XM Review 2023 XM is a global forex and CFD broker regulated by Australia’s ASIC, CySEC of Cyprus, and Belizean authority IFSC. XM has low stock CFD and withdrawal fees. Account opening is user-friendly and fast. You can use many educational tools, such as webinars and a demo account. On the other hand, XM has a limited product portfolio as it offers mainly CFDs and forex trading. Its forex and stock index CFD fees are average, and there is no investor protection for clients onboarded outside the EU.
XM is a regulated broker, it is overseen by top-tier financial regulators in multiple countries . XM is also covered by investor protection in selected jurisdictions.
Best broker for Newbie Traders
Trade Forex with Ultra Low Spreads (78.28% of retail CFD accounts lose money)
XM Highlights
| 🗺️ Country of regulation | Cyprus, Australia, Belize, United Arab Emirates |
| 💰 Trading fees class | Average |
| 💰 Inactivity fee charged | Yes |
| 💰 Withdrawal fee amount | $0 |
| 💰 Minimum deposit | $5 |
| 🕖 Time to open an account | 1 day |
| 💳 Deposit with bank card | Available |
| 👛 Depositing with electronic wallet | Available |
| 💱 Number of base currencies supported | 10 |
| 🎮 Demo account provided | Yes |
| 🛍️ Products offered | Forex, CFD, Real stocks for clients under Belize (IFSC) |
Fees
XM has low trading fees for CFDs and charges no withdrawal fee. On the other hand, forex and stock index fees are only average, and there is a fee for inactivity.
| Assets | Fee level | Fee terms |
|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 CFD | Low | The fees are built into the spread, 0.4 points is the average spread cost during peak trading hours. |
| Europe 50 CFD | Average | The fees are built into the spread, 2.5 points is the average spread cost during peak trading hours. |
| EURUSD | Average | With Standard, Micro, and Ultra-Low accounts the fees are built into the spread. 1.7 pips is the Standard account’s average spread cost during peak trading hours. With XM Zero accounts, there is a $3.5 commission per lot per trade and a small spread cost. |
| Inactivity fee | Low | $15 one-off maintenance fee after one year of inactivity, followed by $5 per month fee if the account remains inactive |
XM trading fees
XM trading fees are average. XM has many account types, which all differ in pricing. The Standard, Micro, and Ultra Low accounts charge higher spreads but there is no commission. The XM Zero account charges lower spreads, but there is a commission. The following calculations were made using the Standard account.
We know it’s hard to compare trading fees for CFD brokers. So how did we approach the problem of making their fees clear and comparable? We compared brokers by calculating all the fees of a typical trade for selected products.
We chose popular instruments within each asset class:
- Stock index CFDs: SPX and EUSTX50
- Stock CFDs: Apple and Vodafone
- Forex: EURUSD, GBPUSD, AUDUSD, EURCHF and EURGBP
A typical trade means buying a leveraged position, holding it for one week and then selling. For volume, we chose a $2,000 position for stock index and stock CFDs, and $20,000 for forex transactions. The leverage we used was:
- 20:1 for stock index CFDs
- 5:1 for stock CFDs
- 30:1 for forex
These catch-all benchmark fees include spreads, commissions and financing costs for all brokers. Let’s see the verdict for XM fees.
CFD fees
XM has low stock CFD, while average stock index CFD fees.
| XM | FxPro | Admirals (Admiral Markets) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 index CFD fee | $2.5 | $1.1 | $1.4 |
| Europe 50 index CFD fee | $3.1 | $1.2 | $1.4 |
| Apple CFD fee | $6.7 | $9.4 | $5.3 |
| Vodafone CFD fee | $2.3 | $14.7 | $14.2 |
Account opening
XM accepts customers from all over the world. There are a few exceptions though; among others, you can’t open an account from the USA, Canada, China, Japan, New Zealand or Israel.
What is the minimum deposit at XM?
The required XM minimum deposit is $5 for two XM Account types (Micro, Standard), which is very low, and $100 for the XM Zero account.
Account types
XM offers many account types, which differ in pricing, base currencies, minimum deposit and contract size.
| Micro | Standard | XM Zero | Shares Account | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Client country | EEA Australia Other countries | EEA Australia Other countries | EAA | Non-EEA and non-Australian clients |
| Pricing | No commission, but higher spread | No commission, but higher spread | There is a commission, but the spread is very low | Market spread and commission |
| Base currencies | USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, CHF, AUD, HUF, PLN, SGD, ZAR | USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, CHF, AUD, HUF, PLN, SGD, ZAR | USD, EUR, JPY | USD |
| Minimum deposit | $5 | $5 | $100 | $10,000 |
| Contract size | 1 Lot = 1,000 | 1 Lot = 100,000 | 1 Lot = 100,000 | 1 share |
Islamic or swap-free accounts are also available. With Islamic accounts, a flat commission is charged if you hold your leveraged position overnight instead of the percentage-based financing rates.
XM doesn’t offer corporate accounts. If you sign up for a non-European entity, you will not be eligible for European client protection measures.
How to open your account
XM account opening is fully digital, fast and straightforward. You can fill out the online application form in 20 minutes. Our account was verified on the same day.
You can select many languages other than English:
| Arabic | Bengali | Chinese | Czech | Dutch |
| Filipino | French | German | Greek | Hungarian |
| Indonesian | Italian | Korean | Malay | Polish |
| Portuguese | Russian | Spanish | Swedish | Thai |
| Vietnamese |
To open an account at XM, you have to go through these steps:
- Fill in your name, country of residence, email address and telephone number.
- Select the trading platform (MT4 or MT5) and account type.
- Add your personal information, such as your date of birth and address.
- Select the base currency and the size of the leverage.
- Provide your financial information and answer questions about your financial knowledge.
- Verify your identity and residency. You can upload a copy of your national ID, passport or driver’s license to verify your identity, while utility bills and bank statements are accepted as proof of residency.
Deposit and withdrawal
Account base currencies
At XM, you can choose from 9 base currencies. The available base currencies are:
| EUR | USD | GBP | CHF |
| JPY | AUD | SGD | PLN |
| HUF | ZAR |
| XM | FxPro | Admirals (Admiral Markets) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of base currencies | 10 | 8 | 11 |
Why does this matter? For two reasons. If you fund your trading account in the same currency as your bank account or you trade assets in the same currency as your trading account base currency, you don’t have to pay a conversion fee.
Deposit fees and options
XM charges no deposit fees. You can use bank transfers and credit/debit cards for depositing funds. Clients onboarded under IFSC can also deposit using the SticPay electronic wallet.
| XM | FxPro | Admirals (Admiral Markets) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank transfer | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Credit/debit card | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Electronic wallets | Yes | Yes | Yes |
A bank transfer can take several business days, while payment with a credit/debit card is instant.
You can only deposit money from accounts that are in your name.
XM review – Deposit and withdrawal – Deposit
XM withdrawal fees and options
XM charges no withdrawal fees. The only exception is bank (wire) transfers below $200, which incur a $15 fee.
| XM | FxPro | Admirals (Admiral Markets) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank transfer | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Credit/debit card | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Electronic wallets | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Withdrawal fee | $0 | $0 | $0 |
For credit/debit cards and electronic wallets (Skrill, Neteller), the withdrawal amount cannot exceed the amount you deposited using the same instrument. This means that you can only withdraw your trading profits via bank transfer.
How long does it take to withdraw money from XM? We tested debit card withdrawal and it took 2 business days.
You can only withdraw money to accounts that are in your name.
How do you withdraw money from XM?
- Log in to your account
- Go to ‘Withdraw Funds’
- Select the withdrawal method
- Enter the withdrawal amount
Web trading platform
| Trading platform | Score | Available |
|---|---|---|
| Web | 2.8stars | Yes |
| Mobile | 3.8stars | Yes |
| Desktop | 3.4stars | Yes |
XM does not have its own trading platform; instead, it uses third-party platforms: MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5. These platforms are very similar to each other in functionality and design. One major difference is that you can’t trade stock CFDs on MetaTrader 4, only on MetaTrader 5.
We tested the MetaTrader 4 platform as it is more widely used.
MetaTrader 4 is available in an exceptionally large number of languages.
| XM web trading platform languages | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arabic | Bulgarian | Chinese | Croatian | Czech | Danish |
| Dutch | English | Estonian | Finnish | French | German |
| Greek | Hebrew | Hindi | Hungarian | Indonesian | Italian |
| Japanese | Korean | Latvian | Lithuanian | Malay | Mongolian |
| Persian | Polish | Portuguese | Romanian | Russian | Serbian |
| Slovak | Slovenian | Spanish | Swedish | Tajik | Thai |
| Traditional Chinese | Turkish | Ukrainian | Uzbek | Vietnamese |
Look and feel
The XM web trading platform has great customizability. It is easy to change the size and the position of the tabs.
However, the platform feels outdated and some features are hard to find. For example, it took us a while to figure out how to add an asset to the watchlist.
XM review – Web trading platform
Login and security
XM requires two-step authentication for the account login on the website where you can deposit and withdraw. The trading platform itself, however, doesn’t have two-step authentication.
Search functions
The search functions are OK. You can find assets grouped into various categories. However, we missed the usual search function where you can type in the name of an asset manually.
XM review – Web trading platform – Search
Placing orders
You can use all the basic order types. However, you won’t find more sophisticated order types such as ‘one-cancels-the-other’. The following order types are available:
- Market
- Limit
- Stop
- Trailing Stop
Trailing Stop is available only in the MT4 desktop platform
To get a better understanding of these terms, read this overview of order types.
There are also order time limits you can use:
- Good ’til canceled (GTC)
- Good ’til time (GTT)
XM review – Web trading platform – Order panel
Alerts and notifications
You cannot set alerts and notifications on the XM web trading platform. This feature is available only on the desktop trading platform.
Portfolio and fee reports
XM has clear portfolio and fee reports. You can easily see your profit-loss balance and the commissions you paid. These reports can be found under the ‘History’ tab. We couldn’t find a way to download them.
Mobile trading platform
XM offers MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 mobile trading platforms. Similarly to the web trading platform, we tested the MetaTrader 4 platform on Android.
Once you have downloaded the MT4 mobile trading platform, you should access the relevant XM server.
Just like on the web trading platform, you can choose from many languages on the mobile trading platform as well. Changing the language is a bit tricky on Android devices, as you can do it only if you switch the default language of your mobile.
| XM mobile trading platform languages | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arabic | Chinese (Simplified) | Chinese (Traditional) | Czech | English |
| French | German | Greek | Hindi | Indonesian |
| Italian | Japanese | Korean | Polish | Portuguese |
| Portuguese (Brazil) | Russian | Spanish | Thai | Turkish |
| Ukrainian | Vietnamese |
Look and feel
XM has a great mobile trading platform, we really liked its design and user-friendliness. It is easy to find all the features it provides.
XM review – Mobile trading platform
Login and security
XM requires only one-step login for the platform, but provides two-step account login to access deposit and withdrawal functions. A two-step login procedure for the trading platform would be safer.
You can’t use fingerprint or Face ID authentication. Offering this feature would be more convenient.
Search functions
The search functions are good. You can search by typing the name of the product or by navigating the category folders.
XM review – Mobile trading platform – Search
Placing orders
You can use the same order types and order time limits as on the web trading platform.
XM review – Mobile trading platform – Order panel
Alerts and notifications
You can set alerts and notifications for your mobile, although only through the desktop trading platform. It would be much easier if you could set these notifications on the mobile trading platform as well.
Desktop trading platform
For desktop trading too, you can use the MetaTrader 4 and 5 platforms; we tested MetaTrader 4.
It has the same design, is available in the same languages, offers the same order types, has the same search functions, and offers the same portfolio and fee reports as the web trading platform.
The desktop trading platform doesn’t have two-step authentication; however, XM provides a two-step account login procedure on the website where you can deposit and withdraw funds.
The major difference is that you can set alerts and notifications on the desktop trading platform in the form of mobile push and email notifications. To set these, you have to add your email address and mobile MetaQuotes ID (you can find it in the MT4 app’s settings). You can add them if you go to ‘Tools’ and then ‘Options’.
Markets and products
XM is a CFD and forex broker with a great number of currency pairs available for trading. However, the CFD selection is lower compared to some XM alternatives.
Disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 74.89% 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.
| XM | FxPro | Admirals (Admiral Markets) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Currency pairs (#) | 55 | 70 | 47 |
| Stock index CFDs (#) | 24 | 29 | 43 |
| Stock CFDs (#) | 1,261 | 1,700 | 3,252 |
| ETF CFDs (#) | – | – | 372 |
| Commodity CFDs (#) | 15 | 25 | 28 |
| Bond CFDs (#) | – | – | 2 |
| Cryptos (#)* | – | 30 | 42 |
Cryptos are available for customers onboarded under XM Global Limited entity.
You can’t change the leverage levels of the products, which is a drawback. Changing the leverage manually is a very useful feature when you want to lower the risk of your trade. Be careful with forex and CFD trading, as the preset leverage levels may be high.
Real stocks and ETFs
XM provides real stocks for clients onboarded under XM’s IFSC-regulated entity. You can trade stocks only using the Shares Account. It is a big addition compared to its competitors.
| XM | FxPro | Admirals (Admiral Markets) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stock markets (#) | 3 | – | 11 |
| ETFs (#) | – | – | 192 |
Research
Trading ideas
XM provides trading ideas under the ‘Trade Ideas’ tab, where you can find various assets and their recent performances.
Fundamental data
XM does not offer fundamental data on assets.
Charting
XM has OK charting tools. You can use 31 technical indicators. These charting tools can be found on the MetaTrader trading platforms.
On the negative side, the design is outdated and some features are hard to use. For example, it was hard to figure out how to remove an indicator from the chart.
News feed
A news feed is available on the ‘Markets’ and ‘News’ pages under the ‘Research & Education’ tab. We liked that news items are categorized based on product types. You can also find video news.
XM offers a great economic calendar. We liked that the calendar has a filter function where you can filter for countries, data type and importance.
Customer service
You can contact XM via
- live chat
- phone
Answers are quick, and their relevancy is mostly OK.
Live chat is quick to respond to the first message but gets a bit slower with subsequent questions. We found that sometimes we had to ask the same question multiple times to get a straight answer.
XM phone support was fast, but we didn’t always receive relevant answers. For example, we didn’t get a clear answer to our query on how swaps are calculated. On other days, the answers were on point – it’s hit-or-miss.
Email support works great. We received answers within a day and they were all relevant.
Education
At XM you can learn in the following ways:
- Demo account
- Platform tutorial videos
- General educational videos
- Webinars
Most of the education section on XM is based on video content. You can dive deep into topics ranging from an introduction to financial markets through money management and trading strategies to technical analysis. Each chapter has several lessons, all available for XM users only.
Beyond these prerecorded materials, they offer live training both online and offline for various experience levels.
Safety
Is XM regulated?
Yes, XM is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), and the Financial Services Commission of Belize (FSC).
There is another XM legal entity called Trading Point MENA Limited, which is regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA).
Is XM safe?
To be certain if a brokerage is safe, we highly advise that you check two facts:
- how you are protected if something goes wrong
- what the background of the broker is
How you are protected
XM operates several subsidiaries, and which one of these will serve you depends on your residency. This is important for you because the investor protection amount and the regulator differ depending on the entity.
| Country of clients | Protection amount | Regulator | Legal entity |
|---|---|---|---|
| EEA countries | €20,000 | Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) | Trading Point of Financial Instruments Ltd. |
| Australia | No protection | Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) | Trading Point of Financial Instruments Pty Ltd. |
| Middle-East | No protection | Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) | Trading Point MENA Limited |
| Rest of the world | No protection | Financial Services Commission of Belize (IFSC) | XM Global Limited |
XM provides negative balance protection for both EU and non-EU customers.
Background
The private company behind the XM brand is Trading Point Holdings. It was established in 2009. The longer the track record of a broker, the more proof we have that it has successfully weathered previous financial crises.
On the other hand, the company doesn’t disclose financial information and isn’t listed on any exchanges. These would increase transparency.