Safety first
XTB review
Who regulates XTB, under which licence, and what that means for your money.
Last checked
XTB offers some protection if it fails and not all of it, which is the ordinary offshore trade-off: you gain leverage and lose the safety net. Regulated by KNF Poland; FCA (522157); CySEC (169/12); DFSA (F006316); FSC Belize (000000587 / 6442514); additional regional authorisations, offering xStation 5, XTB mobile app.
Our rating
- Regulation9.9
- Costs7.3
- Platforms9.4
- Markets9.1
- Support5.1
- Education4.2
One rating, identical across our sites - only the way it is shown changes. It averages six assessments: regulation, trading costs, platforms, markets, support and education.
Regulation and safety
- Regulated by
- KNF Poland; FCA (522157); CySEC (169/12); DFSA (F006316); FSC Belize (000000587 / 6442514); additional regional authorisations
- Regulator tier
- Tier 1
- Register entry
- FCA Financial Services Register, FRN 522157
- Client money segregated
- Yes
- Held at
- Regulated banking institutions
- Negative balance protection
- Yes
- Compensation scheme
- Applicable statutory schemes by entity, including FSCS up to £85,000 for eligible UK clients
- Audited by
- PricewaterhouseCoopers Polska sp. z o.o. Audyt sp.k.
- Not available to
- United States, Canada, Japan and other jurisdictions where XTB does not provide its services
The licence is what decides where your money sits and who is obliged to do something about it.
XTB holds tier-one authorisations from FCA and CySEC. That matters more than any headline spread: it determines your leverage cap, whether losses can exceed your deposit, and what happens to your money if the firm fails.
It also operates an offshore entity (FSC). Which one you are onboarded to depends on where you live, and the two carry very different protections - worth confirming before you deposit.
The FCA caps retail leverage at 1:30, mandates negative balance protection, and covers eligible clients under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
CySEC licences passport across the EU and follow the 1:30 retail leverage cap, with the Investor Compensation Fund covering eligible claims.
The DFSA regulates from the Dubai International Financial Centre, a separate legal jurisdiction from the wider UAE.
Check the licence yourself: the FCA Register, the CySEC register of investment firms, the DFSA public register.
The company behind the brand
- Legal entity
- XTB S.A.
- Company number
- KRS 0000217580
- Headquarters
- Warsaw, Poland
- Founded
- 2002
- Publicly listed
- Yes, Warsaw Stock Exchange: XTB
- Parent company
- Independent, XTB S.A.
- Employees
- 1,000+
- Also trades as
- XTB; X-Trade Brokers
What it costs to trade
- Spread from
- 0.5 pips
- EUR/USD spread
- Approx. 0.8 pips
- GBP/USD spread
- Approx. 1.0 pips
- Commission
- $0, Standard
- All-in cost, EUR/USD
- Approx. 0.8 pips
- Spread type
- Variable
- Overnight swap
- Both: overnight financing may be charged or credited
- Inactivity fee
- €10/month after 12 months without trading and 90 days without a deposit
- Deposit fee
- None internally; payment-provider fees may apply
- Withdrawal fee
- Entity-dependent; generally free, but international account charges can apply to smaller withdrawals/e-wallets
- Currency conversion
- 0.5%
Cost is the last thing to weigh here, and never the thing that should decide it.
Spreads from 0.5 pips suggest an all-in account, where the broker's fee is built into the price rather than charged separately. There is usually no commission on top, which makes the cost easier to predict.
Quoted spreads are best-case figures on the most liquid pair, in normal conditions. What you actually pay widens around news and at the session open.
XTB lists a minimum deposit of $0. Treat it as the cost of opening an account, not the cost of trading one - position sizing on a small balance is what tends to cause damage.
Platforms and tools
- Platforms
- xStation 5, XTB mobile app
- Own platform
- Yes, xStation
- Mobile app
- Proprietary
- Browser trading
- Yes
- Automated trading
- No native EA support on current xStation platform
- Copy trading
- No
- Indicators
- 30+ technical indicators
- Third-party tools
- TradingView-powered charting/tools and external market-data integrations
- API access
- Limited/no standard retail trading API
XTB offers xStation 5, XTB mobile app. A proprietary platform can be excellent, but it means your setup does not transfer if you later change broker.
Markets and execution
- Markets
- Forex, Stocks, ETFs, Indices, Commodities, Cryptocurrencies
- Currency pairs
- 50+
- Total instruments
- 11,900+
- Crypto CFDs
- Yes, jurisdiction-dependent
- Maximum leverage
- 1:500
- Execution model
- Market maker / principal for CFDs
- Execution speed
- Approx. 85ms
- Order types
- Market, limit, stop, stop-loss, take-profit, trailing stop
- Servers
- European and global financial data-centre infrastructure
Leverage up to 1:500 is available on this entity. High leverage does not increase your expected return - it increases position size for the same deposit, and shortens the move needed to close you out.
XTB covers forex, stocks, etfs, indices, commodities, cryptocurrencies. A wider range matters less than depth in the instruments you actually trade.
Funding options: bank transfer, credit/debit card, neteller, skrill/paysafe and regional payment methods. Check withdrawal routes as well as deposit ones - they are often not the same, and the difference only becomes apparent when you try to take money out.
Accounts
- Minimum deposit
- $0
- Account types
- Standard, Swap-Free/Islamic, Professional, Demo
- Account currencies
- USD, EUR, GBP, additional currencies depending on entity
- Islamic account
- Yes, international entity
- Demo account
- Yes
- Professional account
- Yes
- Minimum trade size
- 0.01 lots
- Time to open
- Typically a few minutes
Deposits and withdrawals
- Deposit methods
- Bank transfer, credit/debit card, Neteller, Skrill/Paysafe and regional payment methods
- Withdrawal methods
- Bank transfer, card, Skrill, Neteller and supported regional methods
- Deposit time
- Cards/e-wallets generally instant; bank transfer typically 1-3 business days
- Withdrawal time
- Typically 1-3 working days
- Minimum withdrawal
- $0 generally; international entity charges $30 below $50
- Local payment methods
- Country-specific bank transfers, cards and electronic payment systems
Support and education
- Support hours
- 24/5
- Contact channels
- Live chat, email, phone
- Languages
- 18 languages
- Telephone
- +44 20 3695 3085
- ukservice@xtb.co.uk
- Live chat response
- Typically under 2 minutes
- Education
- Extensive: investing courses, educational articles, videos, platform tutorials and trading education
- Research
- Extensive: market analysis, news, stock/ETF research, technical analysis, market sentiment and analytical tools
Information is regularly updated. Last compiled from XTB's own website on 26 August 2026.
Questions people ask about XTB
What happens to my money if XTB goes bust?
XTB sits behind Applicable statutory schemes by entity, including FSCS up to £85,000 for eligible UK clients. A scheme covers eligible clients of the entity that holds the licence, so the entity you were onboarded to decides whether it covers you.
Is my money kept separate from XTB's own?
Yes. XTB holds client money in accounts kept apart from the firm's own. Segregation is what stops a broker's creditors reaching your balance if the firm fails, which is why it matters more than any headline spread. We do not hold the name of the bank it uses.
Can I lose more than I deposit with XTB?
XTB provides negative balance protection, so a gap through your stop should not leave you owing money. It is usually a rule of the regulator rather than a favour from the broker, which means it can differ between the entities one brand operates.