XTB Broker Review

Regulation: Founded in 2002 in Poland, XTB Group is an umbrella group for many subsidiaries regulated by different national authorities across the globe. Residents of the UK will be onboarded through its British-based entity regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, one of the world’s best regulators. XTB is also a publicly listed company that adheres to strict capital requirements and is subject to external audits, adding another layer of security. 

Safety Features: XTB  ensures that all client funds are held in segregated accounts at tier-1 banks.  It also offers negative balance protection to all clients, so traders can never lose more than they have in their trading accounts. 

XTB also participates in an investor protection scheme, and residents of EEA countries such as the UK receive investor protection up to 85,000 GBP.  

We confirmed the licence on FCA’s register. See the licence below:

The account opening process at XTB is user-friendly, and accounts are ready for trading within one day.

All UK residents are eligible to open an account at XTB.  While there are no minimum deposit requirements to open an individual account, corporate accounts require a 15,000 EUR minimum deposit.  See below for account-opening details:

1. New traders will have to click on the “Create an Account” button at the top of the page, where they will be directed to register an account.    
2. XTB’s intake form requires clients to fill in their personal details (including name, country of residence, email address, and birth date). 
3. Next, traders need to select their preferred account base currency.
4. Once this step is complete, clients must fill out a questionnaire that helps XTB assess the trader’s investment knowledge, experience, and expertise to determine the suitability and relevance of the offered services. While most brokers don’t include this step in the account-opening process, it is a responsible move in an industry that is often accused of an irresponsible approach to consumer protection.  
5. XTB requires at least two documents to accept you as an individual client:
   1. Proof of Identification – XTB accepts all government-issued identification documents such as Passports, national ID cards, driving licenses, or other government-issued ID. 
   2. Proof of Address – Proof of residence/address document must be issued in the name of the XTB’s account holder within the last three months. It must contain a trader’s full name, current residential address, issue date, and issuing authority. 
6. After the application is approved, traders can log in and fund their accounts.
7. We advise that you read XTB’s risk disclosure, customer agreement, and terms of business before you start trading. 

Overall, the range and depth of tradable instruments available at XTB are more extensive than that of other brokers and should satisfy most traders.

XTB’s account has no minimum deposit requirement, making it accessible to all traders. Its trading fees start at 0.35 pips (EUR/USD), and average at around 0.7 pips, which is low for the industry, and no commissions are charged. Most other brokers have an average spread of 1 pip (EUR/USD) on their commission-free accounts. 

See below for account details:

XTB’s account is a market-execution account with no minimum deposit requirement or commission and spreads average at 0.7 pips (EUR/USD), which is low for the industry. Leverage is limited to 30:1 on major Forex pairs, and the minimum trading order size is 0.01 lots.  

Following a decision to move away from MT4, XTB now only provides its own xStation 5 trading platform, but it has many of the same features offered on MT4.

A well-regulated broker, XTB does not process payments to third parties. All withdrawal requests from a trading account must go to a bank account or a source in the trader’s name.

Trading Account Currencies: XTB only allows trading accounts to be denominated in USD, EUR, GBP, and HUF, which is limiting for traders, but an advantage for UK residents, who will likely have bank accounts denominated in GBP. British traders will therefore be able to avoid paying conversion fees unless trading on instruments with other base currencies, such as the EUR/USD.  

Deposits and Withdrawals: There are several ways to deposit funds into your trading account, and some of these methods may incur additional charges.  All deposits except for bank transfers are instant; you will see this reflected in your account balance immediately.  Bank transfers from the UK/EU are normally added to your account within one working day.  

The standard processing time for withdrawal requests is the same day if submitted before 1 pm, and withdrawals of less than 100 USD will be charged an additional commission of 20 USD.

After moving away from MT4, XTB has focused on developing its proprietary xStation 5 platform. Winning our Award for Best Proprietary Platform 2023, XTB has successfully built an intuitive, powerful, and fast trading platform.  

A mobile version of the xStation 5 application is available. This version seamlessly connects to the desktop version and is available on Android and iOS mobile devices and tablets. The mobile app is well-designed, has excellent search functionality, and allows traders to work from anywhere, close and modify existing orders, and calculate profit/loss in real-time.

xStation 5 offers many of the same advanced trading features as MetaTrader 4, but the xStation 5 platform adds the XTB touch. It introduces XTB sentiment data directly into the platform, so traders can view the percentage of clients trading long or short and the instruments on which they are trading. It also offers powerful charting tools, one-click trading, stop-loss functionality, multiple order types, price alerts, and real-time performance statistics so you can evaluate your trading moves and identify areas for improvement:

Traders can also access market news, educational materials, and the economic calendar from within the app, which is very convenient. Overall, XTB’s mobile trading app provides an excellent trading experience.

Platform Comparison:

Many other brokers offer support for third-party platforms such as Metatrader 4 and Metatrader 5, which is an advantage for forex traders who want to take their own customised versions of the platform with them should they choose to migrate to another broker.  

XTB offers automated trading through open API, but this is a more technical undertaking than using Expert Advisors on MT4 and MT5. 

Like the mobile app, traders have access to powerful charting tools and indicators, can receive price alerts, and it has excellent stop-loss functionality.

Another useful feature of the platform is the economic calendar, which highlights the key economic events which can be filtered by country and impact:

Overall, while XTB’s platform support is limited, xStation5 has won many awards, offers some great features, and is beginner-friendly.  

Most other large brokers offer various technical analysis tools, such as Autochartist and Trading Central, and copy trading tools and VPS services.  XTB only provides a few tools through its xStation5 platform:

• Market Sentiment: The Market Sentiment feature shows the percentage of long and short positions among XTB’s clients for each financial asset.
• Heat Map: The Heat Map shows the number of people who have gained or lost money.
• Stocks Scanner: The Stocks Scanner is a tool that uses 15 factors to filter stocks you may want to trade, including market capitalization, P/E, beta, and debt-to-equity ratio.

Overall, the number of trading tools available at XTB is underwhelming compared to what is offered by other brokers.

Trading Tools:

XTB provides frequent market commentary and trading ideas in its Market News section. Most market news is available to all visitors and provides actionable trading information. However, some of the premium education and market analysis materials are only available to live account holders.

Traders receive multiple updates throughout the trading day, consisting of brief fundamental summaries, technical trading alerts, and the Trade of the Day. Some content is text-only, and the rest includes charts and trading ideas.

XTB also offers an economic calendar, a comprehensive log of all scheduled macroeconomic releases, including a potential impact rating, and detailed historical data to help traders predict the results on corresponding markets.

Library: XTB’s library is comprehensive and comprises short articles covering Platform and Account tutorials, as well as trading-related subjects such as Fundamental Analysis, Technical Analysis, and Trader Questions.   

Webinars: XTB offers frequent webinars with live market analysis, demonstrated on XTB’s trading platform, xStation 5. These webinars are followed by a live discussion, during which traders can chat with XTB’s market analysts and account managers.

Demo Account: XTB also offers a demo account with virtual funds, but unfortunately, the demo expires after 30 days. Demo accounts are a great way to practice trading in a risk-free environment, allowing traders to familiarise themselves with XTB’s platform.

Education Comparison:

As mentioned, XTB also operates an open-door policy so customers can visit any of their offices.  Notably, XTB has 20 local branches.

Customer support is offered in English, Spanish, Arabic, French, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, German, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Romanian, and Hungarian. 

Overall, we found the live chat support responsive, polite, and able to answer most of our questions.