Dukascopy review: Regulations, platforms, pros, cons, and traders ratings.

I consider Dukascopy to be the best broker I have ever worked with.
I have spent a year developing a quantitative trading platform using Java and Rust, as well as testing manual and automatic FX trading sub-strategies.
I have experience with other FX and futures brokers and used other platforms such as Ninja Trader or MetaTrader.
From my point of view, it more than meets my expectations.
my degree of satisfaction is very high both in terms of the API design, ease of use, documentation, reliability and stability.

The best trading platform I have ever used. It is very complete and easy to use.
It has multiple tools for professional traders and also for beginners.
The Real-time market notifications and trade ideas keep me on top of what's happening.
Excellent.

1) Platform outage is extremely rare: around 2 minutes every two years, on average.
2) JForex Platform is easy to use, simple, stable, fast, comprehensive, many tools (if you need them, or else they are in the background, allowing for a clean, minimalist interface, if you prefer such). It is also very customisable, including indicators, colours, layout.
3) Spreads on FX are very tight, commissions are institutional-cheap level. Very good daily roll rates (specially considering the high level of leverage available).
4) Comprehensive banking, card, account platforms, very well integrated into the trading account.
5) Report generation is easy, fast, simple and you can obtain all levels of report details.
6) Customer Support is OK, fast and polite (not an ubiquitous trait these days).
7) Range of instruments and depth of markets are very good: global, assets classes and single-names.
8) Possible leverage of 200x (whatever you do, don't use such high level of leverage, even for very low volatility assets).
9) Based and regulated in Switzerland.
10) Has existed for 20 years.
11) Mobile platform is excellent (with very high quote numbers, so you can be far from your phone and you'll still see the quote).
12) Allows for multiple simultaneous logins, i.e. it doesn't log you out from the desktop when you log in from the mobile, for example (as some brokers annoying do).
13) Very attractive introducer revenue sharing mechanism. where they rebate 50% of commissions from introduced accounts (I have a friend who makes his living from it).
14) Constantly improving their proprietary JForex platform, fixing bugs, adding indicators, new features; BUT keeping the platform look and feel stable, not changing things around too much, not redressing the whole interface (as some brokers frequently do).
15) Very good demo accounts, with full features and real market flow.
16) The platform has buttons for Position Reversal (i.e. flipping a Long into a Short) and Position Doubling, which facilitate trading immensely, specially for higher frequency trading and even more so in fast and furious market environments.
17) They have the full JForex platform available on Mac. Such an uncommon feature, as most brokers offer Windows-only or a basic version of their platform for Mac (which is usually a limited, iPad-like interface).
18) Above all, the execution is nearly flawless. Slippage is almost non-existent (for FX majors, I don't trade CFDs too frequently).

The only downside:
1) Position sizes are capped at a relatively low ceiling. EUR 15 million for EUR/USD, for example. So, when you get bigger, you might hit this maximum exposure limit. Although I was told that you can speak with them and they will consider, case-by-case, allowing higher position sizes (eventually reducing the maximum leverage available, not allowing positions to be held through the weekend, for example).

I have traded with 9 different brokers throughout the past 14 years. I have traded with Dukascopy for the last 8 years. It is the best, no doubt about it.

Thanks, Dukascopy for continuously improving JForex4, really a great job from the developers. JForex4 is user friendly and has an Economic Calendar and backtest built in.  These help me to not move on to use different tools or keep open another browser to follow the news.

Jan 4, 2024 - 5 Stars Jforex4 is a great tool for trade and friendly users.
The new economic calendar is helpful, the new backend trade helps to improve the strategy.
Will be nice to see some learn links associated with the economic calendar to bring a better understanding of the group and event for each news. I'm happy and satisfied to continue using Dukascopy as my trade platform.

Aug 21, 2023 - 5 Stars Thanks, Dukascopy.
I identify by myself the problem and my mistakes.
Nothing to complain about, the opposite is a great job with Jforex4 and the reliable platform.
The dukascopy team has done an excellent job.

Jan 2, 2023 - 2 Stars I trade since 2019, and to be honest not had so many bad experiences that put me upset until today.
A few days ago, I observe that my position was closed because reached the SL, but the candle does not reach the value, at this moment, only a few candles after.
I contact support and I think the problem was due to slippage. I did not accept the answer from support, but what I can do!!!!
I remove the slippage and today the problem occurs again.
e.g. Sell on 1.0657, move SL to breakeven 1.0656 when the price was in 1.0652, and the price move back to 1.0655. The position was closed 1.06573 (Pay the commissions in this case)
The bad thing is that this happened several times today.

I did a test where at the same line where I put the SL I set a Sell order, the position was closed but the order was not triggered as the SL. (In all cases the candle did not reach the value where SL was set)

Because this happened several times today, I had the opportunity to do another test. When the position was closed I opened at the same time and I did not get 1 pip in advance which can be a potential benefit for me.

Based on this case, is not true that the issue can be caused by high volatility, probably is in the code in this case, and if we lose 1 pip when close, and do not win 1 pip when open means that is not a bug in the code.

In total, I lost 3 positions. The truth is that if the SL was not triggered unduly, I will certainly cover 10 pips (+-50$).

In this case, this issue affected badly the traders.

I opened today an incident whit PrintScreen and wait for the answer from the support.

Let's see if complain here someone looks as should be for this problem!!! unfortunately should be this way.

JForex4 was a remarkable improvement in the tool, Dukascopy has more to do, but I believe the dev team worked on it. As I said before until today was 5 * using Dukascopy to trade. But I think is time for Dukascopy to review the support and your own rules for the support team and maybe start to have support with real trader experience to understand and identify this kind of problem before it happens.
Because if this kind of issue was not corrected, means that is intentional. I only accept bad coding or wrong configuration if the loss is for both sides, some times we lose 1 pip some times Dukascopy loses, but this is clearly not the case here after the test and PrintScreen that I did.

***Attention I will review my post according to the potential answer that I will receive from support, to be fair your this review***

Reply by Dukascopy Support submitted Jan 6, 2023 Dear Trader,

Thank you for taking the time to write your feedback and contacting Dukascopy Support Team.
In regards to the orders in question, we have investigated the execution of the stop-loss order of the position provided to us.

First of all, we would like to highlight that, The Stop Loss order is an unconditional market close order on a trigger, associated to a specific position. The execution process of the stop loss order focuses on the probability of execution. The stop-loss order aims to close the position it is associated with in any market situation, especially in a volatile environment. As a result, the slippage of a stop-loss order cannot be defined at the trader level. Once the stop loss is triggered, the market order sent is unconditional and the order is parametrised accordingly to get the highest possible probability of execution at the best price offered by Dukascopy Bank. All else being equal, increasing the probability of execution places a burden on the price of such an execution, therefore, traders must remain aware, in all circumstances, that a stop loss order is like an option. Depending on the underlying market volatility, the probability of execution likely involves a slippage amount. The traders must keep in mind that a stop loss order execution price involves more slippage on average than traditional orders due to the quest for the higher probability of execution.

Additionally please note that, assuming that the order validation mode is disabled, a stop loss order to sell, placed with a trigger price equal or above the market bid price at the time the order is sent, and/or a stop loss order to buy placed with a trigger price equal or below the market ask price at the time the order is sent, will be triggered for execution immediately and without prior warning. As soon as the conditions for triggering are satisfied, the orders are sent for execution immediately, which was exactly what happened in your case. We’ve found that the stop-loss in question was sent to us on 2023-01-02 at the time when the order was received by our system the market bid price was corresponding to the condition of your stop-loss order, and fulfilled the order conditions. Your stop-loss order was therefore triggered and executed.

The order was executed with no slippage relative to the market price. For reference, we have provided all the documentation and screenshot in the support response to your original email.

We have not been able to find any fault in the execution of the stop-loss order in question. Please clarify your complaint if you disagree with our investigation results.

In case you shall have any additional questions please contact me at cs@dukascopy.com and I will be glad to assist and answer all your questions

Best regards
Dukascopy Support Team

I have a first-hand experience with Dukascopy, and I am delighted to share my positive feedback. My husband and I had a joint live trading account with Dukascopy, and we were impressed by the quality of their services and the user-friendly features they offer.

One of the standout features we appreciated was the hedging capability in their system. Being able to fully hedge our trades and reduce the margin to zero was truly remarkable. This feature allowed us to manage our risk effectively and provided us with peace of mind during volatile market conditions.

Another aspect that impressed us was the accuracy of the pricing. Unlike some other platforms where the executed orders may differ from the selected prices, Dukascopy ensured that the price we opened and closed a trade at was exactly the same as the price we had chosen. This transparency and precision added to our confidence in the platform.

Dukascopy's customer support team deserves special recognition. Whenever we had queries or needed assistance, they promptly responded to our communications. Their professionalism and willingness to help made our experience with Dukascopy even more positive.

In conclusion, our experience with Dukascopy has been exceptional. The platform's hedging feature, accurate pricing, and responsive customer support have made trading a seamless and enjoyable experience for us. I highly recommend Dukascopy to anyone looking for a reliable and user-friendly forex trading platform.

I would like to express my gratitude to Dukascopy for providing such a fantastic trading environment. Their commitment to customer satisfaction is evident in their services. I look forward to continuing my journey with Dukascopy and exploring more of their offerings.

Fozia Feisal Rahimtoola