XM Broker Review – Minimum Deposit, Withdrawal and Demo Account

 

XM is a Forex & CFD trading platform.They are also a regulated online broker where you can trade a range of financial instruments.

 Currently you can trade forex currency pairs as well as a 1000+ CFD assets like CFDs and stocks.

 But how could XM benefit you as a trader?

 Keep reading our XM review so you can find out all you need to know about the broker including broker fees and commissions and its bonus (here a more detailed article about it).

 Let’s take a look!

XM Broker Availability

XM Group is a group of regulated online brokers. Trading Point of Financial Instruments Ltd was  established in 2009 and it is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC
120/10), Trading Point of Financial Instruments Pty Ltd was established in 2015 and it is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC 443670) and XM Global Limited was established in 2017 and is regulated by the International Financial Services Commission (000261/158).

 XM was founded in 2009 with the goal to become a ‘fair and human broker‘. They now have more than 2,500,000 clients worldwide with headquarters based in Cyprus.

 Because the broker is international, the platform is available across most of the world including: Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Australia.

 The best way to check country availability is when you sign up for a demo or live profile with XM. One of the first steps is to select your country of residence. If your country is not available on the list this means that unfortunately cannot use XM.

 Some countries where XM is NOT available include: Canada, New Zealand, Israel, China, Japan and the United States.

 However, if you’re not based in one of these countries, then it’s very likely that the XM platform will be available to you. Especially if you’re in a top forex trading country such as South Africa, Australia, Thailand, Germany and the United Kingdom.

 

Is XM Safe or a Scam?

 XM is a fully regulated broker that is safe to use. As part of our review we always check a broker’s regulation licences and registrations to make sure that they are secure and legit.

 Currently XM is available to residents worldwide, and they’re regulated by 3 important financial authorities:

• Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) #120/10
• Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) #443670
• International Financial Services Commission of Belize (IFSC) #000261/158

 XM is owned by a firm named Trading Point Holdings Ltd. This firm is the holding company of Trading Point of Financial Instruments Limited. So all the regulation licences are registered to Trading Point of Financial Instruments Limited.

Regulation is important because it makes sure that brokers must follow strict rules designed to protect traders against fraud.

 For example, regulated brokers must keep clients funds segregated from the funds used to run the company.

 They must also verify your identity when opening a profile to prevent money laundering. XM is also a member of the ICF (Investor Compensation Fund) which was created by CySEC to underwrite compensation claims. 

 Regulation is the key to secure trading, which is why we can confirm that XM is a fully regulated broker.

It’s important to avoid unregulated brokers at all costs!

XM Trading Key Features Review

The key features of a platform such as the minimum deposit and leverage are important to know. That way you can see if the conditions suit your specifications.

Here are the key features of XM:

• XM Minimum Deposit: $5 for the Micro/Standard $100 for the XM Zero Account
• Minimum Trade: 0.01 Lot
• Leverage: up to 1:30
• Assets: 1000+ CFD assets – forex, stocks, indices, commodities, precious metals
• XM App: Yes with a MetaTrader mobile app
• XM Demo Account: Yes
• Platform: MT4, MT5 for WebTrader, Mobile & Desktop

One thing that caught our attention was the very low XM minimum deposit. The fact that it’s just $5 for both the Standard and Micro accounts is incredibly low.

 This is perfect if you want to avoid higher minimum deposits that are offered by other brokers within the forex market.

 XM also offers 1000+ assets across a range of financial instruments which is a great amount. We also like that as part of their commodity offering they have soft commodities such as cocoa, plus traditional commodities like precious metals.

 For instance, if you wish you can trade silver and gold with no requotes and flexible trading conditions.

 It’s important to remember that the spreads and leverage amounts are different for each asset category.

 A full list of the current spreads are featured on the broker’s homepage.

 Regarding the XM platforms, although the broker does not have its own self-developed platform, it offers the powerful MT4 and MT5 platforms.

 The MetaTrader4 and MetaTrader5 platforms are used by professional traders worldwide as they come with great technical analysis features and EA’s.

 Both are available as an online WebTrader as well as desktop use for Mac and Windows.

 If you’re interested in mobile trading, XM also provides the MT5 and MT4 for use on mobile Android and iOS devices.

 

 XM Spread & Fees

 XM has always aimed to be transparent with their fees and commissions as their company ethos focuses on customer loyalty. They believe that transparency is the key to building trust between XM and their clients.

 For this review we’ll be looking at the XM spreads and fees for the Standard and Micro accounts.

 We found that the broker offers for CFD’s very low trading fees, but for forex the fees are pretty average for the market.

 However, for both the Micro & Standard accounts there is no commission charged.  Instead the fees are built into the spread for all forex and CFD assets.

 In order to keep their spreads narrow, XM uses a pool of liquidity providers in order to gather a range of real time prices. From these figures the best bid and ask prices can be offered.

High liquidity means tighter and narrower spreads.

 Let’s see the average forex spreads for EUR/USD & AUD/USD offered by XM:

• XM Micro accounts are from 1.6 to 1.7 pips for EUR/USD & from 1.6 to 1.9 for AUD/USD
• XM Standard accounts are also from 1.6 to 1.7 pips for EUR/USD & from 1.6 to 1.9 for AUD/USD

 These spreads are competitive and average for the market, and of course because there’s no commission charged for the Micro and Standard accounts, the spreads will be a little higher.

 However, if you want a commission free account, these accounts are ideal. Especially if you don’t want to have to deal with calculating commission costs.

 

What to Trade in XM

At XM, there are a 1000+ assets available for you to trade as CFD’s.

Here’s a complete list of all the CFD instruments offered:

• 55+ forex currency pairs
• indices
• stocks– only available for trading on the MT5
• commodities
• precious metals – Gold & Silver

With more than a 1000 assets to choose from, you have a good selection of instruments to work with. It is also a bigger range than most other competitors offer.

 What caught our attention was the stock offering. There are many important companies listed including American Express, eBay and Amazon. We also liked the fact that you can search the stocks by country.

 There are 18 countries listed from which you can search for specific stocks including the UK, Australia, USA and Germany.

 You should know though that you can only trade stock CFD’s on the MT5 platform, NOT the MT4.

 Everything else can be traded on the MetaTrader4 though.

 Regarding forex, there are more than 55 currency pairs available including the majors and exotics. All the forex pairs have tight spreads and importantly no requotes.

 

 XM Trading Review

 There are 3 trading accounts plus an Islamic one option available at XM. For this review though, we’ve looked in more detail at the Standard and Micro account.

• Micro Account
• Standard Account
• Islamic
• XM Zero Account

 All the accounts offer various trading conditions, so it’s important that you choose the one that suits your investment style the best.

 However, XM’s Standard and Micro accounts remain popular because they’re suitable for all experience levels. Plus they are commission free and the minimum deposit is $5 for both accounts.

 Although the accounts are very similar, there are some differences between the Micro and Standard accounts.

 For instance, the main difference is the trading volume. The Micro account is designed for traders who require smaller trading volumes, whilst the Standard account comes with normal (‘standard’) trading conditions.

 Because the trading volume is different, the lot size changes for both the accounts:

• Micro: 1 micro lot = 1,000 units (of the selected base currency e.g. USD)
• Standard: 1 standard lot = 100,000 units (of the selected base currency)

 So you need to consider how much trading volume you want when deciding between the 2 accounts.

 No matter which one you choose in the end though, all come with the same amount of assets and both are accessible for the MT4 and MT5 platforms.

 The Micro and Standard accounts are available in the following 11 base currencies: USD, AUD, EUR, ZAR ,GBP, JPY, SGD, RUB, HUF, CHF and PLN.

 

 XM Demo Account

 If you want to see how XM and their platforms function, you can sign up for a free XM demo to test everything.

 A demo is a great way to practice trading and to see if a broker is the right one for you.

 Best of all a demo is completely free to use and the XM demo comes with $100,000 of virtual funds for you to place on test trades.

 Using virtual funds means that you don’t need to risk actual money, which is ideal if you want to try out forex trading strategies.

 The great thing about an XM demo account is that there’s no expiry date. You can keep using the demo for as long as you like.

 However, if your demo account has been inactive for more than 90 days, the profile will be closed.

 You can also switch to a live version anytime you want.

 To sign up for a demo you just need to complete the registration steps.

 First you’ll need to provide your name, phone number and email address. You also need to select your country of residence and which language you would like the demo to run in.

 Next, select which platform you would like use for the demo, either the MT4 or MT5.

 You can also set up the leverage amounts and the base currency.

 Once that’s complete just create a secure password for the demo & click on the ‘open a demo account‘ button to access your demo.

 The whole process takes no more than 2 minutes to complete.

 

 XM MT4 & MT5 Review

 When you have a live trading account at XM, you have 2 trading platforms to choose from: the XM MetaTrader4 or the XM MetaTrader5.

 Both are available for MAC and PC and across a range of mobile devices for Android and iOS.

 Alternatively you can also use the WebTrader which is only accessible via your browser.

 Many traders worldwide use the MetaTrader platforms as they both offer a lot of powerful and useful features.

 There are many similarities between the 2 versions although a few key differences as well.

 

XM Broker MT5

 The MT5 is the latest platform software released from MetaTrader and has faster processing times than the MetaTrader4.

 In terms of differences, the main one is that you can trade Stocks on the MT5, something which is not available on the MT4. So for assets you have access to Forex, Stocks, CFD’s and Commodities.

 It’s a perfect platform for multiple assets whilst the MT4 focuses more on Forex and Futures.

 Like the MT4 you have access to EA‘s and one-click trading. There are also more than 80 technical analysis objects and 40+ analytical objects available.

 

 XM Trading App

 If you want to manage your trades whilst on the move, a mobile trading app is very useful to have.

Because the broker have realised the importance of apps, they’ve made sure that both the MT4 and MT5 are available as apps for Android and iOS devices.

 Both of the trading apps have the same functionality as the desktop versions. Plus if you make any changes on the app they’ll sync automatically to the other trading platform formats.

 You can download the trading app for free by going to the Google Play or Apple Store (depends on the device you have).

 From there, search for the MT4/MT5 app in the stores and download the software to your device.

 Link the software to your server by entering the broker’s name in the search field when prompted. Complete the set up by entering your log in and password. 

 Once this is done you’ll be able to start trading straight away.

 The trading app is easy to use and well-designed so that you can search for orders quickly.

 You just need to search for the product or asset you need by typing its name in the search bar.

 From the main app menu you can also manage your profile by selecting from the category folders. From the folders you can select to view your quotes, trades, charts, history, news plus the economic calendar.

 Like the WebTrader and Desktop version, the XM app is available in a range of languages.

How to Open a XM Trading Account

Opening a live trading profile is straightforward and take a few minutes to do.

This link will take you to the broker’s registration page. Then there are 2 stages to complete.

First you need to provide your personal details including your:

• name
• email
• phone number
• country of residence
• the language

Next, you need to choose your trading account settings. So choose which trading account you want: Micro, Standard or XM Zero.

You also need to select which trading platform you would like: MT5 or MT4.

When this is done, click on the green ‘proceed to step 2‘ button at the bottom of the page.

On the second page of the sign up you need to give your date of birth and personal address info. You can also set your account’s base currency and the leverage amounts.

The trading platform will also ask you some personal financial questions about your income, employment and trading experience. All the answers can be selected from drop down menus.

The broker asks for this info in order to see whether your income situation makes you suitable to open an account. They also need to ask these questions to meet regulation and risk management guidelines.

When these sections have been answered, you just need to confirm the broker’s terms and conditions at the bottom of the page by ticking the boxes in the ‘confirmation’ area. Then finally click on the green ‘open a real account‘ button to finish.

 

 XM Account Validation

As part of regulation requirements, you must have your trading account validated.

This is because regulated brokers must know who their clients are in order to protect against security threats and money laundering.

So although you’ll be able to start trading after creating an account, you won’t be able to make withdrawals till the validation is complete.

For the validation you must upload a copy of the following identification documents to your account:

• 1 photographic ID: so a passport, ID card or driving licence.
• 1 proof of address: a recent utility bill or bank statement showing your address

It’s important that the proof of address is dated from within the last 6 months, and that the photographic ID shows your full name and date of birth.

You can upload the documents from the secure XM member’s area, or by emailing the validation team.

When everything has been uploaded, the validation team will check and process the documents. If there are any issues they’ll be in touch to let you know.

It normally takes up to 24 hours for your account to be validated.

XM Deposit

It’s free to make deposits, which gives you the flexibility to make deposits when you want & without extra fees. Although you’ll have to meet the minimum deposit threshold of course.

Before you can place trades you’ll have to fund and deposit money to your account.

In order to make the deposit, the trading platform has a range of payment options.

XM accepts the following payment methods for deposits:

• debit card/credit card – Visa or MasterCard
• bank/wire transfer
• e-wallets – Neteller, Skrill and Perfect Money
• local banking methods – depending on your country of residence

Although there are no deposit fees charged by the broker, you should always check whether your card or bank provider will charge any additional transaction fees.

It’s worth noting though that if you choose a bank/wire transfer to make the deposit, that XM may apply a fee if the wire transfer amount is less than $200.

However, if the amount is more than $200, the trading platform will waive this fee and cover any charges you may incur from the bank.

That’s why it’s normally in your best interest to deposit more than $200 if you choose bank/wire transfer as your payment method.

 

XM Minimum Deposit

All brokers require a set minimum deposit amount, which is what you’ll have to deposit when funding your account.

That’s why it’s important for you to know the minimum deposit for your selected account type before trading.

Here are the minimum deposit amounts for XM:

• Micro – $5
• Standard account– $5
• XM zero account – the minimum deposit is higher at $100

The very low minimum deposits of just $5 for the Micro and Standard accounts are one of the reasons why they remain the most popular accounts.

$5 is one of the lowest minimum deposits in the forex market that we’ve come across, and means that trading can be accessible to everyone.

Because there are 11 base currencies available to pay the minimum deposit in, it also means that many people won’t have to pay extra conversion fees. They can just pay the minimum deposit amount equivalent in their local currency.

For example, a trader in South Africa will be able to pay the $5 in ZAR.

 

XM Withdrawal

We were really impressed that the trading platform doesn’t charge any withdrawal fees. It’s completely free to withdraw your funds!

The only time when you may encounter a fee, is if you use a bank/wire transfer to withdraw and the amount is below $200. Here, a $15 fee will be charged, but if the withdrawal amount is $200 or more, it remains charge free.

Like the deposits, the broker will cover all transaction fees both ways for withdrawals/deposits made by e-wallets, credit/debit cards.

For instance, if you deposit $150 via Skrill, and then you withdraw $150, you’ll see the complete amount of $150 showing in your Skrill account.

For international bank/wire transfers withdrawals & deposits, the broker will cover the transfer fees applied by their own banks.

All the same payment methods used for the deposits are available for the withdrawals too.

However, to meet regulation requirements and to prevent money laundering, the broker will send all withdrawals to the same payment method used to make the deposit.

So if you made the deposit via credit card, the withdrawn funds will be sent back to the same credit card.

For credit cards, XM can only transfer the same amount back that you deposited, if your withdrawn funds are more than the initial deposit, you’ll have to withdraw the rest via an e-wallet or bank transfer.

You can request a withdrawal anytime you wish, there are only 2 things that could stop a withdrawal request:

• if your account has NOT been validated
• if you’re trying to withdraw money to accounts that ARE NOT in your name

As long as your account has been validated and these conditions have been met you’ll be able to withdraw your money anytime you want.

 

XM Withdrawal Review

When we tested the XM Withdrawal, we found it easy to complete the steps and you can request the withdrawal directly from your XM member area.

How to withdraw money from XM?- Just follow these steps:

• Log in to your XM members area where you can manage your account
• Click on the ‘Withdrawal‘ tab
• From the Withdrawal Funds page, select the withdrawal method
• Enter the total amount of funds that you wish to withdraw
• Confirm your selection to finish

Once you have requested the withdrawal, the XM customer support team will process the request within 24 hours during business hours.

If you’ve requested the withdrawal of funds to an e-wallet, you’ll receive the money on the same day.

Payments made by bank/wire transfer and debit/credit card normally take 2-5 business days.

When we tested it with a credit card it took 2 business days for us to receive the money.

XM Broker Support

If you need any assistance, XM has a customer support team ready to help.

Currently you can reach the support team through the following ways:

• phone
• email
• live chat

It should be worth noting that the phone support is only offered Monday to Friday, 24 hours each day. It’s not available at weekends.

If you wish to contact the support team by email they can be reached at the following email address: support@xm.com

There’s also a handy live chat feature that can be accessed from the broker’s website and the XM member area. If you already have a trading account, you just need to provide your account ID so that the team can locate your info quickly.

We tested the live chat service and found that we could speak to someone within 1 minute, so a very fast response time.

They were also polite and managed to solve our question quickly, but if you have a multiple questions to ask it might be easier to explain via a phone call.

The email support was also good, they responded to our question within a day and provided relevant information.

One thing we really liked about the customer service is that it’s offered in multiple languages. XM customer support is available in 25+ languages so that they can assist clients from a wide range of countries.

Additionally, XM has a detailed FAQ page from where you find instant answers to the most popular questions, ranging from account opening to deposits.

This is a good way if you want to receive information quickly.

Conclusion XM Broker Review

XM is a large international broker that has over 2,500,000 clients from a group of 196 countries. They are also fully regulated by important authorities such as CySEC and the IFSC, so they’re not a scam.

With XM being so well regarded and having a large amount of customers, you can feel secure when selecting this broker to trade forex with.

We liked that they offer an incredibly low minimum deposit of $5 for their Micro & Standard trading accounts.

With such a low minimum deposit, it makes trading open to people who might be put off by larger deposit amounts.

Remember though that the XM Zero account minimum deposit is $100, which is still a very competitive amount for the market. The fact that XM uses a deep pool of liquidity providers means that their clients get tight spreads plus no requotes for orders.

The one drawback is that the forex fees are rather average for the market, but the CFD fees are low and there are no withdrawal fees either.

Regarding the platforms offered, although they don’t have their own self-developed platform, they do have their own XM MT4 and MT5 platforms.

These MetaTrader platforms have been customised for the broker and have all the same great technical analysis features and EA options.

If you want to test the platform first, there’s also the XM Trading demo account which is free to use and try out.

Regarding forex education, XM has an exceptional education offering with a mix of live webinars and guides. The lesson range covers a lot of key topics about forex and the webinars are available in many languages.

It’s one of the best educational resources from a broker that we’ve seen.

 So if you’re interested in forex and CFD trading, tight spreads and having access to the MetaTrader platforms- XM could be the ideal broker for you.

Here you can read more about other forex trading platforms.

 

CFDs are complex instruments and entail a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 78% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.