Our review is based on a live Standard Account, using the xStation 5 platform, opened with the XTB Limited UK entity (XTB.com).
XTB provides access to over 2,100 trading instruments across various markets, including forex, shares, indices, commodities, and cryptocurrencies. The Polish brokerage giant has been widely recognized for the quality of its platform and services, winning multiple industry awards. Founded in 2002, XTB has a client base of over 581,000 traders, according to its website. The company is listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, and two top-tier authorities regulate it – CySEC and FCA.
XTB stands apart in that it has a very well-rounded offering. This comprises low trading costs, a broad range of trading instruments, solid customer service, competitive spreads, and a powerful proprietary trading platform.
With tight spreads in some instruments and features such as hotkeys, 1-click trading, and advanced charting, XTB can cater to the needs of active, sophisticated traders. At the same time, the intuitive platform, on-hand customer service, and plentiful educational offerings make it an attractive broker for beginners.
Pros | Cons |
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☑️ Regulations | FCA (United Kingdom), CNMV (Spain), KNF (Poland), FSCM (Mauritius), CySEC (Cyprus) |
🗺 Supported Languages | English, Russian, French, Portuguese, Thai, Slovak, Polish, Czech, Arabic, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, German |
💰 Products | Currencies, Stocks, ETFs, Crypto, Indices, Commodities |
💵 Min Deposit | $0 |
💹 Max Leverage | 1:30 (FCA), 1:30 (CNMV), 1:100 (KNF), 1:3000 (FSCM), 1:30 (CySEC ) |
🖥 Trading Desk Type | Market Maker, STP |
📊 Trading Platforms | MT4, xStation 5 |
💳 Deposit Options | Maestro, Wire Transfer, Skrill, Credit Card, Visa, Mastercard |
💳 Withdrawal Options | Wire Transfer |
🤴 Demo Account | Yes |
🗓 Foundation Year | 2002 |
🌎 Headquarters Country | Poland |
Founded in 2002, XTB is regulated by several authorities, including the top-tier UK Financial Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). It is also a publicly traded company listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
In our trust category, we place the most importance on how a broker is regulated. Let’s look at how the different entities of XTB are regulated and how this impacts you as a trader. We rate regulators on a scale of 1 to 3, with 1 reflecting the highest level of trust.
XTB is a trademark of XTB Group. The various entities of XTB are regulated as follows:
Different regulators provide different levels of protection. For example, XTB clients in the United Kingdom benefit from the oversight of the FCA. The FCA requires that clients have negative balance protection, which means that they cannot lose more than their deposit. Client funds must be held in segregated accounts, which are protected in the event of a broker going bankrupt.
In addition, when trading with a broker authorized by the FCA, client funds are also protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The FSCS protects investments of up to £85,000 if a firm becomes insolvent. By contrast, a trader working with a broker entity regulated offshore would not have these benefits guaranteed to them.
In the table below we break down the mandated protections and benefits by entity, regulator, and region.
Entity | XTB Limited (UK) | XTB Limited (CY) | XTB S.A. | X-Trade Brokers DM SA | XTB International Limited |
Country/Region | United Kingdom | European Economic Area (EEA) | Spain | Poland | All Other Regions |
Regulation | FCA | CySEC | CNMV | KNF | IFSC |
Segregated Funds | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Negative Balance Protection | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Compensation Scheme | FSCS Up to £85,000 | ICF Up to €20,000 |
Yes Up to €20,000 |
No | No |
Standard Leverage | 1:30 | 1:30 | 1:30 | 1:100 | 1:500 |
In our tests for the Trust category, we also cover factors relating to stability and transparency. Here, we focused on how long the broker has been in business, how big the company is, and how transparent it is in terms of readily available information.
Founded in 2002, XTB has a substantial operating history and is one of the world’s oldest Forex and CFD brokers. According to the company’s LinkedIn page, it is among the larger CFD brokers with 201 to 500 employees. The company has offices in over 13 countries, including the UK, Poland, Germany, France, and Chile.
XTB is a publicly-traded company listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. As a publicly traded company, XTB must disclose financial reports, allowing for greater insight into the company’s stability.
In our research, XTB showed adequate transparency in regulatory status, fees, and general background information. Most information and materials were easy to find on the website. Regulatory status is covered on the About Us page. Clients can reference fees on the Account Information page. The User Agreement (Terms of Business) document is in the website’s footer.
To conclude, we rate XTB as trustworthy and stable due to the following factors:
XTB offers competitive spreads in forex pairs and low account-related fees overall.
XTB earns money mainly from spreads (the gap between the bid and offer prices of an asset), swap fees, and miscellaneous account-related fees.
Spreads at XTB are variable, meaning that they fluctuate slightly. The spread’s size depends on the market’s level of liquidity. Traders typically see tighter spreads when there is greater liquidity in the market.
We tested the spreads at XTB on 24 January 2023 across different asset classes in a live account using the xStation 5 platform. We conducted the test at two different times to allow for greater perspective – at 8:00 a.m. GMT (the London open when the market is highly liquid) and 3:00 p.m. GMT (a quieter time, shortly before the opening of the New York stock exchange).
Instrument | Live Spread AM | Live Spread PM |
EUR/USD | 0.9 Pips | 0.8 Pips |
GBP/JPY | 1.6 Pips | 1.6 Pips |
Gold | 36 Pips | 37 Pips |
WTI Oil | 3 Pips | 3 Pips |
Apple (AAPL) | n/a | 47 Pips |
Tesla (TSLA) | n/a | 52 Pips |
Dow Jones 30 (US30) | 2 Pips | 1 Pip |
Dax 30 (DE30) | 1.8 Pips | 1.1 Pips |
Spreads at XTB were generally competitive in our tests, beating industry averages in assets from forex to index CFDs.
Swap fees (the cost of holding a leveraged position overnight) were average at XTB. In the table below, you can see the Swap Long (the cost/credit of holding a buy position overnight) and the Swap Short (the cost/credit of holding a sell position overnight) for one full-sized contract. A full-sized contract is 100,000 units of the base currency (the first currency quoted in the pair).
Instrument | Swap Long | Swap Short |
EUR/USD | Charge of $10.90 | Credit of $4.87 |
GBP/JPY | Credit of $8.69 | Charge of $14.85 |
We recorded the swap fees on 23 January 2023.
XTB does not charge any deposit, withdrawal, or account closing fees. There is an inactivity fee of 10 units of your local currency per month after a year without making a trade or if no deposit is made within three months. This fee is relatively standard for the industry.
Overall we were impressed by the fees at XTB and especially with the tight spreads, which are highly important to traders. The costs of entering and exiting trades are reflected in the spread. For an active trader, this cost can often make the difference between being profitable or suffering losses at the end of the day.
The flagship xStation 5 platform has advanced features and an easy-to-navigate interface.
We tested XTB’s xStation 5 platform, which is available via the web, desktop app, and mobile. The desktop app has the same functionality as the web version.
The xStation 5 platform has a clean look and feel and is beginner friendly. The layout is customizable, with various options to suit your trading style.
xStation 5 has popular features such as watchlists, alerts, 1-click trading, and trading from the chart.
The xStation 5 platform delivers a strong range of order types. Available order types include market, limit, stop loss, and trailing stop.
It is also possible to set an expiry date and time for your pending orders.
The xStation platform also has robust charting capabilities.
xStation 5 provides live statistics on your trading performance, updated in real-time. The statistics tool can serve as a trading journal where you can identify your strengths and weaknesses.
The platform records the following statistics to help you better understand and improve your trading performance:
We concluded that xStation is a solid and user-friendly platform. It can cover the needs of most traders, from beginners to advanced.
Available Languages |
English | French | Spanish | German | Japanese | Russian | Arabic | Chinese | Czech | Italian Turkish | Slovenian | Hungarian | Romanian | Bulgarian | Polish | Thai | Vietnamese | Portuguese |
The xStation mobile app offers trading in 2,100 CFD instruments in the palm of your hand.
XTB’s xStation mobile trading app is available for Android, Windows, and iOs devices in the same languages the web platform offers. The app allows for complete order entry and trade management for CFD instruments spanning forex, indices, commodities, and shares.
The app is also available in tablet form with even more features, including a customizable interface, order history, market commentary, and economic calendar.
The same order types as the web platform are available via mobile: market orders, limit orders, stop loss orders, and trailing stop orders. You can set an expiration date and time for pending orders. 1-click trading is available. However, it is not possible to set up alerts on the mobile app.
For enhanced security, traders can set up a four-digit passcode and fingerprint authentication for accessing the app. We judged that the xStation 5 mobile app is well-designed and has impressive features.
XTB Limited sends all trades automatically to its parent company X-Trade Brokers DM, their liquidity provider. Trades are executed automatically without any manual intervention from any dealing desk.
XTB offers a broad range of CFDs covering forex, commodities, indices, stocks, and ETFs. In addition to CFDs, XTB now offers trading in real shares and ETFs for UK clients.
XTB has a strong product offering across various asset classes. The range of tradable instruments at XTB spans forex, commodities, indices, shares from multiple exchanges, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
CFDs (Contracts for Differences) are financial derivative products that allow traders to speculate in various markets without owning the underlying assets. Tradable instruments at the XTB Limited UK entity include the following assets:
Real Shares & ETFs are available to UK clients. Zero Commissions are charged up to €100,000 per calendar month. Investments at or above €100,000 per calendar month will be charged 0.2% commission (with a minimum €10 per trade). 47 CFDs on cryptocurrencies are available to clients of the XTB International Limited entity.
Below is a sampling of instruments across the various asset classes.
Major Forex | Minor Forex |
USD/JPY | GBP/USD | USD/CHF | CHF/HUF | NZD/CAD | EUR/CNH |
Stock CFDs | ETF CFDs |
Rio Tinto | Apple | Netflix | MSCI Japan | Invesco QQQ | SPDR S&P 500 |
Index CFDs | Commodity CFDs |
EU50 | US500 | AUS200 | Cotton | Natural Gas | Silver |
To conclude, the breadth of the product offering is strong at XTB and above average for the industry.
XTB’s customer support is available via chat, phone, and email. In our tests, the response times were fast via telephone and email, but we experienced some wait time via chat. Operators handled queries well and made an effort to answer questions in detail.
European clients of XTB have access to 24/5 support and help is available in 20 languages. An important bonus to mention is that XTB clients are assigned a dedicated account manager who provides a personalized level of service.
When using the chat feature, a bot answers you first, but you are passed on to a live operator if its answer is insufficient. In our tests, we experienced several-minute wait times to reach a live operator via chat.
When testing phone support, a knowledgeable representative answered our calls almost immediately. We tested customer support with a range of questions from easy to difficult and had a good experience overall.
Deposits and withdrawals at XTB are faster than the industry average, with almost no fees. Several deposit methods are available, but traders can only withdraw via bank wire.
The base currency is the currency in which your account is denominated. XTB offers five base currencies that you can use to open an account: USD, EUR, GBP, HUF, and PLN.
Traders can make deposits via bank transfer, credit/debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Maestro), and digital wall (Skrill).
Deposit Method | Commission | Processing Time |
Bank Transfer | 0% | 1 business day |
Visa | 0% | Immediate |
Mastercard | 0% | Immediate |
Maestro | 0% | Immediate |
Skrill | 2% | Immediate |
Clients can only make withdrawals via bank wire transfer. Withdrawals by bank wire are free for transfers above $100. For withdrawals of less than $100, the fee is $20.
Notably, withdrawals are initiated fast at XTB. Withdrawals are typically processed the same day if requested before 1:00 p.m. Requests after that time are processed the next day.
The account opening process at XTB is fully digital. It can be completed within 10 minutes and requires no minimum deposit for individual accounts.
Opening an account at XTB is fast and seamless. The process only takes a few minutes and prospective clients must go through the following steps:
As part of the Know Your Customer (KYC) process, users must answer questions covering their net worth, occupation, source of funds, and length of their trading experience. There was also a question testing basic knowledge of trading. The KYC questionnaire aims to ensure that brokers understand prospective clients’ risk tolerance, investment knowledge, and financial position.
Finally, to activate the account for live trading, users must upload proof of identity (passport, driver’s license, or ID card) and address (such as an electricity bill or phone bill).
XTB covers all the bases regarding account types, offering Demo, Standard, Professional, Islamic, and Corporate Accounts.
With the Professional Account, the main difference is in the available leverage, which is 1:100. The spreads, available instruments, and platform are the same as the Standard Account. Both account types have negative balance protection and segregated funds. With the professional account, XTB is not required to provide the current risk warnings.
Islamic accounts are only available outside Europe, and corporate accounts have a minimum deposit of 15,000 GBP.
Minimum Deposit | 0 |
Demo Account Available | Yes |
Islamic Account Available | Yes |
Professional Account | Yes |
Corporate Account | Yes |
One of the reasons that traders are attracted to the forex and CFD markets is the high degree of available leverage. Leverage is using borrowed funds to increase the size of your trading positions beyond what would be possible using only the cash in your account. The available leverage listed below is based on an account opened with the XTB Limited UK entity (XTB.com).
A standard account offers a maximum of 1:30 leverage. With 1:30 leverage and a $1,000 account, you can control up to $30,000 worth of positions in the market. Traders can apply for a professional account, which offers higher leverage, but the costs and platform are the same.
Investors with a professional account can trade with a maximum leverage of 1:100. Using 1:100 leverage with a $1,000 account, traders can control up to $100,000 worth of positions in the market. To qualify for a professional account, users must show a financial portfolio of over €500,000 and relevant financial experience.
Leverage is often described as a ‘double-edged sword’ because it can amplify your profits and losses. Leveraged trading comes with a high level of risk and can often result in significant losses.
An unlimited demo account allows you to hone your skills without risking any real money. XTB also offers a swap-free Islamic account that adheres to the principles of Sharia law.
XTB accepts clients from the majority of countries globally. However, like most CFD brokers, XTB does not take clients from the United States or FATF (Financial Action Task Force) blacklisted countries, North Korea and Iran.
XTB shines in the area of research with quality analysis from an in-house team complimented by a range of tools for independent use.
XTB’s award-winning research team provides news and analysis via the xStation platform. Stories cover breaking news, in-depth market analysis, and specific trade ideas. These materials can cater to both beginners and advanced traders.
In addition, the platform offers a variety of tools to help conduct market research.
These include
XTB’s educational materials cater to all levels of traders with in-depth content on a wide range of topics.
The XTB website features a Knowledge Base section with articles ranging from technical analysis to platform tutorials. The material is helpful to beginners, and even seasoned traders will be able to pick up some valuable ideas.
Within the xStation 5 platform, there are a variety of educational videos, including lessons from seasoned industry experts such as Steve Ward and Tom Hougaard.
Live events led by market experts complement the written and video material provided by XTB. Educational webinars are scheduled every Wednesday, covering live market analysis via the xStation 5 platform and followed by a discussion.
We rated the education section at XTB as high quality and better than average for the industry.
XTB provides a compelling offering to traders of all levels of experience. We were especially impressed by some of the innovative features of the xStation 5 platform, such as the heatmap, scanners, and traders statistics tool.
XTB’s low fees and tight spreads make it easier for clients to achieve trading success. This broker performed well in every category of our tests. If you are looking for a strong all-around broker who can nurture your development as a trader, XTB might be a good fit.
Headquarters Country | Poland |
Foundation Year | 2002 |
Regulations | FCA (United Kingdom), CNMV (Spain), KNF (Poland), FSCM (Mauritius), CySEC (Cyprus) |
Publicly Traded | Yes |
Number Of Employees | 200+ |
Trading Desk Type | Market Maker, STP |
Trading Platforms | MT4, xStation 5 |
Restricted Countries | Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Congo, Cuba, Kenya, North Korea, South Korea, Laos, Guyana, India, Iran, Afghanistan, United States, Turkey, Australia, Macao, Yemen, Uganda, Syria, Ethiopia, Vanuatu, Israel, Singapore, Mauritius, Japan, Libya, Mozambique, Pakistan |
Supported Languages | English, Russian, French, Portuguese, Thai, Slovak, Polish, Czech, Arabic, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, German |
Min Deposit | $0 |
Max Leverage | 1:30 (FCA), 1:30 (CNMV), 1:100 (KNF), 1:3000 (FSCM), 1:30 (CySEC ) |
Deposit Options | Maestro, Wire Transfer, Skrill, Credit Card, Visa, Mastercard |
Withdrawal Options | Wire Transfer |
Time to Withdrawal | 1 |
Time to Open an Account | 8 |
Crypto | Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum Classic, Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ripple, Dash, EOS, Ethereum |
Products | Currencies, Stocks, ETFs, Crypto, Indices, Commodities |
Demo Account | Yes |
OCO Orders | No |
Offers Hedging | Yes |
Automated Trading | No |
API Trading | Yes |
Guaranteed Stop Loss | No |
Guaranteed Limit Orders | No |
Guaranteed Fills / Liquidity | No |
Economic calendar | Yes |
Trading From Chart | Yes |
One-Click Trading | Yes |
Expert Advisor | Yes |
Social Trading | No |
Autochartist | No |
Trading Signals | Yes |
Platform Languages | Multi-lingual |
24 Hours Support | Yes |
Support During Weekends | No |
Live Chat | Yes |
Daily Market Commentary | Yes |
News (Top-Tier Sources) | Yes |
Webinars | Yes |
Deposit Fee | No |
Withdrawal Fee | No |
Inactivity Fee | Yes |
Dan Blystone began his career in the trading industry in 1998 on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Later Dan gained insight into the forex industry during his time as a Series 3 licenced futures and forex broker. He also traded at a couple of different prop trading firms in Chicago. Dan is well-equipped to recommend the best forex brokers due to his extensive experience and understanding of the brokerage industry.
At FXEmpire, we strive to provide unbiased, thorough and accurate broker reviews by industry experts to help our users make smarter financial decisions.