What is XTB?
XTB Online Trading is an Online Forex and CFD Broker with one of the most extensive penetrations in the FX & CFD markets by offering many Currency Pairs and CFDs of international financial instruments. You may trade on global stocks, indices, metals, and energy among their CFD offerings.
Founded in Poland in 2004 under X-Traders, the company was the first online broker to offer leveraged instruments in its country. XTB, as a company, trades at the Warsaw Stock Exchange under the symbol XTB, and it has offices in over ten countries, including the UK, Germany, France and Spain.
Trading with XTB is an excellent alternative to investing at the local Stock Exchange, where only locally listed instruments are available.
Currently, the Middle East is one of the fastest-growing regions regarding the number of new traders. Because of this, XTB focuses on acquiring new clients residing in the region by offering webinars, live market analysis and daily trading updates, among other valuable tools.
XTB's operation in the UAE
XTB operates in the UAE) through its subsidiary XTB MENA Limited, which is based in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). As a licensed brokerage firm under the regulatory oversight of the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), XTB provides online trading services for forex and CFDs to clients in the UAE and the wider Middle East region.
Having a license from the DFSA indicates that the brokerage meets specific standards of regulation and consumer protection and is authorised to provide services to clients within the DIFC.
Forex Pairs & CFDs available at XTB
Forex: 48 currency pairs, including majors, minors, and exotics. Spreads start at 0.9 pips for the most commonly traded instruments.
Shares: XTB offers CFDs on 1500 Stocks from major Stock Exchanges, among which are the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, two of the most popular among investors.
Commodities: XTB offers CFDs on several commodities, Gold and Oil the most popular among traders.
Indices: XTB offers CFDs on 20 major stock exchange indices.
Bottomline on XTB's instrument offering: It is not the broker that offers the highest number of instruments, but it does have the top traded ones with good trading conditions (i.e. fees).
What Are CFDs?
Let's first address the most basic question: what is a CFD? The term CFD stands for contracts for difference. As its name suggests, a contract for difference creates a contract between two parties (typically described as 'buyer' and 'seller') on an asset price movement.
Several key features of CFDs make them unique:
CFDs are a derivative product.
CFDs are leveraged: Leverage means you gain higher market exposure for a relatively small initial deposit. In other words, your return on your investment is significantly larger than in other forms of trading.
You can profit and incur losses from both rising and falling prices.
The term 'derivatives product' means you don't own the underlying asset when trading CFDs. You're simply speculating on whether the price will rise or fall. When you trade CFDs, you agree to exchange the difference in the price of an asset from when the contract is opened to when it's closed. Let's take stocks as an example. You'd like to purchase 10,000 shares of Apple, and its share price is 1,000, meaning the total investment would cost you $100,000, not including the commission or other fees your broker would charge for the transaction. In exchange for this, you receive a stock certificate, and legal documentation that certifies ownership of shares. In other words, you have something physical to hold in your hands until you decide to sell them, preferably for a profit.
With CFDs, however, you don't own those Apple shares. You're simply speculating and potentially profiting from the same movements in share price.
XTB's Trading Platforms
xStation5 Trading Platform
xStation5 Trading Platform is a trading app developed internally by XTB, designed to allow traders to operate currency pairs and CFDs (more than 3,000 instruments for clients residing in the EU and more than 1,500 International clients). The platform has a simple interface, and it is straightforward to use.
A view of XTB's xStation 5
XTB's Trading Account Conditions
Execution Type: Market
Instruments: +1500
Minimum spread: 0.5
Segregated account funds
Minimal Order: 0.01
Automated trading
Account setup: Free
Forex, Indices, Commodities: No commission
Stock CFDs and ETF CFDs: Commission from 0.08% per lot
Cryptocurrencies: No commission
How to Open a Trading Account with XTB
Like any other online service, opening a Forex and CFD trading account with XTB is a process that takes only a few minutes and requires uploading a valid ID (Passport or Emirates ID) and proof of address (electricity, water bills, etc.). Should everything be approved by XTB, the account would be operational in less than a day.
Opening a Demo Account is free, so you may try the Demo, test it, and then decide whether you will deposit funds. XTB doesn't require a minimum amount to deposit, so after trying the Free Demo account, you may start trading without depositing a significant amount.
Does XTB offer Islamic accounts in the UAE? Am I allowed to Trade if I am Muslim?
Yes - XTB offers Islamic accounts, but only in certain countries (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Jordan, Bahrain, Lebanon, Egypt and Malaysia). And how do they work? An Islamic account is a halal trading account available to clients who respect the Quran and wish to invest while following Islamic finance principles. Islamic trading accounts differ in several ways from regular Forex accounts.
Sharia law prohibits the accumulation of interest; traders with Islamic accounts do not pay or receive interest rates. Also, the Broker has to complete the transactions without delays, so currencies must be transferred from one account to another immediately, and transaction costs should be paid simultaneously. Islamic accounts are also known as swap-free accounts because of this, and they follow four basic principles to be considered Halal:
Prohibition of payment and receipt of any interest rate (Riba)
Immediate exchanges in the context of trading operations
Prohibition of gambling
Distribution of risks and benefits
Is XTB a trustworthy broker?
A way to understand if a Broker is reliable is through the Public entities that regulate its operations. Suppose the government entities controlling the broker are considered as Top Tier worldwide. In that case, it's an excellent indicator to demonstrate that it is safe to deposit funds and operate with the platform. XTB as a group is also regulated by some of the world's strictest supervision authorities, including the UK's FCA (Financial Conduct Authority), the Polish KNF (Polish Financial Supervision Authority), the Turkish CMB (Capital Markets Board of Turkey), DFSA from Dubai and Spain's CNMV (Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores).
Trade over 1,500 financial markets with XTB, a world leader in FX & CFD trading. Open a Free Account and start trading today.
FX Trading with XTB from the UAE