BDSwiss Review

FAQs

Is BDSwiss UK regulated?

No, BDSwiss is no longer regulated in the United Kingdom (U.K.) with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

That being said, BDSwiss holds multiple regulatory licenses throughout the EU, including from Cyprus where it is authorised by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), but no longer accepts EU residents. It is also regulated as a Tied Agent under its German entity, and is passported across the EU (and outside of the EU into Switzerland). It's worth noting that as of January 2024, BDSwiss is not accepting clients from within the EU. The brand also holds an offshore regulatory license from the island nation of Mauritius.

What is the minimum deposit for BDSwiss?

The minimum deposit at BDSwiss will vary depending on your chosen account type. The broker’s VIP account requires a $3,000 minimum deposit and its Raw account requires $5,000, while the Classic account’s minimum first deposit of $100 (or currency equivalent) may vary depending on your country of residence and if you were referred by a third party.

What happened with BDSwiss in the UK?

In May of 2021, the FCA cited BDSwiss for prohibited marketing practices originating from certain of its affiliates and social media influencers, and required that the broker halt doing business in the U.K. and refrain from marketing to U.K. residents until a number of outstanding items are rectified by the broker, as per the FCA announcement.

In a nutshell, the FCA has imposed rules which restrict the marketing and sale of CFDs to retail consumers, and the FCA believes that BDSwiss - via some of its affiliates - broke those rules.

BDSwiss partnered with affiliates that marketed referrals to retail traders, and in the process they largely referred them to BDSwiss’ overseas firms that don’t provide FCA protections. Essentially, this means that U.K. consumers were being encouraged to open accounts with a broker they associated with the FCA, but did not receive the protections that should be afforded by an FCA-regulated broker.

According to the FCA, “almost 99% of them were referred to the Overseas Firms, meaning the clients did not benefit from the protections afforded to consumers dealing with an authorized firm.” Additionally, BDSwiss’ affiliates marketed trading signal providers, and in doing so they “frequently fail(ed) to mention that the underlying financial instruments being recommended are CFDs.”

Post-Brexit note: Leading up to Brexit, many brokers in the EU that were previously passported under MiFiD in countries such as the U.K. had to either obtain a full registration with the U.K. post-Brexit, or operate under a Temporary Permission Regime (TPR) to give them time to become regulated or exit the U.K. altogether. BDSwiss is no longer operating under the TPR in the U.K., and is no longer authorised by the FCA.