Stock trading and trading platforms at XM

Written by
Márton O.
Fact checked by
Gyula L.
Updated
May 2022

Stock trading and trading platforms

 

In this article, we cover stock trading on XM and the trading platforms the broker offers. Note that XM uses the MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 trading platforms.

Stock trading on XM - here are the key aspects we recommend you check out:

 

Trading platforms - a snapshot of the most important facts

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75.33% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Stock trading on XM

 

Stock trading is available on XM 's platforms in the form of individual stock CFDs for 1200+ stocks. Note that CFDs (contracts for difference) are not real stocks, but a cost-effective way to gain exposure to stock price movements.
Clients onboarded under XM 's IFSC-regulated entity who open a Shares Account can also trade real stocks. This is a significant upside compared to XM's competitors.

How to start buying stocks at XM

  1. Open an investment account at XM
  2. Transfer money to your account
  3. Find a stock or ETF that you want to trade on the trading platform
  4. Buy the asset 
  5. Review your positions regularly
  6. Sell as you see fit

Check if you are eligible for trading both stocks and stock CFDs. Note that CFDs are derivative products that come with a higher degree of risk.

If you buy a CFD, you speculate on the price movements of a particular stock without buying the actual stock. For example, if you buy a Tesla share CFD and Tesla’s share price goes up, so will the value of your CFD. If this is the first time you're considering opening a CFD position, we recommend you do some research on the topic.

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What stocks can you trade at XM?

XM gives access to 3 stock exchanges for trading real stocks.

The following table contains an estimated number of stocks available at XM and its closest competitors.

Snapshot of stock market and stock availability
  XM FxPro FXTM
Stock markets (#) 3 - 3
Approx number of stocks (#) 100 - 393

Due to limited trading activity, stocks usually have greater price fluctuation and wider bid-ask spreads during extended hours compared to standard market hours.Check out the following table for details about US stock trading at XM.

XM - US stock market details
  XM FxPro FXTM
Stock markets (#) 3 - 3
Approx. number of stocks (#) 1240 1700 172


If you have an XM account, you will be able to choose from more than 1,200 stock CFDs to trade. 

Snapshot of CFD market and stock CFD availability
  XM FxPro FXTM
Approx. number of stocks (#) 1240 1700 172

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Stock trading costs at XM

When compared with all brokers reviewed by Brokerchooser, XM 's commissions for trading real stocks are low. The following tables contain the most important costs related to stock trading and the fees levied by the competitors of XM.

We calculated the fees for an imaginary trade of $2,000 worth of shares on American, British, Hong Kong, and German stock exchanges. We converted the GBP, HKD, and EUR trading fees to USD for better comparison.

XM stock and ETF commission for a $2,000 trade
  XM FxPro FXTM
$2000 trade on the NYSE/NASDAQ $1.0 - -
$2000 trade on the LSE $9.0 - -
$2000 trade on a German stock exchange $5.0 - -
$2000 trade on the Hong Kong stock exchange - - -

 

For CFD fees, we compared brokers by calculating all the fees of a typical trade for selected products. We chose popular instruments that best reflect CFD trading fees:

  1. Stock CFDs: Apple (US) and Vodafone (UK)
  2. Stock index CFDs: the S&P500 index (SPX) and the EURO STOXX 50 index

We calculated these simulated trades using a leveraged CFD position, which we held for a week before selling it. The following table contains the most important charges we incurred.

We opened a $2,000 position or the EUR/GBP equivalent. The leverage we used was 20:1 for stock index CFDs and 5:1 for stock CFDs. These catch-all benchmark fees include spreads, commissions, and financing costs for all brokers.

XM fee snapshot for stock CFD trades
  XM FxPro FXTM
Apple CFD $2.1 $4.1 $14.0
Vodafone CFD fee $1.2 $14.7 -
S&P 500 index CFD fee $1.4 $1.1 $1.7
Europe 50 index CFD fee $2.0 $1.2 $1.9

 

Now, let’s take a look at non-trading fees. Most online brokers don’t charge an account fee, nor deposit fees, but inactivity fees and withdrawal fees are common.

Snapshot of XM non-trading fees
  XM FxPro FXTM
Bank transfer Yes Yes Yes
Credit/debit card Yes Yes Yes
Electronic wallets Yes Yes Yes
Withdrawal fee $0 $0 $3

 

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Minimum deposit for trading stocks at XM

The minimum deposit to open a brokerage account with XM is $5. You can see in the table below how this amount stacks up against the closest competitors of XM.

Minimum deposit at XM vs its competitors
  XM FxPro FXTM
Minimum deposit $5 $100 $50


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MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 web trading platform

 

XM's web trading platform 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.

Pros

Cons

• Clear fee report

• No two-step (safer) login

• Good customizability (for charts, workspace)

• No price alerts

• Order confirmation

• Poor design

 

XM does not have its own trading platform; instead, it uses MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5. MetaTrader is a third-party platform provider used by a large number of brokers worldwide. The two 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 Geran
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  


The XM web trading platform has great customizability. It is easy to change the size and the position of the tabs.Look and feel

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

 

MetaTrader order types

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 on the MT4 desktop platform

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. There is a clear breakdown of your profit-loss balance and the commissions you paid in the reports featured under the 'History' tab. We couldn't find a way to download them.

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MetaTrader 4 desktop trading platform

 

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.

Pros

Cons

• Clear fee report

• No two-step (safer) login

• Good customizability (for charts, workspace)

• Outdated design

• Price alerts

• Search function could be better

 

You can use either the MetaTrader 4 or the MetaTrader5 platform on desktop; 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'.

XM review - Desktop trading platform

 

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XM app

 

XM has a great mobile trading platform, offered by MetaTrader 4. It is a well-designed and user-friendly platform with a good search function. However, Touch/Face ID login is not supported.

Pros

Cons

• User-friendly

• No two-step (safer) login

• Good search function

• No Touch/Face ID login

• Price alerts

 


Once you have downloaded the MT4 mobile trading platform, you should access the relevant XM server.XM offers MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 mobile trading platforms. Similarly to the web trading platform, we tested the MetaTrader 4 platform on Android.

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.

Overall, we rate the user-friendliness of the app as better than average.

XM mobile app vs. similar brokers
  XM FxPro FXTM
Mobile app rating (5 is the best) 3.8 stars 4.3 stars 3.8 stars
User-friendliness Great Great Great
2-step authentication No Yes No
Biometric authentication No No No

 

 

XM app - XM app

 

XM app search
 

We found the search functions reasonably good.

XM app checklist
  XM FxPro FXTM
Search functions Great Great Great
2-step authentication No Yes No
Biometric authentication No No No
Price alerts in the app Yes Yes Yes
Confirmation after a successful trade No No No
 

The lack of biometric authentication to log in to the app is annoying. Most brokers have this function (e.g. via fingerprints or FaceID) that saves you from having to type in your password every time.

XM app - XM app search functions

 

App order types

XM has three order types available in its app: Market, Limit, Stop.

You can use the following order terms & expiry in the app: Good 'til canceled (GTC), Good 'til time (GTT).

Mobile app languages

The XM mobile app currently supports the following 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.

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Visit XM
75.33% of retail CFD accounts lose money

-> Back to full XM review 2022

Further reading:

 

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Author of this article

Márton Oláh
Márton Oláh

Márton is a former Strategic Advisor for BrokerChooser. He has been a macro and value investor of stocks for more than 10 years on his own account. He has been trading options and volatility as well since 2020. Márton founded a venture capital-backed company and led it for 8 years before professionally turning to finance. He is an expert in interpreting company reports.

Everything you find on BrokerChooser is based on reliable data and unbiased information. We combine our 10+ years finance experience with readers feedback. Read more about our methodology.

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