XM Review

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XM Group (XM) offers both MetaTrader 4 and 5 platforms with upgrades. They offer forex and CFD traders low trading fees, an enhanced trading experience, and custom indicators. XM provides an outstanding offering of quality educational content and market research. It is difficult for them to compete against industry leader platforms, number of trading markets, and pricing.

Review Summary

Our top findings for XM

1. XM is a well-regulated and safe broker for trading Forex and CFDs. Their platform is excellent for social copy trading. XM’s research offerings give traders depth and variety. Their trading tools and account types are suitable for beginning and experienced traders.
2. Traders will not find a proprietary XM platform. They offer both MetaTrader platforms with upgrades to enhance the trading experience. These provide investor trading support whether trading real money or using a demo account to sample the platform.
3. XM’s pricing varies by account type. They are not a low-cost trading option like CMC Markets or IG. They offer auto-trading, fast order executions, multiple order types, and no hidden commissions.

XM is an average-risk brokerage. They have an overall Trust Score of 84 out of 99. They are privately held and do not operate a bank. XM offers traders CFDs across multiple asset classes, forex, and exchange-traded securities (non-CFDs). They require a low minimum deposit and offer the Zero, Standard, and Micro account types with low spreads and flexible trading lot sizes.

Traders incur an inactivity fee after 90-days without trading. XM does not support PayPal. Many users prefer this as their primary payment processor.

Investment Offerings

XM specializes in forex and CFD trading through a range of products. They provide access to more than 1000 different markets including

• Forex
• CFDs
• more than 1300 instruments
• 55 currency pairs including GBP, USD, EUR, and JPY

XM’s narrow product offering may not provide enough variety for more experienced traders. They trail behind the best forex brokers who offer thousands of tradeable symbols. XM asset classes include commodities, stocks, Forex, precious metals, equity indices, cryptocurrencies, and energies. XM does not offer the ability to trade futures or binary options.

Commissions and Fees

XM charges low CFD fees. Their forex fees are average to high depending on which pairs are traded. They charge an inactivity fee after 90-days.

Trading Fees: XM trading fees are commissions, financing rates, conversion fees, and spreads. Each trading instrument has a different pricing schedule as does each of the 3 account types.

XM Fees, Spreads, and Commissions: XM covers all transfer fees and guarantees same-day withdrawals. The Standard and Micro accounts have average spreads of 1.6 to 1.7 pips for the same pair but do not charge commissions. XM’s Zero account charges a commission but has lower spreads. These rates are less attractive than competitors.

Instant Execution: traders will appreciate no requotes or rejections with XM’s Zero account, compared to market execution offered by other agency-only brokers. XM trails the best forex brokers in budget and active trader pricing.

Execution method: XM acts as the sole dealer (principal market-maker) in all trades. This lets XM execute up to $50 million worth of currency at a time and hold 200 simultaneous open positions.

Shares trading: XM provides a Shares account. This requires a $10,000 deposit and is for investors wanting to trade shares (non-CFDs) with zero leverage. This account is not available with every XM entity.

Spreads and Leverage: traders use leverage that varies from 2:1 to 30:1 depending on currency pair and margin requirements. XM’s margin requirements do not change during nights or weekends (uncommon for most Forex brokers).

Non-trading fees: There are no fees to withdraw money. All withdrawals are completed in less than 24 hours. XM’s non-trading fees are average compared to competitors. There is no deposit or withdrawal fees and no account maintenance fee. (Withdrawals of less than $200 incur a $15 fee). There is a $5/month inactivity fee if a trader does not trade once in 90 days. Trading profits can only be withdrawn using bank transfer. Credit card withdrawals may take up to 2 business days to receive. Other forms of withdrawal are the same or longer.

EEA restrictions: limit leverage and margins available. They provide trader protections (including negative balance protection). Restrictions and protections for clients outside the EEA do not apply. This allows traders from Australia and India, for example, to achieve higher leverage levels. XM is globally available but focused on EU clients. Traders from Canada, Japan, China, Israel, New Zealand, or the USA, cannot open an XM trading account.

Accounts

Opening an account with XM is accessible, fast and user-friendly. Trader accounts are available the same trading day an application is filed.

The minimum deposit to open XM’s Micro and Standard accounts is $5. The XM Zero account minimum deposit is $100. The online application takes 20-minutes to complete and account verification is completed on the same day.

Payments and deposits: Account opening at XM is fast and user-friendly. Deposit payments can be made by wire, local bank transfer, electronic payments, and most major credit cards. Currencies are automatically converted within the account according to the base currency selected on opening. XM offers 11 account base currencies RUB, AUD, JPY, CHF, GBP, ZAR, SGD, PLN, HUF, EUR, and USD. Accounts are available in more than 20 languages, including English, Greek, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai, Chinese, Arabic, and others.

XM accepts deposits from a variety of sources including:

• Credit cards
• Debit cards
• MuchBetter Wallet
• Skrill
• Trustly

XM Zero Account: minimum deposit is $100. This account pays commissions and spreads. This account allows trades in USD, EUR, and JPY.

XM Micro and Standard Accounts: The deposit minimum is $5. These accounts do NOT pay commissions. Trades are limited to 50 lots per ticket up to a maximum of 200 position pending orders. This account trades in 10 currencies.

XM Demo Account: Anyone may open a demo account and receive a virtual balance of US $100,000. The Demo account provides real market data for trading. There are no limits or restrictions on length of time or how a trader uses their demo account. It comes with a virtual private server (VPS) to increase trade speed and is accessible 24-hours a day across the globe.

Social Copying: social trading at XM is through their “Mirror Trader.” It lets traders select professional traders and copy their trades onto their accounts. This can be done:

• Manually – on a trade-by-trade basis
• Semi automatically – choosing some trades manually and others automatically
• Automatically – copy everything done by the selected traders.

There are no corporate accounts offered by XM.

Platforms & Tools

XM does not offer a proprietary trading platform. They use an upgraded MetaTrader MT4 and MT5 suite.

Their suites are versatile, customizable, and function well across all platforms: web, mobile, and desktop. MT5 has more capabilities than MT4 (trade stock CFDs). XM mirrors the best MT traders offering platform add-ons. They also offer proprietary indicators like the in-house developed Rivers Indicator.

The XM Web and desktop versions are identical. The desktop version allows notifications and price alerts. Notifications and alerts are also received on mobile devices or through email. XM’s MT platforms are available in 35 languages.

Appearance: MetaTrader started years ago. While functionality and customizability are industry standard, the appearance on XM feels like the 1990s.

Professional Tools: the trading platform offers many tools including an economic calendar and advanced charting tools.

Mobile Trading

XM is a MetaTrader broker. iOS, Android, and tablet versions of MT4 and MT5 mobile apps are available to download from iTunes and Google Play. Without a proprietary mobile App, XM trails industry leaders IG and Saxo Bank.

The mobile versions of MT4 and MT5 are simple to use. The mobile trading platform supports several languages (it is more complicated on Android than iOS).

Research

XM offers a comprehensive and quality research package that satisfies most traders.

Since the trading platform is separate from research, XM is at a disadvantage compared to forex brokers who integrate research into their trading platforms.

XM TV: is a winner. They do a great job creating an excellent daily forex in-house market commentary news videos. Their market analysis is presented in TV interview-style formats. The audio is uploaded as a podcast to syndicate their content across several media formats.

Articles: XM website’s News section allows content filtering by asset class. This makes it easier to find articles about forex, indices, stocks, and cryptocurrencies. Traders appreciate the XM’s research scope thanks to quality daily market recaps, technical, and fundamental analysis articles.

Trading signals: XM offers a Trade Ideas and Technical Summaries hub to live account holders. Signals stream from both Autochartist and Analyzzer. The broker provides Trading Central (shares) trading ideas. XM uses the MT signals market to enable automated trade copying. XM also supports social copy trading from expert advisors developed by Analyzzer.

Charting: The charting tools at XM are reliable, but not stellar. The 31 technical indicators are a plus. And their outdated design makes some of the tools difficult to use than they seem.

Education

XM offers high quality and diverse educational content. Their in-house video collection Tradepedia, is a great place for beginners to reference.

Video: most of the education content at XM is video. Topics range from beginner to advanced and include subjects like financial markets, technical analysis, and money management. If traders have questions, XM holds regular Live on and offline training. XM measures up well against other educational leaders. Most tools are available to Demo account traders through video tutorials and webinars.

Tradepedia: XM offers Tradepedia, an in-house video course that provides educational forex and CFD content. The series contains 39 videos across seven chapters Their coverage is good for both beginner and advanced video content. The course instructor demonstrates the firm’s proprietary Avramis River indicator.

Webinars: With 49 webinar instructors, they cover 19 languages during the week, XM has extensive time-zone coverages with a detailed schedule organized by experience level.

Articles: There are 53 written articles organized in a progressive format across six chapters. These cover 13 lessons on forex. They begin with the basics and end with advanced subjects. To enhance its educational coverage, XM should add CFD education for other asset classes.

Customer Service

XM’s customer service group is highly rated and respected.

Support is available 24/5 M-F and reached through the live chat feature. There is the option to email customer support.

Phone support is quick. XM’s customer service is quick, multi-lingual and accurate. Their customer service representatives are not traders, so technical trading questions are often not easily answered. Their Live Chat support is quick, although sometimes answers are not relevant to the questions asked. Traders need to be persistent, escalating calls when necessary.

Closing Argument

Whether a beginning trader or experienced veteran, XM offers a wide variety of tools to increase profitable forex and CFD trading. While XM offers a limited range of accounts, they are a solid, easy to navigate, and easy to use online broker. They provide traders with excellent research and education services, making them a great choice for both beginner and experienced traders who appreciate quality market research.

If investors prefer using the popular MT4 and MT5 platforms, want to trade CFDs at a low price, and experience low CFD and withdrawal fees, XM is an excellent market choice. Their account opening process is effortless. XM offers more than 1300 instruments, including 57 currency pairs. They trail behind the best forex brokers who offer many thousands of tradeable symbols.

Drawbacks include a limited product catalog that includes forex, CFDs, and cryptocurrencies (some stocks are available in some countries). Their average-to-high forex fees and $5 monthly inactivity fee are disappointing.

XM compared to other brokers:

• XM vs Interactive Brokers
• XM vs Plus500
• XM vs eToro
• XM vs IG
• XM vs CMC
• XM vs TD Ameritrade
• XM vs XTB
• XM vs FXCM
• XM vs FP Markets
• XM vs Pepperstone
• XM vs Tickmill
• XM vs FX Pro
• XM vs Moneta Markets
• XM vs Eightcap
• XM vs City Index
• XM vs Forex.com
• XM vs Swissquote
• XM vs AVAtrade
• XM vs IC Markets
• XM vs OandA
• XM vs Vantage FX
• XM vs HYCM
• XM vs VT Markets
• XM vs Saxo bank
• XM fees explained
• XM minimum deposit
• XM account opening
• XM trading app
• XM customer service
• XM is it legit?
• XM is it free?
• XM is it good for beginners?
• Can you trade options at XM?

Stefan Grasic

Stefan Grasic (Dipl.-Jur) is the owner of Business24-7 and has considerable experience in the financial and investment niche, but also enjoys writing articles for the general readership. Stefan is an active stock, CFD, crypto and general investment researcher, advising blockchain companies such as Blockbird, GoCrypto, Hive Terminal at their start up level. Stefan began trading in 2010 as a college student. Money was tight,…

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