CMC Markets vs XTB

CMC Markets or XTB – which is better for UK traders 2025? Compare CMC Markets and XTB in this detailed breakdown of their platforms, features and fees.

CMC Markets vs XTB Comparison Table 2025

CMC Markets	XTB
4.7	4.8
CMC Markets is ranked #3 among CFD brokers.	XTB is ranked #2 among CFD brokers.
Review	Review
Founded in 1989, CMC Markets is a reputable broker publicly listed on the London Stock Exchange. It holds authorisation from top-tier regulators such as the FCA, ASIC, and CIRO. The brokerage, which has received multiple awards, boasts a global membership exceeding one million traders.	Established in Poland in 2002, XTB caters to over a million clients worldwide. This forex and CFD broker offers a robust regulatory framework, a diverse range of assets, and prioritises trader satisfaction. It provides an intuitive proprietary platform equipped with excellent tools to support aspiring traders.
Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 70% of retail investor accounts lose money when spread betting and/or trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how spread bets and CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.	CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 75% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money
Pros
The CMC web platform offers an exceptional user experience with sophisticated charting tools for trading and customisable options, suitable for both novice and seasoned traders. It supports MT4 but not MT5, and TradingView will be available from 2025. We've upgraded the 'Assets & Markets' rating due to frequent product enhancements in early 2025. These include extended trading hours for US stocks and the introduction of new share CFDs. CMC provides competitive pricing with narrow spreads and low trading fees, except for stock CFDs. The Alpha and Price+ programmes offer additional benefits for active traders, including discounts on spreads of up to 40%. CMC Markets is well-regulated by respected financial authorities, ensuring a secure and reliable trading environment. It upholds a strong reputation, providing traders with confidence. The brokerage excels with an extensive array of valuable resources, such as pattern recognition scanners, webinars, tutorials, news feeds, and research from reputable sources like Morningstar.	XTB offers a diverse range of over 7,000 instruments, including CFDs on shares, indices, ETFs, commodities, forex, and cryptocurrencies. The platform also provides real shares, real ETFs, share dealing, and the latest addition, Investment Plans, serving both traders seeking short-term gains and investors focused on long-term growth. The xStation platform stands out with its user-friendly design and intuitive tools, such as adaptable news feeds, sentiment heatmaps, and a trader calculator. These features streamline the learning process for new traders. XTB offers a superb array of educational resources, such as training videos and articles, embedded within the platform to assist traders of all experience levels. XTB has raised its interest rate on uninvested funds and introduced zero-fee ISAs for UK clients, offering access to 3,000 stocks and 700 ETFs for diverse investment opportunities. Setting up an XTB account is straightforward and fully online, requiring only a few minutes. This simplicity eases new traders into the world of trading. Top-notch customer support, available 24/5, includes a welcoming live chat with response times under two minutes during tests. XTB ensures swift access to funds, providing fast withdrawals with same-day payments for requests made before 1 pm.
Cons
Although there have been improvements, the online platform still needs further refinement to match the user-friendly trading experience offered by competitors such as IG. CMC provides a robust range of assets; however, it does not support trading actual stocks, and UK clients are unable to trade cryptocurrencies. Trading stock CFDs comes with a relatively high commission, particularly when compared to low-cost brokers such as IC Markets. A monthly inactivity charge of $10 is imposed after a year's inactivity, potentially discouraging occasional traders. The CMC Markets app provides a comprehensive trading package; however, its design and user experience lag behind market leaders such as eToro.	XTB lacks a raw spread account, a feature increasingly offered by competitors such as Pepperstone. This omission might not satisfy traders seeking the most competitive spreads. The demo account lasts only four weeks, posing a challenge for traders wanting to fully explore the xStation platform and refine short-term strategies before investing actual money. XTB has stopped supporting MT4, restricting traders to its own platform, xStation. This decision may discourage experienced traders accustomed to using the MetaTrader suite. Trading fees are competitive, with average EUR/USD spreads of about 1 pip. However, they are not as low as the most affordable brokers, such as IC Markets. Additionally, an inactivity fee applies after a year. The research tools at XTB are commendable but have the potential to excel further. Enhancing them with access to top-tier third-party services like Autochartist, Trading Central, and TipRanks would significantly elevate their offering. It is frustrating that XTB products do not allow traders to modify the default leverage level. Manually adjusting leverage can greatly reduce risk in forex and CFD trading.
Awards
Best Trading App 2023 - DayTrading.com No.1 Platform Technology 2022 No.1 New Tool 2022 No.1 Most Currency Pairs 2022 Best Trade Execution 2021 Best Forex Broker For Beginners 2021 Most Transparent Forex Broker Europe 2020 Best Trading Platform 2020 Best Trading App 2019 Best Customer Service 2018	Best Forex Broker for Beginners 2022 Best Customer Service 2021 Best Forex Broker for Low Costs 2021 Best Mobile App for Investing 2020 #1 EMEA Bloomberg spot for FX accuracy in Q2 of 2020 and Q3 of 2018 Best Polish Forex Broker 2019 Best Execution Broker 2019
FCA Regulated
Yes	Yes
Instruments
CFDs, Forex, Stocks, Indices, Commodities, ETFs, Treasuries, Custom Indices, Spread Betting	CFDs on shares, Indices, ETFs, Raw Materials, Forex currencies, cryptocurrencies, Real shares, Real ETFs
Demo Account
Yes	Yes
Minimum Deposit
$0	$0
Payment Methods
Credit Cards Debit Card Mastercard PayPal Visa Wire Transfer	Credit Cards Debit Card Maestro Mastercard Neteller PayPal Paysafecard Skrill Visa Wire Transfer
Minimum Trade
0.01 Lots	0.01 Lots
Regulator
FCA, ASIC, MAS, CIRO, BaFin, FMA, DFSA	FCA, CySEC, KNF, DFSA, FSC, SCA, Bappebti
Mobile Apps
iOS & Android	iOS & Android
Trading App
CMC Markets' award-winning app has revolutionised mobile trading. Its modern, customisable interface provides a unique user experience that sets it apart. Enhanced with 25 technical indicators, 15 drawing tools, and a swift, stable trading platform, it is an outstanding option for traders.	Each year, XTB's app impresses with its sleek design and clear interface. It's fast, responsive, and full of practical features like integrated sentiment data, market news, economic calendars, and educational content. The intuitive order panel below the chart simplifies trade execution, including take profit and stop loss settings.
iOS App Rating
4.1	4.7
Android App Rating
3.7	4.1
Margin Trading
Yes	Yes
Margin Rate
1%	4.5%
MetaTrader 4
Yes	No
MetaTrader 5
No	No
cTrader
No	No
AlgoTrader
No	No
OmniTrader
No	No
TradingView
Yes	No
Autochartist
No	No
eSignal
No	No
Trading Central
No	No
STP Account
No	Yes
ECN Account
No	No
DMA Account
No	Yes
MAM Account
No	No
PAMM Account
No	No
LAMM Account
No	No
Demat Account
No	No
AI / Machine Learning
No	No
Robo Advisor
No	No
Negative Balance Protection
Yes	Yes
Market Maker
Yes	Yes
P2P Trading
No	No
Spot Trading
Yes	Yes
Auto Trading
Expert Advisors (EAs) on MetaTrader	Open API
Copy Trading
No	No
Social Trading
Yes	No
Trade Signals
Yes	Yes
VPS Hosting
Yes	No
Tournaments
No	No
Demo Competitions
Yes	No
Ethical Investing
No	Yes
Custodial Account
No	No
Guaranteed Stop Loss
Yes	Yes
Inactivity Fee
$10	$0
Islamic Account
Yes	Yes
Account Currencies
USD EUR GBP CAD AUD NZD SEK NOK SGD PLN	USD EUR GBP PLN
Commodities
Gold Oil Silver Copper Coffee Wheat Precious Metals Natural Gas Soybeans Orange Juice Nickel Palladium Steel Cannabis Platinum Livestock Sugar Gasoline	Gold Oil Silver Copper Cotton Sugar Precious Metals Gasoline Cocoa Coffee Natural Gas Nickel Soybeans Aluminium Livestock Corn Palladium Platinum Wheat Zinc Lean Hogs Cattle
CFD
CMC enables trading of CFDs on over 12,000 assets, including currencies, indices, commodities, shares, ETFs, and treasuries. In 2025, new equities will feature sectors like quantum computing, AI learning, and digital car sales. Enjoy competitive spreads without hidden fees, and leverage the renowned MetaTrader 4 platform. Consistently, CMC stands out as a leading CFD broker.	XTB provides an extensive choice of over 2,100 CFDs, covering forex, indices, commodities, stocks, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies, depending on location. In the EU and UK, leverage is capped at 1:30, while global clients and professional traders can benefit from leverage up to 1:500. Renowned for its trading resources and tutorials, XTB excels in helping traders devise effective short-term strategies.
Leverage
1:30 (Retail), 1:500 (Pro)	1:30
FTSE Spread
1 pt	1.8
GBPUSD Spread<
0.9	1.4
Oil Spread
3.5	0.03
Stocks Spread
0.02	0.2%
Forex
CMC offers a broad selection of over 300 forex pairs, featuring tight spreads and quick execution. This exceeds many competitors in currency variety. Their forex indices provide a distinctive and comprehensive method to speculate on major currencies such as USD, EUR, and GBP.	XTB offers access to over 70 currency pairs, with competitive spreads averaging about 1 pip for major pairs. Its xStation platform is user-friendly, providing traders with top-tier charting tools, over 30 indicators, and diverse order types to support different strategies and risk management needs.
Assets
300+	70+
GBPUSD Spread
0.9	1.4
EURUSD Spread
0.7	1.0
EURGBP Spread
1.1	1.4
Currency Indices
USD EUR GBP JPY CAD AUD NZD CHF
Cryptocurrency
CMC Markets provides trading opportunities with popular digital currencies such as Bitcoin. However, it excels in offering crypto indices, granting broader market exposure. With minimal slippage and an impressive 99.9% fill rate, CMC is an excellent choice for active traders in the cryptocurrency sector.	XTB provides a robust array of over 50 cryptocurrencies, featuring competitive spreads beginning at 0.22% on Bitcoin and leverage up to 1:5. The xStation platform facilitates trading with pairs like ETH/BTC and DSH/BTC. Traders can operate round-the-clock in a secure and transparent cryptocurrency trading environment.
Spread
From 1.3	0.22%
Coins
BTC BCH ETH LTC EOS TRON NEO ADA XLM	ADA BTC BCH DSH EOS ETH IOTA LTC NEO XRP XLM TRX XEM XLM XMR DOGE BNB LINK UNI DOT XTZ
Crypto Lending
No	No
Crypto Mining
No	No
Crypto Staking
No	No
Auto Market Maker
No	No
CMC Markets	XTB
Review	Review
Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 70% of retail investor accounts lose money when spread betting and/or trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how spread bets and CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.	CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 75% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money
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