XTB Review 2021
For this XTB review, we opened a live account and deposited €5,000
We traded the popular instrument in each market to identify the average spread and placed 12 trades in total.
We contacted the broker’s customer support to resolve the challenges we faced.
Finally, we withdrew all our funds to identify if there are any issues with withdrawals.
What is XTB
XTB is a global Forex and CFD broker, founded in 2002.
The broker has dual headquarters in London and Warsaw and is licensed by regulators in the UK, Cyprus, Poland, Spain, and Belize.
XTB has offices in each of the countries in which it is regulated.
Here’s a summary of XTB’s key features:
| 🗺️ Authorised & Regulated in | UK, Cyprus, Poland, Spain, Belize |
| 🛡️ Is Tickmill safe | Yes |
| 💰 EUR/USD Spread | 0.9 |
| 💳 Minimum deposit | US$250 |
| 💰 Withdrawal fee | US$0 |
| 🖥️ Trading Platform | MT4, xStation 5, xStation Mobile |
| 📈 Markets offered | Forex, Indices, Stocks, Commodities, ETFs, Cryptocurrencies |
| 📉 Number of Products | 2111 |
Licenses and Regulations
XTB is licensed by 5 regulators globally including the top-tier UK’s FCA, the CySEC, Poland’s KNF, Spain’s CNMV & Belize’s IFSC.
Here’s a full list of the licenses held by XTB’s subsidiaries:
| Legal entity | Registered in | Regulator | License Number | Accepting Clients From | Compensation Scheme Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| XTB Limited | United Kingdom | Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) | 522157 | United Kingdom | £85,000 |
| XTB Ltd | Cyprus | Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) | 169/12 | EU | €20,000 |
| X-Trade Brokers DM SA | Poland | Komisja Nadzoru Finansowego (KNF) | 1538207 | Poland | €20,000 |
| XTB Sucurusal | Spain | National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) | 40 | Spain | €20,000 |
| XTB International Limited (XTB) | Belize | International Financial Services Commission (IFSC) | 000302/46 | Globally many countries | No compensation scheme |
Is XTB Safe
Yes, XTB is safe to trade. XTB is a public company listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and as such is required to publicly disclose its financial statements, which it does on a regular basis.
The broker is also regulated by the FCA and CySEC, which are highly regarded, and traders registered under the two entities are entitled to deposit compensation schemes of up to £85,000 and €20,000 respectively.
We did not encounter any major issues when trading and making withdrawals with XTB.
For this review, we opened an account with XTB Ltd which is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), which we used to deposit money, place trades, and finally withdrew our funds.
You can open an account with the UK, Cyprus, Poland and Spain entities since they all offer deposit protection if they’re available to you.
We consider the FCA regulation to be the best since it provides compensation of up to £85,000 in case the broker goes bankrupt, but the other three entities also provide deposit compensation of up to €20,000.
Fees and Commissions
XTB charges low fees for Forex trades, while commodities, stocks, indices and cryptocurrencies fees are average to high.
The broker charges a EUR 6.6 commission on Stocks and ETF trades with opening and closing transactions being treated as separate trades.
The commissions could add up quickly and greatly reduce your profits if you trade small contract sizes.
Spread Charged in our Trades
In our tests, we chose the popular instrument in each market. We placed 3 trades for each instrument to get a complete picture of the average spread. We tested the Standard Account which charges a spread on most assets except for stocks and ETFs, which attract a fixed €6.60 commission. Overall, the spread is stable as shown in the table below.
| Markets | Instruments | 1st trade | 2nd trade | 3rd trade | Avg. Spread | Commission |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forex | EUR/USD | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.83 | |
| Indices | FTSE 100 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 1.80 | |
| Stocks | Apple | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.00 | €6.60 |
| Commodities | Gold | 0.46 | 0.4 | 0.45 | 0.44 | |
| ETFs | QQQ | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | €6.60 |
| Cryptocurrencies | Bitcoin | 189.06 | 189.95 | 189.65 | 189.55 |
We tested all our trades via the xStation mobile app on our iPhone. We discovered that the broker only allows long trades on the QQQ ETF since we were unable to go short/sell the ETF.
Comparing the spreads charged in our trades to industry benchmarks, we found the spread on Forex pairs to be quite low, but the spreads on commodities, stocks, indices and cryptocurrencies were in-line with industry averages or higher.
| Markets | Instruments | Avg. Spread Charged | Industry Avg. Spread |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forex | EUR/USD | 0.83 | 1.6 |
| Indices | FTSE 100 | 1.80 | 1.5 |
| Stocks | Apple | 1.00 | 1.5 |
| Commodities | Gold | 0.44 | 3.8 |
| ETFs | QQQ | N/A | |
| Cryptocurrencies | Bitcoin | 189.55 | 45 |
Other fees
XTB does not charge non-trading fees such as account inactivity fees as well as deposit & withdrawal fees.
Account Types
XTB offers 2 account types, that is, the Standard, and PRO accounts. See the differences below:
| Standard | Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Execution type | Market | Market |
| Available Instruments | CFDs on Forex, Commodities, Indices, Crypto, Shares, ETFs | CFDs on Forex, Commodities, Indices, Crypto, Shares, ETFs |
| Instruments | 1500+ | 1500+ |
| Maximum Leverage | 1:30 | 1:30 |
| Minimum Spread | 0.00008 | 0.00001 |
| Negative Balance Protection | Yes | Yes |
| Minimal Order | 0.01 lot* | 0.01 lot* |
| Automated Trading | Yes | Yes |
| Account Setup & Management | Free | Free |
| Trading Platforms | xStation & MT4 | xStation & MT4 |
| Forex, Indices, Commodities | No Commission | Commission from 3.50 EUR per lot |
| Stocks | N/A | N/A |
| Stocks & ETF CFDs | Commission from 0.08% per lot | Commission from 0.08% per lot |
| Cryptocurrencies | No commission |
XTB also offers a forex swap-free Account. The main difference with Islamic accounts is that instead of daily swap rates, there is an administration fee charged if you hold positions for more than 3 nights.
For our tests, we chose to open a Standard Account.
Account Opening
XTB account opening is fast and smooth. We opened an account to test the entire process, which was fully digital.
Here are the 5 steps to opening an XTB account:
- Enter your email address, country of residence and account password.
- Enter your personal details including your full name, date of birth, nationality, passport number, and Tax identity among others.
- Provide your physical address including your street, building no./name, flat no, postcode and city.
- Choose a trading platform, account type, currency, and preferred language.
- Answer questions about your experience, market knowledge and financial status.
- Verify your ID and residency using either a National ID or Passport and a bank statement.
The registration process took just 13 minutes and our account was approved on the same day, which was impressive!
We registered our account on 21 October 2020 and it was verified on 21 October 2020. Our account was approved shortly after submitting all the necessary documents.
We opened a standard account with XTB Ltd, which is regulated by the CySEC.
Deposit and Withdrawal
XTB offers free and fast deposits and withdrawals. There are various options for funding your account, including bank wires, credit and debit cards, and e-wallets such as Skrill and PayPal.
Minimum Deposit
XTB has no minimum deposit for individual accounts.
Deposit
XTB clients can deposit funds into their trading accounts using debit/credit cards, bank transfers, and e-wallets such as Skrill, and PayPal.
The table below shows the details of our deposits:
| Payment Method | Submitted Date | Funded Account Date | Funding Time | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skrill | 2020-12-08 | 2020-12-08 | Instant | zero |
| Debit card | 2020-12-08 | 2020-12-08 | Instant | zero |
| PayPal | 2020-12-08 | 2020-12-08 | Instant | zero |
All the deposit methods offered by XTB are instant and free, we did not make a deposit via bank transfers.
Withdrawal
XTB processes client withdrawals via bank transfer only, which could be a major drawback.
You cannot withdraw your funds via any of the other deposit methods available with the transfers taking an average of two days to reach our bank account.
XTB does not allow you to withdraw your funds using the other payment methods except for bank wire transfers.
| Payment Method | Submitted Date | Funds Released Date | Funds Arrived Date | Withdrawal Time | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bank Transfer | 2020-12-16 | 2020-12-16 | 2020-12-18 | 2 working days | zero |
Markets and Products
At XTB, you can trade CFDs on Forex pairs, stock indices, stocks, commodities, ETFs and cryptocurrencies.
Here’s the complete list of XTB’s product offerings:
| Markets | Instruments |
|---|---|
| Forex | 57 |
| Indices | 42 |
| Stocks | 1849 |
| Commodities | 23 |
| ETFs | 119 |
| Crypto | 25 |
Bitcoin
XTB offers several cryptocurrency products including Bitcoin, which is the most popular and largest crypto by market capitalization. XTB offers a good range of Cryptocurrencies up to 25 instruments. However, the trading fees for cryptos are quite high with the average bitcoin spread being 189.55 pips.
Trading Conditions-
The trading conditions at XTB are good. You can run most types of trading strategies as the broker allows high-risk strategies such as hedging and scalping.
There are no time limitations for keeping your hedging positions open. Tickmill also allows the use of Expert Advisors (EAs).
| Trading Method | Allowed |
|---|---|
| Hedging | Yes |
| Scalping | Yes |
| Change Leverage | No |
Leverage
XTB offers different leverage levels to its clients depending on the entity under which they registered their account.
However, traders cannot change the leverage level of their account after registration.
The table below outlines the various leverage levels available to clients:
| Markets | XTB Limited | XTB Ltd | X-Trade Brokers DM SA | XTB Sucursal | XTB International Ltd |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Currency pairs | 30:1 | 30:1 | 30:1 | 30:1 | 500:1 |
| Gold | 20:1 | 20:1 | 20:1 | 30:1 | 500:1 |
| Other Commodities (except gold) | 10:1 | 10:1 | 10:1 | 10:1 | 67:1 |
| Indices | 20:1 | 20:1 | 20:1 | 20:1 | 100:1 |
| Stocks | 5:1 | 5:1 | 5:1 | 5:1 | 5:1 |
| ETFs | 5:1 | 5:1 | 5:1 | 5:1 | 5:1 |
| Cryptocurrencies | 2:1 | 2:1 | 2:1 | 2:1 | 5:1 |
Trading Platform
XTB offers a proprietary trading platform known as xStation as well as the popular forex trading app MetaTrader 4 (MT4) platform. Therefore, most traders will be at home with this broker.
In our test, we placed all our trade through the xStation mobile app.
xStation
XTB offers the xStation trading app, which is a proprietary platform developed by the broker.
This is a great alternative to the popular Meta Trader 4 (MT4) platform for traders who want a modern trading platform.
Research and Tools
XTB provides user-friendly research tools including:
- Interactive charts
- Market analysis
- News flow
- Trading ideas
Education
XTB offers a wide variety of educational materials including:
- A demo account
- Webinars
- Ebooks
- Video Tutorials about the platform
- Detailed educational articles
- Educational videos
XTB educational materials are grouped according to a trader’s experience and based on various subjects, which we found to be very helpful.
You can find the educational resources in the broker’s trading academy section under the learn to trade tab.
Customer Service
XTB’s customer support team was helpful and provided relevant answers to our questions.
You can contact XTB via email, and live chat. We got an instant response to our questions via the live chat function.
Our email queries were answered within one working day for our first question with our followup question being answered on the same day.
See the results of our test below:
| Question | Response Time | Quality of reply | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Live chat | Is hedging and scalping allowed? | Instant | Direct and accurate |
| Withdrawal methods | One working day | Direct and accurate |
Conclusion
Overall, our experience with XTB was smooth from opening account, to deposit, trading and withdrawal.
However, XTB charges a EUR 6.6 commission on Stocks and ETF trades with opening and closing transactions being treated as separate trades, which could be an expensive trading fee if you are trading small contract sizes.
On the positive side, XTB carries several licenses and the spreads on currency pairs are quite low; the broker also allows scalping.
We recommend XTB to currency traders and traders who would like to run scalping strategies.
Author of this review
By George Rossi
Author of this review
I am a well-rounded financial services professional experienced in fundamental and technical analysis, global macroeconomic research, foreign exchange and commodity markets and an independent trader.
Now I am passionate about reviewing and comparing forex brokers.
Everything you find on BrokerTested is based on reliable data and unbiased information. We combine our 10+ years finance experience with readers feedback. Read more about our methodology