Octa offers the Autochartist plugin for the MT4/MT5 trading platforms, deploys its proprietary web-based alternative, Octa Mobile App, and the Octa Copytrading App, which Octa streamlined for its in-house developed copy trading service. Octa, home to 42 million trading accounts, 70 industry awards, and $31M+ in paid-out bonus funds, grew into a leading Forex broker with highly liquid trading instruments ideal for scalpers and algorithmic traders.
Octa boasts a proprietary platform with an intuitive UI and tailored features called OctaTrader. The recent addition to the OctaTrader is Space. It’s a sidebar news feed embedded into the application that provides traders with up-to-date personalized market information.
XM are leading global Forex brokers, but which one should you trust for your Forex portfolios? I have conducted an in-depth review. XM to determine which is the better overall choice and which traders will benefit most from either broker.
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Headquarters | Comoros | Cyprus |
Regulators | CySEC, FSCA, MWALI International Services Authority | ASIC, CySEC, DFSA, FSC Belize |
Owned by Public Company? | NO | No |
Year Established | 2011 | 2006 |
Execution Type(s) | Market Maker | Market Maker |
Minimum Deposit | $25 | $5 |
Negative Balance Protection | Yes | Yes |
Trading Platform(s) | MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, Proprietary platform | MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, Proprietary platform |
Average Trading Cost EUR/USD | 0.0 pips ($0.00) | 0.1 pips |
Average Trading Cost GBP/USD | 1.3 pips | 0.2 pips |
Average Trading Cost WTI Crude Oil | $0.07 | $0.05 |
Average Trading Cost Gold | $0.30 | $0.19 |
Islamic Account | Yes | Yes |
Signals | Yes | Yes |
US Persons Accepted? | No | No |
Managed Accounts | No | No |
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The Main Advantages of Octafx And XM
Notable Advantages of Octafx
- Low commission-based trading fees
- Leading algorithmic Forex trading broker
- Average execution speed under 0.04 seconds
Here is a snapshot of the most notable advantages of XM:
- 10M+ traders from 190+ countries.
- 99.35% of all orders are executed in less than one second.
- 8.5M+ trades executed without requotes or rejections.
- 900+ employees speaking 30+ languages.
- 24/7 multilingual customer support.
- VPS hosting for low-latency 24/5 Forex trading.
- Deposit bonuses and trading competitions.
- Loyalty program
Features & Platforms
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MT4 | Yes | Yes |
MT5 | yes | Yes |
cTrader | No | No |
Automated Trading | Yes | Yes |
DOM? | Yes | Yes |
Guaranteed Stop Loss | No | No |
Scalping | Yes | Yes |
Hedging | Yes | Yes |
One-Click Trading | Yes | Yes |
OCO Orders | No | No |
Interest on Margin | No | No |
Visit Website | Visit Website |
Available Markets
Currency Pairs | Yes | Yes |
Cryptocurrencies | Yes | Yes |
Commodities | Yes | Yes |
Crude Oil | yes | Yes |
Gold | Yes | Yes |
Metals | Yes | yes |
Equity Indices | Yes | Yes |
Stocks (non-CFDs) | No | Yes |
Bonds | No | No |
ETFs | No | No |
Futures | NO | Yes |
Synthetics | No | No |
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Octa focuses on liquid assets, including 30+ cryptocurrency CFDs, making it ideal for scalpers and traders requiring fewer but liquid assets. eToro provides a superior choice of trading instruments. Its 3,000+ assets focus on equity CFDs and ETFs. At the same time, other sectors receive adequate introduction with an above-average Forex selection, best for cross-asset diversification.
Here is why XM is a better choice for most traders:
- Turbo Stocks for equity traders seeking more leverage on liquid stocks.
- Thematic indices
- 50+ cryptocurrency CFDs
- Unleveraged share investments
Typical Spreads & Fees
Average Trading Cost EUR/USD | 0.9 pips | 0.1 pips |
Average Trading Cost GBP/USD | 0.3 pips | 0.2 pips |
Average Trading Cost WTI Crude Oil | $0.07 | $0.05 |
Average Trading Cost Gold | $0.30 | $0.19 |
Average Trading Cost Bitcoin | $11 | NA |
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Octa and eToro offer commission-free trading costs, where the former commences with spreads from 0.6 pips or $6.00 per lot versus the latter at 1.0 pips or $10.00. Octa lowers trading fees for high-volume traders, expanding its cost advantage over eToro. Many assets at Octa remain swap-free, making a notable difference to final trading costs.
XM’s fees feature commission-free costs. Which one is cheaper? XM has a 16%+ cheaper minimum Forex trading fee Only unleveraged share investments incur a 0.10% XM commission.
Account Types
Account Types | Octafx | XM |
Commission-free Accounts | Yes | Yes |
Commission-based Accounts | Yes | Yes |
Demo Accounts | Yes | Yes |
Islamic Accounts | Yes | Yes |
Social / Copy Trading | Yes | Yes |
Managed Accounts | No | No |
The Octa minimum deposit is $25 for non-EU traders and $50 for EU-based traders. Traders can opt for USD or EUR accounts, and Octa accepts cryptocurrency deposits. Our XM review discovered that the minimum deposit was $5 for all accounts except the Shares account, which required a $10,000 minimum deposit.
Minimum Deposit
Deposit Snapshot | Octafx | XM |
Minimum Deposit | $25 | $5 |
Deposit Fees | Third-Party | Third-party |
E-wallets | Yes | Yes |
Cryptocurrencies | No | No |
Localized Methods | Yes | Yes |
Total Deposit Methods | 14 | 15 |
Supported Deposit Currencies | USD, EUR, GBP, 7+ | USD, EUR, GBP, 10+ |
Security & Trust
Country of the Regulator | Cyprus, Comoros, South Africa | United Arab Emirates, Australia, The Bahamas, Belize, Cyprus, United Kingdom, United States |
Name of the Regulator | CySEC, FSCA, MWALI International Services Authority | ASIC, CySEC, DFSA, FSC Belize |
Regulatory License Number | 372/18, 51913, HY00623410 | 705428, 120/10, 443670,000261/27, F003484, SIA-F201, 0516820 |
Regulatory Tier | NA | NA |
Octa
Pros | Cons |
Low minimum deposit and high leverage up to 1:1000 | Limited overall asset selection |
Swap-free trading for all traders, based on assets | |
Competitive selection of cryptocurrencies and fast withdrawal times | |
Large trading community and proprietary copy trading service |
XM
Pros | Cons |
A well-balanced overall asset selection | Limited cryptocurrency selection |
Upgraded MT4/MT5 trading accounts with excellent order execution statistics. | |
Multi-regulated broker with outstanding order and volume statistics | |
Low minimum deposit of $5 and maximum leverage of 1:1000 |
Which Forex broker is better?
Octafx and XM ensure traders have competitive trading conditions, including fast order execution, balanced asset selection, and cutting-edge trading platforms.
My verdict:
Octafx is an excellent broker for traders preferring the cTrader trading platform, where Octafx offers competitive trading fees. XM is a better broker for most traders due to lower MT4/MT5 trading fees.