Introduction to XM
XM, also known as XM Global, is one of the most popular MetaTrader forex brokers in the world. Traders throughout Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America are familiar with the name XM. The company has a great reputation for providing excellent customer support in multiple languages.
Besides being a reliable broker to trade with, XM has a strong reputation for spearheading many early innovations in the forex industry. The company is an extraordinary illustration of what a retail forex broker should be. XM was founded in Cyprus in 2009. Initially, the company was known as XEMarkets but eventually rebranded to the much shorter and catchier XM. The company’s legal name, however, is Trading Point of Financial Instruments Limited.
Among the hundreds of other Cyprus forex brokers launched at the start of the century, XM emerged as a global brand with offices and clients worldwide. Today, XM has various businesses that are licensed, regulated and authorised by some of the most well-recognised authorities.
In this review of XM, we will examine the reasons why more than 3.5 million traders trust XM to provide them access to the foreign exchange market and other global markets.
XM Overview
- MetaTrader platforms. With XM, you can trade on either MetaTrader 4 or MetaTrader 5 platforms on a variety of screens and devices.
- Education and tools. On the XM website, you can discover endless amounts of learning materials to help master the financial markets.
- Low minimum deposit. $5 is all you need to start trading with this broker.
Start Trading with XM
XM Company Profile
XM is an online forex and CFD trading broker originating from Cyprus and is therefore governed by European laws. The company launched in 2009 offering the MetaTrader 4 platform, which at the time was only just on its way to becoming the go-to choice of trading platform for traders and brokers. Since then, XM has been introducing new products, features and platforms to help their clients get better access to the market. In 2010, they introduced a web trading platform; then in 2011, mobile trading was introduced.
The company employs more than 450 people worldwide and provides customer support in over thirty different languages. XM is well known for putting an emphasis on forging in-person relationships with clients, which is a refreshing action to see an online company take. The management team has travelled to over 120 cities to meet clients and host exclusive events. Sadly, that virtue has been sidelined due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.
Over the years, XM has received many high-profile industry awards which validate the company’s ability to deliver a high level of customer support and reliability of services provided to forex traders. The awards received by XM cover all aspects of their business, including most transparent broker, best forex execution and best market research and education and the list goes on.
XM Regulation
XM is a brand name that is shared by various related sister companies. It is not unusual for large international forex brokers to operate as several different companies which are regulated in other jurisdictions. Brokers structure their companies this way in order to serve clients from different parts of the world. Although the rules vary from country to country, it’s common for brokers to be regulated or at least registered in each of the countries they operate.
As XM has a strong global presence with clients from 196 different countries, six regulated investment firms are trading under the XM brand, but technically, they are all XM.
| Legal Entity | Regulator | License/Registration No. |
| Trading Point of Financial Instruments Limited | Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) | Licence No. 120/10 |
| XM Global Limited | Belize International Financial Services Commission (IFSC) | License No. 000261/106n |
| Tradexfin Limited | Seychelles Financial Services Authority (FSA) | License No. SD010 |
| Trading Point of Financial Instruments Pty Ltd | Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) | AFSL License No. 443670 |
| Trading Point of Financial Instruments UK Limited | Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) | Reference No. 705428 |
| Trading Point MENA Limited | Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) | F003484 |
XM Trading Platforms
A lot of forex brokers which are of the same calibre as XM, go down the route of developing their own custom trading platforms, as Plus500 did for example. However, XM stands strong with the MetaTrader 4 & 5 platforms and the company’s entire product offering orbits around those two platforms, which are undoubtedly the two most popular trading platforms.
XM MetaTrader 4
MetaTrader 4 was first released in 2005 and is to this day still used by millions of traders from all around the world. MT4 is the flagship trading platform of the forex industry, and thousands of brokers provide it.
MetaTrader 4 has excellent charting capabilities with many built-in technical analysis indicators and drawing objects for annotating on the graphs. Many traders are also attracted to MT4 due to the significant automated trading community. The MT4 platform is largely the same regardless of which broker you trade with. We recommend reading our beginners guide to MetaTrader 4.
XM MetaTrader 5
As you may have guessed, MetaTrader 5 is an upgrade of MT4. MT5 was first released to the market in 2010, but due to the overwhelming popularity MT4 already had, it was hard to convince traders or brokers to switch. It took years of development on the platform for it to reach a level that would compel anyone to consider using it. Even now, many traders don’t feel there are many differences between MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5.
Start Trading with XM
Open a Demo Trading Account with XM
By heading over the XM website, you can register for a demo trading account on MT4, MT5 or both platforms. When creating your demo account, you can choose various settings such as the account type, base currency, demo credit and leverage settings.
Trading Instruments
XM offers the most popular and liquid currency pairs as well as numerous other assets which can be valuable economic indicators, hedging tools or exciting opportunities to speculate on from time to time.
XM offers the following trading instruments as CFDs;
- 55+ forex pairs including major, minor and exotic currency pairs.
- Precious metals gold and silver both quoted against the US dollar.
- Stock market indexes such as the US30, S&P500, FTSE100, DAX30 and a dozen more.
- Energy commodities such as Brent Crude Oil, West Texas Intermediary and natural gases.
- Agriculture commodities such as coffee, cocoa wheat and sugar.
To compliment all of the different products available to trade as CFDs, XM also provides a dedicated account for buying and investing in shares.
XM Deposits & Withdrawals
No fees are charged when you make a deposit or withdrawal with XM using a Credit or Debit card or an e-wallet. The minimum amount your need to deposit to open a trading account is just $5. Although the company doesn’t list payment methods on its website, you can expect to see options like Neteller, Skrill, UnionPay and PayPal as well as bank wire transfers.
To see a precise list of deposit methods available, you will need to log in to the client zone after you have registered with XM. Payment methods usually differ between jurisdictions where the broker operates.
Although most account funding methods are free and have incredibly low limits, the situation is slightly different for bank wire transfers, where zero fees are only allowed if the value of the transaction exceeds $200.
Trading account balances can be denominated in just three currencies; EUR, USD, JPY.
Account Currencies Supported by XM
XM offers 11 different account base currencies, which include;
| USD | GBP | EUR | CHF | AUD | JPY |
| HUF | ZAR | RUB | SGD | PLN |
XM Trading Conditions
The trading conditions you experience with XM vary depending on where you are located and according to the jurisdiction that governs your trading account. For example, if you have an account with XM.com in Europe, you will not be able to get leverage greater than 1:30, unless you elect yourself as a professional client. However, if your trading account was opened with XMTrading.com which is registered in Seychelles, your account will be able to get leverage of up to 1:888. Keep in mind that conditions vary quite a lot, and you should, therefore consult the company’s website directly to ensure you get the most accurate information about trading conditions according to your location.
Trading Account Types
In total, there are four trading accounts offered by FX. Three accounts are for trading FX and CFD. The fourth account is available for buying shares on MetaTrader 5.
The three forex trading accounts are called Standard Account, Micro Account and XM Ultra Low Account. All trading accounts are commission-free. The spreads for the Micro Account and Standard Account start at 1.0 Pips, and the spread for the Ultra Low Account starts at 0.6 Pips.
All trading accounts are offered with a negative balance protection policy and the choice of being Shariah-compliant for traders of the Islamic faith.
Conclusion: Should you Trade with XM
XM has an outstanding reputation in the industry. The company sponsors great athletes like Usain Bolt. While you might not care about a company sponsoring world-famous athletes, you may be pleased to know the company donates to many humanitarian causes. Something more relevant for traders, a major unique selling point for XM is its educational materials. The research and education section of the website gives access to XM TV where you can enjoy daily digests covering news and technical analysis, and the XM Podcast goes into further detail on those same subjects.
In general, XM is running its brokerage in a proper way. The sheer number of people who actively trade with XM is eye-opening. The company really understands and helps traders to make things work as opposed to dictating the rules they must follow. We hope this review of XM has enabled you to make an informed decision when deciding on your Forex trading partner.
