the top menu. Then, at the top right, click on cryptoassets, and you’ll be redirected to the cryptocurrency trading platform on Swissquote.
You’ll arrive on a page displaying your balance, where you can see your crypto positions if you’ve already bought any, or an empty section if you haven’t purchased your first cryptocurrencies yet.
Below that, you’ll see your open orders, meaning purchase orders you’ve placed that haven’t been executed yet.
At the top, you’ll have a balance tab to check your cryptocurrency balance at any time, a market tab to view the cryptocurrency market, an earn tab if you’re interested in staking, order history, transactions, and a help page.
So, to see how to buy a crypto asset, like a cryptocurrency, we’re going to click on the market tab at the top right. You’ll see all the available pairs, like BTC/USD, BTC/EUR. You can filter them by characteristics, such as cryptocurrencies in the metaverse sector, smart contracts, etc.
Here, we’re going to see how to buy Bitcoin. We take the first Bitcoin USD pair and click on Trade. A digital assets contract will appear. I highly recommend you read this document before proceeding. You can save and print this document if you wish, by clicking on Print at the bottom left. If you agree with everything, click on “you confirm that you have read, understood, and accepted each of the conditions presented above.”
The trading mask will then appear, displaying financial information on Bitcoin’s price at the top, such as the buying and selling volume, bid and ask prices, the 24-hour low and high prices. You’ll see a chart where you can perform technical analysis if you wish, such as displaying RSI, MACD, moving averages, etc. You can choose to save this type of analysis for your future investments by clicking save at the top right of the chart. On the right, you’ll have the New Order section to buy or sell your cryptocurrency. Your purchasing power, meaning your available liquidity on the platform, the order type, such as limit if you want to buy at a maximum price because you think the price will drop in the next few days and you want to gain a few hundred or thousand francs, market order to buy at the market price without hassle, or stop limit order, where you’ll need to set the trigger price, which is the price at which the limit order will be executed, and define the limit price, which is the highest price you’re willing to pay for Bitcoin, slightly above the trigger price you’ve chosen. Personally, I use the limit order type, which is more than sufficient.
At the bottom, you can choose the amount you want to buy, either in Bitcoin, for example, 0.1 Bitcoin, or in dollars, for example, 1,000 CHF worth of Bitcoin. To illustrate how a purchase works, I’ll buy $50 worth of Bitcoin with a limit order. So I select the limit order type, insert the price at which I want to buy. In the short term, I think Bitcoin will drop, so I’ll enter a price below the current price. Then I click on USD and insert 50 to buy $50 worth of Bitcoin. At the bottom, I’ll see the estimated amount of Bitcoin I will own, including fees. Then I click on “Place a New Buy Order.” A summary of the order will appear, and if I’m okay with it, all I have to do is click “Place Order.” Below, I can find the order and its status, which will be pending until it’s executed. Once it’s executed, you can find it under the balance tab at the top right, under positions.
If you need help placing an order, you can always call Swissquote’s customer service. They are very responsive and can assist you.
If you now want to sell your cryptocurrencies, instead of selecting “buy,” you’ll need to select the “sell” tab on the trading mask. You’ll see the amount of cryptocurrency you own, available for sale. Again, you can choose between limit, market, or stop limit regarding the order type. If you select the limit order, you’ll need to select the minimum price you want to sell at. For example, if the price is $100,000 and you want to sell at $120,000, you enter the amount of $120,000. If you select market, you’ll simply sell at the market price without any hassle. If you choose the stop limit order type, you’ll need to select the trigger price, which is the price at which the limit order will be executed, and the limit price, for which it’s recommended to choose a price slightly lower than the trigger price. Finally, you’ll just need to enter the amount in Bitcoin or dollars you want to sell, then click on “Place a New Sell Order” and “Place Order.”
If you want to do staking, which means earning interest on your locked-in cryptocurrency amounts, simply go to the “Earn” section at the top right, and click on the orange “Stake” button. For each crypto available for staking, you’ll see the estimated rewards per year, such as 4% on ETH, 6.24% on Solana, etc. You’ll be able to see the reward issuance, so how often you receive a percentage, the total rewards earned, and pending rewards. For example, if you want to stake your ETH, you’ll click on the “Stake” button. Like me, you’ll have a document to read, accept the conditions, and click on “I Agree.” Then, you’ll need to select the amount in ETH you want to stake. Note that the minimum possible is 0.001 ETH. You’ll be able to see the entry lock period, here 7 days for ETH, as well as the approximate rewards you’ll earn. Then, all that’s left is to click on “Place Asset in Staking.” You can also unstake your cryptocurrencies if you suddenly want to sell. But be careful, some cryptocurrencies will only be available several days after being unstaked, such as DOT, which requires a 29-day waiting period.
For long-term investors, stacking is still, in my opinion, an excellent solution. But it also has its drawbacks.
As the crypto market is highly volatile and can have a significant impact on your emotions, setting up recurring orders for your crypto assets can be beneficial.
By placing a recurring order, you can not only reduce the volatility of the asset you’re buying but also strengthen your portfolio. To set up a recurring investment in the cryptocurrencies of your choice, you need to go a different route than the Crypto-Asset tab. But don’t worry, it’s super simple. By going to the “Market & Quotes” tab, then on the left to crypto assets, you’ll see the listed cryptocurrencies. If you want to buy a cryptocurrency on a recurring basis, just click on trade next to the desired crypto, in our example the Bitcoin/USD pair, then choose the transaction “buy,” choose the amount in shares for example 0.01 bitcoin or the amount in dollars you want to invest on a recurring basis, select the recurring order type, choose the frequency daily, weekly, every 2 weeks or monthly and choose the start date. It should be noted that only the “Buy” option is available for recurring orders. You’ll see the estimated total amount, including the order fees, which are 1%. Then, all you have to do is press “prepare order.”
And there you have it, all you have to do is chill, and come back once a month to see how your investments are doing. In my opinion, recurring investment is a wonderful solution for dollar-cost averaging, an investment technique that has proven itself with many investors and is one of the most profitable techniques. You distance yourself from emotions, you no longer ask yourself “Is this the right time to buy?” Because the best time to buy was yesterday.
Note that you can set up as many orders as you like, as well as modify and delete them at your convenience.
What about fees?
In terms of investment fees, you will incur up to 1% on cryptocurrencies, CHF 3 to CHF 9 on leading ETFs and from CHF 3 on shares. For 3rd pillar investments, the fee is 0.6%, and up to 0.8% for Invest Easy solutions. If you use the light cards, it will be free; if you choose the bright card option, it will cost £6.90/month after the first 6 months free; and if you choose the Elite card option, it will cost you £39/month. If you add it all up, it’s much cheaper than other traditional banks, for services that are really top notch. You may be able to pay less with other banks and neo-banks, but you will potentially be penalised in terms of the number and/or quality of services. For example, Swissquote’s customer service is available by telephone, can help you place orders and is super responsive. It is also possible that with other banks, you will have lower returns due to hidden fees.
In short, you know that I optimise everything, so if I have chosen this bank for my personal investments, it’s for a reason 😉
So now that I’ve convinced you, remember that by using my code MKT_MONEYMADAM when you open your account and make your first deposit of CHF 1,000 on the platform to invest, save or spend with the Swissquote card, you will receive a trading credit of CHF 100.
Have a great day and… to your investments!
