OGL/2024/1676/0905Where the account currency sits
Every cashier shows, before you sign up, the currencies and settlement units an account can be kept in. That is the first figure a reader in Switzerland needs: is CHF among them? For the twelve entries in the ranking the answer is no throughout.
The arithmetic of the spread
Between the buying and the selling rate sits a gap nobody declares as a fee. Reckon one per cent each way and a deposit of 500 francs with a subsequent withdrawal costs around ten francs. At five such cycles a year that is fifty — more than most account charges.
| Amount there and back | Spread 0.5 % each way | 1 % each way | 2 % each way |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200 CHF | 2 CHF | 4 CHF | 8 CHF |
| 500 CHF | 5 CHF | 10 CHF | 20 CHF |
| 1 000 CHF | 10 CHF | 20 CHF | 40 CHF |
| 2 000 CHF | 20 CHF | 40 CHF | 80 CHF |
A worked example, not an offer: the actual spread depends on the trading venue and on the unit chosen.
How to reduce the conversions
Three things help, and none of them is a trick. First: change rarely, in larger steps — the fixed costs then spread across more money. Second: come back in the same unit you went out in. Third: choose a unit the cashier carries, rather than converting again inside the cashier. Which cashier carries which units stands in every row of the ranking.
A stable unit takes the price question out
Take the route through a unit pegged to the dollar and only the conversion on purchase and on sale is left in the arithmetic, not the time in between. With Bitcoin or Ethereum the price movement while it sits there comes on top — the difference in detail.
How often you actually take the route
The spread does not fall per franc but per exchange. Deposit once a year and withdraw once and you pay it twice; change back and forth every month and you pay it twenty-four times. At 500 francs a cycle and one per cent each way that is around ten francs a year in the first case and around 120 in the second — for identical play. That is the item you can steer with a single habit, and it is larger than most of the fees comparisons write about. Choose a unit pegged to the dollar as well and you also take the price movement during the holding period out of the arithmetic.
ALSI-202509073-FI2ALSI-202602030-FI2The first three places — every entry states what this check produced.
The other three steps are under Check it yourself; what came out of them for the twelve entries stands in the ranking.
This check — account currency and the franc — is one of four and does not replace the other three. Together they take about ten minutes and answer the questions that later actually carry weight. What they do not answer is stated expressly beside them on the overview page.
Common questions
Can I play in francs at foreign-licensed casinos?
Not at the twelve entries in this ranking: none of these cashiers carries CHF. The franc is converted along the way.
How much does the currency change cost?
It does not appear as a fee but as a spread. The table above works three assumptions through.