XTB is one of our favourite brokers and rates highly in all categories. In this video, Alison walks traders through the categories, starting with the company info and regulation, available instruments, trading platforms, trading costs, education, and customer service.
Transcript
What is XTB?
XTB is a global online forex and CFD broker founded in 2002. The company is headquartered in Warsaw, Poland. It is regulated by some top-tier authorities, including the Financial Conduct Authority of the UK – one of the world’s top authorities, CySEC of Cyprus, the KNF of Poland, the FSC of Belize, and the CNMV of Spain. It offers all traders negative balance protection, which means that you cannot lose more than your initial deposit and segregates client funds at top-tier banks. In short, you can be sure that XTB will safeguard your funds and treat you fairly.
What instruments does XTB offer?
XTB offers most of the instruments traders would be looking for. This range includes 57 forex pairs, 1800 share CFDs, commodities, including metals, agricultural products, energies, indices, 49 cryptocurrencies and ETFs.
Trading Platforms and Tools
One place that XTB is limited is when it comes to platform support, but it has one of the best trading platforms available. It offers many of the same advanced trading features found in MetaTrader 4. Still, it introduces XTB sentiment data directly into the platform so traders can view the percentage of clients trading long or short and on which instruments.
It also offers powerful charting tools, one-click trading, stop-loss functionality, multiple order types, price alerts, and real-time performance statistics to evaluate your trading moves and identify areas for improvement. It also has a market analysis tab with a stock scanner, heatmap and an ETF scanner. It has a market watch where you can create a watch list, market news, and an integrated economic calendar.
The only downside to the platform is that traders cannot perform auto or algorithmic trading, which is why some traders prefer third-party platforms such as MT4 and MT5.
But overall, the platform is beginner-friendly and offers some great features.
Trading Costs
One of the most important aspects to consider when choosing a broker is the trading costs. And XTB does not disappoint. It offers two live accounts – a Standard Account, a swap-free Islamic Account and a demo account.
The Standard account is commission-free with low spreads that start at 0.5 pips on the EUR/USD and average at 0.9 pips, which is low for the industry, and there is no required minimum deposit.
The Islamic Account has a wider spread of 0.7 pips on the EUR/USD, and traders are charged a commission of 10 dollars per lot traded. This extra cost is to make up for the swap-free overnight charges.
Education
XTB For Beginners
XTB has some of the best training materials available for beginners. It has various courses, and the material is clear, concise, and well-structured. One-to-one mentoring, dedicated account management, webinars, and 24/5 customer service present XTB traders with a fluid onboarding experience.
Educational Material
XTB offers an extensive section of well-structured training material for beginner and intermediate traders in its Trading Academy. It has an extensive library of articles, guides, and an account manager to help traders set up their trading platform and walk them through the basics. It also offers a repository of videos, but these are for traders with a live account. Active account holders also have access to weekly webinars, and invites are sent via email.
As you can see, XTB’s market analysis is up to date, and I like how you can access market sentiment and the economic calendar in the same section. But, again, some of the materials are only for live account holders.
Customer Service
Again, XTB was out to impress. Although live chat and email assistance are unavailable over the weekends, traders can access support via telephone 24/7. This feature is excellent for beginners who need to set up on the weekends. We find the agents extremely responsive, and they are helpful and knowledgeable, too.
Overall
XTB is one of our preferred partners for many reasons:
- XTB is well regulated
- It offers a wide range of trading products.
- XTB offers competitive spreads and commissions.
- XTB offers a variety of educational resources and excellent market analysis.
- It has responsive, helpful customer support.
The only drawback is the need for more choices regarding trading platforms, but the xStation5 is a feature-rich trading platform that is also very good for beginner traders.
