Pros & cons of XS broker

XS Fact sheet

Three independent regulators are overseeing XS. Of these three regulators, the Australian ASIC is probably the most reputable and strict. But others should also add some boost to the legitimacy and safety of the broker. The regulators are

• The Financial Services Authority of Seychelles (FSA)
• The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)
• The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC)

Policies that XS follows

XS offers negative balance protection to help prevent its clients from going into minus balances. When trading with leverage it is possible to lose more than your initial account balance is worth. In this case, XS has negative balance protection in place preventing this from occurring. While it may not seem very critical, this feature is of the utmost importance in case of extreme market volatility. 

Another important policy XS follows is saving all client funds in segregated accounts. With segregated accounts, client funds and company funds are kept in different accounts and the broker is unable to use client funds for the running of the company. 

XS is part of a compensation fund to secure itself in case of broker insolvency and ensures traders can get their funds back if something goes wrong. All in all the policies of the broker are excellent and adhere to regulations and promote safety and security. 

Along with 27 futures, the total tradable instruments are 1,248.

Forex trading on XS

From 83 pairs of the most popular FX pairs in the world, finding your favorite one becomes much simpler. Forex is a huge market where trillions of dollars are traded daily and XS has more pairs available than the majority of brokers. These instruments include all the major and minor pairs, and most exotics as well. It is important to understand that exotic pairs tend to have much larger spreads and price volatility and are not recommended for beginners, but for experienced traders offering these many pairs is a huge plus from the XS broker side. What's more exciting is the broker offers low spreads from 0.6 pips for commission-free trading. The only caveat is that the minimum deposit starts from 1,000 dollars which may be too much for many newbies out there. 

CFDs and cryptos trading on XS broker

99% of brokers offer all assets in the form of CFDs and it is important to understand what they are and how they work. XS also offers CFDs, or contracts for difference, in many asset classes including stocks, cryptos, commodities, indices, and Forex pairs. With CFDs, XS’s clients can speculate on the prices of underlying assets without owning these assets. From the 1,075 stock CFDs, it is possible to find preferable ones using stock screeners and increase the number of watchlist stocks which is an advantage for XS clients. With stock CFDs, it is possible to short-sell the asset which is impossible when trading regular stocks. 

There are 35 digital currencies which is a decent number, and since they are also CFDs, it is possible to instantly trade them without waiting times on blockchain approval. 

It is true that XS only offers two account types, but these account types encompass conditions for all types of trading activities. The main account types offered are Standard and Raw. Both accounts offer leverage of up to 1:500 depending on your jurisdiction (ASIC prohibits leverage of more than 1:30). They offer both MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5) platforms and micro lot trading (0.01 lots or 1,000 units of currency). Along with this, all trading strategies are allowed. The only big difference between these accounts is that the Standard account has no commission on Forex trading but comes with spreads starting from 0.6 pips. The minimum deposit is 1,000 USD for the standard account and there is a possibility for an Islamic account. The Raw account is targeted at scalpers, or traders who want to make many small trades and rely on lower spreads. The spreads start from 0 pips and the commission is $7.0 per lot round-turn. The minimum required deposit starts from 25,000 USD and there is no possibility of having a Raw Islamic account which is understandable as Sharia law prohibits commission trading. 

There is a swap-free, or Islamic account, offered which enables Islamic traders to conduct trading activities without going against the Sharia law.

Additionally, there is a free demo account to learn to trade, develop and test trading strategies, and test the broker’s spreads and commissions in a live market without risking your actual money. The demo account is a cornerstone for beginner trading and XS ensures beginners can open a demo account and start learning and testing their trading skills. 

Pros & cons of XS broker account types

XS Standard Account

The Standard account offers very attractive trading conditions, the only downside is the minimum deposit size of 1,000 USD. This number is high as many beginners do not have such a budget to get started. But all the other specs are so good that this downside could be easily ignored. The spread starts from 0.6 pips which are well below the industry average of 1 pip. This spread should allow traders to implement scalping strategies. 0.6 pips means for every 1 lot traded (100,000 units of currency) the spread will account for a 12 USD commission. This is not much considering that many brokers have a 7 USD round turn commission and their spreads from 0.2 pips account for 4 + 7 USD = 11 USD. Meaning that, with even the Standard account it is possible to trade in a similar environment to the zero spread account offered by many brokers. 

XS Raw Account

With the Raw account, traders can get even lower spreads for a 7 USD round-turn commission. The spreads start from 0 pips and are preferable for scalpers. The only downside this account type has is its huge initial 25,000 USD requirement. The Raw account does not have an Islamic version. A maximum of 100 trades can be opened at the same time and MT4 and MT5 are available as trading platforms. 

XS Demo and Islamic Accounts

The demo account is critical for beginners. XS’s demo account offers the ability to trade in live markets without risking real funds. Demo trading is easy to start as registration is a pretty simple process with XS. Beginner traders are strongly advised to start demo trading before trying anything real. Islamic traders can enjoy super low spreads and no commissions which is almost unheard of in the Forex community. Generally, the spreads for Islamic traders are around 1 pip and it is harder for them to implement scalping strategies, with XS’s low spreads, scalping becomes available for all traders. The spread is 0.6 pips which is almost the same as zero spread and commission accounts. 

Getting started on XS Broker – Main steps

If you are wondering how to start trading at XS we have gathered all the necessary information for you. With these steps, you will be able to register and start trading within 24 hours. 

Step 1: Open an account

It requires some basic information to register on the XS website which is convenient and fast. Make sure to verify your account first before starting to trade on a live account as it prevents any complications during deposits and withdrawals and is a more professional way of doing things in the financial trading industry. 

Step 2: Time to verify your account

For the verification procedure, the standard documents are required. The main documents for this purpose are proof of identity and proof of residence. The proof of identity can be a national ID card or a passport that is valid and active. As for proof of address, a bank statement, or utility bill will be sufficient to upload. All uploaded documents should be clear and it is necessary on the proof of address documents for the address and name of a client to be fully visible. 

Step 3: Make your deposit and start trading

After verification, the only step remaining is to deposit funds and start trading on a selected account and platform. 

The supported methods for deposits and withdrawals include bank transfer, credit/debit card, Klarna, Neteller, Skrill, and Giropay. All methods are instant for deposits except for wire transfers. The broker charges no fees for any deposits or withdrawals but the payment providers might. 

The fees of XS are super attractive and competitive when compared with the industry averages. 

Comparing XS broker fees with other brokers

Let’s see how the XS fees are compared to other well-established brokers out there. 

XS broker fees compared to Interactive Brokers fees

*Inactivity fee was eliminated by IB in 2021, it used to be $20/m

XS broker fees compared to CM Trading fees

XS broker fees compared to plus500 fees

XS broker fees compared to XM fees

XS broker fees compared to AvaTrade fees

XS broker fees compared to Capital.com fees

XS offers MT4 and MT5 as the main trading platforms. There are also XS Webtrader and XS Mobile Trader available to include all platforms and devices out there. While MT4 and MT5 are advanced platforms and offer many features for analyzing and trading the financial markets, their counterparts on mobile platforms offer similar opportunities. MT4 and MT5 mobile apps were updated and made feature-rich lately which makes it super useful to use them on the go. 

There are three different apps for mobile trading on the go. MT4, MT5, and the XS mobile apps all of which are robust and reliable, with numerous features to analyze markets and initialize trades. What are the mobile app's main features?

• Fast, and user-friendly
• Multiple chart types and timeframes
• Full trading functionality

Traders can just choose between these different apps and find their favorite one, as they are all decent. 

There are no educational resources currently available on the XS website. The company is trying to attract educators through its partner program. This indicates that we will see educational resources on their website soon. But for now, beginners will have to find educational materials somewhere else. 

The broker also falls short when it comes to research tools as it has none on its website. Although advanced platforms like MT4 and MT5 have many useful tools and features available, an economic calendar would be fantastic. We hope the broker addresses these issues soon enough and offers its traders various useful tools and plugins. 

There is a virtual assistant inbuilt and it is impossible to connect with the representatives. While the live chatbot provided most of the information about important trading conditions, like negative balance protection and inactivity fees, it would be better to enable users to contact the support team. The virtual assistant is very useful and responsive though. We can not give a score in this category even though the broker has a very advanced virtual assistant. It is more like smart FAQs rather than full-fledged live chat. 

The website, as with the virtual assistant “live chat” , is multilingual which is great. There are a total of 11 languages supported making the broker truly appealing for international traders.

What's even better is the support is available 24/7. You can request a call back via the button and leave a message for the broker. Email support is also working, but seems like the broker lacks live chat support, and only the broker can decide to contact the client which is disadvantageous. 

In the end, the XS broker is a regulated and legitimate brokerage company offering its services to international traders through three licenses of CySEC, FSA, and ASIC. The broker has to uphold stricter standards due to having so many overseers. XS offers negative balance protection, segregated bank accounts, and investor compensation. The trading assets are diverse and include currencies, cryptos, stock CFDs, indices, commodities, and futures, with 1,248 in total. While the broker could improve in the educational department and research tools its mobile trading platforms and multilingual customer support are excellent. As for spreads and fees, it starts from 0.6 pips and 7 USD round turn for Standards and Raw accounts respectively. The trading conditions are attractive with this broker. With spreads this low, it is possible to trade scalping strategies directly from the Standard account which gives Islamic traders great opportunity. The broker is reliable and it works to introduce educational resources into its website.