Strong points
Brokers play a vital role in the crypto market, providing traders with access to a wide range of digital assets and trading instruments. They offer platforms and services that facilitate the buying, selling, and exchange of cryptocurrencies, catering to both novice and experienced investors.
In this detailed overview, we delve into everything you need to know about XTB, one of the leading brokerage firms in the industry. From its range of services and trading platforms to regulatory compliance and client eligibility, this guide aims to provide you with a thorough understanding of XTB and its offerings in the ever-evolving landscape of online trading. Whether you’re a seasoned trader or just starting your investment journey, join us as we explore the features, regulations, and insights into XTB brokers.
As this review will show, XTB is an excellent online broker that has been offering quality service to its customers for more than fifteen years now. We are talking about an authoritative company that is regulated by multiple financial institutions in the UK, and in several European countries. XTB is also listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
This operator offers competitive costs and a proprietary online trading platform, called xStation 5, designed to support those who want to invest with an efficient user-friendly design for managing a financial portfolio.
With an excellent catalog of products, especially in the equity segment, and customer service that is attentive to users’ needs, XTB has gained great popularity over the years among those who invest in the financial markets.
If you feel that you have a suitable investment profile as described above, you can start trading with this broker!
XTB
XTB is positioned as one of the most established crypto platforms, offering access to a wide range of currencies. With a focus on customer service and quality, the platform is ideal for those looking to enter the cryptocurrency market.
XTB
CFDs are complex instruments and have a significant risk of losing money quickly due to leverage. 76%-85% of retail investor accounts lose money due to CFD trading with this provider. Consider whether or not you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take this high risk of losing your money.
Having clarified what type of investor this broker is best suited for, we have evaluated the broker’s trading costs and comprehensive product offering.
We believe that XTB is an excellent option for a trader who wishes to balance an investment strategy by alternating between buying stocks on the spot market and investing in CFDs.
A broker recognized worldwide by multiple institutions
Before going into the details of this broker’s review, it should be mentioned that the awards won by XTB over the years for its brokerage activities are numerous, testifying to a high level of service quality, recognized almost unanimously by the financial market.
This list is constantly being updated, but some of the major awards include:
Relatively low costs with lower-than-average CFD spreads.
The costs you will pay with XTB will be related to your online trading, account inactivity, withdrawals from your account, and maintaining an open market position for multiple days.
In general, we have verified that XTB charges a fee to trade online, which depends largely on the class of financial instruments you decide to trade through your online investment accounts.
If, in fact, you will only be charged for online trading on ETFs and equities if your monthly trading volume exceeds €100,000 (or equivalent in USD and GBP, a volume certainly not affordable for everyone), there is no no-cost zone for the other classes of securities.
The table below provides a concise overview of the current level of costs and spreads required by XTB to trade on the online financial markets. In order to make the overview more useful, we have also included information about some of this broker’s competitors that also allow trading on the same class of listed assets:
XTB then imposes other costs that go beyond mere trading in the financial markets. This is an important factor that should be considered before opening an account with this provider.
To help you make your choice, the following section of the review discusses the extra-trading costs charged by the broker in more detail.
If you have not made any deposits to the account in the last 90 days and, at the same time, have not traded in the market for a year, XTB will charge an inactivity fee of €10 monthly (or equivalent in USD, GBP). Since this is a fixed amount, if you are an investor interested in holding open positions for a long time with little money you will find yourself paying a relatively high inactivity fee. This is entirely a matter of the amount the broker has to spend to keep open an account that does not trade in the markets and, therefore, does not make trades that would trigger the payment of ancillary costs to the provider itself.
After 12 months of inactivity, XTB considers a real-money trading account inactive for all purposes. This in no way entails closing the account, but you must contact customer service if you wish to return to trading in the markets with the account in question.
In contrast to other brokers, XTB does not charge any money conversion cost if the medium used to deposit funds is in a different currency than the trading accounts. And this also applies to withdrawal transactions. In fact, in this case, the exchange rate that will be applied will be the one corresponding to the market quotation.
Deposits on the provider’s portal are always free, with the application instead of a withdrawal fee for amounts below € 100. Below this threshold, a fixed withdrawal fee of € 10 (or equivalent in USD, GBP) will be charged, making small withdrawals with this broker unprofitable.
If you keep a position open beyond the daily market close, XTB will impose an overnight holding fee on your funds. This amount varies daily depending on the market quote but generally remains in line with what other online traders charge.
We would like to emphasize an important tax aspect related to investment transactions with XTB. As a shareholder in the UK, you may be liable to pay tax on the dividends you receive based on your income tax rate. The current tax rates for dividend income are as follows:
If you purchase shares from the US, you’ll be subject to US government taxation on any profits you earn. If you are not a US citizen, you can submit a W8-BEN form and reduce the withholding tax on dividends and interests from 30% to 15%.
XTB
XTB is positioned as one of the most established crypto platforms, offering access to a wide range of currencies. With a focus on customer service and quality, the platform is ideal for those looking to enter the cryptocurrency market.
XTB
CFDs are complex instruments and have a significant risk of losing money quickly due to leverage. 76%-85% of retail investor accounts lose money due to CFD trading with this provider. Consider whether or not you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take this high risk of losing your money.
XTB offers its clients a choice between Standard and Pro trading accounts and the possibility of using a demo account.
Similar to other online brokers, XTB also offers its users a choice of different account types, aiming to meet the needs of a diverse clientele by offering different contractual conditions on certain points. The following table summarizes the advantages of the various types of real money accounts, as well as the features of the demo account:
XTB
XTB is positioned as one of the most established crypto platforms, offering access to a wide range of currencies. With a focus on customer service and quality, the platform is ideal for those looking to enter the cryptocurrency market.
XTB
CFDs are complex instruments and have a significant risk of losing money quickly due to leverage. 76%-85% of retail investor accounts lose money due to CFD trading with this provider. Consider whether or not you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take this high risk of losing your money.
Opening a demo account at XTB allows you to simulate trading strategies using entirely virtual funds, without, that is, the possibility of reporting gains or losses with real money. This mode undoubtedly proves to be very useful for the inexperienced trader who can thus understand what it means to invest money in the financial markets, and for the more mature investor who wishes to experiment with particular investment plans.
It is useful to specify that if you open a demo account with XTB without at the same time also proceeding to open real money trading accounts, the operator will limit the duration of your access to the demo account to only 30 calendar days.
Operating within the demo account allows you to simulate investment trades without the risk typically associated with any trade made with real money. XTB guarantees access to its full catalog at this stage, with real-time market prices for every instrument listed.
Also excellent is the possibility, again within this type of account, to place simulated orders in the market using leverage-the best way to experience firsthand what it means to trade in the markets with increased investment risk. The same applies to short sales, transactions in which an investor can lose more money than he or she actually invests.
XTB
XTB is positioned as one of the most established crypto platforms, offering access to a wide range of currencies. With a focus on customer service and quality, the platform is ideal for those looking to enter the cryptocurrency market.
XTB
CFDs are complex instruments and have a significant risk of losing money quickly due to leverage. 76%-85% of retail investor accounts lose money due to CFD trading with this provider. Consider whether or not you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take this high risk of losing your money.
In view of the different experience and financial knowledge profiles of various users, XTB allows you to open different types of investment accounts. This section of the review will go in-depth into both options so that you will have all the information you need to make an accurate choice.
XTB
XTB is positioned as one of the most established crypto platforms, offering access to a wide range of currencies. With a focus on customer service and quality, the platform is ideal for those looking to enter the cryptocurrency market.
XTB
CFDs are complex instruments and have a significant risk of losing money quickly due to leverage. 76%-85% of retail investor accounts lose money due to CFD trading with this provider. Consider whether or not you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take this high risk of losing your money.
If you open an online trading account with XTB following the Standard or “Limited Risk” mode, the provider gives you the opportunity to invest in forex market currency pairs, commodities, stock indices, and cryptocurrencies.
Using leverage of 1:30, as per ESMA guidelines, you will have a catalog of thousands of distinct CFDs, i.e., the majority of products offered by XTB.
In addition to rather advantageous spreads, it is worth dwelling on the “Limited Risk” nomenclature. This mode, in fact, protects the trader by making it impossible to record losses in excess of the capital actually invested. If this scenario seems impossible to you, consider that, as a rule, improper use of leverage and short selling in the markets can turn this hypothetical case into reality. Therefore, weigh carefully the importance of this protection offered by the broker.
For the sake of clarity, XTB implements this particular level of protection of invested funds by establishing a threshold limit to an account’s losses. Above this threshold, the broker automatically closes the account positions.
This provider also offers minimum trading lots on various listed securities. The broker in question allows trading of micro-lots (equal to 1% of a full trading lot) to allow access to the markets even for those with less experience and less capital to use. Pro accounts function with variable spreads and market execution. They require a nominal commission to access spreads at market rates, with a minimum spread of 0 pips for UK and European clients.
Given the higher spread levels compared to the “Pro” variant, the “Limited Risk” account is, therefore, suitable for a trader who does not intend to invest large amounts of money and wants to make a limited number of trades over the course of a calendar year.
XTB
XTB is positioned as one of the most established crypto platforms, offering access to a wide range of currencies. With a focus on customer service and quality, the platform is ideal for those looking to enter the cryptocurrency market.
XTB
CFDs are complex instruments and have a significant risk of losing money quickly due to leverage. 76%-85% of retail investor accounts lose money due to CFD trading with this provider. Consider whether or not you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take this high risk of losing your money.
The Islamic account is nothing more than a “Limited Risk” account with no swap fees, which also allows clients of the Muslim faith to trade.
In fact, Islamic law, with regard to financial services, provides a general rule of loss and profit sharing and, most importantly, a categorical prohibition by investors and lenders to pay and collect interest related to financial transactions. The product catalog of the Islamic account is entirely the same as that of the “Limited Risk” account, with the sole exception of cryptocurrencies and financial instruments that cannot be traded in this mode.
XTB
XTB is positioned as one of the most established crypto platforms, offering access to a wide range of currencies. With a focus on customer service and quality, the platform is ideal for those looking to enter the cryptocurrency market.
XTB
CFDs are complex instruments and have a significant risk of losing money quickly due to leverage. 76%-85% of retail investor accounts lose money due to CFD trading with this provider. Consider whether or not you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take this high risk of losing your money.
Opening a demo account within XTB’s trading portal is something that will only take a few minutes of time and promises to be a great way to experiment with all your investment strategies and become more familiar with this broker’s trading system.
Below is a brief guide with all the steps you need to follow to open a demo trading account with XTB.
Residents from the following English-Speaking countries are not eligible to open accounts with XTB : India, Pakistan, United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Bangladesh.
XTB Ltd, exclusively serves clients residing in the UK. For EU residents, XTB CYPRUS is the preferred option for opening an account.
Residents of countries outside the UK/EU can open an account with XTB from other legal entities. For non-EU/UK residents, XTB INTERNATIONAL is the recommended choice. Canadian residents are accepted solely through the French branch of the XTB Group, known as XTB FR.
XTB
XTB is positioned as one of the most established crypto platforms, offering access to a wide range of currencies. With a focus on customer service and quality, the platform is ideal for those looking to enter the cryptocurrency market.
XTB
CFDs are complex instruments and have a significant risk of losing money quickly due to leverage. 76%-85% of retail investor accounts lose money due to CFD trading with this provider. Consider whether or not you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take this high risk of losing your money.
With XTB you have several methods to deposit funds, withdrawals are free of charge in the case of sums over €100 (or the equivalent in GBP, USD).
XTB
XTB is positioned as one of the most established crypto platforms, offering access to a wide range of currencies. With a focus on customer service and quality, the platform is ideal for those looking to enter the cryptocurrency market.
XTB
CFDs are complex instruments and have a significant risk of losing money quickly due to leverage. 76%-85% of retail investor accounts lose money due to CFD trading with this provider. Consider whether or not you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take this high risk of losing your money.
The XTB broker offers its clients the possibility of crediting funds to their online trading account by various means, from using a credit (or debit) card to using virtual wallets such as Skrill and PayPal, not forgetting the classic bank transfer.
While deposits via wire transfer and card incur no cost, the use of a virtual wallet will require a charge of 2 percent on the total amount deposited. The deposit timelines are standard ones and provide for immediate availability (or, at any rate, in less than 24 hours) of the deposited amount in the case of card and virtual wallet, while the processing time of a bank transfer also varies depending on your bank (but usually does not exceed 3 business days).
It is worth mentioning here that withdrawals are free of charge for amounts over € 100 ( or the equivalent in GBP, USD) and can be made only by bank transfer. To proceed with the withdrawal, you need to select your investment account and enter the amount to be withdrawn, you can specify the number of your personal account in the appropriate Customer Area of the portal.
Below we share a summary table about the costs and timing related to the different payment instruments:
* condition also related to your bank’s contractual requirements
Keep in mind that investors residing in the European Union will only be able to withdraw money from their investment account on XTB in euros, while in most other countries it will be possible to complete the transaction in U.S. dollars or a local currency.
The XTB broker offers its users xStation 5, a proprietary platform that is intuitive and suitable for all types of traders. It is one of the best trading platforms around.
XTB
XTB is positioned as one of the most established crypto platforms, offering access to a wide range of currencies. With a focus on customer service and quality, the platform is ideal for those looking to enter the cryptocurrency market.
XTB
CFDs are complex instruments and have a significant risk of losing money quickly due to leverage. 76%-85% of retail investor accounts lose money due to CFD trading with this provider. Consider whether or not you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take this high risk of losing your money.
The trading platform can be used from both the website and the dedicated mobile application, which is the best solution for tracking one’s investments from a smartphone.
From the start, the web trading platform has appeared to be very user-friendly and intuitive, allowing users to take advantage of various types of technical analysis tools and monitor market trends in real-time, including through the economic news portal.
Disclaimer: The prices shown in this image are for illustrative purposes only.
After testing this platform, we can report an extremely professional graphic design that does not disorient a first-time trader in the markets while meeting the typical needs of more mature investors.
The modern design and the possibility to choose, as is now increasingly in vogue in the tech world, between a light and a completely dark design, designed to tire the eyes less, improve the overall experience of the trader on this platform.
The portal’s designers have thoughtfully allowed many graphical aspects of the platform to be customized, such as tweaking the color of the lines and curves in the charts representing the performance of the technical analysis statistical indicators of various assets.
The platform also incorporates an interesting social trading feature called “Xsocial.” This will allow you to join a global community of investors and view the performance of their investments-an important element of analysis that you may decide to introduce into your trading toolkit.
The portal is also available in 14 different languages. It is fully compatible with the most common web browsers (Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and Opera), so you won’t have to worry about that before opening your online trading account with XTB.
Disclaimer: The prices shown in this image are for illustrative purposes only.
The first feature a trader tends to observe when opening the portal is, as a rule, the real-time performance of his or her portfolio. Those who conceived the platform were evidently aware of this, thus demonstrating great attention to detail, a merit that cannot fail to be credited to them by customers.
Indeed, by opening the portal, there can be no doubt about the performance of investments at all times. Immediately after the login operation you will see a number of useful statistics appear on your portfolio in real time, among which we mention, first and foremost, the pips of gain or loss and the monetary value of your account in the reference currency.
Also very useful is the ability to have access, at this stage, to more advanced statistics on portfolio performance, such as your personal streak of closed investments with gains (or losses), the percentage of trades that have made you money, and an indication of how long on average you maintain an open position in the market.
Although the statistics on XTB’s portal are many and can satisfy the demand of number-loving clients, should you wish to make further calculations on your portfolio’s performance, know that all this information can also be downloaded in spreadsheet form.
Disclaimer: The prices shown in this image are for illustrative purposes only
The way to search for a listed stock has also been designed by XTB experts as intuitively as possible. By searching, on the left-hand side of the portal, for the stock by name (e.g., Tesla, Apple, Microsoft, etc.) or ticker (e.g., TSLA, AAPL, MSFT, etc.) you will quickly find the match you are looking for, if, as is often the case, the stock in question is in this provider’s extensive catalog.
Once you have identified the asset you wish to trade, all you have to do is click the “+” (“plus”) button to begin trading directly in the market. You will notice the opening of a pop-up window, which will display a variety of information such as, the current price of the security level you have selected, the market spread, and any other costs and caveats that can be linked to the trade you are about to make.
At this point you will be able to enter one of the following types of orders into the market:
Another choice that the trading pop-up will provide you with is the stop loss or profit take placement. These two parameters represent, respectively, the value below which (or above, in the case of short positions) you can ask XTB to stop your losses by automatically closing the position and, conversely, the value above which (or below, if it is a short position) the system will make a profit.
Those who designed XTB know that, as a rule, those who make investments through this platform do not have the time to keep track of market and portfolio performance from minute to minute throughout the trading day. For this reason, the operator has provided a useful price alert feature that the trader can customize.
Setting up a price alert is not a complex operation, as all you need to do is access the menu of a particular listed security (via right-click), click on the “Price Alert” item, and enter an alert when a certain quote is reached (referring to the bid or ask price). Keep in mind that it is also possible to enter more than one alert for the same product-an interesting feature if you are keeping an eye on the performance of an asset in a given quote range.
Once you have entered an alert, the application will show a list of all notifications of this type, activated on the different listed instruments: a useful display, if you want to modify or delete some of the previously entered alerts.
For the same reason of practicality for which XTB created the price alerts feature, on the xStation 5 platform you will also find useful notifications that will inform you about the most important events on the economic calendar included within the portal. This is a very interesting feature that will allow you to stay up-to-date with the most relevant macroeconomic events for your investments.
Mobile app platform – xStation 5 Mobile
Disclaimer: The prices shown in this image are for illustrative purposes only.
We have been able to ascertain how the xStation 5 mobile application – available for iOS and Android – also best meets the need to have an exchange system that is attentive to the needs of both the novice and the more experienced trader.
It is precisely in this sense that the mobile application, while maintaining a minimalist design typical of smartphone apps, proves to be a comprehensive product capable of offering a truly unique investment experience.
This app keeps track of the performance of your portfolio and your favorite stocks, and can also be used to place market orders, should you be unable to quickly access the xStation 5 platform from a web browser.
Inside the app you will also find all the charts and technical analysis indicators that you entered in the previous session, which allows you not to lose the study work done previously.
From a purely graphical point of view, the mobile app allows you to switch between a light and a dark layout (called dark mode), and it is also compatible with screens arranged horizontally: an interesting feature, if you think about the need to better visualize the graph of the historical trend of the quotation of any listed financial security.
It is also worth mentioning that even from the mobile app you will be able to access the integrated financial news portal, so you will not have to worry about monitoring the various industry news on other websites.
XTB
XTB is positioned as one of the most established crypto platforms, offering access to a wide range of currencies. With a focus on customer service and quality, the platform is ideal for those looking to enter the cryptocurrency market.
XTB
CFDs are complex instruments and have a significant risk of losing money quickly due to leverage. 76%-85% of retail investor accounts lose money due to CFD trading with this provider. Consider whether or not you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take this high risk of losing your money.
With XTB, European and British traders can invest in the stock market either through the purchase of CFDs or through direct trades in the spot market.
XTB began as an intermediary in the forex and CFD markets. Over the years, however, its catalog has grown to the status shown in the summary table below.
The wide range of equity products on offer immediately jumps out at you, making XTB a good provider should you be interested in making investments in this type of market. For European clients, based on ESMA guidelines, the maximum leverage applicable is 1:30. The same leverage is applied in China, while in Turkey the leverage limit is set at 1:10. In all other countries where this provider operates, the maximum limit is equal to 1:200.
XTB provides you, through xStation 5, with very useful tools for both fundamental and technical analysis.
With access to a useful economic calendar, you can monitor key macroeconomic and financial events that may affect the value of your portfolio and your future investment choices.
The economic calendar is a table that shows the day and time of publication of certain data related to the world of economics and/or finance. The XTB broker also allows you to see the country mainly impacted by that event (by entering the reference flag), an item you can filter as you like. Also very interesting is the estimation of the impact, distinguished in the three levels below, that a single event can have on the markets, according to XTB analysts:
You can also set up a filter based on the estimated impact on financial markets of a given event-a very convenient feature for quickly figuring out which macroeconomic and financial data you need to monitor most on a daily basis.
This section not only offers you the calendar just described, but also integrates an excellent real-time economic-financial news feed (accessible in both read and audio mode), an interesting indicator of market sentiment on various listed instruments, and XTB’s expert opinion on different assets.
Really interesting is also the stock market scanning function: it allows you to identify the stocks that may perform best based on the parameters (sector, dividends, etc.) chosen at a given time within the broker’s extensive catalog.
Regarding technical analysis, XTB provides through xStation the possibility to perform advanced studies with the combination of 34 different statistical indicators. It also turns out to be possible to draw lines and curves directly on the quote chart of an instrument (such as Fibonacci lines, Gann’s fan and Elliott waves), so that you can identify important support and resistance levels in prices.
You may find very useful, finally, the ability to compare the price charts of two separate financial instruments with each other, an excellent and intuitive tool that you can use to identify particular market correlations that you can exploit in constructing your portfolio. All of these tools are available on the left-hand side of the chart for the security you have selected.
The customer service XTB offers is excellent, available Monday through Friday at any time, and consists of a team of professional agents with great expertise and availability. Customer service will not be able to assist you with financial advice, but will be happy to help you should you have any operational concerns about xStation 5 or general trading with the broker in question.
Assistance is provided for general written questions (for which the chat channel is preferred) and more specific questions (which can be forwarded to the team via e-mail or telephone).
Whether you are an experienced trader or a beginner, XTB offers training content suited to your knowledge and experience level.
The educational experience in the world of markets offered by XTB to its users is built in an interactive manner and is based on the idea that only your active involvement can actually enable you to learn your way around the world of financial markets.
To this end, you will have at your disposal a series of specific articles on various topics, video lessons and quizzes to check that you have well understood the various notions, topic by topic. You will be able, at first, to benefit from learning the real basics of online investing, gradually evolving toward discussing and understanding the various trading strategies that can be used on XTB.
All the articles on the broker’s website are divided by level of difficulty (beginner, intermediate and advanced) and are characterized by a very clear and effective exposition that leaves no room for particular doubts about the various topics covered.
Also turning out to be very interesting are the webinars run directly on xStation 5 by experts in the financial sector: an excellent opportunity to hear the viewpoints of people who are experts in the field.
The video content is grouped in a section that XTB calls Trading Academy, which provides for the publication of some of these courses on the broker’s YouTube page, making it usable, therefore, free of charge by anyone, as well as the possibility of accessing additional content, once the registration to XTB’s portal is completed.
For a novice trader, it can be very useful to make use of the demo account (accessible for 30 days completely free of charge, with no obligation to open an XTB account with real money), where you will have virtual funds to simulate investment choices on real-time market data. This is an excellent opportunity to familiarize yourself with the subject and test your investment strategies.
A guide to xStation 5 completes the picture, which is useful for understanding, once you have learned the most important concepts of the financial world, how the investment platform offered by XTB to its users works in practice.
XTB operates under different regulations depending on the jurisdiction:
A broker especially suitable for those who wish to trade in the stock market with competitive costs.
Based on the analysis in this guide and review, we can confirm many of the opinions about XTB found online: it is an excellent broker, subject to regulation by authoritative financial institutions and characterized by competitive operating costs compared to average market costs.
The broker offers clients different plans, suitable for various investor profiles. In fact, they range from a novice trader, thanks to the possibility of opening a demo account and enrolling in the Trading Academy, to a more mature investor who wants to have excellent technical and fundamental analysis tools at his or her disposal.
The design of the proprietary trading platform (one of the best trading platforms on the market), xStation 5, is thoughtfully designed to provide the trader with a great experience in trading the markets, with a user-friendly presentation that leaves little room for operational doubts.
The product catalog of this operator is very extensive, and it is interesting to note the possibility, offered to European traders, to trade not only equity CFDs, but directly stocks listed on the spot market, an option that not all brokers offer to their clientele. Investors can also find cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin and others available for purchase through CDFs.
Also deserving of a final note in this review is the broker’s customer service, designed to meet the needs of a diverse clientele, from those who prefer to access a chat or send an e-mail, to those who find it even more helpful to pick up the phone and call one of XTB’s available agents.
Having clarified the various positive aspects related to this broker, you can best consider whether to start trading the financial markets by clicking on the link below !
