Saxo Trading Platform For Mac Review

SaxoTrader is Saxo Bank’s flagship stock trading platform and here we take a closer look at trading with the SaxoTrader Pro and SaxoTrader Go trading apps.

Although it didn’t quite match up to TradingView for Mac which is the best stock trading software for Macs we’ve used, we were still impressed with Saxo’s macOS trading app.

Here we take a closer look at the key features, usability, and who it’s aimed at.

Overview

Saxo Bank was founded in 1992 and is based in Copenhagen, Denmark.

It’s therefore a popular choice for Danish and European traders although it’s available to traders in selected countries worldwide (it is not available in the USA though).

At the time of writing, Saxo Trader claims to have over 1 million clients so it’s a well established service with a long track record in the trading industry.

The bank and its trading platform is fully regulated by several financial service authorities worldwide including the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) and the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Customer funds are therefore protected up to a certain limit which will depend on your region.

SaxoTrader is available in two versions: SaxoTrader Pro for professional desktop trading and SaxoTrader Go for more user friendly web based and mobile trading.

You don’t have to be a Saxo Bank customer to use either platform and anyone can sign-up for them as long as you provide the requested ID documents.

Key Features

Saxo TraderPro has a wide range of features, the most important being:

• Extensive Market Access: Saxo Bank offers access to over 70,000 financial instruments, including forex, stocks, ETFs, bonds, options, futures, and cryptocurrencies.
• Advanced Charting Tools: Saxo Trader offers over 50 technical indicators and drawing tools allow you to conduct in-depth technical analysis.
• Multi-screen Support: You can customize your workspace across multiple monitors, which is useful for traders managing various assets simultaneously.
• Fast Execution: Saxo executes orders quickly, which is essential for day traders and those dealing with volatile markets. There are also risk management tools to prevent impulsive or accidental placing of trades.
• Account Shield: Saxo’s Account Shield feature puts a stop loss on your entire account. If triggered, it closes all of your open positions (except bonds and mutual funds holdings) and cancels all orders to preserve your funding capital.

Generally, Saxo TraderPro is aimed at more advanced traders than beginners whereas SaxoTrader Go is better for those relatively new to stock trading.

However, SaxoTrader Pro offers more features, customization and controls than SaxoTrader Go.

Usability on Mac

Installing the SaxoTrader Pro Mac desktop is simply a case of downloading it from the Saxo site and then logging-in with your Saxo details.

The Saxo app works natively on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs which is always a bonus in our eyes as it should ensure more reliable performance and stability.

If you don’t have a SaxoTrader account, you’ll need to sign-up although this requires uploading ID documents and could take a few days to be verified by Saxo.

Performance

We found that Saxo TraderPro generally runs smoothly on a Mac, although it feels like the platform was originally developed with Windows in mind.

The platform offers a wealth of technical indicators, though retrieving these can slow down performance, especially if you’re running them across several assets.

There were occasional lags and freezes when loading multiple charts or large stock portfolios but this is likely due to the data connection rather than the actual app itself as it happened on both the SaxoTrader Go web and app and desktop Pro app.

If you’re doing large volumes of trades or want real-time trade execution, this can be annoying but most of the time the SaxoTrader platform was fast and reliable.

User Interface

The SaxoTrader Pro interface is fairly intuitive for experienced traders although for beginners, it takes some learning, especially compared to more user friendly options like TradingView.

The layout is customizable so you can rearrange panels however you want but the overall design feels cluttered at times.

You can add modules according to what kind of information you want to display such as Charts, Activity Logs, Latest News and many more.

Adding the “Latest News” module for example is simply a case of clicking on it and you get a live news feed on your desktop.

You also get a news feed on a specific stock such as Apple or Tesla when you click on it.

Placing a trade on both SaxoTrader Go and SaxoTrader Professional is straightforward.

Simply click on the Instrument you want to trade and then “Trade” to configure the details of the trade before clicking “Place Order”.

Multi-screen Setup

Saxo TraderPro supports multi-screen setups on a Mac so you can use it with external displays.

This makes it possible to have one screen for charting and technical analysis and one screen for executing trades if you want.

There are also multiple display options such as a Dark Mode, Price Change Highlighting and customizable Workspace layouts.

Advanced Features

For traders who require advanced control over charting and trading, Saxo TraderPro offers some useful features.

The platform’s risk management tools are particularly good.

You can setup 2-click order confirmations to prevent accidental or impulsive placing of trades in one click.

You can set advanced stop-loss and take-profit orders, including custom durations for stop-loss orders.

Saxo also offers its own in-house team of analysis called SaxoStrats which offer in-depth market analysis, economic insights, and trading strategies.

Other advanced platform configuration settings include Position netting such as End-of-Day FIFO and Conditional Orders which allow you to set a price or condition which triggers a market or limit order.

Security & Support

Saxo Trader uses many of the same encryption methods that Saxio Bank users to protects its customers.

Two-factor authentication (2FA) is available.

In terms of support, there are many webinars, video courses and live learning events to help you get to grips with trading.

If you need Customer Support, you can access it 24/5 which means there’s around the clock support during the week but none at weekends.

Pricing & Fees

Both SaxoTrader Go and SaxoTrader Pro are free to install and use with no monthly platform subscription fees.

However, features such as level 2 market data require a subscription as they give you a more in-depth and updated information.

Like most trading platforms, there are also commissions to pay on trades which vary according to region.

However, Saxo’s fees can be a bit complicated to understand as they depend on your account tier, instrument, and platform used.

You can find a full list of Saxo’s fees here.

There is no minimum deposit to open an account with Saxo and no fees for inactivity.

Interest is also offered on deposits although the amount depends on your region. Cash balances are protected up to 100,000 euros and trading assets up to 20,000 euros.

Downsides

If you want to integrate MetaTrader with Saxo Trader then you’re out of luck.

Saxo does not allow integration with MT4 or MT5.

If this is important for you, we recommend checking our guide on how to run MetaTrader on a Mac as there are various other options.

As already mentioned, SaxoTrader Pro is quite overwhelming for beginners although the SaxoGo Trader platform is far more accessible if less customizable.

The desktop app also offers crucial features like “Cancel all Orders” and “Quick close positions” for instant protection.

The availability of Saxo is also limited worldwide. While it is a popular choice in the Nordic countries and some parts of Europe, it’s not available in the USA.

There’s also no support for purchasing of fractional shares in Saxo so you have to buy a whole share of a stock or asset.