XM Review 2020

XM has low trading fees for CFD's and no withdrawal fee. On the other hand, the forex fees are average and there is a fee for inactivity.

How we ranked fees

We ranked XM's fee levels as low, average or high based on how they compare to those of all reviewed brokers.

To get things rolling, let's go over some lingo related to broker fees. What you need to keep an eye on are trading fees, and non-trading fees.

• Trading fees occur when you trade. These can be commissions, spreads, financing rates and conversion fees.
• Non-trading fees include charges not directly related to trading, like withdrawal fees or inactivity fees.

In the sections below, you will find the most relevant fees of XM for each asset class. For example, in the case of forex and stock index trading, spreads, commissions and financing rates are the most important fees.

We also compared XM's fees with those of two similar brokers we selected, XTB and eToro. This selection is based on objective factors such as products offered, client profile, fee structure, etc. See a more detailed rundown of XM alternatives.

To have a clear overview of XM, let's start with the trading fees.

XM trading fees

XM trading fees are low.

XM has three account types that differ in pricing. The Standard and Micro accounts charge higher spreads and there is no commission. The XM Zero account charges lower spreads, but there is a commission. The following calculations are based on 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 compare brokers by calculating all the fees of a typical trade for selected products.

We have chosen 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 the volume, we chose a $2,000 position for the stock index and stock CFDs and $20,000 for the forex transactions. The leverage we used is:

• 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 generally low CFD trading fees. Compared to its competitors, they are about the same or lower.

Forex fees

XM's forex fees are average compared to its competitors.

Real stock fees

If you are a non-European client, you can also trade with real stocks with the Share account. The commission fee depends on the stock market.

Non-trading fees

XM has average non-trading fees. There is no account fee. It charges no withdrawal fee but the only exception is for bank withdrawals below $200, then it is $15.

There is an inactivity fee of $5 per month after 90 days of inactivity. This keeps charged monthly until your balance reaches $0, in which case your account is archived.

XM account opening is hassle-free and straightforward. Your account is ready for trading on the same day.

Can you open an account?

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XM accepts customers from all over the world. There are only a few exceptions. For example, you can't open an account from the USA, Canada, China, Japan, New Zealand, Israel, etc.

What is the minimum deposit at XM?

The required XM minimum deposit is $5. for standard and micro-accounts, which is very low.

Although, if you open an XM Zero account, the minimum deposit is $100.

Account types

XM offers three account types which differ in pricing, base currencies, minimum deposit, and contract size.

XM doesn't offer corporate accounts. If you apply to a non-European entity means that you will not be subject to European client protections. 

How to open your account

XM account opening is fully digital, fast, and straightforward. You can fill out the online application within 20 minutes. Our account was verified on the same day.

You can select many languages beyond the 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:

1. Give your name, country of residence, email address, and telephone number.
2. Select the trading platform (MT4 or MT5) and account type
3. Add your personal information, like date of birth and address
4. Select the base currency and the level of leverage
5. Give your financial information and answer questions about your financial knowledge
6. Verify your ID and residency. You can upload national ID, passport, or driver's license for verifying your ID. Utility bill and bank statements are accepted for residency verification.

XM's deposit and withdrawal are fast, can be done in several forms, and are cost-friendly.

Account base currencies

At XM, you can choose from 11 account base currencies. The available base currencies are: EUR, USD, GBP, CHF, JPY, AUD, RUB, PLN, HUF, ZAR, SGD

This account base currency selection is more competitive than at similar brokers.

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.

A convenient way to save on currency conversion fees is by opening a multi-currency bank account at a digital bank. Revolut or Transferwise both offer bank accounts in several currencies with great currency exchange rates as well as free or cheap international bank transfers. Opening an account only takes a few minutes on your phone.

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Deposit fees and options

XM charges no deposit fees. Besides the bank transfer and credit/debit cards, you can use a lot of electronic wallets:

• Neteller
• Skrill
• Skrill 1-Tap
• MuchBetter Wallet
• Trustly

A bank transfer can take several business days, while payment with a credit/debit card is instant.

You can only deposit money from accounts which are in your name.

XM withdrawal fees and options

XM charges no withdrawal fees. The only exception is the bank wire transfer below $200. If your bank withdrawal is less than $200, $15 is charged.

For credit/debit cards and electronic wallets, the withdrawal amount can't exceed the amount you have deposited there. Therefore, all profits can be withdrawn only by bank transfer.

How long does it take to withdraw money from XM? We tested the credit card withdrawal and it took 2 business days.

You can only withdraw money to accounts in your name.

How do you withdraw money from XM?

• Log in the account management
• Go to the Withdrawal Funds
• Select the withdrawal method
• Add the withdrawal amount

Compare to other brokers

The web trading platform of XM is provided by MetaTrader. It is highly customizable and has a clear fee report. On the other hand, the platform lacks price alerts, and the design is outdated.

XM does not have an in-house developed trading platform, it uses third-party platforms: MetaTrader 4, and MetaTrader 5. These platforms are very similar to each other in functionalities and design. One major difference is that you can't trade stock CFDs on MetaTrader 4, they are available only on MetaTrader 5.

We tested the MetaTrader 4 platform as more people use that. 

MetaTrader 4 is available in an exceptionally large number of languages.

Look and feel

The XM web trading platform has great customizability. You can easily 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 some time until we found how to add an asset to the watchlist.

Login and security

XM provides a two-step login for the account login on the website where you can deposit and withdraw. The trading platform doesn't have a two-step authentication.

Search functions

The search functions are OK. You can find the assets in categories. However, we missed the usual search function when you can type in the asset's name manually.

Placing orders

You can use the basic order types. You will not find very sophisticated orders like the 'one cancels the other' order. The following order types are available:

• Market
• Limit
• Stop

If you are not familiar with order types, read this overview.

There are also order time limits you can use:

• Good 'til canceled (GTC)
• Good 'til time (GTT)

Alerts and notifications

You can't 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 didn't find a way to download them.

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XM has a great mobile trading platform, offered by MetaTrader 4. It is well-designed and user-friendly with a good search function. There is no Touch/Face ID.

XM offers MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 mobile trading platforms. Similarly to the web trading platform, we tested the MetaTrader 4 mobile trading platform.

After you downloaded the MT4 mobile trading platform, access the relevant XM server, e.g. XMUK-Real UK. 

Just like at the web trading platform, you can choose from a lot of languages on the mobile trading platform too. Changing the language is a bit tricky on Android devices. You can do it only if you change the default language of your mobile.

Look and feel

XM has a great mobile trading platform, we really liked its design and user-friendliness. You will easily find all the features.

Login and security

XM provides only a one-step login for the platform, but two-step for account login where you can deposit and withdraw. A two-step login would be safer.

You can't use fingerprint or Face ID authentication. Providing 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.

Placing orders

You can use the same order types and order time limits as the ones on the web trading platform. 

Alerts and notifications

You can set alerts and notifications, although you can do it only on the desktop trading platform. It would be much easier if you could set these notifications on the mobile trading platform.

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In design and functionality, XM's MetaTrader 4 desktop platform is almost the same as the web trading platform. One major difference is that you can set price alerts on the desktop trading platform.

For desktop too, you can use MetaTrader 4 and 5 and we tested the 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 a two-step authentication, but XM provides a two-step login for the account login on the website where you can deposit and withdraw.

The major difference is that you can set alerts and notifications in the form of mobile push and email notifications on the desktop trading platform. To set email or mobile notifications, 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.'

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69.10% of retail CFD accounts lose money

At XM, you can trade with CFDs, forex, and cryptos. Non-European clients can also trade with some real stocks. There are no ETFs, mutual funds, bonds, options, and futures.

XM is a CFD and forex broker with a high amount of currency pairs offered. On the flip side, the amount of CFDs they offer 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. 69.10% 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. Risk warnings are shown on the website but they are unclear on percentages

You can change leverage levels, which is great.

Changing the leverage is a very useful feature when you want to lower the risk of your trade. For example, instead of trading with 5:1 leverage, only trade with 2:1 leverage in case of stock CFDs. Be careful with forex and CFD trading, as the preset leverage levels are high.

Real stocks

XM offers real stocks for non-European clients. You can trade with stocks with the "Share" account only. The real stock selection lags behind that of XTB.

Social trading

XM offers a social trading service. Mirror Trader platform allows investors to mirror professional traders to their own trading accounts, and execute trades manually, semi-automatically or automatically. 

XM offers a wide range of technical-based analysis, a great economic calendar. On the downside, there is no fundamental data.

XM's research tools have two sources:

• "Research and education" section on the website
• MetaTrader trading platforms

The "Research and education" section is more limited if you choose a language other than English. For example, there are no technical analyzes and market overviews on non-English websites.

Trading ideas

XM provides trading ideas, which are based on technical indicators. You can find them if you go to 'Research and education', then click on 'Trade Ideas'.

Fundamental data

XM does not offer fundamental data.

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, we hardly found how we could remove an indicator from the chart.

News feed

News feed is available on the ‘Markets’ and ‘News’ pages under the Research and Education tab. We liked that the news is categorized based on product types. Moreover, you can find Video news.

There is a great economic calendar. We liked that the calendar has a filter function where you can filter for countries, data type, and importance.

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XM's customer service is fast and available in a lot of languages. There are email, phone, and live chat too. Answers' relevancy is ok. The phone support is not available at the weekends.

You can contact XM via

• live chat
• telephone
• email

Answers are fast and the relevancy of the answers are OK.

The live chat is fast in replying for the first message then gets a bit slower if more questions asked. We've found that sometimes the same question needed to be asked multiple times to get straight answers.

XM phone support was fast. However, we didn't get always relevant answers. For example, we didn't get a clear answer to how the swaps are calculated.

Email support works great. We received answers within a day and they were relevant.

We tested the live chat and it is available 24/7 but the website gives different information about it. The phone support is not available at the weekends.

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XM does a great job in education. It offers many educational videos and webinars in great quality. You can use a demo account, watch trading platform tutorials, and learn from educational videos.

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 in topics ranging from an introduction to the 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. 

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69.10% of retail CFD accounts lose money

XM is regulated by three financial authorities globally, including the top-tier ASIC. It is a well-established brand but it is not listed on any exchange and does not disclose financial information.

Is XM regulated?

Yes, it is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), and International Financial Services Commission of Belize (IFSC).

Is XM safe?

To be certain, 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 more subsidiaries and depending on your residence, one of these subsidiaries will serve you. This is important for you because the investor protection amount and the regulator differ from entity to entity.

 *Clients from these countries, except Belgium, Cyprus, Greece and Switzerland can also open an account at Trading.com, which is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The investor protection amount provided at this entity is £85,000.

XM provides negative balance protection for forex spot and CFD trading, but only for retail clients from the European Union. Professional and non-EU clients are not covered with any negative balance protection.

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 survived 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.

Find your safe broker

XM is regulated by more authorities globally, including the top-tier ASIC.

On the plus side, we liked the low CFD and withdrawal fees. The account opening is seamless and hassle-free. There is a wide range of educational tools in great quality.

XM has some drawbacks though. Its product range is limited to FX, CFDs, cryptos. Stocks only for non-Europeans. Its forex fees are average. Lastly, a monthly $5 fee is charged after three months of inactivity. 

We recommend XM for clients who prefer CFD and forex trading and are looking for MetaTrader trading platforms. Feel free to test it via the demo account.

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69.10% of retail CFD accounts lose money