Welcome to our XM review, where our main focus is on the things that matter the most to you. Our look into XM trading activities indicates that they are a force to be reckoned with. We will delve into XM markets, real account details, and other deals that work well for you.
XM is available worldwide and is regulated by not just one or two financial authorities, but three. They are; he Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), and the International Financial Services Commission of Belize (IFSC).
Trading Point Holding is XM’s parent company, which was founded in 2009. It manages two brands that are XM and Trading.com.
Our review will focus on the XM trading brand.
In this XM trading review, we are going to be looking into all the essential details that we know you care about and give you our findings. You will use these findings to decide XM global and how they can be of use to your trading activities.
Before we get into the details, in doing our research for the XM review, we found out that they have one specific trait that makes them quite formidable. Most of the trades (about 99.35%) are executed in under one second.
So, what else about getting an XM account, makes them so appealing? Well, that is what we are here to find out. Let’s get started.
Some of their best features are
Some of the things that could do with some improvement are:
Even with the few failings, XM account opening is easy and fully digital. You will be able to enjoy their great educational material in the form of articles and webinars, among other media. The demo account also comes with $100,000 in virtual currency, to ensure that you get to learn as much as you need to before you get started.
Now, let’s look at their fees.
In summary, XM fees are low for CFDs, and they have no charges on withdrawal fee. However, their forex fees are not notably more moderate than any of their competitors. They are about average, and you will get charged a fee if you let your account sit dormant.
Inactivity fees are rare, but XM is one of the few brokers who will charge you. Here is a breakdown of their fees.
As we have mentioned, their trading fees are low. Even though it is not easy to compare the CFD fees for a broker, we managed to come up with a system that would allow us to make the comparisons we needed to make.
For the XM Review, we choose popular instruments and then calculate all the fees of a typical trade for those selected instruments. Within each asset class, we have chosen popular instruments that include:
The typical trade implies the buying of a leveraged position, holding it for a week and then selling. For volume, we went with a $2000 position for stock and stock CFDs. For the forex transactions, we chose $20,000. For leverage, we are going to use:
With these, we can get all the fees, including spreads, commissions and financing costs, that you would need as a trader, to access all the brokers. After we have gathered all the required information, we can then break it down in a table to see how everything turns out.
In this comparison, we are going to pit XM against XTB and eToro. Here’s what that the CFD fees for a $2,000 position held for one week, look like.
We can say that XM forex fees are average when compared to the competitors. For the benchmarking experiment of a $20,000 position held for one week on the leverage of 30:1, this is what the fees look like.
If you are a non-European client, you can trade real stocks using the Share account. Commission fees are determined by the market in which you choose to trade. This is a table showing the breakdown of XM Stock Commission.
Non-Trading Fees
The non-trading fees charged by XM are quite average when compared to the competitors. There is no account fee and no XM withdrawal fees.
Note: You should know that the bank withdrawals anything below $200 and carry a $15 fee.
After 90 days of inactivity, you will be charged a $5 inactivity fee. This is charged every month until your account reaches $0 and then it is archived.
In comparison with XTB and eToro, XM comes out with average marks. Here’s how they compare;
On that note, we end out fees segment. Now you know what XM trading will cost you. The next thing is to understand the account opening process and XM account types, to pick one that works for you.
The account opening process is easy and straightforward. To get an XM account, you just need to go to their website and start from there. It will take one business day to get approved.
XM accounts can be opened by anyone from all over the world, with a few exceptions for countries like Canada, China, Japan, New Zealand, Israel and the USA.
The XM Minimum Deposit is set at $5 for the standard and Micro accounts, which is very low. If you open the XM Zero account, you will have to have a minimum deposit of $100. Everything else is easy from thereon.
Next up, we look at the account types you can expect to get when you are using XM for trading.
When you sign up with XM, you will get a wide range of account types. They all have unique features, where you must look closely to make sure that you get all the details. With each account, you will get different leverage amounts, based on the regulatory jurisdiction rules.
Being regulated by CySEC, ASIC and IFSC mean that rules change, depending on the jurisdiction under which your account falls.
So, with such intricate details, we need to make things simpler, and the following table should take care of that little problem.
One thing that you will not find at XM Review is corporate accounts. They do not offer that. If you sign up for a non-European entity, you will not be given the European client protection measures. So, if that is something you set as a condition on your requirements, better start looking somewhere else.
Opening your XM account is an easy process. In doing our research for the XM review, we collected all the information you will need to have and the steps you will need to take. The application form for the XM real accounts, should not take more than 20 minutes.
One of the things we liked about it is the fact that they have it in many other languages, aside from English. They include:
To open the XM account, you have to go through these steps.
You will need to upload a copy of your national identity card or a passport or a driver’s license. All of that is used to verify your identity. As proof of residency, XM will accept utility bills and bank statements.
There are 11 base currencies provided when you sign up with XM. Here are the base currencies available to you, as our XM review research uncovered: JPY, AUD, RUB, PLN, HUF, ZAR, SGD, EUR, USD, GBP and CHF.
The XM review shows that in comparison with eToro and XTB, XM stands head and shoulders above them. eToro has only one base currency, and XTB has only 4.
The reason why knowing the various XM trading base currencies matters is that when you fund your account in the same currency as your bank account or make your trades of assets in the same currency as the base currency, you will not have to worry about paying the conversion fee.
One of the best ways to save money on currency conversion fees is to open a multi-currency bank account at digital banks. Examples of this include Revolut and Transferwise. They both offer multiple currencies with cheap currency exchange rates and cheap international transfers.
Opening the account on either of these banks will take just a few minutes. You can do it from your phone.
XM Deposits
There are no deposit fees charged on XM. In addition to the bank transfer and the credit-debit cards, you have the option of using the following e-wallets; Trustly, Skrill 1-Tap, Skrill, Neteller and MuchBetter Wallet.
Comparing XM with XTB or eToro shows that they have stood on the same ground as they all have deposit options of bank transfers, credit/debit cards, and e-wallets.
As with other brokers, transferring to a bank can take several business days, while the payment of deposits via debit/credit cards, happens instantly.
NOTE: You can only deposit money from mand into accounts that are in your real name and the same one you used to open your XM account.
XM Withdrawals
XM will not charge you any withdrawal fees. However, if you are doing a bank/wire transfer of amounts below $200, you will have to pay a $15 fee. In comparison with the competitors, you will find that the only eToro charges a $25 withdrawal fee.
XTB does not allow withdrawals into credit/debit cards or electronic wallets.
When it comes to credit and debit cards for XM, the withdrawal amount cannot exceed the amount you deposited for the same instruments. That is the reason why your trading profits can only be withdrawn via a bank transfer.
For credit card withdrawal, it will take about two business days to get the money you withdraw.
NOTE: You can only withdraw money into accounts that are in the same name as you used to open your account (your real name).
What is the process for withdrawing your money out of XM? Well, it is easy and goes through the following steps:
After that, everything else is pretty self-explanatory. You will be able to finish the process and get your money promptly.
XM Bonus or Promotions
XM is a brand that falls under EU regulation. As per the regulation, they cannot legally offer bonuses because of the ESMA ban. There used to be a $30 deposit bonus, but you will not find it anymore.
However, they have great things that you can enjoy and truly appreciate. That includes the fact that they have a free VPS (virtual private server), which helps to increase the speeds of trades. The VPS is accessible to all the XM traders from all over the world, 24/7.
In addition to all that, you will also get to enjoy their fantastic prices on everything. They have fee-free withdrawals and deposits, as we have seen. They also have offers on commissions.
Check out what they have to offer.
Next up, we get into the details you need to know about the trading platforms you will find when using XM online.
XM Trading Platforms
XM offers you platforms on all levels. You will have the web trader, the mobile platform and the desktop app. They are all supplied by MetaTrader.
The XM web trader is a product of MetaTrader. It is very customizable, available in multiple languages and gives clear fees reports. It does not require a two-step login and does not give price alerts.
The most used platform by the clients is XM MT4, which is third-party software.
Portfolios and fees reports are easy to access and read. You will be able to see the profit-loss balance and the commissions you paid. The reports can be found under the history tab. There is no accessible way to download them, though.
MetaTrader is the only software that XM has on mobile. In our XM review, we found that it is available for both iOS and Android users. After you download the XM MT4 mobile trading application, you will need to access the relevant XM server.
NOTE: For example, if you are in the UK, you will need to access the XMUK-Real UK server.
You can choose from the many languages available on the mobile platform. Changing the language may be a bit tricky for Android users because you will only be able to do it if you change the default language of your device.
The orders you can place with the mobile app, are the same as the ones you can place using the web trader. You have the option to set alerts and notifications. However, you will have to do that on the desktop app, which will push them to your phone.
The design of the desktop app is almost the same as that of the web trader in so many ways. The major difference is that with the desktop app, you have the option of setting the price alerts and notifications.
In our XM review research, we found that the notifications feature is what makes it best for a trader to have access to the desktop app. You can have them sent to your phone via email or mobile push notifications.
To set these notifications, you will have to add an email address and then the MetaQuotes ID which you can find in the MT4 software settings. Then You can add the notifications by going to the ‘Tools’ section and then clicking on ‘Options.’
Aside from those features, there is nothing on the Desktop app you cannot find on the mobile or web trader platforms.
XM Markets and Instruments
XM is a forex and CFD broker with a lot of currency pairs to offer. On the other hand, competitors seem to offer more CFDs than XM. You should know that CFDs are very complicated and you should never try to trade them unless you know what you are doing and have the money to lose, in case something goes wrong.
The stats say that when trading with XM, over 69% of retail investors lose money. You should consider your choices before you decide to dabble in CFDs.
Let’s pit XM against the competition and see how that goes.
NOTE: There is one drawback you should know about here. You cannot change the leverage levels.
As a feature, changing the leverage is a very useful thing that you should be able to do. If you want to lower the risk of your trade, you could choose to trade with a leverage of 3:1 instead of trading with 30:1, in the case of stock CFDs.
For that reason, you need to be very careful when you are dealing with the preset leverage levels, because they are high.
Real Stocks– XM offers non-European clients the chance to trade real stocks. You can trade real stocks if you have the ‘Share’ account only. The real stock selection is good, but it lags far behind the competitors.
Where XM has only four stock offerings, XTB has 17 and eToro has 16.
Social Trading– XM has access to social trading provisions that you can use. They have a Mirror Trader program that allows clients to mirror professional traders on their trading accounts and execute the trades manually, automatically or semi-automatically.
Mirror trading is good for traders who would like to learn from the experts and hone their skills and strategies.
XM Research Tools
In our XM review, we found that the broker offers traders a wide range of tools and a great economic calendar that will allow them to do both technical and fundamental analysis.
There are two places you can find the research tools:
To be fair, the Research and Education section is limited in some ways, when you choose a different language, other than English. On the non-English websites, you will not find the technical analyses or the market overviews.
XM trading Ideas, Fundamental Data and Charting
In the Research and Education section, you will find ‘Trade Ideas’. On the day of writing this review, the ideas looked like this:
The News Feed
This is one of the most important things you will need to have when you are a trader. When it comes to that the Markets and News pages on the website, are what you will rely on.
The best thing about the news on XM is that they categorize based on the product types. You will also find video news if you prefer to watch some of it.
In addition to all this, there is an economic calendar with stellar features. The calendar has a filter function that can classify the information to correspond to a country, data type and the level of importance as well. That is not something you will see on many of the brokers that we review.
Education
XM education provides you with access to a demo account, Webinars, the trading platform tutorials and educational videos. You can make a deep dive into the content and go from one lesson to the next in a progressive manner.
You will also be able to get both online and offline live training for different levels of experience.
XM Customer Support
You can contact the broker via live chat, telephone, or email. The answers are quick, and most are relevant. Live chat responds quickly to the first question, likely because it is an automated response. However, it takes a while to get responses to the subsequent questions.
The phone support is fast, but the answers we got weren’t always relevant. Email support works better, and the answers you will get are more relevant. They will typically get back to you within a day.
Lice chat accessible 24/7. If you need to call them, know that they will not be available to take calls on weekends.
In Summary
XM goes above and beyond to provide you with a trading experience that is almost as good as that of the competitors, if not better. XM global reach allows people from all over, to participate in the world’s biggest market.
In our XM review, we looked at all the important things that we know you care about, to make sure that you get the information you need, to make a great decision. Your XM real account is easy to open, as you will find out.
The XM broker is safe because of the regulation they have, and some of the entities of XM have investors protection, even though the information on this differs, depending on where you are.
