Compare Forex Brokers side by side

How do XTB and Admirals 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, 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 XTB and Admirals, 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 XTB or Admirals 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 Admirals holds three Tier 1 and no Tier 2 licences, and XTB holds two Tier 1 and two Tier 2 licences.

 

Is Admirals financially regulated?

Yes Admirals was founded in 2001 and is regulated by ASIC, CySEC, FCA, FSCA and JSE.

 

Is XTB financially regulated?

Yes XTB was founded in 2002 and is regulated by CySEC, DFSA, FCA, FSC and KNF.

 

Based on these findings, Admirals earned a higher trust rating than XTB.

Does XTB or Admirals 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 XTB has overall lower trading costs than Admirals. 

 

Does XTB or Admirals 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, Admirals offers support for MT4, MT5 and MT Supreme and XTB offers support for xStation5. 

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 Admirals and XTB 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 Admirals offers a greater range and depth of instruments to trade than XTB. Admirals offers 82 Forex pairs to trade and XTB offers 57 Forex pairs to trade.

And what about Cryptocurrencies?

In this case, XTB offers 49 cryptocurrencies while Admirals offers 42 cryptocurrencies. So if you want to trade cryptocurrencies, we advise trading with XTB.

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 Admirals nor XTB charges a withdrawal fee. Overall, XTB has better deposit and withdrawal processes than Admirals. 

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. 

Admirals and XTB both have very good educational support. Both Admirals and XTB 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 XTB offers better research analysis than Admirals and that both Admirals and XTB offer frequent webinars.

 

Our overall Verdict on XTB

A well-regulated broker, XTB will appeal to traders looking for a wide choice of tradable instruments, top-class educational materials, and excellent market analysis. XTB has two accounts with no minimum deposit requirements, but trading costs are slightly higher than most other brokers.

XTB offers trading on over 2100 financial assets, a wider range than is typically seen at other brokers, including 57 Forex pairs. Educational support for beginners is excellent, and XTB also publishes frequent market commentary and trading ideas in its Market News section.

One drawback is that XTB no longer supports the MT4 trading platform, so all clients have to use XTB’s in-house platform, xStation 5, though it has won awards for its functionality, fast execution speeds, and intuitive design.

Our overall Verdict on Admirals

A trustworthy global online broker, Admirals focuses on providing an ideal trading environment for Nigerian traders. Admirals is not regulated in Nigeria, but Nigerian traders are onboarded through Seychelles Financial Services Authority (FSA). This regulator does offer some advantages, like negative balance protection, which means that traders can never lose more than they have in their trading account.

Admirals offers support for the MT4 and MT5 trading platforms in addition to Admirals’ sleek mobile app that is intuitive and easy to set up. Admirals boasts excellent trading conditions on four live accounts. The minimum deposit requirements are 100 USD on all accounts, spreads average at 0.5 pips (EUR/USD) on its commission-free accounts, and commissions of up to 6 USD (round turn) are charged on its Zero Accounts, whose spreads start at 0 pips. 

Some drawbacks for those considering trading with Admirals are the high deposit fees charged when converting NGN to base currencies, and the limited choice of funding methods.

Which broker has the highest overall rating?

XTB has an overall rating of 4.39 and Admirals has an overall rating of 4.28. For more detail please read our reviews of XTB and Admirals.