FXTM Spreads, Fees, and Commissions

FXTM opened its virtual doors in 2011 and now caters to over one million clients across dozens of countries. Forex, stocks, cryptocurrencies, indices, and commodities are among the available markets. The broker is also versatile in terms of costs, seeing as FXTM clients can trade without commissions with the Advantage Plus account or enjoy tighter spreads by opting for the commission-based Advantage account. Platforms-wise, both MT4 and MT5 are supported, and the broker is mobile-friendly.

FXTM Trading Costs

FXTM has prepared a set of two live account types designed to cater to the different preferences of forex traders and those interested in other products. The said account types are Advantage and Advantage Plus. The former is the zero-spread option, meaning its spreads can fall as low as 0 pips, but a $3.5 commission per standard lot is applied when it comes to forex pairs. Advantage Plus, on the other hand, is perfect for traders unwilling to pay commissions and prefer spreads to be their main trading costs, even if they are wider.

Besides the above options, FXTM offers two more account types. Individuals who are interested only in stocks can create an Advantage Stocks account, which has spreads from 6 cents and no commissions. Additionally, beginners may choose to start their trading journey with FXTM’s demo account. It is free and provides a risk-free environment.

Advantage Plus Account

The first account type FXTM customers-to-be can consider is the Advantage Plus account. It facilitates commission-free trading for those who value clear-cut costs.

We shall take a look at the AUD/USD pair to demonstrate how one can find the average cost of trading forex. First and foremost, we need to multiply the 0.00021 spread by 100,000, which leads to a result of $21 per standard lot. In terms of micro lots, the cost is lower at $0.21 if they use the total units that make up a micro lot (1,000). Respectively, you would pay $2.10 per mini lot, consisting of 10,000 units in the base currency. Below, you can check out the costs of various other pairs that traders tend to gravitate towards:

Advantage Account

Next, we shall take a look at the account dubbed “Advantage.” While this account type does involve a commission of $3.5, it also grants traders the opportunity to trade with far lower spreads. In fact, the average spreads for most pairs we examined were typically under 1 pip, which has resulted in relatively low costs overall.

The process of finding the total cost is almost the same as what we already covered in the previous section, the main difference being that we need to take the commission into account. As the initial cost per standard lot amounts to $5 (0.00005 x 100,000 = $5), adding the $3.5 commission leaves us with a total cost of $8.5. The commission is $0.035 when it comes to micro lots, which, when added to the initial spread cost (0.00005 x 1,000 = $0.05), amounts to $0.085.

It is worth noting that the commissions differ when it comes to spot metals ($25 per million notional). Index and commodity CFDs, on the other hand, have commissions of $35 per million notional. A $0.02 per side/lot traded commission applies when it comes to stock CFDs, and the minimum commission is $0.01. Crypto traders will also be subject to a commission if they go with this account type, which currently stands at 0.03% of the notional value.

FXTM Overnight Funding Costs

If you plan on trading currencies and holding your long or short positions overnight, swap fees are something you will need to keep track of, given how they change on a daily basis. You can either pay or earn interest when it comes to swaps, and the latter happens when the purchased currency has an interest rate higher than the sold currency. The following table is a summary of the rates published on February 10th.

Swap-Free Trading Costs at FXTM

Swap-free trading is something you can enable regardless of whether you have an Advantage or Advantage Plus account. It exempts you from paying or earning rollover interest and instead, offers straightforward daily fees. These are only charged if you do not close your position after the seven-day grace period has ended.

It can be enabled by paying a visit to the Accounts Overview section of the MyFXTM dashboard. Note that these options might not be available immediately. FXTM may first ask that you prove that you are Muslim by sending the broker’s support team an appropriate document. As noted by FXTM, this is typically a certificate prepared by a religious leader, such as an imam, or another recognized religious authority.

FXTM Non-Trading Costs

FXTM has introduced a fixed fee that is charged whenever a transaction, regardless if it is a deposit or withdrawal, involves a mere $30 or under. With this exception, deposits are fee-free. There is no fee charged when it comes to opening an account either, although you will need to adhere to the $/€/£200 deposit minimum.

FXTM does not charge fees when it comes to many of the cashout solutions it accepts as long as one withdraws over $30. Perfect Money is one such withdrawal method. There are various options that do involve fees, however, and you can examine their costs below:

Traders interested in a virtual private server will be pleased to learn that as long as they maintain a net balance of $3,000, they will be able to take advantage of a VPS without fees. These are the VPS’ technical specifications: 1 CPU (2.2GHz), 1GM RAM, 30GB HDD, Windows Server 2008R2. You may also choose an external VPS service, but FXTM insists that you will be doing so at your own risk.

Last but not least, you are advised to use your account for trading or deactivate it should you decide to stop trading permanently. Otherwise, your account might be subject to an inactivity fee. FXTM charges a dormancy fee of $/€/£10 per month if an account has been inactive for 3 consecutive months.

Closing Thoughts on FXTM Fees

FXTM is somewhat middle-of-the-road in terms of costs. The average spreads it offers to Advantage Plus users are far from the lowest in the industry, but there is a zero-spread account suitable for traders seeking low spreads. The broker is transparent about its rollover fees, as well as the administrative costs clients with Islamic accounts should consider. The lack of deposit fees is another perk you can take advantage of, provided you do not top up your account with $30 or less.

Written by Z. Stefanova