XTB Broker

XTB Broker Review: What to expect when trading with XTB?

XTB have been around for about 14 years now and are now one of the largest stock exchange-listed FX & CFD brokers in the world. They have offices in more than 10 countries including Belize, UK, Poland, Germany, Spain and France. XTB is also regulated by multiple supervision authorities including the IFSC, FCA, KNF, CNMV and CMB. Like most big brokers they claim to hold all retail client funds in fully segregated accounts, meaning your money is not mixed with the companies funds and should be safe. They host 48 currency pairs and have spreads as low as 0.1pips and with no minimum deposit.

Company Information

As stated above XTB have multiple jurisdictions around the world based in the Belize, UK, Poland and Spain. They have been incorporated as a broker since 2002 and won a whole host of awards including wealth and finance awards and online personal wealth awards. In 2005 the company was awarded ‘Best broker in Europe’ award by Money Markets Journal.

What’s On Offer

You can trade many asset classes through this broker but FX is the main offering with all the main pairs available. They also offer indices, commodities, equities CFD’s, ETF CFD’s and cryptocurrencies*. Spreads from XTB are quite tight and can be as low as 0.01 for the most liquid assets like EURUSD.

A great feature is the negative balance protection, this means whatever happens to your positions you can never get into negative balance and owe money to the broker past the balance on the account.

There are several payment options including bank transfers in USD, credit card payments from VISA and other major carries and e-wallet payments from Skrill and Paysafe (fees may apply).

Withdraws times depend on a few factors, time for your bank to process transactions and where you are based. XTB process payments in SHA model and the broker covers the full cost charged by Sending Bank. All other potential costs (Beneficiary and Intermediary bank are paid by you according to the commission tables of those banks. Withdrawals of less than $100 will be charged an additional commission of $30.

There are two accounts on offer the basic and the pro accounts. The Pro account is the principal account that the vast majority of their clients use. It is a spread + commission set up (like most STP brokers) and actually works out as their best value account.

*Availability is subject to regulations

Support and Contact

There are 12 offices based around the world in different time zones that you can contact if there are any issues. Also, if there are any issues there is a robust complaints procedure in place. I also found the company does engage on social media via twitter if prompted. They offer support in a wide range of languages including English, Spanish, Czech, Chinese, German, French, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovenian, and Turkish which is a major plus point.

Extras

The company has a generous education offering including introductions to platforms and strategy sessions. It’s hard to quantify the quality of the courses but of course, the company boasts the high skill of the teachers. The company also has a market analysis section which covers the main events in the markets in a clear and effective manner. The news is not in real time but if you need a general understanding of the major market moves its a good place to gain further understanding.

Charts and Tools (including mobile trading)

The two trading terminals have all the normal features you would expect, candle charts, line charts and olhc chart (bars). Fitted with Fibonacci tools, support and resistance and general tools they both have all the basic tools needed for the average trader. Like most retail brokers point and figure and market profile charting is not on offer. Although, MT4 has many additional EA (expert advisors) and indicators that can be added via external resources.

You can also trade with your mobile phone with this broker via the MT4 app and the proprietary XStation. The spreads seem the same and there were no requotes. The trading seems smooth and easy and as always make sure your internet connection is solid.

Conclusion

All in all, XTB are no different from most major retail forex brokers. One pretty big plus point is if you are in the UK they offer free training sessions at the office based in Canary Wharf. Some of these are with tutors outside the company who are market professionals. The company is also active on social media offering trading guides and news to get you going. On the face of it, they seem to have a good operational structure in regards to deposits and withdraws but make sure you follow the rules and check the fees in your jurisdiction. The trading terminals have all you need but no real advanced functions. The new Xtrader 5 platform also has a squawk attached to it for real-time news which is a big help, so if you rely on technicals or fundamentals this could be the broker for you.