Worked example

Practising on XS.com's numbers

This is an exercise sheet, not a review. We are going to take three things that XS.com publishes — a spread, a ladder of account types and a list of licences — and turn each of them into something you can do arithmetic with. By the end you should be able to repeat the whole exercise on any firm you come across, which is the actual skill being taught.

Attached to: Turning a spread into money·The lesson this practises

The figures we are working from

Nothing below is our estimate. Where a firm has not published something, or we could not read it on a source we trust, the box says so instead of guessing — a habit worth copying when you build your own broker notes.

1.1Published EUR/USD spread, pips

$0Minimum to open, USD

2010Trading since

Eden Island, SeychellesHead office

up to 1:2000Retail leverage cap

7Licence lines on file

Exercise one — turn the spread into money

The spread is the gap between the price you can buy at and the price you can sell at, and you pay it the instant you enter. XS.com publishes 1.1 pips on EUR/USD. On its own that number means nothing. Here is how it becomes money.

1Fix what one pip is worthOn a one standard lot EUR/USD position — 100,000 units — a one-pip move is worth $10. That is a property of the contract size, not of XS.com, and it holds wherever you trade.

2Multiply the spread by the pip value1.1 pips × $10 a pip = $11.00. That is what it costs to open and close one standard lot here, before any commission the account may also charge.

3Scale it down to a size you should actually tradeA beginner has no business trading a standard lot. At 0.01 lots — a micro — every figure divides by a hundred: the same round turn costs $0.11. Small enough to practise with, large enough to be real.

4Ask what the cost buys youA $500 float would be entirely consumed by 45 standard-lot round turns at this spread and nothing else. That is the number that should change how often you click.

A 1.0-lot EUR/USD round turn here costs about $11.00 in spread at $10 a pip — before any commission.

Now do it without us

Take the spread of any other firm on the practice index, run the same four steps, and write both figures down — per lot and per micro. When you can do that in your head you have stopped shopping on marketing copy and started shopping on cost. The pip value calculator will check your working on pairs where the pip is not a flat ten dollars.

Exercise two — read the account ladder

Account tiers are a pricing structure dressed as a status ladder. XS.com offers 12 rungs. Read them as a question — what does each rung ask of me, and what does it give back? — rather than as a set of prizes to climb towards.

StandardThe entry rung. Whatever the published spread applies to, it is almost always this one — so this is the rung your arithmetic above describes.
CentA higher rung usually trades a tighter spread for a commission, a larger deposit, or a status test. Convert both pricing models to money per lot before you decide either is cheaper.
MicroA higher rung usually trades a tighter spread for a commission, a larger deposit, or a status test. Convert both pricing models to money per lot before you decide either is cheaper.
ProA higher rung usually trades a tighter spread for a commission, a larger deposit, or a status test. Convert both pricing models to money per lot before you decide either is cheaper.
EliteA higher rung usually trades a tighter spread for a commission, a larger deposit, or a status test. Convert both pricing models to money per lot before you decide either is cheaper.
VIPA higher rung usually trades a tighter spread for a commission, a larger deposit, or a status test. Convert both pricing models to money per lot before you decide either is cheaper.
ClassicA higher rung usually trades a tighter spread for a commission, a larger deposit, or a status test. Convert both pricing models to money per lot before you decide either is cheaper.
ExtraA higher rung usually trades a tighter spread for a commission, a larger deposit, or a status test. Convert both pricing models to money per lot before you decide either is cheaper.
PlusA higher rung usually trades a tighter spread for a commission, a larger deposit, or a status test. Convert both pricing models to money per lot before you decide either is cheaper.
Copy StandardA higher rung usually trades a tighter spread for a commission, a larger deposit, or a status test. Convert both pricing models to money per lot before you decide either is cheaper.
Copy ProA higher rung usually trades a tighter spread for a commission, a larger deposit, or a status test. Convert both pricing models to money per lot before you decide either is cheaper.
DemoA higher rung usually trades a tighter spread for a commission, a larger deposit, or a status test. Convert both pricing models to money per lot before you decide either is cheaper.

Account names as published: Standard, Cent, Micro, Pro, Elite, VIP, Classic, Extra, Plus, Copy Standard, Copy Pro, Demo. Platforms listed: MT4, MT5, XS mobile app.

Exercise three — what this licence list means for you

A long licence list is not automatically a good sign. What matters to a beginner is a narrower question: which entity would hold my money, and who supervises that entity? Those are often not the same as the impressive name at the top of the list. Here are XS.com's lines, each with a plain reading.

Regulator	Entity on the register	Number	What that means for a beginner
ASIC · Australia	XS Prime Ltd (Australian company number 141 194 934)	374409	a top-tier regulator: compensation scheme, capital rules and a public register you can search yourself
CySEC · Cyprus	XS Markets Ltd (Cyprus registration HE 386563)	412/22	a mid-tier regulator: real supervision and a register, usually with a smaller or capped compensation scheme
FSCA · South Africa	XS ZA (Pty) Ltd (registration 2023/608801/07)	FSP 53199	a mid-tier regulator: real supervision and a register, usually with a smaller or capped compensation scheme
UAE Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) · United Arab Emirates	XSTrade Financial Consultation L.L.C (company 1495925)	20200000339	a mid-tier regulator: real supervision and a register, usually with a smaller or capped compensation scheme
FSA Seychelles · Seychelles	XS Ltd (Seychelles company 8428765-1)	SD089	an offshore registration: a company exists and pays a fee, but expect little practical recourse from that entity
Labuan FSA · Malaysia (Labuan)	XS Finance Ltd (Labuan company LL17310)	MB/21/0081	an offshore registration: a company exists and pays a fee, but expect little practical recourse from that entity
FSC Mauritius · Mauritius	XS Trade Services Ltd (Mauritius company 224974)	GB25204786	an offshore registration: a company exists and pays a fee, but expect little practical recourse from that entity

How to use that table

1 of these line is top-tier — held by XS Prime Ltd (Australian company number 141 194 934). If you are onboarded to a different entity than those, the protections attached to the top-tier line are not yours, however prominently the regulator's initials appear in the marketing. 3 lines are offshore registrations; treat those as a company address rather than as supervision.

The record behind these numbers

XS.com's regulations page names seven group entities, including XS Prime Ltd under ASIC licence 374409 and XS Markets Ltd under CySEC licence 412/22.
XS Ltd, the Seychelles entity operating www.xs.com, holds FSA Seychelles securities dealer licence SD089 under company number 8428765-1.
The group also lists FSCA South Africa FSP 53199, Labuan FSA licence MB/21/0081, FSC Mauritius licence GB25204786, UAE SCA licence 20200000339 and a Kuwait authorisation numbered 513918.
XS states its website is not directed at residents of the United States, the European Union, Australia, Japan and other restricted jurisdictions.
XS notes that investor compensation scheme coverage varies depending on which group entity a client contracts with.
XS.com's story page states the XS Group was 'Established in Australia in 2010' and its safety page repeats 'Since 2010, the XS Group has been providing traders, institutional investors, and brokers worldwide with access to deep institutional liquidity' (https://www.xs.com/en/company/story/).
XS Ltd's Client Services Agreement (the Seychelles entity operating www.xs.com) states client money is promptly placed in accounts 'which are segregated from the Company's own accounts' (clause 17.3) and that 'The Client will not be required to cover losses exceeding his invested capital as the Company applies a negative balance protection policy', subject to a 'Negative Balance Protection Abuse' carve-out in paragraph 31 (https://www.xs.com/docs/Client_Services_Agreement_XS_Ltd.pdf?v=1.4).
XS's preferred-account index publishes an 'Average spread (EURUSD)' of 1.1 pips for the Standard, Cent and Micro accounts, all with no minimum deposit, and the Standard account spec table lists 'Maximum Leverage: 1:2000' (https://www.xs.com/en/accounts/account-types/).
XS.com's own press release states the group acquired Ubutyebi Financial Services, a licensed Financial Service Provider regulated by the FSCA, establishing XS ZA (Pty) Ltd under FSP licence 53199 to offer FX and CFD products in South Africa and other African nations (https://www.xs.com/en/media/xs-press-releases/xscom-strengthens-african-presence-with-south-african-license-acquisition).

What we could not verify

The following are unconfirmed and are deliberately left blank rather than estimated: founding year; headquarters; minimum deposit; maximum leverage; EUR/USD spread; segregated funds; negative balance protection; exact account tier names; founded — recorded as 2010 from the broker's own story page ('Established in Australia in 2010'); the ABN register shows the ASIC entity (ACN 141 194 934) has been active since 18 Dec 2009 under earlier names (trading name 'Emission Capital Management Ltd' from 18 Dec 2009; renamed Acquacap Ltd in Jan 2021 and XS Prime Ltd in Nov 2022 per the ABN history page) (https://abr.business.gov.au/ABN/View/92141194934); hq — the group publishes no single headquarters city; the recorded value is the registered office of XS Ltd, the entity operating www.xs.com (F20, 1st Floor, Eden Plaza, Eden Island, Seychelles); the other group entities' registered offices (Sydney, Limassol, Centurion, Dubai, Labuan, Ebene) appear on the regulations page; maxLeverage — 1:2000 is from the global site's account pages (issuer XS Ltd, Seychelles); clients of the CySEC entity (XS Markets Ltd) and the ASIC entity (XS Prime Ltd) are subject to statutory retail leverage caps (e.g. ESMA 1:30 in the EU), and the global site states it is not directed at EU, AU, UK, US or JP residents; minDeposit — $0 applies to the Standard/Cent/Micro/Classic/Extra/Plus accounts; Pro and Elite require USD 500 and VIP requires USD 100,000 (per the broker's account pages, checked 20 Aug 2026); spreadEurusd — 1.1 is the published 'Average spread (EURUSD)' for Standard/Cent/Micro (spread-only); the broker publishes 0.7 for Pro and Copy Pro, 0.1 for Elite/Plus/VIP (commission accounts), 1.6 for Classic and 2.1 for Extra; accountTypes — 'Demo' is inferred from the 'Demo Accounts: ✓' row in the Standard account spec table; a dedicated demo page was not located (checked 20 Aug 2026). Confidence in this file overall: high. When you build your own notes on a firm, keep a list like this one — the gaps are more useful than the figures, because they tell you what to go and check.

Back to the lesson →All worked examples Size a trade with these figures

Run the same exercise on another firm

ActivTrades0.5 pips published, $5.00 per standard lot.Practise →ATFX0.8 pips published, $8.00 per standard lot.Practise →Capital.com0.6 pips published, $6.00 per standard lot.Practise →CMC Markets0.5 pips published, $5.00 per standard lot.Practise →Decode Global0.9 pips published, $9.00 per standard lot.Practise →Eightcap0.1 pips published, $1.00 per standard lot.Practise →

pipdojo.com does not rank brokers, does not award badges and does not tell you where to open an account. This page exists so the arithmetic you learn in the curriculum has real numbers to bite on.