XM

Regulation

XM holds a South African licence: XM ZA (Pty) Ltd is an FSCA-authorised Financial Services Provider (FSP 49976) under the FAIS Act, based in Cape Town, and provides services to South African residents only. The local entity acts as an intermediary, not the market maker, and is not registered as an OTC Derivatives Provider (ODP) in South Africa. The derivative products are issued by XM Global Limited under FSC Belize 8557558, which is the counterparty to client trades. Because an FSCA-authorised provider sits in the chain, an unresolved complaint can be escalated to the FAIS Ombud after the broker's own complaints procedure, a route clients in offshore-only markets do not have. As the contracting entity is offshore, there is no local statutory investor-compensation cover; client funds are held in segregated accounts and negative balance protection applies. The group holds seven licences in total.

Platforms and instruments

Around 1,400 instruments are available across forex, precious metals, equity indices, thematic indices, stocks, turbo stocks, commodities, energies and cryptocurrencies. Real shares are traded through a dedicated Shares account. Negative balance protection and hedging are enabled on all accounts.

Account types

• Standard: deposit from $5, EUR/USD spread from 1.6 pips, no commission, eligible for the deposit bonus
• Ultra Low: deposit from $5, EUR/USD spread from 0.8 pips, no commission, swap-free, not bonus-eligible
• Shares: deposit from $10,000, real shares with a commission per order, fixed 1:1 leverage

Minimum deposit starts from $5 for retail accounts, around R85 on a ZAR account; Shares accounts require at least $10,000. The stop out level is 20% on retail accounts. Leverage on the FSC Belize entity:

Leverage is selectable by the client up to 1:1000. Swap-free is available, standard on Ultra Low and Shares accounts. Accounts can be denominated in ZAR, USD, EUR and other currencies; ZAR is supported on the Standard and Ultra Low accounts.

Payments for clients from South Africa

XM lists funding categories of bank cards, bank transfers and e-wallets such as Google Pay for South African clients. The same categories cover both deposits and withdrawals, and the exact options for an account are shown in the client area under Funding. Accounts can be held in ZAR. XM charges no fees on deposits or withdrawals. As a regulated firm XM does not accept third-party payments: deposits must come from an account in the client's own name, and every withdrawal is returned to the source of the deposit.

Localisation and support

The XM South Africa website (xmza.com), trading platforms and educational materials are in English, the primary language of financial services in South Africa. Support runs 24/7 through live chat, email at [email protected], Telegram and phone. Complaints are handled by a compliance officer in South Africa before any escalation to the FAIS Ombud.

Bonuses and programmes

• $30 no-deposit bonus: for new clients, claimed within 30 days of registration
• Deposit bonus: 100% on the first $100, then 50% up to $500 and 20% above, up to a total of $10,600; on the Standard account only. The bonus is non-withdrawable credit used as extra margin; profit made with it can be withdrawn after the required trading volume is met
• XM Loyalty Program: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Diamond tiers with XMC token accrual redeemable in the Marketplace
• Copy Trading: in-house copy-trading service via the XM app
• Competitions: demo contests and paid tournaments with withdrawable cash prizes
• Trading Central: integrated market analysis
• Free VPS: subject to trading volume requirements

Public sources

No regulatory fines against XM have been recorded.