XM vs HotForex – Forex brokers comparison | Forex and Crypto Brokers Review

Contents

Introduction
Comparison
Conclusion

Introduction

In this session, we will start detail comparison between two brokers. As the first comparison, we chose two major Tier1 license brokers, XM and HotForex. Both brokers are in 10th year anniversary. Both grew up as huge broker with reliability and reputation. Generally, their business strategy is similar about promotions and wide range of service. On the other hand we can see some difference on spread, trading instruments, account currency, social trading etc.
Please see comparison table as follows.

Comparison

Company and License

	XM	HotForex
Operating years	10 years	10 years
Licenses	FCA, CySEC, ASIC, etc	FCA, FSA, etc.

Trading Conditions

	XM	HotForex
Account types	Micro, Standard, Ultra Low, etc (In detail please refer to another post.)	Micro, Premium, Zero Spread account (In detail please refer to another post.)
Maximum leverage	Standard Account 1:888 ($5 – $20,000) 1 to 1:200 ($20,001 – $100,000 1 to 1:100 ($100,001 -)	1:1000 (Nano account, may be adjusted in case equity > $300,000) 1:500 (Premium account, may be adjusted in case equity > $300,000) 1:500 (Zero Spread account)
Minimum deposit	USD5 for all account	USD5 (Micro account) USD100 (Premium account) USD200 (Zero Spread account)
Account currency	USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, CHF, AUD, HUF, PLN, RUB, SGD, ZAR, THB (For Micro and Standard account)	USD, EUR, NGN (For all accounts)
Trading Instruments
– Forex	57 pairs	50 pairs
– CFD Stock (DMA)	1,140 items	961 items
– Shares	100 items	56 items
– Stock Indices:	18 items	11 items
– Commodities	8 items	7 items
– Precious Metals and Energies	7 items	9 items
– ETFs	N/A	34 items
– Cryptocurrency	N/A	12 items
– Bonds	N/A	3 items
Trading platform	MT4, MT5	MT4, MT5
Average Spread	EURUSD Standard account: 1.7 pips Ultra Low account: 0.6 pips	EURUSD Micro account: 1.2 pips Zero Spread account (typical): 0.1 pips (with commission 3USD per lot)
Margin call / Stop out	Margin call: 50% for all account Stop out: 20% for all account	Margin call: 40%for Micro account 50%for Premium account and Zero Spread accountStop out: 10% for Micro account 20% for Premium account and Zero Spread account
Deposit and withdrawal methods	Credit cards Multiple electronic payment methods, Bank wire transfer Local bank transfer, etc.Zero fee on deposit and withdrawal for Credit card, Electronic wallet, and Wire transfer over 200USD	Wire Transfer Credit card deposit (VISA/Master/UnionPay) Online Payment Options (bitpay, Cryptocurrencies, fasapay, Neteller, Skrill, Vload, WebMoney) Local Deposit / Bank TransferNo deposit fees for any methods
Brokerage Model	NDD	NDD (STP and ECN)
Scalping is possible or not	Possible	Possible

Promotions

	XM	HotForex
Promotions	Trading bonus (Account Opening Bonus) 30USD, cannot be withdrawn, but profit can be withdrawn.Deposit Bonus 50% deposit bonus up to 500USD or currency equivalent. 20% deposit bonus up to 4,500USD or currency equivalent.10-Year Anniversary Promotion Total prize value 1MilUSDRoyalty Program Executive: 7XMP per lot Gold: 10XMP per lot (+30 Days) Diamond: 13XMP per lot (+60 Days) Elite: 16XMP per lot (+100 Days) Bonus = XMP / 3 (For example, XMP 3,000 points is equal to 1,000 USD.)	HF Rebates Daily cash rebates direct to client’s account All positions of 0.1 lots or more Maximum cumulative rebates USD 8,00030%Rescue Bonus Deposits over USD 50 Additional ‘Stop Out Bonus’ for qualifying accounts Maximum cumulative bonus USD 7,00010th Anniversary Promotion Total 2MilUSD in cash prizes”Loyalty program Convert 1000 HotForex Bars into cash. 1 USD for 35 HotForex Bars. Plus other items (AutoChartist subscription, Silver VPS, Private session with HotForex market analysts

Security of clients’ funds and Others

	XM	HotForex
Safety of Clients’ Funds	Negative Balance Protection Segregation of clients’ funds Accounts with major banks	Insurance Financial safety Accounts with major banks Segregation of funds Negative balance protection Risk management
Research and Education materials	Research Markets Overview, News, XM Research, Trade Ideas, Technical Summaries, Economic Calendar, XM TV, PodcastEducation XM Live, Live Education, Educational Videos, Forex Webinars, Platform Tutorials, Forex Seminars	Research Market News, Market Analysis, Market Outlook, Traders’ Board, Economic Calendar, Live webinarsEducation Forex Education Videos, Training Courses Videos, e-Course, Webinars, Events
Award Winning	Many industry awards	Many industry awards
Customer Support	Live Chat 24/5	Live Chat 24/5

Conclusion

Both XM and HotForex have been operating for 10 years with Tier1 licenses, and already obtained reliability and reputation as large size of broker. Both brokers are quite reliable, and we recommend to make account on both brokers. But we will pick up major differences between XM and HotForex as follows.

Spread of Standard account of XM is relatively wide (EURUSD: 1.7 pips) — HotForex win
Option of account currency of HotForex is limited (only USD, EUR, NGN) — XM win
Only HotForex offers ETFs and cryptocurrency as one of trading instruments — HotForex win
Only XM offers account opening bonus (US30) which has no requirement of deposit — XM win
XM offers higher cash conversion rate of royalty program — XM win
HotForex offer several types of social trading — HotForex win

But for many other review points, both XM and HotForex can be highly evaluated and no big difference.

In conclusion, more desirable broker might be different for each trader, depends on the difference points (From 1 to 6) above. If a trader prefer to narrower spread, wider options of trading instruments, USD or EUR or NGN as account currency, big interest with social trading, then the trader might choose HotForex. On the other hand, a trader prefer to good bonus including account opening bonus, other than USD or EUR or NGN as account currency, no interest with narrow spread, then a trader might choose XM.

But basically, we recommend both XM and HotForex as top-level reliable brokers.