Exness costs less for gold, and XM gives a bonus. The bonus saves you more when you split your trading money into small deposits.
All figures checked on 11 October 2026
See whether the XM bonus or the lower Exness cost saves you more on gold, worked out per lot after the ForexFanClub rebate.
Contents
- Bonus or Lower Cost: Which Saves You More?
- How Much Cheaper Is Exness Than XM for Gold?
- Which Broker Is Cheapest for Gold?
- Which Is Cheaper for Gold Scalping, XM or Exness?
- Which Charges Less Swap on Gold Held Overnight?
- How Much Do You Need to Start Trading Gold?
- How Fast Can You Withdraw from XM and Exness?
- How Do You Get the Rebate at XM or Exness?
- XM vs Exness FAQ
- Which Guide Do You Need Next?
Bonus or Lower Cost: Which Saves You More?
The XM bonus saves you more if you split your trading money into small deposits. If you deposit it all at once, the lower Exness cost saves you more.
XM adds the bonus to each deposit until you reach the limit for your country. So in a 100% country, ten deposits of USD 10 get the same USD 100 of bonus as one deposit of USD 100.
What changes is when the bonus starts to work. A loss comes out of your own money first, and then the bonus takes the next part of the loss, which you never have to refund.
We worked this out for USD 100 of trading money and 50 gold trades of 0.01 lot. Each trade closes at a $10 gain or a $10 loss, and half of the trades win.
USD 100 of trading money, after 50 trades
| How you deposit | Money left |
|---|---|
| XM, USD 10 at a time | $106.98 |
| XM, USD 100 at once | $87.72 |
| Exness, no bonus | $92.83 |
With deposits of USD 10, the bonus takes part of the loss each time a small deposit runs low, so less of your own money is used up. With one deposit of USD 100, the bonus waits behind all of your own money, and you pay about $21.71 more per lot of gold the whole time.
The bonus does its work while your balance is small. As your profits grow the balance, the cost difference takes over. For example, at a 60% win rate, Exness leaves $191.25. XM leaves $188.16, even with deposits of USD 10.
Which one saves you more depends on how you deposit and trade:
- Small deposits
XM Standard is the better choice if you deposit your trading money in small parts. Each deposit gets the bonus, so the bonus starts to take losses early. - One large deposit
With one deposit of all your trading money, Exness Standard is the better choice. The same is true once your profits have grown the balance. The bonus then rarely takes a loss, and the lower cost works on every trade. - Cost only
HFM and XS cost even less than Exness on gold, on the cheapest account of each broker. So if cost is all you compare, compare other brokers as well in our lowest spread comparison.
In most countries, XM also adds more deposit bonuses every month after the first one, and for Thailand XM told us that the monthly rate is 20%. The table leaves these monthly bonuses out, so XM can leave you more than the table shows. The XM bonus guide shows the offer for your country.
If the bonus covers part of the margin of a trade, the XM rebate on that trade is smaller, and the XM rebate guide shows how much.
If you trade with small amounts, we think XM Standard with deposits in parts is the better choice, because the bonus then works from the first loss. If you deposit a large amount at once, or once your profits have grown the balance, the lower Exness cost leaves you more.
So start with the XM bonus while your balance is small, and move to the lower Exness cost as your balance grows.
How Much Cheaper Is Exness Than XM for Gold?
Every Exness account costs less per lot of gold than every XM account, even after the ForexFanClub rebate. The table below shows what 1 lot of gold costs, with the spread and any commission included.
| Before rebate | After rebate | |
|---|---|---|
| XM Standard account | $55.41 | $37.41 |
| XM Ultra Low account | $29.59 | $20.59 |
| Exness Standard account | $24.53 | $15.70 |
| Exness Pro account | $17.17 | $13.30 |
| Exness Raw Spread account | $15.11 | $12.41 |
| Exness Zero account | $15.11 | $12.41 |
The XM rebate per lot is bigger, but the XM spread on gold is more than twice as wide, so XM still costs more after the rebate.
Which Broker Is Cheapest for Gold?
If cost is all you compare, HFM and XS can be cheaper than Exness. The table below shows the cheapest account for gold at each broker, after the ForexFanClub rebate.
| Cheapest trading account | After rebate |
|---|---|
| HFM Unlimited account | $6.88 |
| XS Standard account | $10.64 |
| Exness Raw Spread account | $12.41 |
| XM Ultra Low account | $20.59 |
Some of these accounts charge a commission, and the table already includes it. Some also need a larger first deposit. Our forex rebates comparison ranks every account of every broker by what 1 lot costs after the rebate, for gold and for other instruments.
Which Is Cheaper for Gold Scalping, XM or Exness?
Exness is much cheaper for scalps. XM pays no rebate on trades closed within three minutes, and Exness has no minimum time to hold a trade.
| XM Ultra Low | Exness Standard | |
|---|---|---|
| Held more than 3 minutes | $20.59 | $15.70 |
| Held 3 minutes or less | $29.59 | $15.70 |
So on a gold scalp, XM Ultra Low costs about $13.89 a lot more than Exness Standard. A bonus does not change this, because a scalp rarely needs the extra margin.
Which Charges Less Swap on Gold Held Overnight?
Both brokers start you with no swap on gold, but the rules for keeping it differ. At XM, no swap on gold is part of the Ultra Low account. At Exness, it is a status that depends on how you trade.
So the difference is what each broker checks. XM checks for misuse, such as large positions kept for weeks only to avoid swap. Exness checks your normal way of trading, and keeps the status while most of your trades close within the day.
1 lot of gold held for 1 night
| Buy position | Sell position | |
|---|---|---|
| XM Standard account | −$83.83 | +$20.64 |
| XM Ultra Low account | $0 | $0 |
| Exness, swap-free status | $0 | $0 |
| Exness, without the status | −$52.33 | $0 |
Once the status ends, the normal swap applies, and on a gold buy it is large. One night of the normal Exness swap on a gold buy is about ten times the $4.89 that Exness saves you on the spread. So if holding gold buys for a few days is your normal way of trading, XM Ultra Low is the account where the swap stays at zero.
The XM swap calculator and the Exness swap calculator show today’s figures for every instrument.
How Much Do You Need to Start Trading Gold?
A small deposit is enough at both brokers. The smallest gold trade at both is 0.01 lot, which is 1 ounce of gold.
| XM | Exness | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum deposit | USD 5 | Depends on the payment method |
| Margin for 0.01 lot of gold | $4.20 at 1:1000 | $2.10 at 1:2000 |
XM opens a trading account from USD 5. At Exness, the first deposit on Standard depends on your payment method and your country, and the Exness minimum deposit guide shows where to find your own figure.
The XM margin calculator and the Exness margin calculator show the margin for any lot size at today’s prices.
How Fast Can You Withdraw from XM and Exness?
Both brokers process withdrawals automatically, and the time until the money arrives depends on your payment method. Neither broker charges a fee on the usual deposit and withdrawal methods.
The withdrawal methods depend on your country. Crypto and e-wallets are usually the fastest, and both brokers offer them in many countries. Bank transfers and cards take longer, such as 2 to 5 business days at XM.
Both brokers send money only to payment accounts in your own name. At XM, a withdrawal also removes the same share of your bonus, and the XM withdrawal guide explains how XM splits a withdrawal between your deposit methods.
How Do You Get the Rebate at XM or Exness?
Open your trading account through the ForexFanClub link, and that trading account earns the rebate from your first closed trade. There is nothing to apply for at either broker.
To start, open the forex rebates page. It compares the rebate at every broker, and each broker’s rebate page there has the sign-up link. At XM, choose Standard for the bonus, or Ultra Low for the lower cost.
If you already trade with one of them, the steps are different. At XM, you add a new trading account with our partner code, and the XM rebate guide shows how. At Exness, you change your partner first, and the Exness partner change guide shows each screen.
XM vs Exness FAQ
- Is Exness better than XM?
-
For the cost of trading gold, yes. Every Exness account costs less per lot of gold than every XM account, after the rebate.
XM is the better choice in two cases: small deposits where the bonus takes part of your losses, and gold buy positions that you hold for days on XM Ultra Low, which has no swap on gold.
- Which has higher leverage, XM or Exness?
-
Exness. On gold, a small Exness account trades at 1:2000 or more, and a small XM account at 1:1000. Both brokers lower the leverage on larger balances, and Exness also lowers it around major news.
Higher leverage only lowers the margin that a trade needs. Your profit or loss for each $1 move in gold stays the same. The lot size calculator shows how far the price can move against your trade before a stop out.
- Can you have accounts at both XM and Exness?
-
Yes. Many traders do, and the ForexFanClub rebate works on both.
Open each trading account through ForexFanClub, as the rebate section shows, and each one earns the rebate separately.
Which Guide Do You Need Next?
Where the facts and the figures come from:
Sources and how the figures are worked out
The cost of 1 lot of gold
The costs are the 24-hour average spreads of our XM and Exness spread tools, for 1 lot (100 ounces) of gold, as the forex rebates page showed them on Friday 9 October 2026 at 15:36 UTC, the last trading day before the check. The HFM and XS rows come from the same ranking. The Raw Spread and Zero rows include the Exness commission for opening and closing the trade. The rebate is what ForexFanClub pays back on the same lot: 90% of the XM VIP rate at XM, and 90% of the Exness Brilliant rate at Exness. Spreads move with the market, so the amounts change a little from day to day.
XM pays no rebate on trades closed within 3 minutes (XM partner terms), so the scalping row for XM Ultra Low is the spread alone. Exness sets no minimum time to hold a trade.
Swap, margin and the other conditions
Bonus or lower cost
The deposit table is our own calculation. It follows USD 100 of trading money through 50 trades of 0.01 lot of gold, each closed at a $10 gain or a $10 loss, with half of the trades winning. We repeated it for 40,000 random orders of wins and losses and show the average money left: the balance plus the money not yet deposited. The bonus still in the account is not counted, because it cannot be withdrawn.
At XM, each deposit gets a 100% bonus until USD 100 of bonus, as XM’s bonus guide describes for 100% countries. A loss comes out of the balance first and then the bonus, and the rebate is paid on the share of the margin that your own money covers. With USD 10 deposits, the next USD 10 goes in only when the account cannot carry the next loss. The costs per trade are the after-rebate costs of XM Standard and Exness Standard in the gold table. The monthly bonuses are left out. The same calculation at a 40% win rate leaves $44.71 with USD 10 deposits at XM and $21.74 at Exness.
The swaps are the 24-hour averages of our XM and Exness swap calculators on 11 October 2026, for 1 lot of gold held for 1 night. The Exness figure without the swap-free status is the normal swap that the Exness swap calculator shows. The swap-free conditions of both brokers are summarised in our swap-free brokers comparison.
The margin is lots × contract size ÷ leverage at the saved gold price of our XM and Exness margin calculators on the same day, for a small account at the default leverage. The minimum deposit, the withdrawal times and the deposit bonus come from the XM and Exness pages and screens that our XM and Exness guides cite. Exness states that it no longer gives bonuses to clients, in the Exness Partners Help Centre (opens in a new tab).
Once your rebate account is open, link it to Forex FanClub. The member area lists every rebate payment day by day, across every broker you use. Registration is free and takes an email address.
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- Bonus or Lower Cost: Which Saves You More?
- How Much Cheaper Is Exness Than XM for Gold?
- Which Broker Is Cheapest for Gold?
- Which Is Cheaper for Gold Scalping, XM or Exness?
- Which Charges Less Swap on Gold Held Overnight?
- How Much Do You Need to Start Trading Gold?
- How Fast Can You Withdraw from XM and Exness?
- How Do You Get the Rebate at XM or Exness?
- XM vs Exness FAQ
- Which Guide Do You Need Next?