| BROKER | XTB |
| MINIMUM DEPOSIT | 250 (£/S/€) |
| REGULATION | FCA, CySEC, KNF, IFSC |
| TRADING ASSETS | FOREX, STOCKS (CFDs), COMMODITIES, INDICES, ETF, CRYPTO |
| OVERALL RATING | 4.5 |
| COSTS TO TRADE | 4.8 |
| TRADING PLATFORM | 4.8 |
| TRADING APP | 4.7 |
| PAYMENT METHODS | 4.2 |
| DEMO ACCOUNT | 4.4 |
| ACCOUNT TYPES | 4.4 |
| BONUS/OFFERS | N/A |
| CUSTOMER SUPPORT | 4.7 |
XTB Trading Review Scorecard
XTB Trading – Is it safe to trade with XTB?
Before we begin to review XTB Trading in this test, we need to ensure first and foremost that it is a safe and trusted place to trade. We start this review looking to answer the question we get asked more than any other, is XTB a scam?
15 years+ of trading excellence from XTB
XTB have been trading since 2002 when they first incorporated as X-Trade in Warsaw, Poland. By 2005, X-Trade merges into XTB and gains regulation from the KNF to provide users access to various instruments.
The next 5 years saw XTB rebranded to XTB Online Trading and new offices open in Czech Republic, Germany, Spain, Romania, Slovakia, Italy, France, Portugal, UK and Turkey.
Having listed on the Warsaw stock exchange in 2016 under X-Trade Brokers, XTB Trading is by now one of the only forex and trading companies that is publicly traded and thus wide open to scrutiny on all levels.
You will find XTB operating 13 different offices in various cities around the globe. Solid regulation with 4 different bodies including XTB Limited holding the Financial Conduct Authority of the UK licence (FCA regulation no FRN 522127), alongside those of the KNF, CySEC and IFSC, is a reassurance.
As with all publicly listed entities, you have access to their financial performance data which you can find with XTB investor relations.
There are no records of infringements we can find filed against XTB in their history which is always a positive, especially over an extended period close to 20 years. It is clear then to this author that XTB are transparent, trusted and a safe place for your trading.
Now we know that XTB are safe and can be trusted, we really need to know if they offer a good platform and whether you should consider trading with XTB as one of the best brokers?
XTB Trading Fees
The offer with XTB from a costs perspective starts off looking good then seems to get better as we dig into the details and a rather unique offer for trading with XTB.
XTB Spreads
XTB spreads are really some of the lowest in the business when you are trading forex and indices. It is only if you are considering stocks CFDs with XTB that you will see a bit of an increase compared to some of the other top brokers out there.
The minimum spreads are quoted as 0.35 which is considerably lower than most of the competition, especially considering this is on the standard account with no commissions to be added. It really is a boost for all smaller traders out there that XTB offer these trading conditions to all as it can really help overall trading performance if you are minimising the costs of each trade.
You can see below a snapshot of some of the main forex pairs and the spreads below as this should give you a good insight to why we are so pleased with XTB in this case.
It is possible to further reduce the spreads offered by XTB via one of two methods. The first way to reduce spreads is via the XTB Pro account which brings the minimum spread down by around 20%. The downside to this that you will incur trading commissions from 3GBP per lot traded so the saving is not quite as large as first appears.
The second method to reduce spreads with XTB is via their ‘lower spreads’ programme.
What is XTB Lower Spreads Programme you may ask?
This is essentially like a rewards programme that you can opt in to via a simple 3 step submission form. It is a volume based discount that any retail trader can take advantage of, just providing the volume triggers are met. The more volume you trade, the bigger the discount on spreads you can receive, starting from 5% and rising to 30% for heavy traders.
Before I share the details of the volume needed to qualify for each level of discount, I need to make something very clear. Please DO NOT considering increasing your trading volume just to take advantage of this offer. The benefit of this is for those users who are already trading these volumes, and also to show the commitment of XTB to provide valuable benefits for their community.
The qualifying requirements are as follows:
- 5% discount on spreads when trading a minimum of 20 lots per month
- 10% discount when trading a minimum of 50 lots
- 20% discount when trading at least 300 lots
- 30% reduction in spreads when trading 1000 lots with XTB
Commissions
Forex, Indices, Cryptocurrencies and Commodities with XTB, as standard are commission free, meaning your only trade cost is the spread.
Stocks and ETFs CFDs have a commission from 0.08% per lot added to the trade. Whilst this is by no means one of the highest costs in the industry, it brings up the total cost per trade if you are trading those instruments so you just have to keep it in mind when evaluating where to trade which instrument.
As previously highlighted, if you are trading on the XTB Pro account you will find commissions on more instruments as standard.
Deposit or Withdrawal Fees with XTB
XTB are committed to providing options for free deposits and withdrawals and include all the main card deposits and bank transfers as free to use. The only exception from bank or card withdrawals with XTB would be if you are taking out less than £60/€80/$100, in which case you will have a 20% withdrawal fee.
It would therefore be advisable to only request withdrawal amounts above those thresholds to ensure you stay fee free. If you are thinking about depositing via one of the digital wallets supported, you will have a fee of 2% of the deposited amount.
We have seen a few XTB withdrawal review comments on other sources which are not great but it seems that when the account is fully verified, this is not a problem we have seen. You might want to check that your account is fully verified before depositing to ensure that there will not be any issue when it comes to XTB withdrawals.
XTB Trading Fees Summary
XTB are committed to providing a low cost environment for your trading needs and they are doing a great job of it. There are none of the inactivity fees or similar that other brokers have snuck into their cost picture to keep you trading, just simple and honest pricing here from XTB.
XTB spreads even on standard accounts are some of the very best available in the market and there are no charges for your standard deposit or withdrawal types, or for account setup of management.
If you are considering depositing via a digital wallet then just watch out for the 2% fee here as that is a little disappointing but something we hope with a little nudging that XTB will remove or reduce after review. We can say the same for stocks CFDs, if this is one of your main trading instruments just consider the total cost picture beforehand.
Overall a really great fee structure from XTB that should leave our retail forex and indices traders smiling from ear to ear.
XTB Trading Fees Rating – 4.8*
XTB xStation5 Review and MT4 Trading Platforms
When it comes to trading platforms, we usually find that brokers fall in to one of two categories; those that go it alone and build proprietary software or those that provide well known platforms from third parties like MetaTrader of cTrader. XTB have taken the unusual step of providing both their own platform (xStation) alongside a third-party platform (MT4).
Seeing as the MT4 platform provided by XTB is not too dis-similar to the many other versions of MT4 available, we are going to focus here on XTB xStation to see what this can add to the picture.
Trading Platforms – xStation 5 Review
First impressions of the XTB xStation platform could be a little daunting but fear not, it is built to be really user friendly and has some really neat little additions that actually provide real value in our opinion.
As you would expect from platforms these days, there is clear charting and an array of indicator overlays (35 options) that help you to keep on track of your visual cues easily. You can even trade straight from the chart which during time sensitive trades can be a nice plus.
The ‘market sentiments’ feature is a really useful tool to see how the XTB community is trading on a particular instrument. It is so easy to see momentum changing (which is a key component of many more complicated visual indicators) and the simplicity is really helpful especially for novice traders.
XTB xStation 5 is user friendly and advanced at the same time
xStation 5 has an easy search function whereby you can choose by instrument, country or free text. When you consider that XTB provide access to 4000 instruments (across real and CFDs), a simple search really is vital.
Once you have found the instrument to trade, xStation brings up a simple fee overview which displays spreads, commissions and swaps all in one place calculated for you. Again, this is just another simplifier from XTB that shows xStation 5’s simplicity and user centric design.
We also found xStation to have a nice risk management tool, the ever useful economic calendar, and great execution speeds. Notifications and alerts direct to your mobile even if trading on desktop, help to ensure you are never far away from your trade. It is no surprise to us that XTB have won numerous awards for their platform.
Trading Platform Summary
With xStation 5 really impressing us during this XTB test for it’s ease of use, alongside the offering of MT4 for those not willing to consider using a new platform; XTB have done a great job in delivering a trading platform offering that hits the bulls-eye.
It is important not to alienate the established forex trading community in your platform offerings, this is one of the areas in the XTB review that the broker excels.
XTB Trading Platform Rating – 4.8*
XTB Trading App – xStation Mobile
If you like trading on the move, XTB have a good trading range for you to use including xStation mobile, MT4 mobile and even xStation for Apple Watch. Palm of your hand trading is becoming more and more common, wrist watch trading is a relatively novel offer.
You have access to around 1500 instruments on xStation mobile from all the usual suspects including forex, stocks CFDs, cryptocurrencies, indices and commodities, so there is certainly no shortage of options. The ‘Market Sentiments’ tool again makes an appearance here which we are very pleased about.
With xStation on mobile you will find support for Android and iOS, a really strong language range (the same as desktop), and a nice dark mode that is kind on your eyes after a long day at the screens.
Overall the mobile offering is almost as seamless as the desktop version and the search function here doesn’t let you down either. Two step authentication would be a nice addition for a bit of added security, but otherwise there is not much that will let you down here from XTB.
XTB Trading App Rating – 4.7*
XTB Minimum Deposit and Payment Methods
The XTB minimum deposit is suggested as 250 (either USD, EUR or GBP depending on the account currency chosen). Officially, XTB state that there is no minimum deposit requirement and you can choose how much to deposit yourself.
In reality however, it is pretty difficult to execute trades or manage margin requirements with anything less than (£/$/€)250, so we are going to keep that in as the guide XTB minimum deposit in order to actually operate an account.
XTB Payment Methods
The range of payment methods supported by XTB is good if not exhaustive. The standard range of traditional deposit methods include bank transfer, Visa, Maestro and Mastercard. As we touched on in the previous ‘Fees’ category, deposits with all but e-wallets are free which is always a plus. The eWallets supported are limited to Paypal and Skrill (or Paysafe) so there is room for expansion here in the next XTB review.
XTB Withdrawals is where you get a very limited option as they will only transact to a bank account in your name. The speed at which they do this is great however, same day processing before 1pm or next day after 1pm. Just try to keep your XTB withdrawals above $100/€80/£60 to avoid any withdrawal fee.
XTB Minimum Deposit & Payment Method Rating – 4.2*
XTB Demo Trading review
When trading on demo with XTB you will find access to the full range of instruments and support on their platforms. This is a great plus as users have grown frustrated by limited service demo accounts not giving an accurate representation of the final product.
On the flip side, to provide that extensive demo (and 24 hour demo support) XTB have limited their demo trading offer to 4 weeks usage and a $100k balance on which to trade with.
For those of you looking to use the XTB demo to get a grips with the xStation platform (or their MT4 version) that could well be sufficient for you. For the others amongst us who utilise demo platforms also as a way to practice new strategies from time to time without risk, the limit there is a little disappointing.
If you are considering XTB as your next broker, do start with the demo. It is really easy to get started and it is always advisable to have a play around the platform before you start for real, even if just to ensure you don’t miss the opportunities when they arise due to unfamiliarity. You can complete the simple 2 step demo process here https://www.xtb.com/en/demo-account
XTB Learn To Trade Whilst on Demo
XTB have made some really strong steps to help users in their trading education and have created a dedicated section of their site to help users learn to trade. This is available to demo users, real account users, and even in fact passers by who have no account at all.
This section provides some really useful step-by-step guides related to XTB xStation and MT4. You will find visuals related to how to execute trades, risk reward ratio and probability, alongside many others in the ‘basic’ category. Once completed here, you can step up into the intermediate stage which is another 15 lessons as you continue to complete your trading education with XTB. See this section here https://www.xtb.com/en/learn-to-trade/
Demo/Free Resources with XTB Summary
The educational commitment of XTB is great and we are always happy to see a broker step in and take responsibility for helping their users develop as traders, whatever the starting point.
In short, we commend XTB for the quality of the demo platform, it is just the quantity of the usage that holds us back from giving a higher rating here. The educational resources and support available to demo users pulls it up a bit higher than would otherwise be the case.
XTB Demo Trading Rating 4.4
XTB Account Types Review
XTB have kept their trading account options pretty simple, which is no bad thing in itself.
There are 2 options you have with XTB when it comes to account types; standard, or pro. You will notice that there are not a huge number of differences between the two accounts, other than a change in the fee structure to include commission on Pro accounts.
To follow in the XTB model of keeping things simple, we will keep our coverage of the account types short and allow the screenshot to do some of the talking.
In summary, when your standard account scores as many points as XTBs’, you don’t need to overcomplicate things for the sake of it.
XTB Account Types Rating – 4.4*
XTB Bonus & Offers
XTB bonus offers do not really exist any longer but they do have their ‘Lower Spreads’ offer which is a great way to reduce your spread costs if you are currently trading high volumes of lots per month.
We have covered the XTB Lower Spreads offer in more detail during the ‘fees’ section of this review.
Customer Support of XTB
The support network of XTB is extensive and you will find someone available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week if you are located outside of Europe. For European based users, the service is scaled back slightly to Monday to Friday.
The methods offered for support are telephone, live chat on site or email. Of the three methods, telephone and live chat are a lot more instant so if your concern is pressing or time sensitive, do pick up the phone directly or log on to XTB and chat with their support live.
Depending on where in the world you are located, XTB provide different local customer service telephone numbers which we will list below for ease:
- XTB UK +44 203 6953086
- XTB Deutschland +49 692 400 6868
- XTB Poland, XTB International +48 222 739 960
- XTB Turkey +90 212 705 1020
- XTB Vietnam +84 284 458 1672
- XTB Mexico +52 558 526 3201
- XTB Brasil +55 114 210 3750
If your region is not listed on the above list, you can always use the number of XTB International or continue with the live chat on their website. The service there is fast and efficient in terms of the responses you receive.
Customer support at XTB are well trained and seem to be user-centric, following on in their model of building things the way that the customer would want. The volume of languages they offer really is great and removes a lot of barriers to international speakers to trading with XTB.
Overall we are happy with the customer support offer from XTB, it would be nice to see a few more methods of contact added in the future to bring them in step with some of the other brokers.
XTB Customer Service Rating – 4.7*
XTB Review Summary
Holistically, the trading offer of XTB is really strong and competitive, and they fight for the title of best broker in many different categories.
It must be said that during this review we were most impressed with the educational offering, the user friendly nature of the XTB xStation 5 platform, and the ultra competitive costs even to standard account users.
When looking to pick faults with XTB, we wonder whether they might want to offer a bit more variety when it comes to their range of instruments, support methods, and account types in the future to stay ahead of the competition.
In summary, XTB trading offer is all about giving you what you need, along with most of what you could want. Whatever stage you are at in your trading experience, you will find something at XTB to help you enjoy and improve.