Swissquote Crypto Income Halved as H1 Volume Falls 62%

Fee and spread compression likely worsened the volume decline. When fewer clients trade and those who remain trade smaller notional amounts, income from the difference between bid and ask shrinks faster than volume. Swissquote's presentation did not attribute the drop to any single cause.

The pain was not limited to crypto. Swissquote's overall net revenue rose 32.8% to 265.6 million francs, helped by higher interest income as the Swiss National Bank raised rates. Total client assets grew 9.9% to 56.9 billion francs.

The H1 2023 disclosure sets a low base. Swissquote published its H1 2024 results on Aug. 13, 2024, and those figures show crypto metrics rebounded strongly. Net crypto assets income swung back higher, reflecting the volatility of this line item across semesters.

For analysts tracking Swissquote, the H1 2023 slump appears to have been a cyclical correction rather than a structural shift in the crypto brokerage business. The H1 2024 rebound backs that reading, though one data point does not settle the debate.