XM Broker Review

If you are a retail trader, looking for a broker that focuses on stocks and forex, then XM should certainly be worth your consideration. With great customer support, excellent research and education content and negative balance protection, XM is certainly great for beginner traders.

In this broker review, we will highlight all key factors you should consider when deciding on whether you should use XM as your broker.

Key Pros and Cons

If you are tight on time, we will quickly list a few key pros and cons that should be at the forefront of your decision on XM.

Company Information

XM is a group of brokers operating in jurisdictions around the world under the umbrella of the parent company Trading Point of Financial Instruments Ltd. The company was founded in 2009 in just over 11 years it has grown to have had over 3.5 million clients from 196 countries all over the world.

The company has offices in three countries:

Why Trade with XM?

If you are tight for time, here are some of the important features that we like about trading with XM.

Regulation

The conventional way of judging the quality of regulation that a broker holds that the more the merrier. XM has been gradually expanding its regulatory licenses over the years and is now up to three. Starting with the regulation in Cyprus (which covers the EU’s ESMA regulation), expansion has included Australia (a strong, tier-one jurisdiction) and latterly in Belize.

Here is a breakdown of the various regimes they come under:

We would say that the regulation is decent without being exceptionally stringent. There are more stringent EU regulators than CySEC, whilst Belize would be considered lower-tier regulation and rather loose. This is however balanced somewhat by the ASIC regulation which is considered to be strong.

There are also some interesting absences here that also impacts clients:

• No FCA regulation (the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority)– the FCA is a stringent regulator that also allows its traders’ investments to be covered up to £85,000 on broker failure.
• No CFTC regulation (Commodity Futures Trading Commission in the US) – this means that no US clients can trade (however, it tends to only be the very largest European brokers that seek out US regulation).

Furthermore, there are other notable countries that traders are restricted from trading with XM. Traders in countries such as Canada, Japan, China are not allowed.

KYC Procedure for Account Creation and Depositing

Many traders from around the world can sign up to trade with XM. Notable countries that traders will not be able to sign up from including the US, Canada, China and Japan.

Signing up to join XM is fairly quick (in under 15 minutes) whilst the account verification can be within 24 hours. The procedure is also rather standard compared to other brokers:

Here are the steps that we had to take to sign up:

1. Some contact details – add in your name, country of residence and preferred language, email address and telephone number.

2. Trading Account Details – you will need to choose your preferred platform (MT4 or MT5) and your account type (Standard, Micro, Zero)

3. Personal Information – add in your data of birth and address

4. Choose a base currency – choose from the options available on base currency and leverage size.
5. Financial information – there are now a few sections covering your financial situation
6. Trading Knowledge – assessing your any financial industry experience and knowledge of leverage trading. Don’t worry, these are all fairly standard questions that brokers will ask you.
7. You will be required to upload some identifying documentation for XM to verify. You will be asked to provide proof of your identity and residency.

   Proof of ID – you will need to prove your identity via one of the following:

   • Passport
   • National ID card
   • Driver’s License

   Proof of residency – such as a utility bill or bank account statement.

8. Once you have completed your profile and uploaded your identifying documents, you will need to wait for XM to verify your account. This review is done within one business day.
9. However, there is also one more thing before you can start trading. You will need to fund the account with a minimum deposit. With XM to open the Standard account, there is a minimum deposit of $5.

Account Types

XM have three main account types to choose from:

• Standard Account – this is the primary account that most retail traders will use.
• Micro Account – this is an account for newbie traders who want to learn the ropes of leverage
• XM Zero Account – an account for traders who prefer to trade on zero (or very low spreads) with a commission on every trade

Standard account

The Standard account on offer at XM gives you access to all the available instruments with zero commission. There are as many as 11 base currencies to choose from and a $5 minimum deposit for the account. As with traditional standard accounts, 1 Lot has a contract size of 100,000 units. This means that trading 1 Lot of EUR/USD is the equivalent of $10 per pip.

The leverage you can use will depend upon the entity (and therefore regulatory jurisdiction) that you have opened your Standard account under:

• Accounts under CySEC and ASIC jurisdiction (which have limits to protect retail clients) – the maximum leverage is capped. On forex the leverage cap is 1:30 times, on commodities, it is 1:10 times and for stocks it is 1:5 times.
• Accounts under XM Global with Belize (IFSC) regulation with lower levels of retail client protection, the leverage you can achieve can be as high as 1:888 times on some instruments such as forex. Indices are lower at 1:100 times or 1:200 times, whilst commodities are 1:50 times leveraged.

Micro Account

Traders who are new to the game and are cautiously just finding their feet may prefer the option of the Micro Account. This account is great if you are worried about blowing up your trading account by making silly mistakes on the platform such as using the wrong trade size. Once traders gain experience of the whole trading experience they can migrate to the Standard account for larger contract sizes.

The Micro account gives you all the same features as the Standard account, however, the equivalent contract size of trading 1 Lot is 100 times lower. The contract size of 1 Lot equals 1,000 units.

In other words, opening a trade with the Micro account, a 1 Lot position on EUR/USD gives you exposure to $0.1 per pip (or 10 cents per pip) movement.

XM Zero Account

This is the final main account that you can open with XM and is a zero spread account. Traders can keep their costs down by trading with spreads that “can be as low as 0 pips” (although not always this low). For this privilege, traders will have to pay a commission of $3.5 (both in and out) for every 1 Lot traded. (See Trading Costs for a comparison of the spread versus commission account models).

There is a couple of administrative differences with the Zero account versus the Standard account to consider:

• Only 3 base currencies available (USD, EUR, JPY) versus 11 for the Standard account.
• There is a minimum deposit of $100 versus just $5 on a Standard account)

Demo Account

Newbie traders will often prefer to practice before they trade. At XM there is a Demo Account facility that gives you a virtual balance of $100,000 to play around with and find your feet. The demo account has an unlimited duration, giving you all the time you need to get prepared for trading a real account.

Other accounts available

Here are the other accounts are available at XM, however, these do come with restrictions:

Account types missing with XM

There are some accounts and features that XM does not offer. Here are a few accounts you need to be aware of that other brokers might have available. These may be part of your decision making in choosing a broker:

• Professional/Premium accounts – some brokers will offer professional traders (who meet certain trading criteria) better spreads and execution, along with higher leverage limits and access to cryptocurrency margin trading in the European jurisdiction.
• STP or ECN accounts – Accounts at XM use a dealing desk model of trade execution. Subsequently, there are no Direct Market Access accounts such as STP (Straight Through Processing) or ECN (Electronic Communications Network) available.
• Guaranteed Stop-Loss Orders – A facility of guaranteed stop-loss orders some brokers offer. Helps to protect traders from gapping markets. XM does not offer Guaranteed Stop-Loss Orders (GLSO).

Trading fees and other costs

The fees you incur whilst trading with a broker can be an important aspect of your decision over which broker to choose. The lower your costs the better. There are several costs that you can incur whilst trading. Generally, we can split these costs into two categories:

• Trading fees – spreads, commissions and overnight financing charges
• Non-trading costs – account fees, inactivity fees, currency conversion fees

Let’s break these down and then see how XM measure up.

Spreads

Across is Standard and Micro accounts, XM looks to make money on the trading spread rather than charge commissions. Whereas with the Zero account, there is no spread and instead ZM charges a commission on every trade.

We believe that XM’s spreads are reasonable but not as competitive as some rival brokers. Taking EUR/USD as a benchmark, the average spread of 1.7 pips is a whole 1 pip wider than what you can get through IG Markets, whilst even the minimum spreads are considerably wider than brokers such as AvaTrade, IG Markets and OANDA.

The following table shows how XM measures up against some of its rivals across the most widely traded major forex positions. On both a minimum and average spread basis, XM comes up second best.

*unconfirmed

Commissions

XM charges zero commission on its Standard account. However, with the zero spread account, you will pay $3.5 commission per 1 lot (100,000 units) traded. This commission is paid both at both ends of the trade, when you open and when you close the position.

So let’s do a comparison of trading a position with XM on a Standard account versus what you would pay using its Zero spread account. Buying 1 lot of EUR/USD if you closed the position immediately after you opened it (i.e. there is no change to the spread):

As we can see the trading costs of trading via the Zero spread account are lower. These savings can be much great when you trade other instruments with wider spreads on the Standard account.

Financing charges

If you hold a position overnight, you will incur financing charges. These are sometimes referred to as swaps or rollover. You can either gain or lose from financing charges. The charges will vary across different instruments and vary from day to day., determined by “tom-next rates”. Tom-next rates are determined by the money markets and are interest rate differentials between two currencies.

However, there is also an “XM mark-up” to take into consideration. Not all brokers will add their charge to roll-over. For long positions, XM adds +0.5% whilst for short positions XM takes off-1.5%. The formula for the calculation of overnight financing charges that XM uses is as follows:

Trade size x (+/- tom-next rate – XM overnight mark up) = Daily Overnight Interest Charged/Paid

Deposit fees

XM has zero deposit fees – this is fairly standard amongst competitors – for more details see Deposit Methods

Withdrawal fees

XM has zero withdrawal fees on almost all of its methods. The only exception is if you are withdrawing a small amount (less than $200) via a wire transfer. This will incur a $15 fee. Even this is a small exception, we believe that XM scores well on withdrawal fees. Many brokers will charge for additional withdrawals within a month and often as much as $25 for any bank wire transfers out – for more details see Withdrawal Methods

Inactivity fees

Inactivity fees are another of the important non-trading fees that you can incur. All brokers want you trading, and when a trading account lies dormant, they begin to incur inactivity charges on the account. These need to be measured by how long your account can lie dormant before being charged a fee and secondly how high the fee is. We believe that XM scores poorly on the length of the dormant period allowed, but scores well on cost.

With XM, inactivity charges kick in after just 90 days (i.e. 3 months) of the account being dormant. We consider this period to be very short. We consider six months or sooner to be bad, whilst 18 months and above is generous. 12 months is about average.

After a 90 day dormant period an inactivity chart is levied at $5 per month (you all lose all bonuses or promotional credits). We consider $5 per month to be low compared to competitors.

Let’s compare how much you would be charged after 12 months of a dormant account with some other brokers

*AvaTrade also charges a $100 administration charge on dormant accounts after 12 months

Compared to rival brokers, XM charges inactivity fees very quickly, however not as expensive as other brokers.

Overall on Fees

We believe that XM scores fairly well but not great overall on fees. The spreads are not the best you can find, but trading costs can be reduced with the zero spread account.

The “XM mark-up” on financing charges is not unique amongst brokers but some do not add any fees to the standard tom-next rate formula. We like the zero fees that you get on deposits and withdrawals (except for wires below $200). Inactivity charges are low on the monthly rate but kick in after only a short time.

Desktop Trading Platforms

On the home page of the website, XM claim to have 16 platforms available. However, drilling a little deeper and you will see in reality that they only offer platforms based around MetaTrader4 (MT4) and MetaTrader5 (MT5). It is just that XM counts the various device versions of the same platform. This is bending the truth slightly and is probably an attempt to make up for the lack of proprietary platform or options other than the ubiquitous MT4/MT5.

Stripping this all back, here are the available platforms:

• MetaTrader 4 – MT4 is still considered to be the benchmark platform for retail traders
• MetaTrader 5 – MT5 is the upgraded version of MT4
• XM MT4 WebTrader – whilst MT4 and MT5 are usually platforms downloaded to a pc or Mac, XM’s WebTrader version is browser-based. The WebTrader version of MT4 does not support Eas (Expert Advisors)
• XM MT4 Multi-terminal – good tool for traders looking to trade with multiple accounts under the one master login. The platform supports up to 128 trading accounts with three allocation methods.

However, we are underwhelmed by the lack of platform options at XM. Professional traders looking for advanced analytical tools including fundamentals will find themselves disappointed with the offering.

MT4 & MT5

Beginner traders who have done even minimal shopping around for brokers will by now have realised that the MT4 platform is available everywhere. Some of the bigger brokers will offer their proprietary platforms to trade on, whilst others will offer other third-party platforms for variety. XM just has MT4 and MT5.

Despite this, MT4 is considered the industry benchmark for platforms and is very popular with retail clients, especially beginners. Brokers that are offering stock CFDs are now also pushing clients on to MT5 (an upgrade on MT4) as stocks are not available on MT4.

MetaTrader 4 (MT4) – is good for charting, technical analysis indicators and translates very well across your devices, meaning desktop, tablet and mobile versions interact very well. MT4 also supports full EA (Expert Advisor) functionality.

MetaTrader 5 (MT5) – the MetaTrader upgrade on MT4 supports a wider selection of asset classes, including stock CFDs. Other upgrades include:

• More order types (6 on MT5 versus 4 on MT4),
• More timeframes available (21 to choose from on MT5, versus just 9 on MT4)
• 38 technical indicators (versus 30 on MT4)
• 37 graphical drawing and annotation objects (versus 24 on MT4)

Mobile Trading Platforms

XM offers MT4 and MT5 across mobile devices. Both are available through iOS and Android operating systems.

MT4 & MT5 trading apps

The mobile versions of MT4 and MT5 translate extremely well from the desktop versions, also allowing excellent interaction between devices. The 3 chart types and 30 technical indicators of MT4 migrate well, whilst there is also push notifications for trading alerts.

Trading Instruments

Looking at the traded instruments, it is a mixed offering from XM. On the plus side, we think they have an excellent selection of stocks CFDs, in addition to a decent selection of forex pairs. However, outside of stocks CFDs and forex that we believe that XM is lacking somewhat, and sometimes significantly so.

The website suggests that XM offers 1377 instruments, but the vast majority of these are stock CFDs. With a poor selection of indices and commodities, we were disappointed to see a lack of any ETFs, options, bonds or cryptocurrency.

Forex

There are 57 instruments to trade, which is a fairly decent selection. Many brokers will have between 50 and 60 pairs. Some of the more forex focused brokers such as Forex.com and OANDA have closer to 80 forex pairs available.

Indices

There are just 14 indices to trade. This is not a great selection. All the major indices are available, but with just three different US indices, there are better selections elsewhere. Brokers tend to average between 15 to 20 indices.

Stocks

The selection of stock CFDs is where XM excels. There are almost 1300 individual stock CFDs from 18 countries around the world. In addition to the US and Canadian stocks, there are equities from 14 European countries, Brazil and Russia.

This is an impressive selection of stock CFDs and is beyond the offering of most brokers.

Commodities

The number of commodities is underwhelming, with just a total of 15. This includes just 2 precious metals (Gold and Silver, but no others) with 5 energies and 8 soft commodities. Many brokers will have between 20 and 30 different commodities to trade.

Restricted assets – Shares

If you are a trader that comes under the XM Global entity (Belize regulation) you can have a Shares Account which means that you can trade the underlying company shares (ie. not just the CFDs). There are 100 to choose from and are all major US, UK and German companies.

What you can’t trade

At XM, the selection of traded instruments ends there. This means there are:

1. No ETFs – this is disappointing as most brokers will at least offer some ETFs
2. No Cryptocurrency – again this is a disappointment as many brokers are trying to offer these at least for their non-European clients.
3. No Bonds – often only really offered to any serious extent by the larger brokers.
4. No Options – some brokers will offer options, although this tends to be only the larger brokers.

Trade Execution

XM runs a market maker (dealing desk) broker model. This means that all trades can be dealt with in-house. There are some key advantages to this, something of which is highlighted prominently on the website:

• Fast trade execution – XM claims that 99.35% of all trades are executed in less than one second
• 100% execution rate – no orders rejected and no re-quotes

It is always important for would-be traders that they understand the flip side of trading with a dealing desk broker. It opens questions of trust.
XM does not appear to offer STP (Straight Through Processing) or ECN (Electronic Communications Network) trading accounts. So there is no Direct Market Access and it means that XM can set the price that traders receive. XM seems to be entirely dealing desk execution.

Dealing desk brokers can manage the risk of their clients’ trades in two ways. They can keep it in-house (and therefore effectively take the other side of the trade to the client), or they can push the risk out to liquidity providers. There is no way of knowing how much risk a dealing desk broker such as XM would take on. There is no way of knowing how often, if at all, XM trades against its clients.

It is up to the individual trader to decide how comfortable they are trading with a dealing desk broker.

Deposits

To open a standard account with XM there are variable minimum deposits, depending upon which account you open:

The Standard and Micro accounts have a minimum deposit of just $5 (or equivalent denomination) to start trading. However, for the XM Zero Spread account, there is a $100 minimum deposit. Furthermore, the Shares account (only available to XM Global) needs a minimum deposit of $10,000.

Looking also at the number of base currencies available, there are 11 to choose from. This is considerably more than what many brokers will offer you.

Deposit Methods

For deposits into the account, they can be made in any currency and will be converted into the base currency of your account by XM prevailing inter-bank price. All deposits via credit/card and e-payment options clear into your account instantly. Bank wires will take several days to clear.

Looking at deposit methods, XM caters for payments in a variety of different methods:

• Debit/Credit Card
• Local bank transfer
• Bank wire transfer
• e-payments (such as Skrill, Neteller)

Deposit Bonuses

For traders outside Europe and under the XM Global entity, there are bonuses available. You get a $30 bonus just for opening your first XM Real Account. Given the demo account has an unlimited duration, this is one way of persuading traders onto the live platform.

There is also a two-tier bonus on deposits which can give you up to $5000 extra into your trading account. This is a 50% bonus on depositing $1000 (giving you a bonus of $500) and then a further 20% bonus on deposits up to $23,500 (giving you a further bonus of up to $4500).

Withdrawal Methods

We like the fact that XM does not charge any fees or commissions on withdrawals across payment methods. The only exception to this is with Wire transfers less than $200 which incurs a $15 charge. However, even then, many other brokers would charge a fee of up to $25 for all wire withdrawals.

Some brokers will charge for additional withdrawals in a month, regardless of the method. The fact that XM does not charge for withdrawals helps to keep costs down for the trader.

All withdrawals are processed within 24 hours. This is prompt and fairly standard across the industry but still a good response.

In line with anti-money laundering regulations, the withdrawal method has to be the same as the deposit method in which the account was funded. There is also a withdrawal priority procedure if you have funded the account by different methods. If you have deposited via a credit/debit card then the withdrawal back onto the card can cover the deposit amount. Anything above this amount can then be transferred via bank wire or e-wallet for the remaining transfer of funds.

Customer Support Contacts

Customer support is one area where XM really will go the extra mile. XM claims to speak over 25 languages and customer support is available through all the usual channels. However, we are especially impressed by the human contact that is available and is an excellent service for novice traders. It is difficult to think of what they could do more to support their customers.

1. Personal Account Managers

   Trades like to know the broker is on hand to help them with any issues that can crop up. This is especially the can with beginners and novice traders. This is why we like the Personal Account Managers service that XM assigns to all of its clients.

   The account managers can then support the trader with platform training, trading queries and add a sense of reassurance. Personal account managers work in the offices in Cyprus and Australia so will need to be contacted during business hours.

2. FAQs

   As is often with good quality brokers, there is an extensive list of Frequently Asked Questions on the website. Topics covered include account queries, deposits/withdrawals, platforms and about the company.

3. XM Live Chat

   Some broker websites have an automated chatbot that churns out pre-recorded answers. However, XM has a Live Chat where you can connect to a person to answer your queries. The service is available 24/5 and is very useful for outside local business hours trading when your Personal Account Manager may not be available.

4. Telephone contact

   If you prefer to speak with someone, there are plenty of telephone contact numbers on the website. Contact is available 24/5.

5. Email

   There are also several email addresses to contact. Encouragingly too, emails are also targeted to specific departments. The response time is quick too, within 24 hours.

Research and Educational Materials

XM has also really put the effort in when it comes to Research and Education. The website is jam-packed with content to give traders the most assistance they could ask for on their journey.

Research

There is extensive video and written market analysis content on the website. Some of this is locked to clients, but some are also free to all. Here’s what’s available:

• Market Commentary – what’s moving markets
• Technical Analysis – major markets analysed
• Special Reports – giving bigger picture macro views
• News – fed through via Reuters
• Trade Ideas – ideas generated from Autochartist and Analyser third party content
• Economic Calendar – scheduled events to watch

Live analysis content is also a feature of XM’s research offering. XM TV is a great addition for videos whilst podcasts are also now on the site.

Education

The Learning Centre hub is another area of the site for traders to learn their craft. We are impressed with the selection of educational videos, platform tutorial videos, whilst the XM Live video feed is a service you will very rarely see with rival brokers.

There is also a wide selection of:

• Forex webinars – in 19 different languages, scheduled for times throughout the day, 7 days a week
• Forex seminars – although none are scheduled right now

Security and Money Guarantees

At bestbrokers.com we believe that the protection of client funds is one of the most important factors in choosing a broker. We believe that your money is safe with XM. Here’s why:

• 11 years of trading history and growth
• Top-level ASIC regulation
• Investor compensation scheme (for European traders only)
• Negative balance protection for all clients

Let’s look at these in more detail.

The history of growth and stability over the 11 years of trading gives us confidence in XM. Although it is not a public company or has a bank attached, we believe they have a strong track record.

The ASIC regulation is top-tier and means that XM needs to run a responsible, ethical and professional company to service its clients.

European clients under the CySEC jurisdiction are covered by the Investor Compensation Fund (ICF). If a finance company under the CySEC jurisdiction fails then its clients are protected up to €20,000. This could be better if XM had Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulation then clients would be protected up to £85,000. However, €20,000 is the level of protection that EU clients receive.

One strong plus is that XM extends negative balance protection to all its clients, not just the EU clients that it is required to by law. This means that traders cannot lose more money than they put into their account and is excellent for beginners especially.

Conclusion

At BestBrokers.com we believe XM is an excellent broker for beginner and novice traders. Here are the benefits for beginners:

• Excellent customer support with the Personal Account Manager
• The resources that are available on Research and Education are extremely useful for building trading knowledge
• Negative balance protection so that traders cannot lose more money than they deposited

However, whilst XM is excellent for beginners when it comes to more experienced traders, XM may not score quite so highly:

• No professional/premium account available giving EU traders access to higher leverage
• No futures/options or cryptocurrency available.
• The spreads are wider than competitors (although trading costs can be reduced with the zero spread account)
• Platforms are limited to MT4/MT5 with no more advanced proprietary platform available.

Richard Perry