Skilling Broker Review

Is Skilling Safe?

Yes, Skilling is a safe broker to trade with.  It maintains regulation from CySEC in Cyprus, the FSA of Seychelles, and the FCA via its local UK branch.  

Skilling is a Scandinavian-owned broker founded in 2015 that has been offering services across Europe since 2018 and worldwide since April 2020.

Skilling is currently regulated by CySEC in Europe and the Seychelles FSA across the rest of the globe:

• Skilling Ltd, is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) under CIF license No. 357/18
• Skilling (Seychelles) Ltd, is authorized and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) under license No. SD042.
• Skilling Ltd is authorised to operate via its United Kingdom Branch by the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”), under Reference Number (FRN) 810951.

Global clients will be trading under the subsidiary, Skilling (Seychelles) Ltd, authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) of Seychelles. 

The FSA’s rules are not as strict as those of the FCA or CySEC, but it does allow Skilling to provide its clients with higher leverage.  

Additionally, in accordance with FSA regulation, Skilling holds all client funds in segregated accounts at major European banks.  It also provides negative balance protection, which means that clients can never lose more than is in their trading accounts.  

Along with regulation from CySEC and the FSA, Skilling also recently obtained an FCA branch authorisation in early 2020 and has opened a representative office in London.

While Skilling does not put itself in the running to receive awards from the wider industry, we can confirm that it is a safe broker. CySEC regulation, FCA authorisation, and FSA regulation ensure a fair and safe environment for traders around the world, this is further supported by negative balance protection being provided for all traders.

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Skilling Trading Fees

Skilling’s trading fees are average compared to other similar brokers.

Skilling offers two commission-free accounts with trading costs included in the spreads and two accounts with tighter spreads and a commission per lot (click here for more on Skilling’s account types).  The commission-free accounts have lower minimum deposits than the commission-based accounts, but the trading accounts share similar features, such as leverage, number of assets to trade, scalping, and negative balance protection. 

Skilling’s accounts were assessed to compare the costs to those of other brokers. When making this calculation, we use one lot of EUR/USD as a benchmark as it is the most commonly traded currency pair and it usually has the tightest spread. In a welcome show of transparency, Skilling publishes its average spreads alongside each financial instrument for all of its account types.

The costs were evaluated based on the trading fees on one lot (100 000 USD) on the EUR/USD, including the spread and commission:

Trading Cost Formula: Spread x Trade Size + Commission = Cost in Secondary Currency (USD):

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As you can see from the table above, the trading costs on the Premium accounts are lower than those on the Standard and MT4 accounts.   However, traders should be aware that these trading costs are based on the minimum spreads available at Skilling.  Trading costs average at around 9 USD on the Premium accounts, which is around the industry average, and 10 USD on the Standard accounts, which is slightly higher than average. 

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Broker

Trading Conditions

Base Currencies

EURUSD (Standard)

Commission

Trading Cost (Standard)

EURUSD (Best)

GBPUSD (Best)

USDJPY (Best)

Skilling

5/ 5

EUR, USD, GBP, NOK, SEK

0.70 pips

USD 0

USD 7

0.40 pips

0.50 pips

0.70 pips

BDSwiss

4.5/ 5

EUR, USD, GBP, ZAR

1.30 pips

USD 0

USD 13

0.00 pips

0.60 pips

0.30 pips

AvaTrade

4.5/ 5

USD, GBP, EUR, AUD, ZAR, CHF

0.90 pips

USD 0

USD 9

0.90 pips

1.60 pips

1.10 pips

Swap Fees

The final trading cost to consider at Skilling is the swap rate charged on positions held overnight. Skilling is completely transparent regarding its overnight financing rates and these can be found on the website for every instrument.

For Forex pairs, the cost or income is calculated as the interest rate differential between Tomorrow Next Deposit Rates (TNDR) of the 2 currencies in question, plus the markup charged by Skilling on which the position is held and depending on the type of position (Long / Short).  Additionally, swap fees vary depending on the account.  

For example, at the time of writing, Premium account holders will pay a swap fee of -13.8833 points on a long position, and a fee of +2.9536 points on a short position.  These swap fees differ on the Standard accounts: The swap fee on a long position is -18.0483 points, while the swap fee on a short position is +0.2954 points.  

Forex swaps are calculated as follows:

Swap = (Pip Value * Swap Rate * Number of Nights) / 10

Overall, Skilling’s fees are around the industry average.

Non-trading Fees

Skilling’s non-trading fees are lower than other similar brokers.

Some of the most overlooked trading costs are the non-trading fees that are charged by brokers.  These fees can significantly affect your profitability and so should be carefully scrutinised.

Skilling does not generally charge fees for deposits or withdrawals and does not charge any inactivity fees on dormant accounts.  

However, traders should be aware that a Currency Conversion Fee is charged for all trades on instruments denominated in a currency different from the currency of your account.

The fee will be 0.7% of the trade’s realized profit and loss and will be reflected once your position is closed.

Overall, these are some of the lowest non-trading fees in the industry.  

Opening an Account at Skilling

The account-opening and verification process at Skilling is seamless, fully digital and accounts are ready for trading immediately. 

In order to open an account at Skilling, traders must meet the following minimum deposit requirements:

• Standard Account: 100 EUR
• Premium Account: 5000 EUR
• MT4 Account: 100 EUR
• MT4 Premium Account: 5000 EUR.

1. From the Skilling homepage, you will have to click on the ‘Sign Up’ tab where you will be directed to register an account with a name, telephone number, email address, and password.  You will also be able to choose your trading account currency (click here for more on Skilling’s base currencies).  
2. Next traders will have to complete a profile with their name, telephone number, country of residence, physical address, and date of birth.
3. Traders will then have to confirm their physical address.
4. The next step requires completing one’s financial information, including employment status, industry, annual income and savings, and source of funds.
5. Traders will then have to complete a form detailing their trading experience.  
6. Skilling requires the following documents to accept clients as individual traders:

   1. Proof of Identification – Skilling accepts all government-issued identification documents such as Passport, national ID card, driving license, or other government-issued ID. 

   2. Proof of Address – Proof of residence/address document must be issued in the name of the account holder within the last 6 months and must contain a trader’s full name, current residential address, issue date, and issuing authority.

7. Traders can then deposit funds into their account and begin trading.  

Overall, Skilling’s account-opening process is fully digital and hassle-free and accounts are ready for trading immediately.

Skilling’s Account Types

Skilling offers four account types, which is average compared to other brokers, and its accounts are suitable for beginners and more experienced traders.

While Skilling does take its spreads from a network of liquidity providers, its order execution policy states that it always acts as counterparty to client trades, the definition of a market maker broker. This allows for fast execution speeds and allows Skilling to offer market prices and variable spreads.

Offering trading on multiple assets, including Forex, shares, indices, commodities, and cryptocurrencies (click here for more on Skilling’s financial instruments), Skilling offers some of the best trading conditions available for a market maker broker. These improve further on its Premium Account, which provides raw spreads direct from liquidity providers in exchange for a commission.

Skilling offers four account types: The Standard Account, the Premium Account, the MT4 Account, and the MT4 Premium Account. While most trading conditions remain the same across the accounts, the Standard and MT4 accounts have wider spreads and lower minimum deposits (100 EUR), while the Premium Account has a much higher minimum deposit (5,000 EUR), very tight spreads, and charges a commission per 10 lots traded.

With minimum deposits of only 100 EUR, the Standard and MT4 accounts are suitable for beginner traders.  Beginner traders are inexperienced traders who have never traded before, or who have been trading for less than a year. Beginner traders often do not want to risk trading large sums of money and generally will not be able to trade full-time during the workweek.  However, spreads on these accounts are wider than on the commission-based accounts, which are appealing to more experienced traders.

More experienced traders will be interested in the Premium accounts, which require a minimum deposit of 5000 EUR but have much tighter spreads and a commission per lot traded – spreads start at 0.1 pips (EUR/USD), and traders will pay a commission of 6 USD (round turn) per lot traded.

On both the Standard and Premium accounts, Skilling offers 73 FX pairs, 10 crypto pairs, 17 indices, 5 commodities, and over 700 equities to trade.   The MT4/MT4Premium accounts have a more limited offering, including 53 FX pairs, 6 crypto pairs, 12 indices, 5 commodities, and 100 equities.  Skilling allows hedging and scalping on all accounts, and copy trading through its cTrader platform.

Skilling offers maximum leverage of 30:1, though this is conditional on Skilling dynamic leverage model. The more open positions you hold, the lower the maximum leverage you will be offered. If you have more than 15 million USD in open positions, you will be offered maximum leverage of 50:1.

Note that Skilling does not offer Islamic swap-free accounts.

Standard Account: The Standard Account requires a minimum deposit of 100 EUR, offers maximum leverage of 30:1, and is available through the Skilling Trader platform or cTrader. Spreads here start at 0.70 pips pips on the EUR/USD. No commission is charged.

Premium Account: The Premium Account is a commission-based, raw spreads account, with spreads starting at 0.1 pips, but a 30 USD/10 lot trading commission charged. Leverage is also 30:1 but the minimum deposit is 5000 EUR, so this is probably not an account for beginner traders.  Trading is also offered on the Skilling Trader platform and cTrader.

MT4 Account: The MT4 Account requires a minimum deposit of 100 EUR, offers maximum leverage of 30:1, and as the name suggests, is only available on the MT4 platform.  Spreads start at 0.70 pips pips on the EUR/USD and no commissions are charged. 

MT4 Premium Account: This account is similar to the Premium account outlined above, but trading is only offered on the MT4 platform.  Leverage is up to 30:1, and spreads start at 0.1 pips with a commission of 30 USD/10 lots traded.  The minimum deposit on this account is also 5000 EUR.

Demo Account: Skilling offers a demo account that allows you to trade instruments without risking real money.  It comes loaded with 10,000 USD in virtual funds and is available on the Skilling, cTrader, and MT4 trading platforms.  Demo accounts do not expire and can be topped up on request. 

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Overall, with four live accounts on three platforms, Skilling caters to both beginners and more experienced traders, and its trading costs are around the industry average.  

Deposits and Withdrawals

Skilling states that all Anti-Money Laundering rules and regulations are followed.  Deposits can only be made using a bank account or card registered in the trader’s name, and no third-party deposits are allowed.  Withdrawals must be made to the same account or method that the funds originated. 

Skilling offers a range of deposit and withdrawal methods and charges no fees for either type of transaction. Be aware that your bank or card issuer may charge you for international transfers.  Deposits are generally instant (except deposits via bank transfer and debit/credit cards), and withdrawals are processed within 24 – 48 hours.  Additionally, the minimum deposit amount is 100 USD and the minimum withdrawal amount is 50 USD.

Deposits and withdrawals can be made via:

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Overall, Skilling offers a wide range of payment methods, charges no fees for deposits or withdrawals, and has average payment processing times.

Base Currencies

Skilling offers an average number of base (trading account) currencies compared to other similar brokers.

Trading accounts can only be denominated in five base currencies – EUR, USD, NOK, SEK, and GBP, which is average compared to other brokers.   However, Skilling does not offer AUD trading accounts, which is a disadvantage for Australians who will likely have bank accounts denominated in AUD, and who will have to pay currency conversion fees on deposits and withdrawals.  As mentioned in the non-trading fees section, Skilling charges a currency conversion fee of 0.7% in addition to the fees that will be charged by your banking institution.

For traders that trade in large volumes (more than 10 lots a month), it is better to open an account denominated in USD at a digital currency bank, especially for trading on assets such as the EUR/USD. This is because when trading a USD quoted currency pair with another currency account, there will be a small conversion fee for every trade made.

Overall, Skilling offers an average number of trading account currencies compared to most other large international brokers and doesn’t offer accounts denominated in AUD. 

Skilling Trading Platforms

Skilling’s platform support is excellent compared to other similar brokers.  

Skilling offers support for a good range of trading platforms, including the proprietary Skilling Trader, MT4 and cTrader. An industry first, Skilling has also completed seamless integration between Skilling Trader and cTrader, a unique feature dubbed One Account. Two Platforms. This allows traders to choose which platform they wish to use while having a single trading account, with the same margin, same wallet, and same trading conditions.

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Broker

Platform Choice

Copy Trading

Platforms

Skilling

4.5/ 5

Yes

MT4

cTrader

Skilling Trader

BDSwiss

4.5/ 5

Yes

MT4

MT5

BDSwiss WebTrader

AvaTrade

4.5/ 5

Yes

MT4

MT5

Avatrade Social

AvaOptions

Skilling Trader

Skilling Trader is Skilling’s proprietary trading platform. Designed to be intuitive and simple, but with a full suite of technical indicators and drawing tools, Skilling Trader is built to appeal to traders of all experience levels. With full integration with Skilling’s cTrader platform, web and mobile support and a trade assistant for beginners, the Skilling Trader platform is flexible enough to satisfy most traders.

Skilling cTrader

cTrader is an advanced trading platform designed specifically to work with market execution accounts. As mentioned previously, Skilling is unique in that it has teamed up with Spotware, cTrader’s creators, to seamlessly integrate cTrader with Skilling’s own trading platform.

cTrader is a modern, intuitive, and powerful trading platform with advanced trading capabilities, such as fast entry and coding customisation, as well as a variety of indicators to help you make better trading decisions. It includes a complete charting package and Spotware hosts a library of indicators and robots, traders can also design their own algorithms using the Automate Editor.

MetaTrader 4 (MT4)

The MT4 trading platform is the most widely used Forex trading platform and can also be used to trade other instruments like commodities, cryptocurrency, stock index, and stock CFDs. Though it is now showing its age, MT4 is still popular for its auto trading features that enable algorithmic trading and strategy backtesting with expert advisors (trading robots). 

Other features of MT4 include:

• Four types of order execution, including Market, Limit, Stop, and Trailing Stop orders.
• Superior charting tools in nine timeframes
• 30 technical indicators
• 23 analytical objects
• Algorithmic trading, which allows any trading strategy to be formalised and implemented as an Expert Advisor. 
• Backtesting capabilities
• Dedicated customer support

Overall, MT4, and cTrader are considered some of the best trading platforms in the industry. For beginners, MT4 can be tricky to set up, but there are numerous guides in both text and video format to guide you through this process. cTrader is more beginner-friendly and needs fewer tweaks to optimise it for Forex trading, but there is less guidance freely available on the internet.  Additionally, Skilling provides its own proprietary platform that integrates seamlessly with the cTrader platform that is intuitive and easy to use.  

Skilling Mobile Apps

Skilling’s mobile trading platforms are excellent when compared to other similar brokers

All of Skilling’s trading platforms are available on both Android and iOS mobile devices and tablets. As with the web trading platform, traders can choose from multiple languages. Although there is slightly limited functionality compared to the desktop version of the platform, with reduced timeframes and fewer charting options, traders will still have access to analytics with technical indicators, graphical objects, and a full set of trading orders.  

MetaTrader Mobile Trading

The MT4 app allows traders to work from anywhere, with nine timeframes, 30 indicators, and interactive currency charts. Functionality to close and modify existing orders, calculate profit/loss in real-time, and tick chart trading further assists traders while on the move. 

cTrader Mobile Trading

The cTrader mobile app carries over most of the best parts from the desktop version, including the complete range of order types, price alerts, trade analysis, and symbol watchlists. Chart types have been reduced to 4, however.

Skilling Mobile Trading

Available on iOS and Android, Skilling’s mobile app offers all the same functionality as the web-based platform and is similarly user-friendly and uncomplicated.  It allows traders to open and close positions and has the same indicators and charts.

Overall, Skilling’s mobile trading support is good when compared to other brokers.

Trading Tools

Skilling offers an average range of trading tools compared to other Forex brokers.

Skilling offers support for a social trading platform (Skilling Copy), TradingView, and PAMM/MAM accounts. 

Skilling Copy

Social trading is a service that allows investors to follow the trading strategy and copy trades of professionals, which are also known as signal providers. Available on the Skilling cTrader Copy platform, traders can choose from over 1000 different strategies and providers to follow and copy. The in-depth performance statistics available allow you to research Strategy Providers and their track record of investments as well as review their performance results and trading style to determine the strategy most suitable to you. 

Usually, the actions of experienced Forex traders are used as a guide for beginners. It reduces the time for market research and analytics before trading on Forex. Social trading is useful for traders who have no time for training or making independent investment decisions. 

PAMM/MAM Accounts

Skilling offers an account management service to its clients which allows account managers to trade on their behalf.  In order to perform this service, bespoke technology or software is required, also known as MAM/PAMM.  The MAM software communicates all allocation settings directly with the Skilling MetaTrader 4 server.    

MAM stands for Multi-Account Manager which permits a range of customisable ways to sub-allocate trades.  PAMM stands for Percentage Allocation Module Manager which means investors can be part of a set of sub-accounts that are traded together by a money manager or trader who has permission from clients to trade on their accounts.  Account Managers take a portion of the profits generated by the trades.  

Managed accounts are great for beginner traders who have limited experience with trading.

TradingView

Skilling recently added Trading View to its arsenal of trading tools.  TradingView is free of charge for traders who open a live account.  It is an excellent tool for researching, charting, and screening any instrument.  Additional features of Skilling’s TradingView tool include:

•  50+ intelligent charting tools
• Over 100,000 custom user-built indicators and scripts
• Synchronised layout for multiple charts

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Broker

Economic Calendar

Autochartist

Trading Central

Trading View

Free VPS

Skilling

No

Yes

No

Yes

No

BDSwiss

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

AvaTrade

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

Skilling’s Trading Instruments

Skilling offers a wider range of trading instruments than most other brokers, although these are not all available on the MT4 accounts. 

Skilling’s range of financial instruments for CFD trading (click here for more details on CFD trading), including Forex, share CFDs, indices, futures, cryptocurrencies, and commodities.

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• Forex: Skilling has over 73 currency pairs available for trading, a broader range than most other brokers.  These include majors (EUR/USD, GBP/USD, and USD/JPY), minors (NZD/JPY, GBP/JPY, and USD/ZAR), and exotics.  Note that traders can only trade with 53 pairs on the MT4 platforms.   

• Share CFDs: Skilling offers over 700 share CFDs for trading, a broader range than other large international brokers.  The selection available includes some of the major US, UK, and European Exchanges. 

• Indices: There are 17 indices available for trading at Skilling, which is around the average available at other similar brokers. The most popular indices are those that combine the shares of some of the largest and globally acknowledged companies. Indices available include the S&P 500, the UK 100, the NASDAQ 100, and the Dow Jones 30, among others. 

• Commodities: Skilling offers trading on 5 commodities, which is limited compared to other brokers.  Commodities include silver, gold, and Brent Crude Oil.

• Cryptocurrencies: Skilling offers trading on 37 cryptocurrencies, an impressive range compared to most other brokers.  These include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tron, Dash, and Ripple, among others. The spreads vary significantly compared to other traditional Fiat currencies. For example, it is not unusual for spreads to be as wide as 75 pips on Bitcoin, so if you trade these currencies, watch your margins.

Overall, Skilling offers a wider range of assets than is usually seen at other brokers.  Notable is the number of Forex pairs, share CFDs, and cryptocurrencies available.  

Skilling for Beginners

While Skilling is very transparent and describes its product line-up in great detail, it offers little in the way of education or market analysis. This may be problematic for beginner traders – or those who like to receive a regular analysis of their favourite markets and assets. 

Education Material

Skilling’s educational materials are severely limited compared to other brokers.   

Education is limited to a short section titled What is CFD Trading? This covers the basics of how contracts for difference function, with brief explanations of leverage, margin, and CFD costs.

Skilling’s own trading platform, Skilling Trader, also features the Skilling Trade Assistant – which is designed to explain the trading basics and help you place your first trade.

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Broker

Beginner Course

Advanced Course

Well Structured Education

Education Quality

Webinars

Skilling

Yes

No

Yes

High

Yes

BDSwiss

Yes

Yes

Yes

High

Yes

AvaTrade

Yes

Yes

Yes

High

Yes

Analysis Material

Skilling’s market analysis materials are limited compared to what is offered at other similar brokers.   

Skilling’s in-house team of analysts write weekly market analysis updates that are posted under its ‘Trading Articles’ tab.  While the content is of a high-quality, we would expect Skilling to provide more frequent analysis in various formats.   Additionally, no extra market analysis is provided by third-parties such as TradingView or Trading Central.

Customer Support

Customer support is available via phone, live chat, and email in English, Swedish, Norwegian, German, and Malay. Phone support is available from 08:00-17:00 CET, Monday to Friday and live chat is available from 08:00-22:00 CET, Monday to Friday.

For the purposes of this review, we found the live chat agents responsive and knowledgeable.

Evaluation Method

We value transparency and openness in the way we review the partners. To bring transparency to the forefront, we have published our review process that includes a detailed breakdown of the Skilling offering. Central to that process is the evaluation of the reliability of the broker, the platform offering of the broker and the trading conditions offered to clients, which are summarised in this review. Each one of these is graded, and an overall score is calculated and assigned to the broker.

Risk Statement

Trading Forex is risky, and each broker is required to detail how risky the trading of Forex CFDs is to clients. Skilling would like you to know that: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Overview

Skilling is a leader of a new wave of brokers we have seen cropping up in the last few years. Four simple account options, excellent trading conditions, and a completely transparent approach are all hallmarks of a refreshingly client-focused business model. Free deposit and withdrawals, a responsible approach to leverage and a good range of trading platforms are all very welcome too. The lack of any serious educational section or market analysis is a disadvantage, though this will not matter much to experienced traders. We would also like to see longer customer service hours and a lower minimum deposit for the Premium Accounts.

Editorial Team

 

Chris Cammack
Head of Content

Chris joined the company in 2019 after ten years experience in research, editorial and design for political and financial publications. His background has given him a deep knowledge of international financial markets and the geopolitics that affects them. Chris has a keen eye for editing and a voracious appetite for financial and political current affairs. He ensures that our content across all sites meets the standards of quality and transparency that our readers expect.

 

Alison Heyerdahl
Senior Financial Writer

Alison joined the team as a writer in 2021. She has a medical degree with a focus on physiotherapy and a bachelor’s in psychology. However, her interest in forex trading and her love for writing led her to switch careers, and she now has over eight years experience in research and content development. She has tested and reviewed 100+ brokers and has a great understanding of the Forex trading world.

 

Ida Hermansen
Financial Writer

Ida joined our team as a financial writer in 2023. She has a degree in Digital Marketing and a background in content writing and SEO. In addition to her marketing and writing skills, Ida also has an interest in cryptocurrencies and blockchain networks. Her interest in crypto trading led to a wider fascination with Forex technical analysis and price movement. She continues to develop her skills and knowledge in Forex trading and keeps a close eye on which Forex brokers offer the best trading environments for new traders.

 

Vanessa Marcos
Financial Writer

Vanessa joined the team in 2023. Born and raised in southern Portugal, she has a BA in Journalism and a Master’s in Literary Theory, both from Lisbon University. Since 2011, she has worked in social media, copywriting, content management, ghost-writing, and SEO. Vanessa loves to write, and although she is a generalist in digital marketing, she always draws on her creativity in her work. She is constantly researching new subjects and finds the analytical depth of Forex trading fascinating.