XS is our number-one pick and the recommended broker on Best Trading Signal — and we would rather explain that ranking than let you infer the wrong reason for it. It is rank 1 because opening an account through our link and depositing $400 (roughly HK$3,120) unlocks our complete trading signals service free. That is a commercial reason, not a regulatory one: XS lists no licence from Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), so a Hong Kong resident opening an account here is a client of an offshore XS entity with no SFC supervision, no SFC complaint route and no access to Hong Kong's Investor Compensation Fund. What you get in exchange is a multi-licensed global group established in Australia in 2010, a Standard account with no minimum deposit, MetaTrader 4 and 5, and the same feed of forex signals, gold, oil, indices and crypto calls our paying subscribers receive, each with a defined entry, take-profit and stop-loss, replacing a subscription worth roughly $2,500 a year (around HK$19,500). If a locally regulated counterparty matters more to you than a free feed, read best trading brokers Hong Kong first and take the signals through our Telegram bot instead. Then see how to start and our published track record.
Regulation and safety — what XS's licences do and do not give a Hong Kong resident
XS operates as a group of separately licensed companies. XS Prime Ltd is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC, licence 374409), XS Markets Ltd by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC, 412/22), XS ZA (Pty) Ltd by South Africa's Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA, 53199) and XS Ltd by the Financial Services Authority of Seychelles (FSA, SD089). The group also lists licences from the Labuan FSA (MB/21/0081), the Mauritius FSC (GB25204723) and the UAE Capital Market Authority (20200000339).
Be clear-eyed about what that means from a Hong Kong perspective. In Hong Kong, dealing in securities and leveraged foreign exchange trading are licensed activities supervised by the SFC, which publishes every licensed corporation and its CE number on a public register. None of the licences XS lists is an SFC licence, so a Hong Kong resident is a client of an offshore XS entity: outside SFC supervision, outside the SFC complaint route and outside the Investor Compensation Fund. Which entity opens your account, and which protections apply, differ by licence — check the entity named in your account documents before you fund. Regulation lowers operational risk; it never removes market risk.
Accounts and costs
The Standard account is the simple choice: no minimum deposit, no commission, and an average EUR/USD spread of 1.1 pips, on MT4 or MT5. The Pro account lowers the average spread to 0.7 pips without commission for a $500 minimum. The Elite account offers raw spreads — 0.1 pips on average for EUR/USD — plus $6 per lot round turn, also from $500. Cent and Micro accounts exist for very small balances.
Card deposits start at $20 and are instant, Skrill and Neteller start at $15, and bank transfers start at $300 and take one to seven working days. XS charges no fees of its own on deposits or withdrawals, though your bank or payment provider may.
Platforms and execution
XS runs MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 on web, desktop and mobile. Both handle every order type our signals use, so you can place each entry, take-profit and stop-loss exactly as published. Minimum trade size is 0.01 lot, which makes sensible position sizing possible on a small account.
Leverage is dynamic and can reach 1:2000 on Standard and Elite accounts. That figure is a ceiling, not a recommendation — high leverage magnifies losses as fast as gains, so size positions to the stop-loss on each signal rather than to the leverage available.
Free trading signals with a $400 deposit
This is the reason XS holds rank 1 here. Open an XS account through our link, deposit $400 (roughly HK$3,120), send your proof on Telegram, and you receive every signal we publish, free. The $400 is not a fee: it sits in your own trading account and stays yours to trade or withdraw under XS's terms.
The signals themselves are our own service. They are produced by Best Trading Signal, not by XS, and XS does not provide or endorse them. If you would rather not open a broker account at all, you can take the paid subscription through our Telegram bot and trade with any regulated broker. See how to start for the full steps.
Swap-free (Islamic) option
XS lists a swap-free option on its Standard and Elite accounts. Terms and eligibility can depend on your country and the XS entity you open with, so confirm them with XS before relying on it. Our Islamic trading accounts guide compares the swap-free options across the brokers we rank.
