Comprehensive Review dedicated to traders from South Africa
XTB Review South Africa
Accepts South African Clients
Who is XTB?
XTB is a leading international broker that supports speculation on 11,200+ financial instruments and offers its own in-house built platform called xStation. The company is regulated by the FSC in Belize and by the prestigious FCA in the United Kingdom.
The XTB minimum deposit is only $1, which equals roughly to 18 ZAR.
XTB Group is Regulated by
FSC
Financial Services Commission, based in Belize, license no 000302/438.
DFSA
Dubai Financial Services Authority, based in Dubai International Financial Centre, license no F006316.
FCA
Financial Conduct Authority, based in the United Kingdom, license no 522157.
CySEC
Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, based in Cyprus, license no 169/12.
Risk warning: Remember that forex and CFDs available at XTB are leveraged products and can result in the loss of your entire capital.
Please ensure you fully understand the risks involved.
Pros
Cons
01
Trading assets
In total, there are over 11,200 trading instruments available at XTB to traders from SA. These include:
- Forex – Regarding forex pairs, there are currently 60+ CFD tradable pairs. You can find here major, minor, and exotic pairs. Apart from the most popular currency pairs like EUR/USD, USD/JPY or GBP/USD, there are also 3 forex pairs with the South African Rand that can be traded against major currency pairs - EUR/ZAR, GBP/ZAR, USD/ZAR.
- Stocks– XTB offers stocks from 16 stock exchanges. In total, there are over 6,000 stocks that are composed of European, American, Australian and Asian stocks. (Stocks are available both as CFDs and as real underlying assets)
- Indices – XTB supports speculation on 42 CFD indices. You can find here the world's most popular indices like UK100 or US500.
- Commodities – There are 23 CFDs on commodities, including gold, oil, and coffee.
- Cryptocurrencies – It is possible to trade over 40 cryptocurrency CFD pairs.
- ETFs – XTB allows speculation on 114 ETFs that comprise the world's most popular titles, like iShares, Lyxor, or Amundi. (ETFs are available both as CFDs and as real underlying assets)
South African traders can trade some of these instruments with up to 1:500 leverage.
Available Deposit & Withdrawal Methods
XTB supports the following deposits and withdrawal methods
Supported Platforms by XTB
XTB supports the following trading platforms
02
Trading platform of the broker
XTB offers an in-house built trading platform called xStation 5. The platform can be accesed directly via a web browser as it is it’s fully compatible with Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Opera or can be downloaded to any PC, mobile or tablet.
xStation 5 provides a clear, simple and intuitive trading environment packed with a comprehensive charting system. Additionally, directly in the platform you can find economic news calander as well as market news that will help you with analysing the current sentiment of the market.
Screenshot taken from the official website of XTB, page trading platforms
Did you know?
XTB is one of the largest stock exchange-listed FX & CFD brokers in the world with offices in over 13 countries.
03
Trading fees
XTB as any other forex/CFD broker charges spreads. They are fairly tight here, according to the account information page they start from 0.8 pips.
Some brokers also charge commission fees, these are not applicable at XTB when trading Forex, Indices and Commodities, they are only for Stock CFDs and ETF CFDs, for these instruments the commission fee starts at 0,08% per lot.
XTB does not charge fees for bank transfers and credit/debit card deposits. For Skrill and Netteller deposits there is a fee of 2% and 1% of your deposited amount, respectively.
Regarding withdrawals, there is a fee of 1,5% for card withdrawals, wire transfer withdrawals XTB process in SHA model and it covers full costs charged by Sending Bank.
04
Educational resources, cashback rebates
XTB has an educational centre that is from basic to intermediate and expert levels. Once you select your level you are provided with around a dozen of articles that are built to enhance your trading skills. These articles are often accompanied by video tutorials as well as images so everything is pretty plain and straightforward. XTB also tends to hold live webinars for which you can sign up free of charge.
Cashback rebates are at XTB available exclusively to traders from South Africa (to traders from some other countries they are not available). How much you can earn via the cashback reward system is based on your trading activity. According to the official website of the broker, the exact amount will be agreed between you and your dedicated account manager.
For potentially even more benefits in the future, you can also consider using a referral code during the sign-up process.
XTB in head-to-head with South African leading competitors
Trading Forex and CFDs entail risk.
Your capital is at risk.
Expert's cricital opinion
XTB has built a considerable international footprint over the years, now serving over 2 million clients worldwide. Though historically less recognized in South Africa compared to other regions, the broker has been steadily gaining traction among South African traders seeking established international brokers.
To establish the quality of the broker's offer, it's important to compare XTB to other colossal Forex Brokers that have the biggest share of the South African Forex market. I believe those are currently Exness and AvaTrade, two big names in the industry.
XTB offers a comparable number of forex pairs to AvaTrade, but falls short of Exness, which provides nearly twice as many. Where XTB truly distinguishes itself, however, is in its total tradable assets. The broker offers 70 times more instruments than Exness and 16 times more than AvaTrade, driven primarily by its extensive stock and ETF selection.
XTB requires a minimum deposit of just $1, comparable to Exness at $10 and notably lower than AvaTrade's $100 requirement. All three brokers maintain favorable entry conditions for traders.
When it comes to trading platforms, XTB takes a different approach by offering exclusively its proprietary xStation platform. While xStation is highly intuitive and user-friendly, Exness and AvaTrade hold an advantage by providing both MT4 and MT5, platforms most traders are already familiar with.
Lastly, fees represent one of traders' biggest concerns, particularly spreads, which typically constitute the most substantial trading costs. XTB positions itself competitively with spreads starting from 0.8 pips on major currency pairs and no commissions. This undercuts AvaTrade's 0.9 pips but sits slightly above Exness's more attractive 0.3 pips.
Michael Kuchar
CEO of CompareForexBrokers.co.za