How do AvaTrade and XM stack up against each other?

The Radar Chart below highlights how the brokers stack up against each other across various metrics. The highest score a broker can receive in each area is 5.

At FX Scouts Tanzania, we help traders find the broker that suits their trading needs. In many cases, the best way to achieve this is to compare brokers side-by-side.

To compare AvaTrade and XM, we used the same factors we use when reviewing brokers: The trust and regulation of the broker, the trading platform, the costs and trading conditions, and the level of education and market analysis available at the broker.

Does AvaTrade or XM have a better trust and regulation rating?

Trust and regulation are some of the most important factors to consider when choosing a Forex broker. Trust in the Forex trading business is almost entirely founded upon regulation. We spend many hours evaluating the safety of each broker by delving into their fine print and confirming each one of their regulatory licences on the online registers. The more top-tier authorities a broker is regulated by, the higher its trust rating.

In our comparison, we found that AvaTrade holds two Tier 1 and three Tier 2 licences, and XM holds one Tier 1 and two Tier 2 licences.

 

Can I trust AvaTrade?

Yes as AvaTrade was founded in 2006 and is regulated by ASIC, CBI, CySEC, FRSA, FSA-Japan and FSCA.

 

Can I trust XM?

Yes as XM was founded in 2009 and is regulated by ASIC, CySEC, DFSA and FSC.

 

Based on these findings, AvaTrade earned a higher trust rating than XM.

Does AvaTrade or XM have lower costs?

Another important aspect we consider when comparing brokers is the cost of trading. When evaluating trading costs, we always consider the minimum deposit required to open an account and the ongoing trading costs, including the spreads and commissions. When calculating trading costs, we measure the cost to trade one lot of EUR/USD using the broker’s account with the lowest minimum deposit. The cost includes both the spread and any commission charged. 

Not all brokers publish their trading costs, so we often open accounts and trade on their platforms to verify the spreads and commissions. Based on our reviews, we found that XM has overall lower trading costs than AvaTrade. 

 

Does AvaTrade or XM offer a better choice of trading platforms?

Traders want Forex brokers to offer them a choice of trading platforms, so we give brokers who offer multiple platforms higher ratings. Trading platforms we consider include MetaTrader4, MetaTrader5, cTrader and proprietary mobile and web-based platforms. 

In this case, AvaTrade offers support for AvaOptions, Avatrade Social, MT4 and MT5 and XM offers support for MT4 and MT5. 

Do the brokers offer copy trading?

Copy trading is a great option for beginner traders who can’t trade full-time or lack experience with Forex trading. In this case both AvaTrade and XM offer copy trading.

 

Which broker offers a better choice of trading instruments?

A variety of CFD instruments – and a large range of CFDs for each instrument category allow traders more opportunities for profitable trading. The best brokers will have thousands of CFDs to trade, covering all these instrument categories. We found that XM offers a greater range and depth of instruments to trade than AvaTrade. XM offers 57 Forex pairs to trade and AvaTrade offers 55 Forex pairs to trade.

And what about Cryptocurrencies?

In this case, XM offers 31 cryptocurrencies while AvaTrade offers 20 cryptocurrencies. So if you want to trade cryptocurrencies, we advise trading with XM.

Which broker offers better deposit and withdrawal processes?

Although brokers may have reasonable trading fees, many traders are caught out by the high non-trading fees charged by some brokers, including deposits and withdrawals. Traders want to be able to deposit and withdraw funds quickly and cheaply. Most brokers have multiple funding methods with zero fees for making deposits, but some brokers make it more expensive and take longer to process withdrawals. 

We rate brokers more highly that process withdrawals within 24 hours by multiple withdrawal methods and without charging processing fees. We found that neither AvaTrade nor XM charges a withdrawal fee. Overall, XM has better deposit and withdrawal processes than AvaTrade. 

Which broker offers better educational support?

We often find that brokers offer very little in the way of educational materials, forcing traders to use other third-party sites or self-educate elsewhere. Beginner traders need well-structured, well-presented materials in multiple formats to get a good start at trading. More experienced traders also benefit from webinars led by experts in the field and advanced trading strategy sections with new trading ideas. 

AvaTrade and XM both have very good educational support. Both AvaTrade and XM offer educational support for more experienced traders.

 

Which broker offers better market analysis materials?

To successfully predict the price movements of an instrument, traders will need access to frequent market research and analysis. We find that research and market analysis are always better when they are produced in-house and updated frequently. Third-party resources don’t show the same expertise in trading ideas, so we place a strong emphasis on frequent in-house updates. Some brokers also often offer interactive webinars where traders can learn from experts in the field. 

We found that AvaTrade offers better research analysis than XM and that both AvaTrade and XM offer frequent webinars.

 

Our overall Verdict on AvaTrade

AvaTrade is an internationally and FSCA regulated CFD broker offering trading on Forex, cryptocurrencies, commodities, indices, stocks, bonds and EFTs. AvaTrade has one of the best mobile trading applications in the industry and, unlike many global brokers, offers a local South African customer support team. 

AvaTrade has over 200,000 active traders on the MT4, MT5, and AvaGo platforms and provides free access to trading tools like Autochartist, Duplitrade and AvaProtect, its own innovative risk management system.

While AvaTrade is a dependable broker for beginners, professional traders looking for advanced educational material and industry-leading market research will be underwhelmed.

Our overall Verdict on XM

XM is a CFD broker regulated by ASIC, CySEC and the IFSC, offering clients trading a reasonable set of assets on Forex, stocks, commodities, indices, metals, and energies. XM leads the Forex industry in terms of education, market analysis and trading conditions, but with customer service unavailable on the weekend, beginner traders could face difficultly setting up.

XM offers three MT4 & MT5 commission-free CFD trading accounts to Tanzanian clients - Micro, Standard and Ultra Low. More serious beginners should choose between the Standard and Ultra Low. With a 5 USD minimum deposit, the standard account has spreads starting from 1.0 pips with the average EURUSD spread at 1.7 pips. For a slightly larger deposit of 50 USD, the more attractive Ultra Low account has spreads starting at 0.6 pips where the average EURUSD spread is 0.8 pips, which more than halves the average trading costs.

Which broker has the highest overall rating?

AvaTrade has an overall rating of 4.49 and XM has an overall rating of 4.35. For more detail please read our reviews of AvaTrade and XM.