XTB Wiki - Complete Guide

What are the advantages and disadvantages of buying stocks, ETFs and other instruments through XTB? In this article you will find a comprehensive evaluation of this broker. At the same time, in this article you will also find tutorials on how to open an account, how to close orders in XTB, sample examples on how to get started buying stocks and ETFs, as well as a section focused on successful trading in XTB.

If you like this guide, you can support us by registering an account with XTB. Thanks to XTB's affiliate rewards, we can create more articles and bring them to you for free.

You can support us through the following links.

• XTB real account
• XTB demo account

This guide is part of a series on XTB

Articles in the XTB series

• XTB Wiki (This article)
• XTB Detailed Instructions on How to Register an Account
• XTB Trading Tutorial

Quick Introduction of XTB Broker

XTB has waived most of the fees for buying stocks in 2020, so it is currently one of the top brokers for buying stocks and ETFs for Slovaks (along with Interactive Brokers and Lynx). It is especially interesting for beginners who are looking for a simple and low-fee platform for their investing beginnings.

At the same time, XTB becomes the obvious choice for traders who want to trade Indices, Commodities, FOREX or other financial derivatives (CFDs) on leverage. It also offers many different indicators, reports and views for trading.

XTB, as a broker, is also interesting because of the comprehensive and quick news of financial market events it delivers. It also offers courses and financial education. Every XTB client receives this news and education free of charge with their live account.

In this article you will also find exceptions and specialties you will encounter when maintaining an XTB account, such as what leverage is, what fees you will pay at XTB, the differences between physical shares and CFDs, how to find interesting funds at XTB and practical advice on how to open an account and how to make your first trade.

Do you want to find out if a broker other than XTB is more suitable for you?

See our big broker comparison. We compare Interactive Brokers, Lynx, Etoro, Fio, Degiro, Revolut, Finax and EIC. We also have an article where we directly compare Interactive Brokers, Lynx and XTB.

• Part 3 – How to Choose an ETF Broker – A Comprehensive Broker Comparison
• Should You Choose XTB, Lynx, or Interactive Brokers?

Interactive Content XTB Wiki

• Basic Evaluation of XTB
  • Who is XTB for?
  • Advantages of XTB
  • Disadvantages of XTB
  • Basics of CFD in XTB
  • Leverage in XTB – Both an Advantage and a Disadvantage
• XTB Fee Structure
  • XTB Fee Structure for Physical Stocks
  • XTB Fee Structure for Trading
  • XTB Security and Guarantees
• Basic Guide to Managing an XTB Account
  • XTB Account Registration
  • Should You Choose an EUR or USD Sub-Account in XTB?
  • How XTB Sub-Accounts Work
• Guide to Buying Stocks and ETFs
  • Example: Buying Microsoft Stock via XTB
  • Differences Between Physical and CFD Stocks & ETFs
  • How to Find the List of ETFs Traded via XTB
  • Interesting ETF Picks in XTB (Including Tickers)
• Trading Guide for XTB
  • Where Do Beginners Make the Biggest Mistakes?
  • Creating a Demo Account for Interactive Training
  • How to Buy Correctly
  • Our Top Tips for Making Money in Trading
  • Additional Trading Tips
• FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
  • How to Open an XTB Account
  • Other Tips for XTB Broker

Basic Evaluation of XTB

Who is XTB for?

• XTB is a broker operating mainly in Europe ( View XTB website )
• XTB is very beneficial for people who want to trade leveraged financial derivatives (CFDs on indices, commodities, Forex...)
• XTB is now also suitable for buying and trading stocks and ETFs (no fees for buying and selling)
• XTB is particularly suitable for people who want to start investing a small amount of money in stocks and ETFs (up to €10,000), while taking advantage of tax exemption – time test
• For more affluent clients, Interactive Brokers may be a more attractive option
• If you don’t speak English, you might consider Lynx instead of Interactive Brokers. XTB offers support in Czech!
• XTB is known for its extensive education, including courses in Slovak and Czech, its information service, and good phone support in Slovak or Czech
• If you are considering which broker to choose, we recommend the following articles:
  • Part 3 – How to Choose an ETF Broker – A Comprehensive Comparison
  • Choosing XTB, Lynx, or Interactive Brokers?

Biggest Change in XTB Fees

• Took place on 05.10.2020
• XTB reduced the minimum fee for stock and ETF purchases from €10 to €0. Therefore, we now recommend this broker even for smaller clients who want to invest smaller amounts.
• At the same time, it increased the trading fee for stocks and ETFs for accounts with a monthly transaction volume over €100,000 from 0.12% to 0.2%
• Therefore, XTB is now an interesting alternative for beginner smaller investors (their accounts are usually well below the €100,000 monthly trade volume)

Update: According to XTB representatives, they intend to keep fees at a minimum in the long run.

Advantages of XTB

• No minimum deposit required to open an account
• Buying physical stocks and ETFs is practically free (only a small spread and currency conversion fee apply if the account and stock currencies differ)
• No inactivity fee for holders of physical stocks and ETFs (see this section below)
• Free account management and investment portfolio holding (up to €250,000; a 0.2% fee applies for amounts exceeding this threshold)
• Ability to open up to 4 sub-accounts – for different financial goals/purposes
• Offers the most well-known US and EU stocks (3,400+ stocks, including some PL, CZ, and HU stocks) and a sufficiently large number of ETFs (1,000+ funds, including many accumulating funds)
• XTB already has the W8-BEN form for reduced U.S. stock and ETF dividend taxation at 15%
• XTB has Slovak-Czech support that can assist you in many ways
• More than 1.2 million satisfied clients invest with XTB, with assets exceeding €520 billion
• Physical XTB branch in Bratislava
• Has been on the market for over 20 years
• User-friendly and secure mobile app for smartphones
• Recently introduced two-factor authentication for user/device security
• XTB offers fractional share trading. For example, you can buy 1/10 of an Amazon or Apple share.
• XTB recently introduced so-called investment plans, allowing you to create your own "pie" composed of multiple ETFs. You set the proportion between them and simply continue investing. If any component deviates from the set allocation, you can rebalance with one click. A similar service is offered (for a fee) by robo-advisors.

Disadvantages of XTB

• Smaller range of stocks and ETFs compared to Interactive Brokers / Lynx, but similar/better than Etoro
• It takes some time to get used to the xStation web platform.

Tip: XTB Education

• XTB offers a lot of education on stocks, ETFs, and trading. This education is available in Slovak or Czech
• You can check out, for example:
  • XTB Academy (free articles without registration)
  • XTB Course on Building a Stock Portfolio (available with email registration)

Tip: If you liked this article, support the further development of BlueNumbers

• You can support us by registering a real XTB account through our BlueNumbers links, for example, through this link:
  • Open a real account at XTB

CFD - both an advantage and disadvantage of XTB:

Through XTB, you can also purchase derivative (CFD) products. Buying CFD is an advantage of XTB and at the same time a risk for uninformed clients.

What is CFD?

CFD (Contracts for difference), called in Slovak as Difference Contracts / Contracts for settlement of differences, are financial derivatives that allow trading any asset (Stocks, Indices, commodities). In practice, this means that you buy a contract, for example for oil, at the current price. Subsequently, the other party guarantees that they will buy the oil back at the future current price. If you estimate the trend correctly, you make a profit. If you estimate it incorrectly, you can find yourself in a large loss. At the same time, CFDs always use leverage (you also trade with temporarily borrowed money, explained below).

In XTB, you can purchase these CFD leveraged products:

• CFD stocks and ETFs (Leveraged stocks and ETFs)
• FOREX (Trading currency pairs, e.g. EUR/USD)
• Indices (Stock indices)
• Commodities (gold, silver, oil...)
• Cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Stellar...)

WARNING

• Currently, approximately 74% of ordinary (retail) clients lose money when trading with leverage. Therefore, there is a risk that you will buy leveraged stocks or ETFs by mistake or due to lack of knowledge. In that case, you can quickly lose your entire account.
• Leverage is a way of purchasing where you "borrow" part of the money and pay a fee for borrowing the money. As a result, you are risking someone else's money. You can earn several times more, but also lose your entire account.
• Having an account with XTB is like driving a Porsche. You can get to your destination safely and quickly, but you can't run onto the highway when you don't have a driver's license. Therefore, you need to first learn how to drive the car at all, so that you can venture first onto a city road, and later onto longer routes.
• AT THE BEGINNING, TRADE ONLY STOCKS AND ETFs WITHOUT LEVERAGE!!!

!!! WE STRONGLY DISCOURAGE BEGINNERS FROM TRADING LEVERAGED PRODUCTS !!!

What is leverage

• Financial leverage is a type of trade when even with a small amount you open a trade of a much higher value - you borrow part of the money for trading. For example, you have an account worth €1000, but you want to trade a financial instrument worth €5000 (For example, stocks). So you borrow the remaining €4000. Your leverage (the ratio of your money to the amount of your entire investment/position) will in this case be 1 to 5, or 5x leverage.
• In practice, this means that if you have invested €5000, from your own €1000, with a leverage of 1 to 5, these principles apply:
  • You decide to buy a stock (BUY)
  • If the stock appreciates by 1%, your profit is 5%.
  • If the stock loses value by 1%, your loss is 5%
• When trading, you can place orders:
  • BUY – either you buy the given asset (stock) or you "bet" on its growth
  • SELL – either you sell the given asset (stock), or you "bet" on its decline
• The level of leverage can be different for different instruments. Stock indices may have one leverage (1:20), cryptocurrencies another (1:2), commodities another (Gold 1:20, Silver, Oil 1:10), and different types of stocks and ETFs yet another. For example, Microsoft CFD stock has a leverage of 1:5.
• Leverages of 1:20, 1:25 or even 1:30 are also common - try to evaluate their possible impacts yourself

Who uses leverage:

• Leverage is mainly used by traders who monitor markets on a daily basis and want to earn more and faster. That's why they borrow part of the money.
• Leverage significantly multiplies your profit and loss
• Leverage is only worthwhile for those who know how to trade. A beginner typically loses a lot of money because either they cannot estimate the market or they lack the basics of trading.

Is leveraged trading (Leverage) for ordinary people?

!!! WE STRONGLY DISCOURAGE BEGINNERS FROM TRADING WITH LEVERAGE !!!

To be successful on the stock market, you need to learn a lot. It's like a job - at the beginning you don't know everything and you become truly effective only after a few months to years.

If you want to trade with leverage, definitely try it first on a DEMO account (XTB offers it for free - the link is at the beginning of this article). Only then, when you are regularly profitable on the DEMO account, try trading with a real account.

XTB Fee Structure

XTB fees can be divided into fees for physical stocks and ETFs and fees focused on CFD trading

XTB fee structure for physical stocks and ETFs

• when trading stocks and ETFs on an account with a total value of up to €100,000 per month
  • commission - fee for purchasing stocks and ETFs €0
  • spread (difference between the buying and selling price) is very small (less than 0.1% of the amount)
  • fee 0.5% for currency conversion
    • For buying US stocks on your EUR account, with an amount of €100, you will pay an additional fee of €0.5 for currency conversion
  • minimum purchase value is 10 EUR/USD
  • if you are interested in leveraged products, different pricing applies to those
• when exceeding the amount when trading on an account over €100,000 per month
  • you pay an additional transaction fee of at least €10 or 0.2% of the amount (whichever is higher)
• With a total portfolio value over €250,000
  • you again pay a transaction fee of at least €10 or 0.2% of the amount, but this only applies if you purchase for more than €100,000 in a given month (whichever is higher)
  • you pay an additional management fee of 0.2% or €10 (whichever is higher) annually on the account volume over €250,000 (i.e. If I have €300,000 in my account, I pay 0.2% of €50,000 so €100/month)

Fees for depositing to XTB account

• For card payment 0.7% of the deposit value in EUR or 0.95% of the deposit value in USD
• For bank transfer without fee
• For PayPal transfer without fee
• In XTB you can choose an account in EUR and an account in USD. If you have a USD dollar account in XTB and you are depositing Euros, you will pay an additional fee for currency conversion. The amount of this fee depends on your bank's fee schedule. Slovak banks usually have this fee from 1.5% to 3% of the transaction amount. Only deposit dollars into a dollar account.

Fees for withdrawal from XTB to a bank account

• Withdrawal is without a fee (sending money from an EUR XTB account to a bank account)
• Before the first withdrawal, just like with any broker, you must verify yourself by uploading a bank account statement.

Fees for transferring money between two real XTB accounts

• In XTB you can also open several real accounts, either in EUR or in USD - for example, a separate account for each investment goal
• Transferring money between two real accounts of one owner is without a fee. You can only move money between your accounts of the same currency, either between your EUR accounts or only between USD accounts
• It is not possible to transfer from an XTB EUR real account to an XTB USD real account (and vice versa from a USD to EUR account)

Fees for currency conversion

• Difference in fees for currency conversion on EUR and USD accounts
  • In XTB you have the option to set up an account in the main currency EUR or an account in the main currency USD
  • The fee for currency conversion in XTB is 0.5% of the transaction amount
  • For EUR account
    • When depositing EUR to an account in EUR, you do NOT pay any fee
    • You pay conversion when buying US stocks or stocks in a currency other than EUR (Czech, Polish stocks...), as well as when buying ETFs in USD or another currency (GBP- British Pound)
  • For USD account
    • You pay a bank fee for currency conversion when depositing your money to an XTB account. The amount of this fee depends on your bank's fee schedule (usually from 1.5 to 3% of the amount)
    • You NO longer pay currency conversion in XTB when buying US stocks and ETFs. However, you will pay it if you want to buy stocks in EUR (e.g. SAP, Shell), or stocks in other currencies (Polish, Czech stocks...) - XTB fee for currency conversion is again 0.5% of the transaction amount

Fees for inactivity (Inactivity fee)

Inactivity fee is a fee for inactivity, which brokers usually charge if you haven't had any movements on your account for 12 months. Quite a few brokers have an inactivity fee (For example, Etoro or Lynx).

How inactivity fee is set in XTB

• You will start paying it only if you don't have a single movement (transaction) on your account for 12 months and at the same time you do NOT own physical stocks and ETFs (you don't have any open position). The inactivity fee will start to be deducted only after 12 months in the amount of 10 Euros per month
• If you have more real accounts in XTB, the inactivity fee is calculated for each account separately

How not to pay inactivity fee

• Make at least one trade once every 12 months (Position for a small volume of 0.01 lot, buy and immediately sell, fee usually up to 1 euro)
• Buy and hold at least 1 physical stock or ETF on your real account
• Withdraw your money from XTB. If you have an empty real account, the inactivity fee is not deducted because there is nothing to deduct from and the client cannot go into a negative balance of a real account in XTB
• If you have multiple real accounts, transfer all your money to your main account. In XTB you can do this through the Investor Profile and you don't pay any fees for transferring EUR between EUR accounts. It is not possible to transfer money between XTB EUR and USD accounts

Most readers of this article don't have to worry about the activity fee at all, as they will probably hold some purchased physical stocks and/or ETFs on one real account

Summary of fees in XTB for a regular client

Recommendation if you want to have only physical stocks and ETFs:

• Make a money transfer to XTB via bank account transfer (€0 fee)
• For buying EUR stocks and EUR ETFs you pay a fee of up to 0.1% (Just spread)
• For buying US stocks and US ETFs you will additionally pay a fee for currency conversion of 0.5% for buying and selling

Fees for trading in XTB

• In trading, you will encounter these basic fees
  • Spread (1st type of fee when opening a position, the difference between buying and selling price, usually the spread is low)
  • Commission (2nd type of fee when opening or closing a position. The broker charges extra money, for example a few dollars or euros, for creating a transaction for you)
  • Swap (Overnight fee, you pay it if you trade with leverage, you pay it for each day you have an open position, that is, for borrowing money from the broker)
  • !!! Note, SWAP is also a type of financial instrument that has nothing to do with the swap (overnight fee) mentioned above
• If you want to profit, your profit must cover both you and the fees
  • The XTB DEMO account in our example solves this by calculating the fees when opening a position, and therefore after opening a position you will see red (negative) numbers

How to transfer money between your XTB sub-accounts

• You can transfer your free uninvested money between any of your sub-accounts in the same currency
• So you can transfer EUR to any of your XTB EUR sub-accounts, and USD to any of your XTB USD accounts
• So far, transferring money between EUR and USD sub-accounts is not possible. We asked XTB support about this, we'll see if and when they enable such transfers and currency conversions in the future. If the fee for currency conversion between EUR and USD was only 0.5% of the amount, it would be great. Therefore, also ask XTB support if they plan something like this and if it will be possible.

If you have children and want to invest for them/manage their account separately

• We recommend opening a separate account for each child (all will be managed under your name and password in XTB)
• It's more advantageous, as you have all assets under your control until the moment you transfer the property to the children.
• The transfer of property can later be handled through a gift agreement (in written form according to the Civil Code) and by transferring assets to their XTB account - so you don't have to sell the property

XTB Security and Guarantees

Although the XTB platform is used by many international clients for trading derivatives, XTB offers significantly lower guarantees than, for example, Interactive Brokers.

• XTB is regulated by the highest financial authorities of various countries, such as
  • UK's Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA )
  • Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission ( CySEC )
  • Polish Financial Supervision Authority ( KNF )
  • Belize authority International Financial Services Commission of Belize ( IFSC )
  • Cypriot Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC),
• It also has permission for free cross-border operation of a securities trader in the territory of the Slovak Republic issued by the Slovak NBS ( link ). It has similar permissions in other EU countries.
• In case of XTB bankruptcy, you are within the guarantees
  • for UK clients with a maximum amount of £85,000 guaranteed by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).
  • for clients from Cyprus, Hungary and Italy with a maximum amount of 20000 € guaranteed by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC)
  • For other EU clients, 90% of the account amount with a maximum account limit of 22,000 €, thus with a maximum amount of €20,100 guaranteed by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF)
  • The Investment Guarantee Fund has never been used in modern EU history! Brokers are very strictly regulated, see above
  • It is important to remember that client assets must be unconditionally separated from the assets of any broker. Even if the broker goes bankrupt, it has no effect on your assets

Other XTB guarantees

• XTB is traded as a broker on the Polish stock exchange (ticker WSE: XTB), therefore it must publicly publish its financial statements. Its security is significantly higher compared to brokers for which you cannot find financial numbers
• Annual and quarterly statements and financial reports for XTB can be found at the link:
  • https://ir.xtb.com/en/reports/annual-reports/
• The value of the company as of February 7, 2025 was more than 1.83 billion EUR (approximately 7.7 billion PLN)

Basic guide to managing an account in XTB

How to set up an XTB account

If you are interested in buying physical stocks and ETFs, we recommend setting up a live account right away with a minimum deposit of at least €300. At the same time, you can open a demo account at any time with each real account.

If you are interested in trading FOREX, Indices, commodities and other leveraged derivatives, definitely start trading first on a demo account.

By opening an account through the links below, you will also support the creation of more articles about stocks, ETFs, trading or taxes on the Bluenumbers portal.

You can open an account by filling out a form from a link such as:

• Link to open a real account in XTB
• Link to open a demo account in XTB

First steps when opening a REAL account

• You fill out the form to open a real account. After opening your account, you log in and deposit your first money through the Investor Profile
  • Open a real account in XTB

Depositing the first funds (Via Investor Profile)

• Then choose the deposit method and fill out the deposit form according to the instructions in XTB
• The fastest deposit method is via credit card, but it incurs a 0.7% fee on the deposit amount
• If you can wait a few days, we recommend a bank transfer (via a standard bank order) or PayPal (if you have PayPal)

Opening an extra DEMO account alongside your Real account (Via Investor Profile)

• We recommend creating a demo account immediately alongside your real account (It’s free)
• Go to "My Accounts," then select "Demo Accounts" and "Add New Account"

First steps in XTB with a DEMO account / Real account with funds

Once you enter your details and register, you will access either your real (REAL) or demo (DEMO) account.

You can switch between accounts after logging in using the icons in the top right corner (It will display either DEMO or REAL)

We recommend making your first transactions on the DEMO account

When you open the XTB platform, you will see multiple windows. We have highlighted them for you in different colors.

• In the blue-highlighted window, you can search for stocks, ETFs, and other products you want to buy (BUY) or sell (SELL)
• In the yellow window, you can switch between multiple panels located in the green section. You can choose between a chart, news, technical analysis, or the XTB academy
• The green section displays necessary charts and information you select in the yellow panel
• Settings and account information are found in the purple section. Here, you can change the XTB platform's theme, log out, or set stock price alerts
• The red window contains all open orders and pending transactions
• The white window shows the current state of your account.

Open an EUR or USD account in XTB?

If you have read the text above and want to buy U.S. stocks, you have the following options:

• Open an XTB EUR account, deposit Euros from your regular bank account, and pay a currency conversion fee of 0.5% per transaction when buying U.S. stocks in USD
• Open an XTB USD account, deposit Euros from your EUR account, and your bank will handle the currency conversion at approximately a 2.5% fee. In XTB, you will already have USD and can buy U.S. stocks without additional currency conversion
• Open an XTB USD account and transfer funds from your USD bank account. In this case, you will have both USD and EUR accounts in your bank and can manage currency exchange between them yourself

BlueNumbers tip: You can open both USD and EUR sub-accounts in XTB to combine the benefits of both.

How sub-accounts work in XTB

• Under one login name and password in XTB, you can have up to 4 real accounts (or sub-accounts), and you can have one or more accounts in USD and one or more accounts in EUR at the same time.
• Additionally, if you regularly trade Forex, CFDs, and derivatives
• You do not pay for an empty real XTB account (if you have no money there, they have nothing to deduct)
• The limit of 4 sub-accounts in XTB is not final. You can request to open more real accounts through support. XTB's approach is that if you can utilize each XTB sub-account and have a reasonable amount of money in each sub-account, they can open more than 4 sub-accounts for you.

Guide for Buying Stocks and ETFs

Example: Buying Microsoft stock via XTB

• I was able to trade MSFT - Microsoft stock on 12.10.2020
• If I have a EUR account in XTB
  • Buy the stock (BUY) at 219.05 USD (Spread is approx. 0.04 USD)
  • In EUR, the stock will cost me 186.27 EUR (Spread + 0.5% currency conversion)
  • Immediately sell (Sell) at 219.12 USD (Spread is approx. 0.03 USD)
  • In EUR, I will receive 184.29 EUR for the sale (Spread + 0.5% currency conversion)
• If I have a USD (dollar) account in XTB
  • I can buy the stock (BUY) at 219.12 USD and immediately sell it at 219.05 USD
• Short Summary
  • For an instant purchase and instant sale of one physical Microsoft stock - MSFT worth around 200 USD, with a EUR account, I pay fees of about 2 EUR, while with a USD account, I pay fees of about 0.07 USD.
  • A USD account is beneficial if you want to trade US stocks and want the trading fee to be almost zero. Additionally, you need to find a suitable way to deposit USD into your XTB account.
  • A EUR account is beneficial if you want to buy physical stocks for a longer period (a few months) and take advantage of the tax exemption. In this case, the 1% fee (0.5% for buying and 0.5% for selling) is negligible for you.

Practical Tips for Buying Stocks and ETFs via XTB

• We recommend depositing at least €300 initially, ideally €500 or more.
• Plan your stock and ETF purchases so you can buy at least one share.
• We recommend buying ETFs with accumulated dividends, marked as ACC (to avoid dividend taxation and tax return filing).
• We recommend trying XTB if you want to trade stocks and ETFs.
• !!!Definitely do not buy CFD products at the beginning!!!

Differences between physical and CFD stocks and ETFs

• !!! This section is one of the most important for beginners trading stocks and ETFs!!!
• Physical stocks and ETFs are securities purchased without leverage, meaning you control how much you buy and cannot go into a negative balance.
• CFD stocks and ETFs are securities bought with leverage and are intended almost exclusively for stock traders.
• XTB allows every client to buy both physical stocks and CFDs. A beginner may overlook the difference.
• !!! We recommend that beginners buy only physical stocks and ETFs!!!

Even Microsoft stock can be bought in both variants (Both STC - physical stock and STC CFD - CFD stock)

How do I know if I bought physical stocks or CFDs?

(Described when buying MSFT - Microsoft stock)

• With physical stocks and ETFs, you see
  • Number of shares, instrument price, amount of money, fees
  • Described in the left-side image (yellow color)
• With CFD stocks and CFD ETFs, you see
  • Number of shares, contract value, margin, SWAP, and other fields
  • Described in the right-side image (orange color)

With physical stocks and ETFs

• You can buy stocks only up to the value of your account.
• You cannot borrow money to buy stocks.
• You do not pay any fees for holding the stock.
• You pay significantly less for buying stocks and ETFs (0€ fee + 0.5% currency conversion - applicable up to a monthly turnover of 100,000 EUR).
• Many stocks and ETFs can also be bought as fractional shares.
• You receive dividends from them – even from fractional shares (proportional share).
• XTB allows you to automatically buy or sell your physical stocks and ETFs. This is done by setting up a pending order and filling in a Buy Limit (Automated purchase) or Sell Limit (Automated sale) order.

For CFD Stocks and ETFs

• In XTB, you always buy these stocks on leverage
• The applied leverage varies depending on the type of traded asset; XTB has fixed leverage levels for each index, commodity, FOREX, and each type of CFD stock and ETF
• You use margin to secure your position. These funds act as security in case you misjudge market movements
• Free Margin refers to the funds available in your account that are not tied to any position
• If you make a significant misjudgment or a mistake due to a lack of knowledge, your free margin (Free Margin) will first be blocked, followed by your normal margin. If your normal margin for a position drops too low, the position will be automatically closed
• Example: You have 500 EUR in your account and buy 10 shares of Microsoft worth over 4100 USD. If the stock price drops significantly, your position can be wiped out, leaving you with very little of your initial 500 EUR.
• You pay a SWAP fee for leveraged assets—a fee for carrying the position overnight
• In XTB, you can set automatic position closing (Stop-Loss and Take-Profit) as well as automatic position opening (Pending Order, where a purchase or sale is triggered when the price reaches a certain level) for every leveraged product

How to Find the List of ETFs Traded on XTB

• XTB offers approximately 3400+ stocks and 1000+ ETFs (a total of more than 7500 instruments)
• This is a smaller selection of stocks and ETFs compared to Interactive Brokers / Lynx
• Therefore, in XTB, you can often find accumulating ETFs for most well-known indices, but you may not always find multiple types of ETFs for the same index
• XTB often offers accumulating ETFs in EUR
• You can find the list of physical stocks and ETFs either directly via the link:
  • https://www.xtb.com/sk/specification_table_omi-sk.pdf
• Or scroll down to the very bottom of the XTB document page and find the “SPECIFICATION TABLE ORGANIZED MARKET INSTRUMENTS – OMI”
  • https://www.xtb.com/sk/ponuka/informacie-o-uctoch/specifikacia-instrumentov

Interesting ETFs in XTB (including tickers)

For Slovak taxation purposes, it is worth buying funds with accumulated dividends. Below, you will find a list of ETF funds along with their tickers (codes) in XTB.

Want to learn more about ETFs? We recommend checking out parts of our series

• Part 2 – What are ETFs and how are they taxed
• Part 4 – How to choose ETFs

Available ETFs in XTB

• Most iShares funds are available
  • Around 450 iShares ETFs
  • Most of these funds are accumulating (with accumulated dividends)
  • Some iShares ETFs are available in different currencies (Usually EUR and USD, sometimes GBP)
  • If you buy an iShares fund in EUR and have an XTB EUR account, you DO NOT pay the 0.5% currency conversion fee. Your only cost will be the spread, around 0.1% of the purchase amount
• Some well-known ETFs from other providers are also available
  • 43 Lyxor funds
  • 185 XTrackers funds
  • 86 SPDR funds
  • 59 Vanguard funds
• For the full list of ETFs in XTB, check the links above

In other words: If you want to find and buy your own index funds outside the selection below, look mainly for iShares funds on the internet.

Which selection of ETFs do we recommend?

We usually suggest distributing the client's money using a global diversification strategy.

• 25% S&P 500 (Stocks of the 500 largest U.S. companies)
• 25% NASDAQ 100 (U.S. technology stocks)
• 25% European stocks (Stocks of large EU companies)
• 25% Emerging Markets - developing markets

ETFs for S&P 500 - Accumulating

• iShares Core S&P 500 UCITS ETF (Acc)
  • Fund management fee: 0.07% per year
  • ISIN: IE00B5BMR087
  • XTB Ticker: SXR8.DE
  • Currency: Euro (Purchase in EUR without currency conversion in XTB)
  • This fund has a higher unit value (around €600), but you can buy a fractional share in XTB
  • more about the fund
• SPDR S&P 500 UCITS ETF (Acc)
  • Fund management fee: only 0.03% per year!!!
  • ISIN: IE000XZSV718
  • XTB Ticker: SPYL.DE
  • Currency: Euro (Purchase in EUR without currency conversion in XTB)
  • This fund has a low unit value (around €14)
  • more about the fund
• BNP Paribas Easy S&P 500 UCITS ETF USD (Acc)
  • Fund management fee: 0.12% per year
  • ISIN: FR0011550177
  • XTB Ticker: ESD.FR
  • Currency: USD (Purchase in EUR with CURRENCY CONVERSION in XTB)
  • This fund has a lower unit value (around €23)
  • more about the fund

ETFs for NASDAQ 100 - Accumulating

• iShares Nasdaq 100 UCITS ETF (Acc)
  • Fund management fee: 0.30% per year
  • ISIN: IE00B53SZB19
  • XTB Ticker: SXRV.DE
  • Currency: Euro (Purchase in EUR without currency conversion in XTB)
  • This fund is also traded in USD under the XTB ticker CNDX.UK
  • This fund has a higher unit value (around €1200), but you can buy a fractional share in XTB. However, I recommend considering Lyxor Nasdaq 100 due to its lower unit value.
  • more about the fund
• Lyxor Nasdaq-100 UCITS ETF - Acc - EUR
  • Fund management fee: 0.22% per year
  • ISIN: LU1829221024
  • XTB Ticker: UST.FR
  • Currency: Euro (Purchase in EUR without currency conversion in XTB)
  • Fund unit value around €84
  • more about the fund

ETFs for Europe - Accumulating

• iShares Core MSCI Europe Acc
  • Covers 400+ largest companies in the EU according to MSCI Europe (United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, Germany, and other countries)
  • Fund management fee: 0.12% per year
  • ISIN: IE00B4K48X80
  • XTB Ticker: IMAE.NL
  • Currency: Euro (Purchase in EUR without currency conversion in XTB)
  • more about the fund
• iShares Core EURO STOXX 50 (Acc)
  • Covers the 50 largest companies in the Eurozone (36% France, 28% Germany, 13% Netherlands, 23% rest of the Eurozone)
  • Fund management fee: 0.10% per year
  • ISIN: IE00B53L3W79
  • XTB Ticker: SXRT.DE
  • Currency: Euro (Purchase in EUR without currency conversion in XTB)
  • more about the fund

ETFs for Emerging Markets - Accumulating

• iShares Core MSCI EM IMI UCITS ETF Acc
  • Fund management fee: 0.18% per year
  • ISIN: IE00BKM4GZ66
  • XTB Ticker: IS3N.DE
  • Currency: Euro (Purchase in EUR without currency conversion in XTB)
  • This fund is also traded in USD under the XTB ticker EIMI.UK
  • more about the fund
• Amundi Emerging Markets Acc
  • Fund management fee: 0.20% per year
  • ISIN: LU1681045370
  • XTB Ticker: AMEM.DE
  • Currency: Euro (Purchase in EUR without currency conversion in XTB)
  • more about the fund
• Amundi MSCI Emerging Markets III UCITS ETF EUR Acc
  • Note: This fund has a significantly higher management fee and may be more "expensive" than the two funds mentioned above
  • Fund management fee: 0.55% per year
  • ISIN: FR0010429068
  • XTB Ticker: LEM.FR
  • Currency: Euro (Purchase in EUR without currency conversion in XTB)
  • more about the fund

If you want to have a large part of the world covered by a single ETF, you can choose, for example:

Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS ETF (USD) Accumulating

• The fund tracks the FTSE-All World index and thus covers both the developed world and emerging markets simultaneously (a total of approximately 3,400 stocks)
• Fund management fee: 0.22%
• ISIN: IE00BK5BQT80
• XTB Ticker: VWCE.DE
• Currency: Euro (Purchase in EUR without currency conversion in XTB)
• This fund has a unit value of around €137
• more about the fund

If you are more interested in speculating when buying ETF funds, you may also find some of the funds below interesting

Sectoral ETFs for IT

• Shares S&P 500 Information Technology Sector UCITS ETF USD (Acc)
  • A fund focused on IT companies from the USA within the S&P 500
  • Fund management fee: 0.15% per year
  • ISIN: IE00B3WJKG14
  • XTB Ticker: QDVE.DE
  • Currency: EUR (Purchase in EUR without currency conversion in XTB)
  • This fund is also traded in USD under the XTB ticker IUIT.UK
  • more about the fund
• Lyxor MSCI World Information Technology TR UCITS ETF C-EUR
  • A fund focused on IT companies from developed markets, with more than 80% of the fund's value coming from US companies
  • Fund management fee: 0.30% per year
  • ISIN: LU0533033667
  • XTB Ticker: LYPG.DE
  • Currency: EUR (Purchase in EUR without currency conversion in XTB)
  • more about the fund

Sectoral ETFs for Gold Producers (Miners)

Gold producers profit and their stock prices rise mainly when gold and other precious metal prices increase. If the price of gold and silver decreases, the stocks of these companies also decline. Gold producer ETFs are not as profitable in the long term as the S&P 500 index.

• iShares Gold Producers UCITS ETF (Acc EUR)
  • Fund management fee: 0.55% per year
  • ISIN: IE00B6R52036
  • XTB Ticker: IS0E.DE
  • Currency: EUR (Purchase in EUR without currency conversion in XTB)
  • This fund is also traded in USD under the XTB ticker IAUP.UK
  • more about the fund
• VanEck Vectors Junior Gold Miners UCITS Acc
  • Fund management fee: 0.55% per year
  • ISIN: IE00BQQP9G91
  • XTB Ticker: GDXJ.UK
  • Currency: USD (If you have a EUR account, you will pay for currency conversion)
  • more about the fund

Do you want to ask about other funds? Write your question in the comment section at the bottom of this page.

Trading Guide for XTB

Common beginner mistakes

Closing small profits, leaving large losses

• Closing small profits ("I made as much as €1")
• Holding on to very large losses and hoping the market will turn around (open loss is -€10, -€50, or -€100)
• If the market turns, they break even and make a few euros.
• If the market does not turn or temporarily drops sharply against their position, they face a Margin Call (losing most of their money)
• These people statistically always lose and lose their money

Increasing their positions while in loss to try to profit

• This is no longer about emotions. This is gambling. It’s no longer about making money but about trying to recover something
• A Margin Call is also waiting for them soon
• These people almost always lose and lose their money

Not using Stop Loss and Take Profit

• In other words, they have no target for when to close positions but have a high risk of large losses
• You can find information about Stop Loss and Take Profit here

Creating a Demo Account for an Interactive Game

We thought about the best way to explain trading. We decided to explain it using interactive examples, and the best way to do that is through a demo account with a broker. We considered which broker's demo account to use (IB, XTB, RoboForex, ICE markets, Naga...). In the end, we chose the XTB demo account for the following reasons:

• A relatively user-friendly platform even for beginners
• The ability to switch the DEMO account language to English, Czech, and back
• Shows transaction values that are not visible with some other brokers (e.g., transaction volume in different currencies)
• One of the few brokers with extensive trading education available in Slovak and Czech

When registering for an XTB demo account, you can expect:

• You enter your email and phone number into the registration form
• You can unsubscribe from the XTB mailing list at any time
• At the end of the demo account validity period, XTB may contact you once by phone regarding your satisfaction with the demo account. This is an ideal time to ask questions directly to the broker's representative
• If you do not wish to be contacted later, the broker will not call you again.
• Closing the demo account with this broker is safe: you do NOT sign any contract, you do NOT enter a payment card, and you have NO obligation to pay anything to this broker
• Your demo account will automatically expire after 30 days

For more info, visit XTB website

How to Buy Properly

In this task, we will go through

• What is leverage and how does it work
• What is overleveraging, contract size, margin, free margin, lots
• What is a Margin call
• What is the quick death of overleveraging due to ignorance

In trading, you use leverage and borrow money.

• If you have 1:10 leverage , with your 1000 EUR, you buy a contract (index, commodity, underlying asset) for 10,000 EUR
• When you place a Buy order (Betting on price increase)
  • If the price increases by 10%, you earn 10% of the total contract value of 10,000 EUR, meaning you earn 1000 EUR and end up with an account value of 2000 EUR
  • If the price decreases by 10%, you lose 10% of the total contract value of 10,000 EUR, meaning you are 1000 EUR in the negative and end up with an account value close to zero
• When you place a Sell order (Betting on price decrease)
  • The opposite principle applies compared to the Buy order
  • If the price decreases by 10%, you earn 10% of the total contract value of 10,000 EUR, meaning you earn 1000 EUR and end up with an account value of 2000 EUR
  • If the price increases by 10%, you lose 10% of the total contract value of 10,000 EUR, meaning you are 1000 EUR in the negative and end up with an account value close to zero

THE BIGGEST MISTAKE OF A BEGINNER TRADER IS USING HUGE LEVERAGE AND OVERLEVERAGING

What is an underlying asset

• It is the name of what you are buying. It can often be stocks, ETFs, indices (S&P500, NASDAQ100), commodities (Gold, oil), FOREX (currency pairs), or cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin)
• Most of these instruments fall under the CFD group (Contract For Differences)

Warning:

• Although we updated this article in 2025, some parts or screenshots are from 2021 when the EURUSD exchange rate was 1.17 (i.e., for one EUR, you could buy 1.17 USD) and the S&P500 index was around 4000 USD
• Therefore, when you go through these tasks on a DEMO account later, the numbers will be different
• All the principles of trading described below will still apply, so focus on the principles and not the specific numbers.

How to understand leverage

• Most trading is based on leverage
• The broker lends you foreign money for a fee, so you can earn on small market movements
• Contract Value is the total amount you pay for the underlying asset
• Volume is the unit of quantity that expresses how much of the underlying asset you have bought (Buy) or bet on its decrease (Sell).
• Lot is the unit of volume (Volume), usually a decimal number. A size of 0.01 lot is a microlot
• Leverage is the ratio of your money to borrowed money from the broker. With a 1:10 leverage, the broker lends you 9000 EUR for your 1000 EUR. This money is lent to you for a fee (Fees are detailed below)
• Margin is the amount of money that the broker temporarily blocks to prevent you from opening positions that are too large and to protect the broker if you lose your investment. The margin is returned to your account once the position is closed (canceled)

How it looks in the example of the S&P500 index

• The basic unit of 1 lot is worth approximately 200,000 USD (170,000 EUR)
• Unknowingly, you have bought 0.5 lots, i.e., a contract worth approximately 100,000 USD (85,000 EUR)
• When buying the S&P500 index at XTB, you use a fixed leverage of 1:20
• If you're starting, you don't know if the trade will be successful, so we recommend
  • start with a volume of only 0.01 lot (1.) (1 microlot),
  • when you will buy a contract for approximately 2000 USD (2.) (1700 EUR)
  • and the broker will block a margin of approximately 85 EUR on your account (3.) (which is approximately 1/20 or 5% of the 1700 EUR (2000 USD))

Your purchase may look like this

For the next step, please close all positions on your DEMO account and create a position of only 0.01 lot on the S&P500 index (US500)

You will see your S&P500 index purchase at the bottom of the screen

Look at the numbers at the very bottom

• Bottom left - the screenshot is minimized

• You have bought the S&P500 index in a volume of 0.01 lot for approximately 2000 USD. As a result, this position has blocked a margin of about 85 EUR
• In the screenshot, our position on US500 is currently at a loss of -0.21 EUR
  • Red 1. is the total amount of the position in the S&P500 index
  • Red 2. is one specific position for the S&P500.
  • If you buy the S&P500 index several times, you will have more rows here, and Red 1. will show the total for all your S&P500 positions
  • Red 3. is the total profit or loss of your open positions in the XTB account
  • Since we have only one open position, the number -0.21 EUR appears everywhere

Bottom Right Side

• 1. Balance is your current account balance from all closed positions . If you opened a completely new DEMO account, the amount of 10,000 will be displayed.
• 2. Account Value is your current account value, including the loss and profit from your open positions.
  • It is calculated as Balance + PROFIT .
  • In the screenshot, it is calculated as 10,000 + profit (current loss -0.21), i.e., 10,000 - 0.21 = 9999.79
• 3. Margin is the amount of money currently blocked by the broker to allow you to open and hold a position on the S&P500.
  • In the screenshot, it is 84.95
• 4. Free Margin is the available money that you can block when buying additional indices and underlying assets. Free margin also includes your current profit and loss.
  • If your free margin is 0 (zero), you cannot open new positions
  • If your free margin is negative (red), you are at risk of a margin call and position closure
• 5. Margin Level is calculated as the account balance / margin, and since the blocked margin is only 84.95 EUR, its value will be huge (over 1100%). I recommend not using just this number because it can be misleading. Always check your total contract value as well.

After Closing the Position

• In the demo, we closed the S&P500 position with a profit of +5.9 EUR
• We no longer have any open positions
• The new balance will be 10,000 + 5.90 = 10005.9
• The balance (Balance) will also equal the account value (Account Value) and the free margin (Free Margin)
• The margin level (Margin Level) will be zero (empty)

WHAT IS A MARGIN CALL

When you experience a Margin Call

• you have seriously messed up your trading
• you have lost a lot of money

A Margin Call is triggered

• If you are highly leveraged (You have a huge contract value and a small account balance)
• The market turns against you, and your account goes into deep loss
• You are at risk not only of losing your money, but you could also end up in debt, which the broker doesn’t want (It would be hard for them to collect money from you)
• Therefore, if your loss is large and your free margin (Free Margin) is negative, the broker prepares to automatically close your trades without your knowledge
• If the free margin is large and negative, the broker will automatically close your most loss-making position, leaving only a fraction of your money in the account

Every broker has different Margin Call rules

• XTB (Where we have a demo account) will trigger it if the loss on your free margin (free margin) exceeds half of the entire blocked margin

Examples of Quick Deaths for Beginners in a Margin Call

Example XTB - Leverage 1:20

• You deposit 1,000 EUR in your XTB account.
• You open a Buy position on S&P500 for 0.11 lots (maximum allowed, for a margin of 940 EUR)
• You are trading a contract worth 20 times the margin, i.e., 18,800 EUR, and you will be closed out if the index price loses 5.3%
• The market fluctuates daily by 5-6%. So the market will certainly turn against you
• Usually within a day, you will experience a Margin Call and your account will be emptied

Example of an Unregulated Broker - Leverage 1:1000

• You deposit 1,000 EUR into your account
• You open a contract worth 1,000,000 EUR (maximum allowed)
• If your underlying asset decreases by 0.1%, you will be closed out
• Usually within a few seconds, you will experience a Margin Call and your account will be emptied

Tip: Calculate your real leverage

• Don’t just look at the size of your margin; it’s misleading
• Look at
  • The value of all your open contracts
  • The current value of your account
• Calculate your real leverage as
  • VALUE of all contracts / Value of your account
• A good real leverage for a beginner is 1:1 (learning) or 1:2 (using leverage but not risking too much)
• Advanced traders can try significantly higher real leverages (usually max 1:10 to 1:30)

Our Main Tips for Earning through Trading

Change Your Mindset

• Treat trading as a game . For example, instead of playing regular mobile games, you’ll be playing on the stock market :)
• Consider the money at the broker as lost, as if you bought an educational course with it
• Avoid the pressure of needing to make a profit. Especially avoid thinking that trading is your only salvation
• On the contrary, think of trading as a way to learn a lot about the exciting subject of trading and financial markets
• You can also learn a lot about yourself—especially how to handle Greed and Fear of Loss when money is involved :)
• Therefore, trading is also an educational and self-development journey, and you never know when these experiences may be useful to you

When Trading

• Start with a DEMO account at your broker
• Start with small amounts and positions on your real account
• Choose a broker that suits you in terms of platform, controls, leverage size, and fees
• Understand that the path to successful trading is slower, systematic, and sometimes very demanding
• Look for your own strategy and trading system that helps you earn regularly and long-term
• Use Take Profit and Stop Loss wisely

Golden Tip: Find someone or a group of people who are already into trading and can mentor you

Other Tips for the XTB Broker

Recommendation if you want to trade stocks and derivatives with leverage

• Create at least two real accounts (one for stocks, another for derivatives)
• Create demo accounts to test (especially to learn trading derivatives)
• Ask XTB support to keep your DEMO accounts open indefinitely instead of shutting them down after a month

If you want to learn about investing, we recommend

Recommended materials and education

• XTB Stock Investment Course XTB Portfolio Creation Course (free)
  • Watch the first video of this course (Online, free, on YouTube)
• XTB YouTube Daily Videos by Mr. Brychta (free)

BlueNumbers Free Bonus:

• List of Interesting ETFs for XTB, Interactive Brokers, and Lynx

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