Skilling vs XM — which broker is better?

Pros

• Three platforms on one account: the beginner-friendly Skilling Trader, full cTrader with depth of market and cTrader Automate, and MetaTrader 4
• EUR 100 minimum on the Standard account with commission-free pricing across forex, indices, equities, ETFs, commodities and crypto
• Premium pairs EUR/USD spreads from 0.1 pips with commission of USD 35 per USD 1 million traded, which prices at or below the commission-free tier once volume builds
• CySEC licence 357/18 brings ESMA retail leverage caps and Investor Compensation Fund cover of 90% up to EUR 20,000 for EEA clients
• 800+ instruments on cTrader and Skilling Trader, including a crypto list broader than most FX-first brokers carry
• Account registration takes under a minute and the demo account has no time limit, so testing costs nothing
• Negative balance protection applies, and MAM/PAMM structures are supported for portfolio managers
• cTrader Copy provides copy trading without a separate app or a managed-fund wrapper

Cons

• Premium commission is quoted per USD 1 million of traded volume without saying whether it applies per side or per round turn, so a standard-lot round turn costs anywhere from USD 4.50 to USD 8.00 all-in — and the tier is gated by a reported EUR 5,000 minimum
• 0.70% currency conversion is expensive: converting EUR 10,000 costs about EUR 70, where the cheapest brokers charge a fraction of that, and a 2.9% charge applies to Skrill and Neteller funding
• Support runs Monday to Friday 04:00–22:00 only, with no weekend cover, while crypto CFDs trade through the weekend
• Essentially no in-house research — no analyst desk, no screener worth using, no structured market coverage; you supply your own analysis
• MetaTrader 4 is a restricted build with roughly 200 instruments and no third-party add-on support, and MetaTrader 5 is not offered at all
• CFD-only with no real ownership, and no Abgeltungsteuer or KESt withholding for German and Austrian clients

Pros

• USD 5 minimum deposit on Micro, Standard, Ultra Low and Zero — one of the lowest entry points among multi-regulated brokers
• Zero account prices EUR/USD at 0.0–0.2 pips for USD 3.50 per lot per side (USD 7 round turn), competitive with dedicated ECN brokers
• Around 1,400 tradable instruments including roughly 1,200 share CFDs, 55 FX pairs, 23 cash indices and 40 crypto CFDs
• Education is not decoration: live webinars and seminars run in 30+ languages, backed by a research desk publishing daily market notes
• No deposit or withdrawal fees on the XM side, and cards and e-wallets settle same day
• Five licences across CySEC (120/10), ASIC (443670), DFSA (F003484), FSCA and Belize FSC, with segregated client money and negative balance protection
• 24/7 live chat in more than 30 languages

Cons

• The default Standard and Micro accounts typically quote EUR/USD at 1.6–2.0 pips against an advertised from-1.0 headline — you pay a beginner tax unless you switch tier
• USD 5 per month inactivity fee after 90 days without a trade, which is unusual for a broker that also sells share CFDs to long-term holders
• Most non-EU retail clients are booked to XM Global Limited in Belize, a tier-3 jurisdiction with no investor compensation scheme
• Platform choice is MetaTrader or nothing — no proprietary desktop terminal, no TradingView order routing, and share CFDs exist only on MT5
• No ETFs, no exchange-traded options or futures, no bonds; the range is broad within CFDs and empty outside them
• Trustpilot sentiment sits near 3.8 with a persistent minority reporting withdrawal delays and spread widening around news