Cornèrtrader vs Tickmill — which broker is better?

Pros

• Cornèr Bank Ltd is a FINMA-supervised Swiss bank founded in 1952 and ranked second in Switzerland for capital strength in The Banker's Top 1000 World Banks 2026
• A genuine multi-asset platform: shares, ETFs, ETPs, ETNs, ETCs, bonds, mutual funds, FX spot, FX options, futures and micro futures, listed stock options and CFDs on indices, single stocks, commodities, bonds and forex
• More than 40,000 tradable instruments and over 10,000 pieces of research covering technical, fundamental and momentum analysis, included rather than sold as a subscription
• Trading and banking in one relationship: multi-currency account, free Visa debit card, no separate cash transfer needed to move between investing and spending
• Free demo platform available without opening an account — rare among Swiss bank-owned brokers and the best way to test the terminal first
• Commissions fall sharply with portfolio size: SIX drops from 0.12% to 0.07% and US shares from 0.15% to 0.08% across the four tiers
• Securities lending is offered as an optional way to generate income from an existing equity portfolio

Cons

• The most expensive tier applies by default — Cornèrtrader states explicitly that if no other agreement is in place, the highest price category in the table applies
• The entry CONSISTENCY tier is limited to a single account currency, so a CHF-based client buying US or German shares is forced into a currency conversion on every trade
• Every conversion for a foreign-currency trade carries a 0.5% mark-up over the FX spot mid-price — more than the 0.15% commission on a US share order at the entry tier
• Incoming securities transfers require a minimum accepted amount of CHF 30,000 at every tier except ENERGY, which blocks smaller portfolios from consolidating here
• No spot cryptocurrency — only Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs and ETPs
• Cornèr Bank is privately held and not listed, so there is no share price or continuous market scrutiny of the counterparty, only periodic published accounts

Pros

• Raw account priced at USD 3 per lot per side with EUR/USD spreads measured at 0.1 pips — roughly USD 7 all-in per standard-lot round turn
• No deposit fee, no withdrawal fee, and a currency conversion mark-up measured at about 0.01%, an order of magnitude below typical retail brokers
• Real exchange-traded futures and options on CME, NYMEX, COMEX, CBOT and EUREX from USD 0.85 per micro contract with a USD 0.00 minimum ticket fee
• IBKR Multi-Asset Account added in July 2026 brings genuine share, ETF, bond and fund ownership at USD 0.35 per US order, with fractional trading
• FCA authorisation (register number 717270) with GBP 85,000 FSCS cover on the UK entity, plus CySEC 278/15 for EEA clients
• Fully digital onboarding that clears in about a day, a 100 minimum deposit, and five base currencies including CHF and PLN
• Pays 1.8% interest on idle USD and GBP cash for accounts that stay active — rare among CFD brokers
• Every strategy allowed on both accounts: scalping, hedging and Expert Advisors, with FIX connectivity and VPS for automated systems

Cons

• The entire retail offering runs on MetaTrader 4 and 5 — dated design, a thin news feed, and no two-step or biometric login on the mobile app
• Research is licensed in rather than produced: Acuity, Signal Centre and calendar widgets, with no house analyst view of any substance
• Protection varies enormously by entity, and clients booked with Tickmill Ltd in the Seychelles get no investor compensation scheme at all
• Privately held with no public financials and no banking licence, so the capital position behind your account is not independently visible
• Aggregated public sentiment through mid-2026 repeatedly flags withdrawal delays, extra verification demands and slippage around news events
• No German or Austrian tax withholding: Tickmill is not an Abgeltungsteuer or KESt agent, so DACH clients must declare every gain themselves