XM is an online Forex trader that was established in 2009. The headquarters of the company is located in Cyprus, but they also have offices in Greece and Hungary. The company has more than 150 employees and there are currently over 400,000 real accounts. XM is focused on innovation and every year since the website was established a certain significant novelty has been introduced. XM participated and has been presented at numerous Money fairs and expos all over the world. This is a detailed review of XM, of the website and what it features as well as all the trading options that are offered.
UK Regulation and Reputation
Being located in Cyprus and having the website licenced and authorised by the local authorities opened the doors for the EU market for XM. In the second year after the website was launched- 2010, it received a licence and was authorised by the FCA, so it is completely legal for UK citizens to trade on XM. The company has a sound and reliable reputation; they serve traders from 196 different countries and have 25 verified payment methods. Investors in People recognised XM as an organisation which did a lot to help people realise their potentials and achieve their goals.
Trading Offer
At XM you can trade Forex currency pairs, as well as CFDs of commodities, equity indices, precious metals and energies. When it comes to Forex you can trade over 50 currency pairs. Not only you can trade all the major currency pairs, like GBP/USD, EUR/GBP and EUR/USD, but you can also pairs that include exotics, like GBP/NOK, NZD/CAD etc. When it comes to CFD commodities trading, you can trade 8 commodities, all of them American, like cocoa, coffee, sugar and soybeans. When it comes to equity indices you can trade 14 cash indices and 11 future indices including UK 100, US 500 and EU Stocks 50. When it comes to precious metals you can trade gold and silver, but you can also trade two other metals- palladium and platinum. As for energies, you can trade London Gas Oil, Natural Gas, WTI Oil and WTI Oil Mini. As you can see the number of available markets isn’t enormous, but there’s still plenty of choice. You can trade 5 days a week, Monday-Friday, starting at 00:05, ending at 23:50 GMT +2, since this is the time of the server. These hours may vary depending on the market in question. For example, Italy 40 can be traded 10:05- 18:35 on workdays.
Leverage and Lot Sizes
When it comes to leverage, at XM you can get an amazing leverage of up to 888. For certain currency pairs like GBP/DKK and USD/CNH the leverage is set at 1:50. The lot sizes for Forex pairs are set at 1,000 units of the first currency in the pair for micro accounts and 100,000 for standard accounts. The lot sizes for CFD trading vary and depend on the market in question. For example, for cocoa is one metric tonne, whereas for coffee it is 10,000 lbs. The lot size for an equity index is always 1 index and for gold it is 100 oz.
Spreads/Fees/Commissions
XM doesn’t charge any extra fees or commissions for any instrument; they get compensated through the spreads. If you are trading Forex currency pairs you can see the lowest possible spreads and the average spreads. For example, the lowest possible spread for GBP/AUD is 0.00012, whereas the average is 0.00067. For USD/CAD the lowest spread is 0.0001, whereas the average is 0.0002. For CFD trading the minimum price fluctuation (MPF) and the value of the minimum price fluctuation (VMPF) are given. Thus, the MPF for cocoa is 1.00000 and the VMPF is $1 and for UK 100 the MPF is 0.05000 and the VMPF is £0.5.
Trading Platforms
XM features 9 trading platforms. Since they are primarily focused on the Meta Trader 4, most of them are different versions of the Meta Traders. There are MT4 for PC, MT4 for Mac, MT4 Multiterminal and MT4 Web Trader. In addition there are MT4 platforms for iPhone, Android phones, iPad and Android Tablets. The Web Trader allows you to trade Forex and CFDs without making any downloads, simply by opening the website in your browser. It features: one-click trading, visible active orders, multiple close-by trade requests, editable properties of graphical objects and selection of periods on the History tab. The Multiterminal allows you to handle more than one account, up to 128 accounts with 3 allocation methods. The downloadable versions both for PC and Mac feature special tools for technical analysis with 50 indicators and charting tools, 3 chart types, VPS functionality and allowed hedging. And if you download the smartphone or tablet apps you can trade on the go, wherever you are. These apps provide functionality, 30 technical indicators, news notifications and full trading history. In addition XM also features FX Arena Contests, which is the world first contest platform. There are weekly $5000 Forex contests. You don’t have to download this platform.
Banking
XM provides a lot of methods for safe, reliable and fast deposits and withdrawals. The fees and charges for all payment methods are covered by XM. The minimum deposit amount for most methods is $5 or the equivalent in the currency of your choice. The list of accepted methods includes credit cards (Visa including Electron, Master and Maestro, Diners and UnionPay), electronic payment methods (Neteller, Skrill, WebMoney, Sofort, PaySafeCard and other), bank wire transfers ($200 minimum deposit), local bank transfers ($200 minimum deposit), as well as other payment methods (MoneyGram and Western Union, both $100 minimum deposit). Most of the deposit methods are instant or take up to 1 day.
Welcome Offer for new Traders
Every new trader at XM is entitled to a No Deposit Bonus of £20. All you need to do to receive this bonus is open a Real account. In order to be able to withdraw what you’ve earn you need to trade in the amount of 0.5 standard lots. In addition to this bonus you are also entitled to a 50% bonus of up to $500 (or currency equivalent) and a bonus of 20% up to $5,000, if you deposit at least $5. So, if you deposit, say £5, you will get addition £2.5. In addition to the bonuses, XM also has a loyalty program.
Support
XM provides customer support in 17 different languages. Support is available 24 hours a day, Monday to Friday. You can reach the support desk via email, phone and fax. Each department has its own telephone line and an email. In addition, the website features an FAQ section where you can find answers to a lot of the most common questions that a client may have. In addition, you can also contact XM via live chat, through the website, or alternatively, via their social media pages. It can be said that XM features a solid and reliable customer support.
Training Materials
The website features a section called Research& Education and it has three sub-sections- Research, Learning centre and Tools. You can find a lot of useful materials like market reviews, technical analyses, news and reviews. In addition you can watch a great number of video tutorials on how to use the platform and the website, but also on how to get better at trading. XM organise a great number of webinars in 13 languages, 5 days a week, with 18 instructors. In addition, XM are one of the few organisations that hold seminars and workshops in various cities throughout the world.
Conclusion
It can be said that XM is a reliable trading platform. They offer a standard and a micro account, and an Islamic account which is 100% Sharia compliant. The website is very informative and it is clear that this operator can be trusted. Their platform is easy to use and in addition they offer a great range of different payment options without any fees. They have a solid bonus offer and provide a lot of useful materials. Their webinars are regarded as particularly informative. The only thing that could be remarked is that they don’t offer as many markets, compared to some other operators.