FXTM review

Our rating

FXTM scores 8.3 out of 10 on our table. That figure is an average of six things we assess, and it hides the shape of the broker: its strongest area is regulation at 9.0, its weakest is education at 7.6. Whether that gap matters depends entirely on which of the six you were going to use.

In its favour: low minimum deposit, high leverage options. Against it: higher spreads on standard accounts.

Regulation and safety9.0/10

FXTM lists its authorisations as FSC Mauritius (C113012295); FSCA South Africa (50320); CMA Kenya (135). Those are offshore authorisations. Offshore licensing is not a synonym for dishonest, but it does mean lighter reporting, higher permitted leverage and, usually, no compensation scheme - the trade is protection for flexibility.

The licence that matters to you is the one held by the entity that opens your account, and at a multi-entity broker that is decided by your country of residence. Its registration can be checked directly on the FSC Mauritius register. It is a two-minute check and it is the only way to confirm that the firm taking your deposit is the firm named on the website.

Client money is held separately from the firm's own funds, with top-tier banking institutions - so that if the business fails, client balances are not part of what its creditors can reach. Negative balance protection applies, so a gap through your stop cannot leave you owing the broker money.

No statutory compensation scheme stands behind it. If the firm fails, recovering client money is an insolvency process rather than a claim - which is the practical difference between an offshore licence and a tier-one one.

FXTM does not accept clients from United States, Mauritius, Japan, Canada, Haiti, Iran, Suriname, North Korea, Puerto Rico, occupied area of Cyprus, Quebec, Iraq, Syria, Cuba, Belarus, Myanmar, Russia, India, United Kingdom. Restriction lists move, so confirm your own country before you spend time on an application.

What it costs to trade8.6/10

FXTM advertises spreads from 0.0 pips. Commission is $3.50 per side / $7 round turn, Advantage, charged on top of the spread rather than instead of it - which is the normal arrangement on a raw account and the reason its quoted spread can be so low. Put the two together and a EUR/USD round turn works out at approx. 0.8 pips, which is the figure worth comparing against other brokers.

An advertised minimum is the best price a broker has ever quoted, not the price you will get. On our record its measured average on EUR/USD is approx. 0.1 pips, Advantage, and approx. 0.3 pips, Advantage on GBP/USD. Spreads are variable, so they move with liquidity and widen around releases and the daily rollover.

Positions held overnight accrue a swap, and swap-free accounts are available for clients who need them. Currency conversion applies where your account and the instrument use different currencies, which is a charge worth avoiding by funding in the currency you actually trade.

Leave the account dormant and it costs you: $10/€10/£10 per month after 3 months inactivity. That is the charge most often missed when comparing brokers, and it matters disproportionately if you trade seasonally or infrequently.

Platforms and tools8.5/10

FXTM runs MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, FXTM App. Both MetaTrader versions are available, which matters more than it sounds: an expert advisor written for MT4 will not run on MT5, so a trader arriving with existing software needs the specific version it was written for.

Automation is supported: yes. There is API access (yes, institutional/FIX API connectivity) for anyone connecting their own software. Copy trading is available through Yes, FXTM Invest, which is the alternative to writing rules yourself.

Charting runs to 30+ MT4. Additional tools include Trading Central, FX Blue tools, VPS. On mobile: both proprietary and third-party.

Markets, leverage and execution8.2/10

FXTM covers Forex, Metals, Commodities, Indices, Stocks, ETFs, Cryptocurrencies, Futures, Crosses. That comes to 1,000+ instruments in total. On the currency side specifically it lists 60+ pairs. Breadth is worth less than depth in the markets you actually trade - a hundred instruments priced well beats a thousand you will never open.

Leverage runs to 1:3000 on the entity that offers most. That does not improve your expected return; it lowers the deposit a given position requires, and shortens the move needed to close you out. Whatever the headline, the number that governs your position is the margin requirement on the specific instrument - it is always lower on shares and crypto than on major currency pairs.

Execution is market execution, routing orders to external liquidity rather than pricing them internally. Measured speed is 82ms. Its servers sit in global financial data-centre infrastructure, which is what determines latency more than any software choice.

Order types available: market, buy limit, sell limit, buy stop, sell stop, stop-loss, take-profit, trailing stop. Stops and limits are table stakes; what separates platforms is whether the ones you rely on are there and how quickly they can be modified once a position is open.

Accounts

Account types run to Micro, Edge, Rewards, Rewards Plus, Advantage, Advantage Stocks, Demo. The minimum deposit is $30. The smallest position it will take is 0.01 lots, which is what actually governs how precisely you can size risk on a small account.

A demo account is available, which is the cheapest way to find out whether the platform suits you. Swap-free Islamic accounts are offered. Professional classification is available for clients who qualify, which lifts leverage caps and lowers the protections that come with retail status - a trade rather than an upgrade. Opening takes typically a few minutes.

Accounts can be denominated in USD, EUR, GBP, AED, USC/EUC cent currencies on Micro. Funding in the currency you trade removes a conversion charge from every position, which is a small saving repeated indefinitely.

Deposits and withdrawals

Deposits can be made by Visa, Mastercard, bank wire, Skrill, Neteller, cryptocurrency and local payment methods. They clear in instant for most cards/e-wallets.

Withdrawals go out by visa/Mastercard, bank wire, Skrill, Neteller, cryptocurrency and local payment methods. Expect typically processed within 24 hours. The minimum withdrawal is $5. Check the withdrawal routes rather than the deposit ones. They are frequently not the same list, anti-money-laundering rules usually require funds to return the way they came, and the difference only becomes apparent at the point you want your money back.

Local payment methods include local bank transfers, mobile payments and country-specific payment providers - which matters more than it looks if you are outside the broker's home market, since an international wire is slow and expensive compared with a domestic transfer.

Support and education7.9/10

Support hours are Monday-Friday 03:00-20:00 UTC; Saturday-Sunday 07:00-11:00 UTC. You can reach them by live chat, phone, online support form. Live chat typically answers in under 2 minutes. Support is offered in multilingual.

Its education is substantial - educational articles, videos, webinars, tutorials, trading guides and beginner/advanced education - which is the difference between a broker that will teach you and one that will simply take the deposit. Research output covers market analysis, trading signals, technical/fundamental commentary and trading tools.

The company behind the brand

The company behind the brand is Exinity Limited, registered as C119470 C1/GBL. It operates from Ebene, Mauritius. It has been trading since 2011, so there is about 15 years of record to look at.

It sits within Exinity Group. It is privately held, so its finances are not published the way a listed group's are. Headcount is in the 500+ range.

You may also see it under FXTM; ForexTime. Brands and legal entities rarely map one to one in this industry, and the name on the website is not always the name on the client agreement.